On God's Revelation: And its Implications on how we Understand Textual Criticism

Two Main Philosophies of Transmission

The two main philosophies of transmission are formal and functional equivalence.  The question at play is how much emphasis to put on the original language and how much emphasis to place on the receptor language as well as how much impact historical distance has on the two languages (Fee and Stuart, 2003).

Formal Equivalence

According to Fee and Stuart (2003) formal equivalence is “the attempt to keep as close to the ‘form’ of the Hebrew and Greek…as can be conveniently be put into understandable English” (p. 41).  The original language trumps the receptor language, and historical distance is downplayed.  The original form is more important than a highly functional translation.  It’s not good enough to have the same basic message, the actual language has to be as close as possible.

Functional Equivalence

Functional equivalence is “the attempt to keep the meaning of the Hebrew or Greek but to put their words and idioms into what would be the normal way of saying the same thing in English” (Fee and Stuart, 2003, p. 41).  Functional equivalence places a higher priority on the readability of the translation than keeping the original form.  Bridging the historical distance is a high priority.

Theology

Multiple theological issues are at play in these philosophies of transmission, but the issue of how one understands God’s revelation comes to the forefront.  Is the revelation of God “dead” so that He is only revealed though the original worlds of the Bible?  Is there only one message from each passage of the Bible?  Or, is God still actively revealing Himself and is His message from scripture fresh and unique for each recipient?  The way we answer these questions will largely impact which philosophy of transmission we adopt as our own. 

Implications of Preservation of Original wording

The issue of God’s revelation and each philosophy has implications God’s concern from preserving the original text.  If we believe that God’s revelation is unique and the clarity of the personal message of utmost importance, then God is more concerned with the recipient.  On the other hand, if we believe that God’s revelation begins and ends with the original text, then we must believe that God cares first and foremost about preserving the original text.

Our conclusions have a lot to say about what translation of the bible to read.  The more personal and dynamic we see the God’s revelation through scripture the more we focus on the recipient.  This will lead us to a functional, or perhaps even free translation. 

Fee, G.D and Stuart, D. (2003).  How to read the Bible for all its worth (3^rd Ed).  Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.    

My Resolution...Do Less...Trust God More

“He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.” – John 3:30

⁵ But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us. ⁶ For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love. – Galatians 5:5 & 6 

"Can I tell you something without you getting offended?"  

When the bedtime silence is broken by a question like this from my wife I automatically get defensive, but I cautiously asked her to proceed.  

She went on to share her observations and feelings, that my life was far too much about myself, and not nearly enough about God.  Her comments were something along the lines of, "It seems like something is missing, that your answer to life is to try harder.  If you try hard to be a good father, and good husband, a good church worker, that everything will be OK.  I don't see you looking to God.  I see you desperately trying to be good enough."

Crap!  She was right, she had figured me out.  The truth was I had really felt convicted about that very thing weeks ago.  Her observations were a poke in my eye.  They told me that I hadn't done enough to solve the problem...there I go again.  I went right back to trying hard and solving the problem.  But our relationship with God doesn't work like that.  

Faith in God is about trust, about letting go, ultimately about doing less.  I'm not going to be able to solve this with a little elbow grease.  I think this realization led Martin Luther to say "I'm too busy not to pray."  

I could easily make a resolution to spend x amount of minutes each morning in prayer, or read x amount of chapters from the bible each day, but that just becomes another thing to check off my list of things to do, another attempt at trying harder.    

Instead, I resolve to be less, to trust God more.  I resolve to rely less on myself.  I resolve to wait for God to transform me, rather than try harder to be better.  I resolve to trust God to show me what that looks like in my life, instead of adding a list of practices to adopt.  I resolve to ask God to help me in my duties as a husband, a father, and a full-time minister.  

Maybe you feel led to make a similar resolution.