Translating God’s Word – Sample Verses
In recent weeks we have looked at three major types of transactions – essentially literal (word for word), dynamic equivalence (thought for thought), and paraphrase. Today I will look at two verses, using four translations: the NASB (one of the strictest ‘essentially’ literal translations, the NIV (one of the more strict of the dynamic equivalence translations), the New Living Translation (one of the looser of the dynamic equivalence translations), and the Message Bible (the most popular paraphrase).
The first verse is 2 Corinthians 5:14 –
NASB – For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died;
NIV – For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.
NLT – Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life.
Message – Christ’s love has moved me to such extremes. His love has the first and last word in everything we do. Our firm decision is to work from this focused center: One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat.
Notice that in the NASB it says the love of Christ controls us. But is this Christ’s love for us, or our love of Christ? Either is possible in the original Greek – and the NASB translators have therefore left it ambiguous in their translation. Notice that the NIV and the NLT have made a decision – it is Christ’s love for us that compels or controls us. The dynamic equivalence translations have removed the ambiguity and are thus easier to read – but the other possibility is simply not even presented. Finally, the Message Bible has not only made the decision that it is Christ’s love that compels us – it goes to great lengths to describe what that means. The rendering “Christ’s love has moved me to such extremes. His love has the first and last word in everything we do” is certainly fresh and arresting – but is not what Paul actually wrote.
The second verse is 1 Corinthians 7:27 –
NASB – Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be released. Are you released from a wife? Do not seek a wife.
NIV – Are you married? Do not seek a divorce. Are you unmarried? Do not look for a wife.
NLT – If you have a wife, do not seek to end the marriage. If you do not have a wife, do not seek to get married.
Message – Are you married? Stay married. Are you unmarried? Don’t get married.
In this passage, Paul is speaking about different states related to marriage. Notice that in the NASB he speaks twice of being “released” from a wife. The same word is used in both places the NASB has translated “released”. The NIV and NLT translate the first of these as “divorce” or “end the marriage”, but the second time they translate it as “unmarried” or “do not have a wife.” This opens the possibility that the person being spoken to is not divorced but simply has never been married. But the words used do not let the English reader know that it is actually the same word as in the first part of the verse. However, the translation “released” is certainly not normal English and is much more ambiguous. Finally, The Message turns the negative command “Do not seek to be released/divorced” into a positive command “Stay married.” In this case, however, it translates the second occurrence of the same word as “unmarried” – which at least gives a hint it might be related to the words in the first part of the verse.
In this brief overview I am not trying to say which translation is “correct” – I am simply letting us see how the different translation theories work out in practice. Such examples could be multiplied many times over. That is why it is important for us to understand which theory was used to produce each translation so that we can take that into account when we encounter differences between the various translations we may read.
In future posts, we will look at how we can choose and effectively use the wonderful variety of English translations available to us today.
In Christ,
Bret