In my article of last week several reasons were given as to why we should feel reasonably certain that we have the expressed will of our Father in the English versions of the Bible. The editor of the Sunday School Times well says: "It is not the Bible that is being revised; it is man's fallible translations from one human language into another that are capable of constant improvement in order to better convey the Father's message." This is the great object of every worthy translation, to enable us better to understand what God has said to us in the originals.
In the article of last week the following English translations and versions were noted: the Wyclif Bible, in 1382; Tyndale's Bible, 1535; the Coverdale Bible, 1535; Matthew's Bible, 1537; Taverner's Bible, 1539; the Great, or Crammer's, Bible, 1539; the Geneva Bible (the first printed in Roman with divided verses, popular for more than half a century), 1560; the Bishop's Bible, 1569; the "Authorized Version" 1611. This last was never authorized by any one; it came into general use because it was the better translation. Since that time there have been many translations of the New Testament, and a number of the Old Testament. The latest translations of note are the Revised Version of 1885 and the American Standard Revised Version of 1901. Of these two the latter is confessedly the better. Some of the reasons for this are as follows:
1. The revisers had a longer time to perfect their work and consult the very latest authorities in language and text.
2. The American Revisers sought to correct as far as they could all inaccurate translations. Note this in 1 Tim. 6:10, in "The love of money is the root of all evil," or as in the A. R. V., "The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil." In 1 Cor. 11:27, compare "unworthily" as in the common version with "in an unworthy manner" as in the A. R. V. The latter version substitutes "boil" for "seethe;" "crime" instead of "fault" in John 18:38. There are many instances similar.
3. The Personal God, the Ever-living God, the Covenant God, the God of Revelation, the Friend of His People, is designated by the memorial name "Jehovah." The common version renders it "LORD" and "GOD," and printed in small capitals. How much more means to us the very name by which God revealed Himself to His children!
4. Some have gathered the idea that the Holy Ghost and the Holy Spirit are quite distinct; the A. R. V. renders the original by the Holy Spirit, as facts warrant, more uniform and expressive.
5. Some words in our common version are now obsolete; for instance, the "meat offering" had no flesh about it, and is properly rendered in the A. R. V., "meal offering." The Israelites did not "borrow" from their Egyptian neighbors, but "asked" of them the various things named, and so the A. R. V. has "asked." The word "let" formerly meant to "hinder," "restrain," while now it means permit, allow. The A. R. V. renders restrain.
6. The American Revision is much more uniform. For instance, in the common version three words are, in the New Testament, indiscriminately rendered "hell," namely, tartarus, gehenna, hades, with nothing to show that they do not all mean the same thing. But the A. R. V. renders the first two terms by the word "hell," with the original word in the margin, and transliterates the third term, hades, equivalent to the Hebrew term sheol in the Old Testament, which is also transliterated and transferred but not translated. The reader of the American Revision knows at a glance whether the reference is to the state of the dead, both righteous and wicked, or to the place of future punishment—gehenna.
7. All the dignity, solemnity, and beauty of style of the common version is retained, and often enhanced. It represents the best scholarship of the ages in an honest attempt to translate the word of God into the beautiful language of every-day life; and it ought to be prized above all other translations. There is none better save one, and that is the translation which the Spirit of God makes upon the heart and mind and in the experience of the devoted Christian; but that, too, is only safe as compared with the written word. In every reading we prize the American Standard Revised Version more and more.