The Best Translation

Sometimes, whether writing for a blog, a periodical, a magazine or any venue that expects regular input, I find myself always thinking about what to say. There are things that I really want to write about, whether the articles ever get published or not. There are things that need to be written, whether anyone ever reads it or not. This creates a process where I become absorbed with what I “need”, or “want”, to say.

Sometimes I need to just listen, and hear what others have to say, and on occasion share what I’ve heard with others.

Such is the case with this article. This thought didn’t originate with me. I heard my father-in-law, Jim Cox, mention this point, almost as an aside, in a sermon this past Lord’s day. I think it is certainly worth sharing.

Over the last few years, I have become very interested in the Greek New Testament, and all the trappings that go with the question of how we got our English Bible.

I have been asked on numerous occasions my opinion on the “best” translation. I have researched, to some extent, many of the current versions and paraphrased versions, the old English Bibles that pre-date the King James Version, the Vulgate, the Septuagint, the two Greek texts that English versions are based on, and the five manuscripts that generated the two Greek texts. I have come to the conclusion that no single translation is the “best”. All have strengths and flaws, and all have their biases.

It is no coincidence that my recent passion has exposed me to the brilliance of Hugo McCord on the topic of Biblical language.

My answer to the question of “best” translation, prior to Sunday, would have been a combination of several versions, particularly the NKJV, NASB, RSV and NIV. Additionally, I use McCord’s Translation of the Everlasting Gospel. If I find agreement among three of these, I assume accurate translation. When questions arise, I go back to the Greek and stumble through, as best I can, before I ask others for opinions and search commentaries. That, I believed, was the best translation.

But, Sunday night, the question was put to me, and all in attendance…..

Wouldn’t the best translation of the Bible be the translation we make from page to life? From hearer to doer? Isn’t that the only translation to which many of our friends and neighbors will ever be exposed?

The “best” translation of the Bible? When the Bible is translated into the life of one of its readers. When the revelation of Jesus, the incarnate Word of God, is revealed in our daily lives. When others see Jesus in us.