UNDERSTANDING GOD’S WORD

Part Two: Formal and Dynamic Equivalencies

Although poetic and beautiful, Old English is sometimes difficult at best to understand and it not only chases many a believer away from comprehending the Word of God, but also misrepresenting Scripture. Many times, we turn to newer translations, which have their own problems. We’ll cover this in Part Three.

Let me unequivocally state up front that this will NOT be a treatise or a crusade against any version of the Bible. I will though, be representing my humble opinion in terms of what I have learned in my own studies. I will leave it up to you to do your own research and decide for yourself. I did, and here’s what I found.

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth [2 Timothy 2:15 KJV].

How do we rightly divide the Word of God? The crux of part two is that to rightly divide the Word, is to study the Scripture not only in the context of itself (the whole passage), but more times than not, requires a study of the times in which they wrote the text.

For example, an understanding of the customs, traditions, and marriage rituals of the day, is requisite. We will cover this in part four, but right now, let’s see how the translators translate the Bible. This will help because of the aforementioned study guides.

Formal/dynamic equivalencies
Translators of the Bible use two basic methods to translate Scripture: formal equivalency and dynamic equivalency. When they translate the Bible in formal equivalency, they are rendering the original text in a specific language. . .that’s it, nothing more, nothing less. The King James Bible is the only available version today that uses the formal equivalency method of translation.

However, translators translate all present day versions with the dynamic equivalency method. These versions will read like a book in story type form. With this method, the translator will go into teaching mode and slip out of the translation mode and will explain what the Scripture means according to his understanding of the original text.

We must therefore trust the translator’s theology to lead us into the truth. The present day translations are more commentary than translations. However, don’t get rid of your new translations just yet.

NEXT WEEK
Part Three: Antioch and Alexandria Bibles. We’ll briefly get into manuscripts, Bibles, and some differences in them. There are many differences and some that will shock you, but I will only reference a few. I’ll leave the rest to your research and decision.