Question Corner by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 7, 1903

Question Corner

By Editor

[From time to time we will reply under this head, if deemed advisable, to such candid inquiries as may be sent us. Correspondents wishing a reply to their questions must give their full name and address, not for publication unless they wish, but as an evidence of good faith on their part, and to give us opportunity to reply by letter if deemed best. It is always well to inclose stamp. Let the questions be short and pointed, and such as may be answered in limited space. The questions will be numbered continuously.]

1301.—I Cor. 15:29; Baptized for the Dead. Will publish an article on the subject soon.

1302.—The American Standard Revision.

You so highly recommend the American Revised Version of the Bible that I thought at one time of getting one, until I read “A Brief Note of Warning,” by J. W. H. Geiss, in the Review and Herald of October 7, page 10. Did you notice it? And what do you think about it? M. L. H.

Yes; we noticed the “Note of Warning” referred to, and heartily endorse it. But our correspondent, in reading it, confounded two entirely different works. We have commended the “American Standard Revised Version,” published by Thomas Nelson & Sons, New York. So has the Review and Herald. It is not absolutely perfect; there never could be a perfect translation with humanity as judge; but it is perfectly safe to say that this is the best English translation ever made. And we say this, not from our own judgment, but from the character and scholarship of the men who did the work, and the conscientious, conservative, painstaking, long-continued effort put upon it. The “Twentieth Century New Testament” is an entirely different work. It is not a translation of the original, but a translation of men’s understanding of the original put in modern English, not the best by any means. Its very title is a reflection on the strong, pure English of our Bible, which, with the exception of some archaic words and forms, is as fresh and strong today as it ever was. These obsolete forms and meanings are not found in the American Standard Revised Version, and we are sure that our correspondent will delight in its study.