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.