Off topic: Bible translations
If one thing annoys me about the modern church, it is its tendency to rifle through every obscure Bible translation and paraphrase until a unique combination of words in a particular verse makes just the right point in just the right way. When I was a child, I heard the majestic language of The King James Version read in church, and I memorized Bible verses in King James English. Later, when I could read and understand for myself, I turned to the New American Standard Bible, which updated most of the obsolete vocabulary while retaining much of the KJV's poetic power. I never have liked the NIV, though I can appreciate its mission to make scripture more accessible to those who are uncomfortable with the KJV and also to those who have never read the Bible before. I'm not qualified to comment on the accuracy of any particular translation. I can only say what I prefer (I've really been getting into the English Standard Version lately), and I respect the preferences of others in choosing a translation that fits their style of learning.
Even so, I find that I have an intense dislike of paraphrases. They remind me of a fellow student in a Shakespeare class I took in college. He drew great pleasure from reducing the Bard's flowery language into the coarsest language he could summon. For example, he once read the lines:
But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief,
That thou her maid art far more fair than she:
Be not her maid, since she is envious;
Her vestal livery is but sick and green
And none but fools do wear it; cast it off.
And then he said, "So, in other words, Romeo's saying 'Juliet! Take off your clothes! I'm horny!'" I got a sick feeling just hearing him talk. I get a similar feeling when I read things like: "This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life (John 3:16, The Message)." I grant that it's not nearly as crass as my obnoxious classmate, but neither is it as elegant or as credible as "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (KJV)."
So I cringed when I read Jeff's recent post in which he included the full text of I Corinthians chapter 13 from The Message. It's such a beautiful passage about the nature of pure love, with layers of meaning I've only just begun to fathom. Whenever I feel like I'm flailing around, not knowing God's will, not feeling like my spiritual gifts and good intentions amount to anything, this chapter lifts my spirits and focuses my perspective. When I was in high school, I memorized the whole thing from the NASB. When I read The Message's version in Jeff's post, I just kept thinking, "This is an interesting take on it, but it's just not right." So I reread the chapter in the NASB in an effort to refresh my memory on the "right" way for the passage to read.
It wasn't like I remembered it. There were parts of it that I didn't particularly care for, parts that I would have written differently had it been up to me. But like I said, I'm not qualified to testify to the accuracy of any given translation. All I can say for certain is which translation communicates best to me. In the case of I Corinthians 13, I find that no single translation forms a cohesive whole that connects with my thought patterns. So I gained sort of a new respect, or at least an uneasy acceptance, of paraphrases. I also opened my mind a little more and took a strong dose of spiritual humility.
In any event, here is my own version of the Bible's love chapter. It is mostly NASB, but it has touches of KJV, NKJV, ESV, and my own sensibilities.
If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly, seeks not her own, is not easily provoked, believes no evil; does not wallow in depravity, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails. But where there are heavenly secrets, they will be revealed. Where there are tongues, they will fall silent. Where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.
When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see our Lord in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. I know only in part; but in that day I shall know fully even as I also am fully known.
Now and forever we all have faith, hope, and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Update: Rey brought to my attention that The Message is not a paraphrase in the strictest sense. The NavPress.com Web site says that "It is probably most accurately called a 'translation of tone' or a 'paraphrase from the original languages.'" See the Web site for a more thorough explanation of how it came to be.
