Shakespeare or Scripture: Can you tell which is which?

How close is the language of the King James Version of the Bible to the language of the works of Shakespeare?

Very close.

Shakespeare wrote his great works during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and King James VI (of Scotland) and I (of UK). In fact, King James became a patron of the bard who renamed his acting crewing “The King’s Men.”

This is, of course, the same King James who authorized a new translation of the Scriptures into Elizabethan English. Wild speculative rumours suggest that William Shakespeare even helped in the translation. Did the bard encode his name into his translation of Psalm 46? (Count to the 46th word, “shake,” then count from the end of the psalm back to the 46th word, “spear,” then tell me what you make of that.) Personally, I doubt it. There is a lack of any solid historical evidence for Shakespeare being on the KJV translation team. But, still, since the King James Version of the Bible was composed during the same era as the great plays of Shakespeare, it can be hard discern whether a particular phrase is from Shakespeare or from the Scriptures. Don’t believe me? Try this quiz: The Bible or the Bard? 
Be sure to post your score in the Comments section! I scored 90% ;)  See what you can do. You might be surprised as just how tough it is!

And there’s the point I want to make… There’s a lot to be said for clarity. The King James Version is too old to be useful today. We need to hear God speak to us clearly through his Word and thus we need a good contemporary translation written in today’s English. We should not expect God to speak to us today in the 400 year-old language of Shakespeare which most of us had a tough enough time with in high school English! God has called able men and women to produce good contemporary translations of the Scriptures. I look forward to the updated NIV. In the meantime, take the quiz and post your score! :)

From the King James Version of the Bible to Today’s NIV: There’s a lot to be said for clarity

Recently I asked my good friend Andy if he might be willing to share on this blog his experience of discovering the benefits of reading Today’s New International Version (TNIV) of the Bible. Hear him out. I love what Andy says about this experience.

Andy: Having always maintained the King James Version was the Bible for me, I had been using it for forty years and was very reluctant to accept any other version until I was introduced to the TNIV—no small chore I might add. In conversing with a chap via email, I found my friend, Ken, always quoted from the TNIV (Today’s New International Version). I in turn used the KJV but this friend kept challenging me to try the TNIV and at times got into some serious debate regarding scriptural passages. I decided I would use the TNIV to back up my position on several issues just to prove that I was as comfortable in either version. 

Ken: Plus, Andy may have gotten tired of me replying to his emails by asking if he always spoke in Elizabethan English or if he only sounded that way when he was typing emails which included quotes from the KJV. Was he debating me or Shakespeare? If me, then I wanted to let him know that while I could understand his old English, it seemed odd to me. I’d ask Andy if he really was old enough to speak this archaic form of English. For me this issue comes down to a simple principle. I believe there’s a lot to be said for clarity.

Ken: I think my friend Andy would agree—there’s a lot to be said for clarity. Sometimes reading the Bible may leave us puzzling like the man in the Clarica commercial, but I don’t think we should be puzzling over what the English words mean. Let’s puzzle over what God’s Word meant back then and what it means to us today. In trying to show me he could be just as comfortable in the TNIV as in the KJV, I think Andy may have discovered that even he was more comfortable in today’s English.  And in my mind, that only makes sense. Even Shakespearean scholars do not go about their daily lives speaking Elizabethan English.

Andy: Since then I have purchased two copies of the TNIV so my wife and I would be on the same page when we have our devotions. We are very near completing the OT and look forward to commencing with the NT. One major note is that it is much easier reading in 21st century English.
    I have encouraged another friend of mine to obtain a copy of the TNIV as well. I highly recommend the TNIV to complement any serious Bible student’s library and not to gather dust but make use of it for study. This now is my study Bible even though when I read passages in it, I keep my KJV handy for reference.

Ken: After 40 years of use, I understand this, but I also know that Andy presents his ideas from Scripture with greater clarity and precision today. I’m very happy for Andy and his wife. God’s Word was not ever meant to sound “old.” God speaks to us in our own language and idiom. When you think about this, it really is odd that we would expect God to speak to us only in Elizabethan era English. From every indication we have in the Bible, God spoke the language of the people of the day: the Hebrew of Genesis is different than the Hebrew of Habakkuk, certainly different than the Aramaic chapters of Daniel, and the Greek of John’s Gospel is markedly different than the Greek of the Epistle to the Hebrews. The King James Only movement seems to misunderstand the very nature of language: it is always changing. And good Bible translation is always about making God’s Word clear in today’s language.

Before you go out and buy a new TNIV Bible like my friend Andy, I should let you know there’s big news. The TNIV is out of print (discounted sales possible) and so is the NIV. Why? They are about to publish the NIV 2011, but they’d prefer we just call it an updated NIV (which I suspect is actually a revised and updated TNIV). Here’s part of what the Committee on Bible Translation had to say about this updated NIV:

Since its first emergence as a complete text in 1978, the New International Version (NIV) has stood as the modern pioneer of a different approach — an approach that mirrors the balance of priorities held by the KJV translators four hundred years ago. The NIV tries to bring its readers as close as possible to the experience of the original audience: providing the best possible blend of transparency to the original documents and comprehension of the original meaning in every verse. The NIV is founded on the belief that if hearing God’s Word the way it was written and understanding it the way it was meant were the hallmarks of the original reading experience, then accuracy in translation demands that neither one of these two criteria be prioritized above the other.

Built upon this philosophy, the NIV has experienced much the same reaction in the church and beyond as its beloved predecessor whose values it seeks to emulate. Thirty years after its first publication there are more than four hundred million NIV Bibles in print.

But, unlike its predecessor, the NIV was designed from the very start with a built-in mechanism to defy the attritional effects of time. Since 1978, the NIV translation team has continued to meet, year after year, reviewing developments in biblical scholarship and changes in English usage — revising the translation to ensure that it continues to offer its readers an experience that mirrors that of the original audience, and periodically releasing those revisions in updated editions of the text… A lengthy revision process was completed in 2005, resulting in the separately published Today’s New International Version (TNIV). The new 2011 updated NIV builds on both the original NIV and the TNIV and represents the latest effort of the Committee on Bible Translation (CBT) to articulate God’s unchanging Word in the way the original authors might have said it if they had been speaking in English to the global English-speaking audience today.

The new updated NIV won’t be available in print until 2011, but you can check it out now at Bible Gateway.  You’ll find that from this point on at this blog, I will be quoting from the NIV by default, except as always, I will quote from an alternative translation when I feel it captures the sense of the passage better. I take seriously the responsibility to always do my best to make clear what God’s Word is really saying to us. In light of what Andy has shared with us, I look forward to the positive impact the updated NIV will have on people today.

What are your thoughts on Bible translations? Has anyone else made the move from the King James Version to NIV or TNIV or NLT? If you want to know more about my evaluation of Bible translations for today, please see my post Fresh Strawberries.
Andy has indicated that he would be happy to respond to any comments as would I.

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John 3:16, The Christian Message in One Sentence

I was cheering on the Toronto Blue Jays last Saturday at the Rogers Centre. They won against the Baltimore Orioles in overtime. I must confess that not even once was I tempted to bring along a huge bristol board sign saying "JOHN 3:16." Yet apparently many Christians do this.

Call me a skeptic. I've always thought it a bit crazy. People go to baseball games to watch baseball. And even if they see your "John 3:16" sign, what do you expect them to make of it? How are genuine non-Christians supposed to know what "John 3:16" means? Won't they just be annoyed if your block their view of the game with your impressive marker-drawn-the-night-before sign?

Well, isn't it great when you realize that an old dog can learn new tricks? Or, better, when a Christian can realize their trying to contain the new wine of Christ in an old wineskin? A friend directed me to a blog which had a posting which actually changed my mind about this matter of John 3:16 on signs at sports events! Maybe the blogger can change your mind too! Here's some of what he posted.

John 3:16 and Sports
Pick just about any large professional or collegiate sporting event, football, baseball, basketball, you name it. You're likely to see someone with a sign of John 3:16....

In 2009 the Florida Gators played the Oklahoma Sooners at the Orange Bowl for the national championship. Florida's quarterback, Tim Tebow, lead the Gators to a 24-14 victory, capturing the 2008 national title.
    Like many college and professional football players, Tim Tebow wears eye black to reduce the light glare that can impede seeing an airborne football. Unlike most players, Tim boldly professes his faith in Christ by applying scripture to his eye black. Tebow, the 2007 Heisman Trophy Winner, often sports Philippians 4:13, which reads, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."  
    On January 8, 2009, at the Orange Bowl before a national audience, the message on Tim Tebow's eyeblack was John 3:16. The following morning, Google reported that John 3:16 was the #1 ranked Hot Trends search.

There's MUCH more to the blog posting, I recommend it to you (click on the title or here), it's fascinating reading. You see I was skeptical about any non-Christian finding meaning in a JOHN 3:16 sign, but the Internet changes the game! If you Google "John 3 16" it will bring up some pretty good material, great stuff that I would recommend to anyone interested in searching to find out more about the Christian faith. After all, John 3:16 is the Christian message in one sentence. Look what happened according to Google Trends on the night of the Orange Bowl. Google searches of "John 3 16" rapidly spiked from almost 0 to what they call "volcanic" hotness! People were checking out John 3:16 to see why Tim Tebow had it on his eye black. It worked! He got the Christian message out there! Fans realized this great athlete was a Christian who had a message to share with them. Who am I to fault Tim Tebow? Google also reports a spike in news media covering "John 3:16" as a result of Tebow's eye black message. How about that? You don't know any Christian preachers who can make John 3:16 a major news item, do you?

While searching the Google results for "John 3 16" I realized there are older dogs out there than me, ones that bark far more critically. Apparently some Christians can't accept that John 3:16 is good news for everyone! I would advise them to standby, Christ is about to burst their wineskins! God loves "the world" and everyone in it! This is a distinctly Christian idea which John 3:16 states so well, that God's love embraces everyone regardless of nation or race.

John 3:16 is actually making a bold statement about the extent of God's love; God loved so much that he gave. And what he gave is that which was most important to him, his only Son. It's not about our religious quest or striving to be spiritual, it's about discovering God's love and trusting in his Son. One sentence!

Without further hesitation... how about we look at what that one sentence of John 3:16 says? And, yes, of course I want to give it to you in a bold, fresh, contemporary English translation:

“God’s love for the world is so overwhelming that even giving up his own Son was not too great a cost to ensure that no one need succumb to death. All those who put their trust in him can have boundless life instead.” (laughingbird.net translation)

Many friends have been surprised when I tell them that John 3:16 should not be in red letters or in "quotation marks" making it look like the actual words of Jesus. The NIV puts it that way, but if you look closely at the chapter, you'll see that a shift happens in verse 16. Old-time New Testament scholar Leon Morris said it well: "It would seem that the Evangelist [John], as he records Jesus' words about His [coming] death, is led to some reflections of his own..." Up until this verse, Jesus refers to himself in his customary way, "Son of Man." Here in 3:16, we hear John using one of his unique expressions, "one and only Son" (see John 1:14). It's good that John is speaking because he makes clear what Jesus' words up this point (John 3:1-15) mean to us. Jesus' death and resurrection change everything. He offers us the power to change, to experience new life, essentially to be "born again." And that happens by accepting God's love, trusting in God's Son and finding this new life through relationship with Jesus.

"Lord, give us eyes to see JOHN 3:16. As so many people have experienced life change and found themselves rescued by Christ when they believed the words of John 3:16, so we pray that many more would do so in our day." We can't all get the message out their with a "volcanic" hotness Google rating, but surely we can find some way to communicate this message. Can't we?

Easter REDUX

Year by year, the truth behind the Christian celebration of Easter, the very heart of Christianity, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, is being progressively challenged. An Easter Redux is underway. Christians be warned!

Richard Dawkins, the scientist, author and campaigning atheist was asked, “What do you think happened to the body of Jesus, and how does that tally with the accounts of the resurrection?” Dawkins answered, “Presumably what happened to Jesus was what happens to all of us when we die. We decompose. Accounts of Jesus's resurrection and ascension are about as well-documented as Jack and the Beanstalk.” (The Independent)

Surprisingly, Juan Garces, British Museum Library curator of the Codex Sinaiticus Project, who should know better adds support to this popular endeavour to rewrite the story behind Easter. When he was interviewed about “the world's oldest Bible,” this is what the Associated Press article claimed:

Handwritten in Greek more than 1,600 years ago -- it isn't exactly clear where -- the surviving 400 or so pages carry a version of the New Testament that has a few interesting differences from the Bible used by Christians today.

The Gospel of Mark ends abruptly after Jesus' disciples discover his empty tomb, for example. Mark's last line has them leaving in fear.

“It cuts out the post-resurrection stories,” said Juan Garces, “That's a very odd way of ending a Gospel.”

The problem here is that Garces was commenting on one gospel; the Bible has four and the other three definitely have all the post-resurrection accounts. Unfortunately, many people have run with Garces' words and understood him to be saying the world's oldest Bible does not document the resurrection. So The Times in London reports, “Mark’s last line has them leaving in fear and makes no mention of the Resurrection.” Or a couple days after the AP news release, Irma Arkus in the Hi-Sci-Fi blog writes,

One interesting fact about Codex Sinaiticus is that one of Christian cornerstone beliefs, the story of resurrection of Jesus is not mentioned. Instead, the story simply describes disciples finding an empty burial tomb, and leaving in fear. This implies that the “resurrection” was addended by later generations of followers.

Let's be clear with the facts. The Gospels of Matthew, Luke and John in the Codex all contain resurrection and post-resurrection accounts. And the claim that the Sinaiticus Gospel of Mark does not mention the resurrection is actually false. I affirm that the Gospel ends very abruptly in the Codex Sinaiticus and in many of the oldest manuscripts, and it does not have post-resurrection accounts, but to say that it “omits” the resurrection is ridiculous. The Codex Sinaiticus records Mark 16:6 as you'll see translated below, including the words, “ηγερθη ουκ εϲτιν ωδε” translated, “He has risen! He is not here,”; you can see for yourself at the Codex Sinaiticus website. It's shoddy scholarship and sloppy journalism to report that Mark (in Codex Sinaiticus) “makes no mention of the Resurrection.”

Review Mark 16:1-8; this is TNIV Bible text, it is a translation following the Codex Sinaiticus and adds nothing not found in the Codex.

Mark 16:1 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus' body. 2 Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb 3 and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”
4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. 5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
6 “Don't be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.' ”
8 Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.

Most English translated Bibles in print today  do not end here, even though the vast majority of New Testament Greek scholars agree that the oldest and best manuscripts end here. The most popular English translation, the NIV, for example, has another 12 verses which gives Mark's Gospel a smoother ending, more like we find in Matthew and Luke. However, in a footnote the NIV points out, “The earliest manuscripts and some other ancient witnesses do not have Mark 16:9-20,” which means we know conclusively that Mark did not pen this ending. His writing ends at verse 8, as quoted above. Verses 9-20 represent an early attempt to finish the story, to give Mark an ending just like Matthew and Luke. We assume that Christians were uneasy with Mark's unique and abrupt ending. I am not uneasy with it. It is my favourite Easter Sunday reading. What can we make of the authentic ending of Mark's Gospel (16:1-8)?

Well, it's ironic, isn't it? “They said nothing to anyone.” All through Mark's gospel, people are told by Jesus not to tell anyone about what he has just done, but they immediately disobey and go tell everyone! For example, Jesus heals a man: Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed. Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: “See that you don't tell this to anyone." Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. (Mark 1:43b, 44a, 45a)

We may question why Jesus frequently gave this command, why he didn't want too many people discovering who he was, why he didn't want a frenzied mob constantly pursuing him. We do know that in chapter 9, Jesus tells his disciples not to tell anyone until he had been raised from the dead. It is the death and resurrection of Jesus which makes sense of everything else Jesus did. And now, in Mark chapter 16, that time has come! Jesus has been resurrected, but the women are silent! Jesus' repeated command “Say nothing to anyone” is almost exactly what Mark says of the women, “they said nothing to anyone.” It's Mark's final irony.

Looking back at this, we know now that they did get over their fear, and they did tell the other disciples, and they were so effective at telling the disciples and followers of Jesus that over 500 of them gathered together 40 days later and saw Jesus ascend into heaven just after giving his final words to go and tell everyone. Why didn’t Mark tell the rest of the story like Matthew, Luke and John?

Why end the story unresolved as Mark does?

In what I think is an incredibly great book on reading this gospel, Mark As Story, the authors say this about the ending:

It cries out for a resolution, cries out for the hope that someone will proclaim the good news. And who is left at the end of the story to do this?
Not Jesus.
Not the disciples.
Not the women who fled the grave.
Only the readers are left to complete the story! (pg. 143)

The rest of the story depends on us, not them. Mark 1:1 claimed that this gospel was the beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah. The rest of the story is up to you and me. Just as it did not end with the fear and failure of the women, so it does not end even with our fear and failure. Jesus does not give up on us when we fail him. That’s just the beginning of the gospel, there’s more to be told! He's not finished with any of us. This great news of life in Christ will continue to change people’s lives as we share it with them, in spite of our fears and failures.

It's our turn. The Easter Redux is underway and Richard Dawkins gets better press! It's up to you and me to talk about the Resurrected Jesus and the difference he's made in our lives. In thinking about Mark's abrupt ending and the passing of the gospel torch so to speak, I was inspired to think again by a Starbucks coffee cup when I read “The Way I See It”:

There is no end to a story—it goes on indefinitely into eternity.  Every time a story is read, it’s alive and it’s different because the reader is different. 
                                              —Alice Hoffman

Related Sermon

The Rest of the Story
The ironic ending of Mark's Gospel (16:1-9) invites us to continue the story where Jesus’ first disciples left off. The gospel of Jesus Christ continues to transform lives as it is told.

Fresh Strawberries

It is good that the New Testament has been translated into so many languages.... But there is so much that cannot be translated. It is not possible to reproduce the delicate turns of thought, the nuances of language, in translation. The freshness of the strawberry cannot be preserved in any extract. This is inevitable.

—A.T. Robertson

This morning while eating my strawberry yogurt, I remembered this insight from A.T. Robertson, a great New Testament Greek scholar from a generation or two ago. I have the quote written in the front of my first Greek NT. He was comparing the fresh sweet taste of reading the New Testament in Greek with the preservative-rich strawberry jam tasted when reading English translations. While that inspires me to study my Greek and Hebrew more diligently, Robertson's vivid contrast can also be applied to Christians today who spend more time reading about the Bible than reading the Bible.

Yesterday as he left, a friend mentioned he was off to read some book by some author for his devotional time before going to bed. Certainly The Prayer of Jabez and The Purpose-Driven Life were for a while used by many Christians for their devotional times, in place of the Bible. I am currently reading:

• The Challenge of Jesus by N.T. Wright (wow!)
• Love is the Killer App (while not explicitly Christians, I feel that Tim Sanders has something significant to say about how we live out Jesus' love command in our day)
• Timothy Findley's Not Wanted on the Voyage (very strange re-telling of the Noah's Ark story, but it won a CBC Canada Reads award)
• a Macleans' cover article about Jesus having an identity crisis

Next to that list it now seems like a footnote to say that I'm also reading the Bible (Jeremiah, Matthew and 1 Peter). Re-applying his insight, I suspect A.T. Robertson would say to us, Do you spend more time reading about God's Word than you do in reading God's Word? Don't you understand that the freshness of the strawberry cannot be preserved in any extract? Taste the freshness of the strawberry again for the first time...

If I only eat strawberry yogurt, I'm missing the freshness, sweetness and wholeness of strawberries. An Australian pastor trying to do for his church what Eugene Peterson did for his American church, has translated Psalm 119:103 like this,

Your words taste so sweet on my tongue,
they are like strawberries and cream!

Recommended Bible Translations

for personal study: NET Bible (New English Translation, online!)

The extensive translators' notes make this an amazing study Bible. Even without knowledge of Greek & Hebrew, you'll be alerted to the issues that the translators dealt with. Pay attention, especially, to the extensive "syntax notes" as these give you good insight into the arguments of the Biblical authors. This is a far better choice than the NASB as you get actual commentary on the Greek (or Hebrew) text, rather than reading a wooden, so-called “literal” English translation.

for personal and public reading: Today's New International Version (TNIV)

This is my choice for best all-around use Bible as it is clearly contemporary and yet very faithful to the Greek and Hebrew texts. Since so many carry the NIV, the TNIV is a great choice for public reading as it is close in text but makes many important corrections and good improvements, including the use of gender-inclusive language for people, when appropriate. Coming in 2011, there will be a new revised and updated NIV which I highly recommend.

for personal reading: New Living Translation (NLT)

The freshness of this translation is rewarding and the quality of scholarship behind this work is impressive. Read the Bible as if for the first time all over again.

and for that Australian version I mentioned above see: laughingbird.net

Here, for example, is Mark 9:33–35

They arrived home in Capernaum and after settling back into the house, Jesus hit them with a question: “You blokes sounded like you were having a bit of a barney back there on the road. What was it all about?”
........The silence was deafening! None of them were willing to own up, because they had been arguing over superiority — which of them was the greatest. Jesus sat down and called the twelve to gather round. He said to them, “Whoever wants to be number one must take a place at the bottom as the servant of everyone else.”

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