Book Note: Archaic or Accurate? The translation of scripture and how we address God in praise and prayer--Thou or You?

From X post:

In confessional Reformed circles we often bemoan the decline of reverence and sobriety in corporate worship. In response we rightly appeal to and advocate for a return to the Protestant teaching and practice of the Regulative Principle of worship.

In addition, among English speakers, one wonders what has been the impact of declining use of reverential pronouns in addressing God? How was this decline been another result of the downgrade of many modern translations? This shift has, in fact, only been relatively recent.

Is it possible that we English speakers might make reverential pronouns “great again” in our prayers and sung praise?

I’ve been reading this little book Archaic or Accurate? The translation of the scriptures, and how we address God in praise and prayer—Thou or You? and have found it helpful. It is a collection of short articles on this theme from the Bible League Quarterly, edited by John Thackway. I commend it.

Here are a few samples from "Archaic or Accurate?": the opening paragraph to the book’s Foreword and the opening paragraph plus from one of its best short articles on “The Use of Thee and Thou in Prayer.”

Subscription to the Bible League Quarterly is a bargain. You can get the online version for just 5 pounds (less that 7 dollars) per year. Great devotional resource for all Christians and helpful sermon resource for pastors.

https://bibleleaguetrust.org/the-quarterly/

JTR

Note: On the translation/interpretation of Ephesians 4:12

From X post:

Believe it or not, I only rarely ever address issues related to text or translation of the Bible from the pulpit in my regular Lord’s Day preaching (given our church’s uniformity of practice), but yesterday I did briefly address the translation/interpretation of Ephesians 4:12 (listen to the sermon here). My notes:

There is a major question about how to translate Ephesians 4:12, and a big part of that involves a single comma.

The older Protestant translations, like the AV, generally list three things that the pastor-teachers are supposed to do:

“For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”

First, they are to labor at the “perfecting [maturing] of the saints.” Christ said, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). In Colossians 1:28 Paul said the goal of his ministry was, “that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.”

Second, they are to do the work of ministry. What is the work of ministry? We get an idea of this from Acts 6:4 when the apostles said they wanted to give themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word.

Third, they labor “for the edifying of the body of Christ.” They want to see the spiritual health, safety, and spiritual growth of God’s people.

In the 20^th century some translations removed the first comma and said Paul was saying the task of ministers was to equip all the saints for the work of ministry. Compare:

NIV: “to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up”

ESV: “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,”

It probably won’t surprise you to learn that I think the older translation is best. I think so for two reasons:

First, it reflects the grammar of the original Greek construction better. There are three distinct prepositional phrases (προς… εις… εις…).

Second, theologically and functionally it fits better the description elsewhere given of the special roles given to ministers.

The new translations reflect a modern egalitarian view. I remember growing up in SBC churches where the theme in many of those churches was “every member a minister.” To a certain degree that is true. All Christians are called to ministry. But not all are called to be pastors and teachers. See James 3:1: “My brethren, be not many master [teachers]….” And it is this special role that Paul is describing here.

JTR

WM 327: Scrivener Series.Part 1 of 3: Life of F. H. A. Scrivener (1813-1891)

 

JTR

WM 324: W. H. Auden: Stick to Cranmer and King James

 

JTR

Article: "Does the King James Version Wrongly Translate Acts 5:30?"

 

 

Jeffrey T. Riddle, "Does the King James Version Wrongly Translate Acts 5:30?" Bible League Quarterly, No. 499 (October-December, 2024): 22-28 [PDF Draft].

You can read it here on my academia.edu page.

JTR

Notes:

Draft PDF: Some spacing and tab adjustments needed. Corrections: P. 23 change "kremantes" to "kremasantes" in two places P. 25 add bold to RSV and NIV citations P. 26 remove duplicate of word "that" P. 27 change "constitutes" to "constitute" P. 28 change "causes" to "cause"

IN THE GAP with Will Odendall: Interview with Jeff Riddle on Bible Translations, etc.

 

JTR

Audio: The Translators to the Reader.Part 15: Reasons inducing us not to stand curiously upon an identity of phrasing

 

Last installment in this series: Translators to Reader.Part 15.

"Another thing we think good to admonish thee of, gentle Reader, that we have not tied ourselves to a uniformity of phrasing, or to an identity of words...."

JTR

Audio: The Translators to the Reader.Part 14: Reasons moving us to set diversity of senses in the margin, where there is great probability for each

 

"...it hath pleased God to scatter words and sentences of that difficulty and doubtfulness, not in doctrinal points that concern salvation... but in matters of less moment..."

JTR

Audio: The Translators to the Reader.Part 13: The purpose of the Translators, with their number, furniture, care, etc.

 

Here we find the famous statement that they saw no need to make a completely new translation, but "to make a good one better, or out of many good ones one principal good one."

JTR

Audio: The Translators to the Reader: An answer to the imputations of our adversaries

 

"...the very meanest translation of the Bible in English... containeth the word of God, nay, is the word of God..."

JTR

Audio: The Translators to the Reader.Part 11: A satisfaction to our brethren

 

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Audio: The Translators to the Reader.Part 10: The speeches and reasons, both of our brethren and of our adversaries, against this work

 

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Audio: The Translators to the Reader.Part 9: The unwillingness of our chief adversaries that the Scriptures should be divulged in the mother tongue, etc.

 

Part 9 attacks the Roman church's opposition to vernacular Bible translations:

"So much are they afraid of the light of the Scripture... that they will not trust the people with it...."

JTR

Audio: The Translators to the Reader.Part 8: The translating of the Scripture into the vulgar tongues

 

JTR

Audio: The Translators to the Reader.Part 7: Translation out of Hebrew and Greek into Latin

 

What did the AV translators think of Latin translations of the Bible (Old Latin and Vulgate)?

JTR

Audio: The Translators to the Reader.Part 6: The Translation of the Old Testament out of Hebrew into Greek

 

In section 6 of the KJV Preface, a robust Protestant view of Greek translations of the OT, including the LXX, is set forward. It provides much needed clarification for our day.

JTR

Audio: The Translators to the Reader.Part 5: Translation necessary

 

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Audio: The Translators to the Reader.Part 4: The praise of the Holy Scriptures

 

JTR

Note: Great insights in this section into Protestant Bibliology.

Audio: The Translators to the Reader.Part 2: The highest personages have been calumniated

 

JTR

Note: Parts One and Three are posted here. I forgot to post this episode to the blog when it was first recorded.

Audio: The Translators to the Reader.Part 3: His Majesty's constancy, notwithstanding calumniation, for the survey of the English translations

 

JTR