Decision day looms for NIV Bible readers

By David Daniels and ChristianWeek | January 1, 2011

Churches that shelled out major dollars outfitting their churches with NIV pew Bibles are facing a dilemma. Do they stick with the 1984 version that will no longer be published when the revised NIV goes to press this spring, or will they invest the monies required to upgrade?

But the question may be deeper than the dollars involved. Given the contentious arrival of the Today's New International Version (TNIV) published in 2005, with its major quest toward gender neutrality, some are wondering if the NIV2011 is little more than a re-packaged TNIV.

While the uproar over the TNIV's gender-driven revisions was significant, it would, according to Mike Stallard, theology professor at Baptist Bible Seminary (Clark's Summit, Pennsylvania), be misguided to place too much focus on the NIV2011's quest for gender neutrality. He says other recent translations have also moved in the same direction, including the New Revised Standard Version (1989); New Century Version (1987, 1991); Contemporary English Version (1995); New Living Translation (1996); and–wait for it–the English Standard Version. That the ESV made his list is significant given that many people associated with that version were adamantly opposed to many of the translation decisions in the TNIV.
Stallard believes much of the furor over the TNIV was likely due to it having been an update to the most popular modern English translation in use today.

I have used the NIV for public ministry since 1990, and like those churches that put NIV Bibles in their pews, I must also decide whether or not to embrace the new revision. Though I've always had some uneasiness with the guiding philosophy behind the NIV, dynamic or functional equivalence, I have nevertheless enjoyed using the NIV while inwardly favouring the formal equivalence philosophy of translation, the guiding principle behind the ESV.

Because I am not a linguist, translator or textual critic, I must form my views based upon the case made by those who are specialists in translation theory generally, and Bible translation particularly. I read their arguments, weigh their points and come to the best decision that I can. But in working through the growing mountain of paper (and electronic text) around the question–the relative merits of functional equivalence (NIV) or formal equivalence (ESV), I am reminded of the words of the wisdom writer: â€œThe first to present his case seems right, till another comes forward and questions him" (Proverbs 18:17 NIV).

After all that I've read and pondered to date, it seems that Bruce Metzger best distills the discussion to one basic question facing every translator. He says: â€œBasically there are two competing theories of translation. In one the predominant purpose is to express as exactly as possible the full force and meaning of every word and turn of phrase in the original, and in the other the predominant purpose is to produce a result that does not read like a translation at all, but that moves in its new dress with the same ease as in its native rendering.

â€œOf course in the hands of good translators neither of these two approaches can ever be entirely ignored. The question is merely which should come first, and which second, in the translator's mind; and when the two are in conflict and it is therefore necessary to choose between them, the question is which side is to be sacrificed" (Metzger, Bibliotheca Sacra, April-June, 1993, p.140).

The Metzger quote comes from a superb four-part series called â€œTranslating the Bible: An Ongoing Task," published in Bibliotheca Sacra (Vol. 150, Issues 597-600, 1993). In that series, delivered by Metzger for the 1992 W.H. Griffith Thomas Lectures at Dallas Theological Seminary, he surveys important early Bible translations; examines theories of the translation process; reveals persistent problems facing Bible translators; and discusses present and future English translations of the Bible. I highly recommend this series for anyone interested in the history and practice of Bible translation.

Those waiting to see the updated NIV before making a decision can peruse the revised text online at www.biblica.com or www.biblegateway.com.

At www.biblegateway.com/niv/executive-summary you can find an introductory video clip regarding the updated NIV from Douglas Moo, chair of the Committee on Bible Translation, the group responsible for the text of the NIV. This page also contains a link to the translators' notes for the updated NIV, which are well worth reading.

And for those so inclined, there is a fabulous online tool at www.biblewebapp.com/niv2011-changes that tracks and compares all the textual changes between the NIV (1984), TNIV (2005), and NIV (2011).