The Light of the World, The Light of the Life, The Logos of the Deity

The Logos

Jesus Christ is the Logos of the Deity in human form. This Logos, spoken to us by the Messiah, gives us an introduction to the Logic of the Father Deity: His Rationale, His Reasoning, the Way He Thinks: His Logic. It soon becomes apparent that the Logic of the Deity is completely opposite to Human Logic. As we become doers of this Divine Rationale, we prove its efficacy and everything begins to change for us: our thinking, our attitudes, our actions and ultimately our abilities.

New Testament Translation Problems

This menu deals solely with the Greek New Testament and the problems we find in its translations.

Most translations these days are a compromise between what the translator believes the text says and readable English. Unfortunately, neither aspect produces an accurate translation. Translation should be a process of putting in English what is actually in the Greek. This, of course, is not without its difficulties.

After spending many years studying the Greek of the NT, the prime overall concern I have with translations is inconsistency. By that I mean Greek words are not treated consistently. I discovered that translators, without any hint to the reader, leave out of the English, words present in the Greek; add words to the English not present in the Greek; translate the same Greek word by numerously different and oftentimes unrelated English words; apply the same English word to several different Greek words; and, for no apparent reason, interfere with verb tense and voice. Surely, if Jesus referring to the text of the OT says in Mt 5:18 …not one letter or stroke shall pass from the law until all is accomplished AND again says in Mt 24:35 …Heaven and earth shall pass away but my words (logos) will not pass away, we can safely assume that the same would apply to all God-breathed writings and that we should not change it.

Let’s consider these issues in turn.
Firstly, leaving out of the English, words present in the Greek AND adding words to the English not present in the Greek.
This problem is exemplified numerous times by one tiny word which is of supreme importance. It is the word “the”, otherwise called the definite article. Scholars put it in, when it is not in the Greek and leave it out, when it is present in the Greek. This happens so many times in the NT, it is disturbing. Since the God IS the author of scripture, He presumably has a reason for including “the” in some places and leaving it out in others. Of course, if we don’t accept that He is the author, we can treat scripture text like any other writing and translate as we would any secular text, being free to make changes as the translator thought necessary. However, this web site shows beyond reasonable doubt that the God is the author of scripture and therefore we must treat it with the utmost respect by putting into English what is actually in the Greek. A classic example is given in the term used to describe Jesus as the Son of God, when in fact the Greek numerous times has the Son of the God. Much more could be said here regarding the definite article but it has already been mentioned many times in other articles under the Discoveries menu on this web site.

Secondly, translating the same Greek word by numerously different and oftentimes unrelated English words.
A good example of this is the Greek word λογος (transliterated logos), arguably the most important word in the NT because Jesus is called The Logos of the God. It is translated some 25 different ways in the KJV Bible and three times it is not translated at all. The following is a list of those 25 ways in the KJV:
account, cause, communication/s, concerning, doctrine, fame, intent, matter, mouth, preaching, question, reason, reckoneth, rumour, saying/s, shew, speaker, speech, talk, thing/s, tidings, treatise, utterance, word/s, work, and three times not translated in Acts 20.2, 1Cor 15.2 and Heb 4.13.

As you can see, there is tremendous difference in meaning between some of these words yet a Greek person reading the NT only reads the one word, logos, in its various grammatical forms. How can anyone justify translating the same word as fame and work or mouth and concerning or intent and matter.
There is however a single English word which does convey the Greek word’s meaning, the English word, reasoning or reckoning. The logos of God is the reasoning of God, the reckoning of God, in essence, the logic of God, though this logic is not at all like our human logic.

Some object to this thinking by saying that one is to derive the meaning of words from their present context. This denies that the words themselves have their own meaning. Such denial is contrary to all languages. Without doubt, the words themselves do have inherent meaning and that these meanings together in a sentence determine the context of that sentence, not the other way round.

Thirdly, applying the same English word to two or more different Greek words.
The best example of this is written about under the Other Discoveries menu on this web site. The title of the document is called, Wrong KJV Translation gives Wrong Thinking. This is about using the word “world”, (κοσμος in the Greek), to translate the word “age”, (αιων in the Greek). The error leads one to think that the verses are talking about the world coming to an end, when in fact they are talking about an age coming to an end. This example is only the tip of this problem in the KJV and the NKJV Bibles, but these are not the only versions guilty of this mistake.

Fourthly, interfering with verb tense and voice.
Verb tense is still a hotly debated topic amongst scholars and will not be commented upon here, except to provide a document which, I my opinion, is far and away the best explanation of the aorist tense. However there should not be any excuse for getting verb voice incorrect. I give one example here where the Greek is in the passive voice yet it is always translated in the active voice. Both John 8.59 and 12.36 tells us that Jesus “hid Himself”. This is the active voice, clearly implying that Jesus himself was the doer of the hiding. However, the Greek is in the passive voice and it should be translated “was hidden” which clearly implies that Jesus was NOT the doer of the hiding but that someone else was. Now some may consider this an irrelevant point and changes the meaning little. The point is we DO have a different understanding of the verse if we put it in the passive. This may not mean much to us at first glance but when combined with the actions of God’s spirit in other verses we see a clear picture of the way that the Father God worked inside Jesus. Apart from all this, we should put it in the form given us by Almighty God because that is the way He wrote it.

To finalise this brief introduction to The Problem with NT Translations, I have given just three more examples where consistency of translation is lacking.
1. Let’s look at a specific example which I think adequately shows the need for consistency in translation. Consider Matt. 12.36-37 in the NASB ”And I say unto you, that every idle WORD that men shall speak, they shall give ACCOUNT thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy WORDS thou shalt be justified, and by thy WORDS thou shalt be condemned.
One might be forgiven for thinking that the three bolded and uppercase words in blue were derived from the same Greek word but in fact they are not. The first occurrence of “word” is the Greek, ρημα, (rhema), while the latter two occurrences are λογος, (logos). But that is not the end of it, there’s more! The word ACCOUNT is also the Greek word λογος, (logos) and all this confusion within just two verses.

On the basis of the translation above, one would think that we shall be justified or condemned according to the idle words we speak but that is not what these verses are saying. Listen to what it is really saying:
“And I say unto you, that every idle utterance that men shall speak, they shall give back reasoning for it in the day of judgment. For by your reasoning you shalt be justified, and by your reasoning you shalt be condemned.”
This puts a whole different slant on Jesus’ statement.

2. Let’s look at another example, Mk 11.22, the last part of which is usually translated “… Have faith in God.” This is not what the Greek says, for it clearly states, “… Have God’s faith.” This is a monumental difference in meaning and especially as Christ encourages us to have it.

3. The last example shows the significant difference in meaning between two Greek words where one is derived from the other. The two words are εχω, (echo) and απεχω, (apecho).
Echo means to have or to hold:- no arguments there. Apecho is a compound word that is composed of two parts απο, (apo), a preposition meaning away or away from, and the second part, echo, which we have already seen means to have or to hold. Combined, it means to have or hold away. Considering every use of this word in the NT, it has the very clear meaning of to distance from oneself, i.e. to hold away from oneself. In most translations, Phil. 4:18 says: But I have all things, and abound…. The word translated “have” is not correct here. The text should read: I distance all, and abound. When correctly translated, we see the beauty of God’s supply for Paul and how this fits in with the words of Jesus.

My point in all this is, that consistent translation is very important. The problem we have in maintaining consistency when translating the Greek into English is finding the English word with as broad or narrow a meaning as the Greek word has. This is sometimes very difficult.

Many more examples of these issues could be given. Some are already mentioned under the menu Other Discoveries.

Wisdom is a tree of Life to all who take hold of her; and blessed are they that hold her fast.
(Proverbs 3:18)