The online edition of the Quarterly Record, the magazine of the Trinitarian Bible Society.
As another New Year dawns, we have much cause to render praise and thanksgiving to the Lord for the many mercies and kindnesses we have received from His hand during the past year. This is true of us each as individuals, and it is also true of the Society. This continued bounteous goodness of the Lord should lead us to humble ourselves before Him, especially when we consider how utterly unworthy we are, and have been, of His kindness and graciousness. "Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah" (Psalm 68.19).
With the relentless passing of time we are reminded that,
"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every
purpose under the heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that
which is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather
stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from
embracing;
a time to get, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to rend, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time of war, and a time of peace."
(Ecclesiastes 3.1-8)
And, reflecting upon the mighty workings of God in His providence over the year that is now passed – both in connection with the great events affecting the nations of the world and those relatively minor domestic or personal details that relate to ourselves in our everyday lives, as well as in the work in which the Society is engaged of publishing and distributing the Word of God – we are to observe with wonder and admiration His ruling and overruling of all things to His own glory and the good of His Church. "Whoso is wise, and will observe these things..." (Psalm 107.43). Although the Bible is a book that is despised and rejected by so many in our day (as was the incarnate Word of God in the day of His dwelling among men), the Divine Author of the Holy Scriptures yet rules and reigns from His Throne of Glory over every circumstance (however great and however small) here in the world.
All that He does in the outworking of His holy and just purposes is with infinite holiness, justice, wisdom, knowledge, power and goodness. It thus becomes us in all situations to seek His grace that we may be enabled to bow with humble reverence, adoration and Godly fear before our God. Although there are things we so often cannot understand, sorrows and griefs that cause much perplexity, concern and heartache, we are to believe and are not to be afraid, knowing that He – and He alone – is God, and that all that He does is for the good of His people and the glory of His Name. He is yet "the wonder-working God", "the Lord of Hosts", who, answerable to none, goes forward "with all power in heaven and earth", ordering the affairs of mankind for the progress of His Gospel and the display of His glory among the nations of the world.
May each of the Society's friends be blessed of the Lord during 2002 with a knowledge of His majesty and glory, a greater discernment of the excellency of Christ, and a felt sense of the mighty power of the Holy Spirit working in them to will and to do after His own good pleasure! May we each be provoked to a greater zeal for the advancement of the glory of His Name and the work of His grace in the hearts of sinners, through the publication and the distribution of His Word among all nations!
Reference was made in the last edition of the Quarterly Record to the Settlement Meeting in Toronto, Canada, held on 18th July, 2001. We are pleased to announce that following the Annual Meeting in October of our former branch in Canada, the settlement has now been approved. The full terms of the Settlement Agreement are available from the Society's offices or can be downloaded from the Society's website at www.trinitarianbiblesociety.org.
We very much regret the events that led to the necessity of the Society being involved in litigation, but are thankful that in the Lord's goodness the Society has been able to recover the sole use of its name. We give thanks to the Lord that this very difficult matter has now been concluded.
by the Rev. G. Hamstra
A Vice-President of the Society
The composer of Psalm 42 was compelled by circumstances to be at a great distance from the house of God. In his loneliness he longed for the place where the Lord revealed the intimacy of His special love. Cruel enemies mocked and suggested that God had forsaken him. Although his faith was sorely tried, he sought to comfort himself by looking back at former seasons, when in the company of God's people, he enjoyed rich blessings in the sanctuary of God. In the dark night of his distress he still trusted God. His hope was that the Lord would soon appear to send His gracious help.
The psalm reminds us of David's trials and afflictions during the time of Absalom's rebellion. In exile, in the desert east of Jordan, David was deprived of the safety of his palace, of the honours of his royal office, and of many other rich comforts. However, the chief desire of his smitten heart was for the nearness of the living God in the sanctuary on the holy hill of Zion.
David compared his thirsting and yearning after God to the thirsting and panting of a deer in distress. By the very nature of its constitution, a deer suffers more from thirst than most other animals. At certain times of intense thirst, the thirsting of a deer becomes audible. A deer in distress has a cry all of its own.
In his frequent wanderings through the wilderness, David often had the opportunity to observe a frightened, anxious, thirsting deer. On account of the irregular structure of the mountainous landscape of Palestine, the panting deer could at certain times clearly see the needed relief offered by nearby watercourses, without having access to the same.
How moving and affecting was the condition of such a pitiful deer. Wounded and exhausted, it fervently longed for the cooling and refreshing streams of flowing water. What the invigorating watercourses were for the exhausted deer, God was, as the Fountain of love, compassion, and mercy, for David's distressed and thirsting soul.
This fervent longing for God was not new in David's experience. In several other psalms he expressed this unique love for God's House and the primary desire of his life, to be loved by the Lord. No other fellowship was as valuable and precious to him, as the communion he enjoyed in the nearness of his God and Saviour. In the psalmist's present experience, this desire was kindled anew, and was intensified by distressing circumstances.
This longing for God was of such a nature, that nothing else could satisfy the deep yearning of his soul. Even if all the treasures of this world were offered to him as a substitute for the love and favour of God, he would not accept them. He knew that without the love of God he would perish.
In God, the everlasting God, are the gracious streams of living water. The living God alone can satisfy the oppressive thirst of a longing, pining soul. The innermost desire of the thirsting heart of a child of God is for the precious nearness of a gracious God. In that communion lies his only comfort. His salvation, his life, all his hope and expectation depend on God alone.
Being at a distance from the House of the Lord, the place where God's glory dwelled, David felt grievously excluded from the indispensable presence of his faithful God. The enjoyment of God's communion in the courts of the Lord was the life of his soul. He mourned and grieved, especially when he thought of the reasons for his wandering at such a distance. Tears took the place of his daily food. The cruel scoffers added to his grief, as they mocked, "Where is thy God?" This taunting was like a piercing sword in his bones. Besides, he was deeply aware of the sinful nature of his thirsting heart. Where could he hide in these overwhelming sorrows? He could hide in God alone.
These spiritual exercises of the psalmist are recorded to comfort the Lord's own in the trials of their faith. When their circumstances are similar to those of King David, they may be tempted to fear that the Lord has abandoned them in their distress. How precious a comfort it is to know that the man after God's own heart also waded through these deep waters of affliction. While all seemed so impossible, he was in reality neither forsaken nor forgotten by his God. In all his pressing trials he still had a precious place in the heart of God.
David was like a bruised reed. As such he trusted during the dark night of his affliction in the deepest of all compassions, in the abiding mercies of the Lord his God. In his emptiness and poverty, in his grief and anguish, he was clinging to the One who never forsakes the works of His own hands. Faith looks to the Lord and clings to His love and faithfulness. Even in the lonely night of distress and pain it may trust in the sovereign guidance of the Lord's omnipotent hand.
Through Christ it gains the desired victory. He secretly and faithfully upholds. He gives grace and strength to bear. In all their afflictions God's people may have a comport such as the world and the formalist have never experienced. They may trust and hope in the mercies of a covenant God.
We say to David, and to all who are like him, thirst for God and Christ, you are nearer to God than you think. For God is not only in the Tabernacle, between the cherubim. He is also on the steep mountains and in the deep valleys of your lonely desert. He will remember you for Christ's sake. He will make your bitter to be sweet, and He will tenderly lighten your heavy burden. These things will the Lord do for you, and He will not forsake you.
by C. P. Hallihan
A physical map of Modern Romania shows a roughly rectangular shape comprising 91,700 sq. miles (237,500 sq. km.). This is plainly divided into three regions by the Carpathian Mountains. The Carpathians are part of an Eastern continuation of the Alps, taking over east of the Danube Valley near Vienna and Bratislava. They march east to Ukraine before turning to sweep south into Romania. In Romania they turn west, now called the Transylvanian Alps, towards Serbia. Mount Negoiu in the Transylvanian Alps is the highest point in Romania at 8,360 feet (2,548 m.).
Historically the region to the South of the mountains, that is the Lower Danube Plains, is called Wallachia. The North Western region, tucked in the crook of the Carpathians and the Transylvanian Alps, is Transylvania, and the Eastern Region, reaching North from the broad and swampy Danube Delta on the Black Sea towards Ukraine and Poland, is Moldavia. Moving clockwise from the Black Sea coastline in the East, Romania is bordered by Bulgaria, Serbia (Yugoslavia), Hungary, Ukraine, Moldova, and Ukraine again. The River Danube (Dunarea) substantially forms the Border between Romania and Bulgaria, and a smaller part of the border with Serbia; altogether the Danube borders Romania for 1,975km. (1,226 miles), one third of its total length. Bucharest, the capital city, is in the centre of the flat, fertile plains of Wallachia. Overall the population figure stands at about 24 million, 89% Romanian, 8% Hungarian, and significant numbers of German, Gypsy, Serb, Turkish, and Ukrainian peoples.
One of the difficulties in researching the history of Romania is that Ceauºescu, through his aides and ghost writers, did such a comprehensive job of reinventing this material, and thus re-educating the people along his own lines. Although that régime is gone, the labours of the Conducator (Ceausescu's Romanian title, meaning much the same as Feührer) have altered the people's awareness of themselves and of their relationship to nations around them in a way that can but slowly change. As a Romanian expatriate bitterly remarked, "You can take Ceauºescu out of Romania, but not out of Romanians!"
Although the three regions mentioned above were fleetingly united under Michael the Brave (1599-1601), Romania as a named and recognised state strictly dates only from 1861. On December 23rd of that year the Principality of Romania was created by the union of Moldavia and Wallachia. Detail of the historical background before that is bewilderingly complex. There were Greek settlements on the Black Sea Coast from the seventh century BC, and a Dacian Kingdom in Transylvania around 50 BC. The Roman emperor Trajan defeated the Dacians 101-7 AD, and Rome withdrew from there in 271. It was Imperial Rome's last Province, the only one north and east of the Danube, and the first to be abandoned. Later 20th century Romanian historians portray the Romans as finding a very advanced, noble civilisation in Dacia, which subsequently became the torch bearer of Latin civilisation amidst the encroaching barbarism of Slav and Saxon, Magyar, Turk and Tartar, in and after the Dark Ages. Thus they were worthy of the name Roman-ian.
Unravelling the substrata of fact from the self promoting gloss of the Conducator's fiction in that statement daunts even professional historians. Certainly, from the end of the 3rd century AD, Slav, and Saxon, Magyar, Turk and Tartar migrated to, through and around the region, conquering, annexing, mingling, then suffering the same themselves in turn. This has left linguistic, cultural, ethnic and nationalistic alignments which make themselves felt in every aspect of Romanian life to this day.
Until the 19th century the history is really of three separate, fluctuating, feudal statelets, Moldavia, Wallachia and Transylvania. Transylvania, for instance, was fought over, traded and ceded often. In 1526, when Hungary was partitioned, Transylvania became independent; in 1691 it became part of Hungary; from 1920 to 1940 it was part of Romania; and the northern part of it was briefly Hungarian in WWII. Similarly, Bessarabia, the northern region of Moldavia, was for many years, with most of Romania, a Turkish vassal. In 1812 it was annexed by Russia. In 1856 three parts of it were restored to Romania, and the whole of it after WWI. It was taken by Stalin in 1940 as the Moldavian People's Republic, latterly simply called Moldova. Similar accounts could be given for all the constituent parts of modern Romania, with Turkish power and influence slowly giving way to Russian power and influence.
The newly formed 19th century country of Romania was ruled by Aleandru Ioan Cuza until 1866, when his attempts at social reform led the boyars (a class of nobles) to bring about his abdication. A second son of the German Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen family was chosen to rule, and became King Carol I of Romania. Royal rule continued (with the inevitable involvement of one of Queen Victoria's far flung brood, granddaughter Marie, as wife of King Ferdinand) until King Michael's forced abdication in 1947.
The country managed to avoid entanglement in the Balkan Wars of the early 20th century, and even stayed out of the Great War (WWI) until 1916, when she came in on the Allied side. This proved at first to be disastrous; Bucharest, with all of Wallachia, was occupied by Bulgarian, German and Austrian forces. Ultimately though, with allied victory, Romania gained possession, at last, of Transylvania. Hungary then lost half of its population and almost two thirds of its land area to Romania, which doubled in area and population at a stroke. Attempts were made to utilise the industrial potential afforded, for instance, by the oil fields of Ploesti, but with the seemingly inevitable result of creating even further social unrest. By 1930 there was in existence the fascist League of Archangel Michael, soon known and feared as the Iron Guard, and King Carol II had succeeded to the throne. By 1940 the Iron Guard had assassinated four Prime Ministers, and forced the hapless, foppish Carol II to flee. In 1941 Romania joined Germany to attack the Soviet Union. When the tide turned and Soviet troops neared Romanian territory King Michael – the supposed 'puppet'– staged a coup, made peace with the Soviet Union, and Romania fought alongside the Red Army into Germany. Despite this, the Yalta agreement of 1945 signed away Romania to Soviet subjugation, and by 1948 a Stalinist State, nationalised and collectivised, was in being in Romania.
The Communist leader in Romania was Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej. In the early 1950s he accomplished massive purges in the state, mostly of Stalinists, and began to formulate policies independently of Moscow, a line fiercely adhered to by his successor in 1965, Nicolae Ceausescu, who maintained links with China and Israel, and declined to support the invasion of Czechoslovakia. Even though the country remained within the Soviet orbit, a part of Comecon, Soviet troops were excluded from Romanian territory. Ceausescu set about full industrialisation, and used exports of oil and food to pay off foreign debts, and to fuel his increasingly paranoid sense of personal grandeur. Although this left little for the average Romanian except drudgery, oppression, and a brutally scarred environment, it does just give a glimmer of understanding, if not of excuse, of the Western view of Ceausescu's Romania as the 'good boy' of the Soviet bloc, for far too many years.
After the crumbling of communism in other Eastern European countries, there had been rumblings of revolt in Romania. 'Revolution' began on Friday December 15th 1989. The Hungarian Pastor Laszlo Tokes of Timisoara, in western Transylvania, was under threat of internal exile, and protesters began to demonstrate in his support. Police and military forces resisted the demonstrators, but by the following week it was plainly not merely a "Magyar minority" protesting, but a substantial part of the population. The army began to pull back from confrontation, and then to take the side of protest. This pattern was repeated elsewhere in the country, and although Ceausescu and his wife had been summarily tried and executed by the 23rd of December, fighting continued into the New Year. It is generally accepted that there was a popular outbreak against the intolerable burdens of the Ceausescu years; but it is also accepted that many influential figures in Romania were able to use this to their own ends and accomplish a covert coup. Not too much changed in the 'corridors of power'. This, inevitably, caused much unrest and suspicion, and hindered the task of political and economic reform. Prime Minister Adrian Nastase said recently (Global Tribune, Sept. 2001, p. 4), "Romania is at a very challenging time in the sense that during the past ten years the people have been through different political and economic experiments".
Romanians refer to their language as limba romana, and until quite recently the spellings Roumanian, or Rumanian were acceptable. They were known to their neighbours as Vlachs, root of the name Wallachia, although the Romanina themselves call this region Tara Romaneasca. The language is Romance, descended from Latin with a teasingly apparent, if misleading, likeness to French and Italian. It was the last of the major Romance languages to be written, found in 16th century documents, especially religious texts. As to where Romanian speakers were before that – it is an explosive subject of discussion between Hungarians and Romanians even now. One travel guide advises its readers to "agree with whoever you are speaking with" on this topic or on the ethnic and cultural roots of Transylvania!
Romanian is rightly described as one of several Latin-based modern languages, but the Slavic influence has been strong over the centuries. Modern Romanians resist the huge imposition of Slav vocabulary on their language, especially that which came through recent Russian ideological influence, but one cannot help but wonder where the line can be drawn. Loan-words from Old Slavonic, German, Greek, Turkish and French are to be found. The Latin alphabet was adopted only in the 19th century; before that a variation of the Cyrillic alphabet, as used for Old Slavonic, or Church Slavonic, was in use. In this way the traditional language of the Orthodox Church has exerted a strong influence upon the Romanian language, and indeed on many other aspects of Romanian culture.
Religious adherence in Romania traditionally ran along ethnic lines, with the majority of Romanians being of the (Eastern) Orthodox Church. A smaller number of Romanians belongs to the Uniate Church, that is of the Eastern Rites, but professing allegiance to the Roman Pontiff (sometimes called 'Byzantine Catholics'). This Church was banned in 1948, not being quite so susceptible to manipulation and subversion by the authorities as was the Orthodox, but it has survived. Because of the "composite" nature of what is now Romania, there are some generally Protestant and non-Orthodox connections going back to the times of the Reformation. In the turbulent area of Transylvania those of Hungarian extraction profess either the (Hungarian) Reformed faith (nominally Calvinist), or Romanism. Those of German background, Schwab and Landler, are Lutheran, undoubtedly strengthened in the times of the 19th century Monarchy, drawn from the Hohenzollern family. There is a small Unitarian Church, mostly Hungarian, and also continuing Jewish and Moslem communities in the country. The appearance of a more decidedly evangelical testimony seems to date from the late 19th century, when Baptist, Brethren and, later, Pentecostal groups appear.
The first printed book in Romanian was a Catechism, in the early 1540s; the second was an edition of the Gospels, done by a Wallachian deacon called Coresi, in 1560. A New Testament in Romanian was published in 1648, mostly done by the monk Silvestru, but completed after his death by others. The whole Romanian Bible first appeared in 1688, the work of many hands, but chiefly those of Nicolae Milescu, a general chronicler and historian.
These early works, standing in the Orthodox Church tradition, were generally based on Byzantine texts, heavily influenced by Old Church Slavonic, and printed in the Cyrillic script. Indeed, all Bibles up to 1858 were in the Cyrillic script. In the 1860s and '70s some translation work was done using a Hebrew text as the basis for large parts of the Old Testament. This, with some subsequent revisions, became known as the Iasi ('yash') Version, because of the involvement of people from the Iasi Seminary.
A Romanian Bible version appeared in 1920/21 which became the generally accepted Protestant Version for the rest of that century; this was the Cornilescu Version. This Bible endeared itself to Romanian Christians, succouring them spiritually through the turmoil of WWII and the tribulation of the Ceausescu era. Historically this version also commended itself to the Romanian believers because the young priest Dumitru Cornilescu had made a very open transference from Orthodox to Protestant, with a profession of salvation. Alongside this, however, there has been an awareness of difficulties in the Cornilescu Bible, in three areas; the textual basis is imprecise, the techniques of translation used were uneven, and the use of the Romanian language itself is at times idiosyncratic. Generally, words with only a regional significance, or imports of Slavonic, Turkish or Hungarian origin, appear too often, giving an uncomfortably archaic and strange 'feel' for modern Romanians. Because of this the TBS has been involved for the past ten years with Romanian believers in a work of revision. This will seek to combine the best features of the Iasi and Cornilescu versions in structure and language, using conservative Protestant principles applied to text and translation.
The Vice-Chairman of the TBS General Committee has had a long connection with the work of the Gospel in Romania. By way of conclusion to this article I feel that I can do no better than put before you his own summary observations.
The state Church is the Romanian Orthodox Church which is virtually identical to the Greek Orthodox Church. Apart from the western part of the country Transylvania (formerly part of Hungary), Romania was not touched by the Protestant Reformation. For centuries, it would seem, a thick spiritual darkness covered the land.
The first gospel light was introduced by American, English and German Missionaries in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which resulted in the formation of Baptist and Pentecostal Churches, and also Brethren Assemblies. Many of these would have been Arminian in doctrine, and the church leaders were not familiar with the Reformed Faith.
The arrival of Communism in the 1940s posed severe problems for all the churches. The Orthodox church would appear to have escaped most lightly, but the other groups were subjected to much persecution. Some pastors were imprisoned, some churches closed, religious education banned, and Communist informers and infiltrators were everywhere. The Securitate, or Secret Police, controlled activities in city, town and village. Presiding over it all was Nicolae Ceauºescu, who lived a life of amazing luxury, whilst most of his citizens were reduced to abject poverty.
In spite of (or because of?) these difficulties the church prospered, and though the Pastors were largely untrained, the simple Gospel message they brought was used of God to the saving of many souls.
In 1987 my wife and I were privileged to visit Romania for the first time and travelled from Bucharest to Oradea and back again, visiting many of the Baptist and Brethren groups of believers. The welcome we received was wonderfully warm, and the impression we gained was of a vibrant church, worshipping God under very difficult conditions. There was no doubting the love that those people had to our Lord Jesus, nor to us as His servants.
The repeat visits which we made over the next few years, until the fall of Communism in 1990, are indelibly impressed on our memories. We got to know some of the people better – and the conviction grew that we had been privileged to share in a work of God's Holy Spirit – a situation more nearly resembling the life of the early church as recorded in the book of the Acts of the Apostles than anything we had ever known before.
After the fall of Ceausescu, state persecution of the church ceased, although there are local areas where the Orthodox Church has assumed this role, and individual priests have gone to some lengths to oppose the work of the Baptist churches.
In a wonderful display of His great goodness, the Lord has allowed the growth of churches, the planting of churches, and the saving of souls to continue and even accelerate to the present time. The church that accepted persecution as "the norm" under Communism, now considers it to be the Lord's requirement of them to send their ministers to preach in town and village where there is not (and probably never has been) any Gospel witness. It has been a great privilege and blessing to have been allowed by the Lord to participate in this work.
A number of influential Ministers have embraced the doctrines of Grace, and there continues to be an urgent need for sound books in Romanian to help ministers in their studies. A number of Western Charities have helped in this regard, but there remains a need for the ordinary believer to be encouraged to read for himself. The present economic situation makes the purchase of even a modestly priced paperback to be a major problem for many people.
The "opening up" of the Country since the communist period has allowed all kinds of undesirable influences from the West to flood into the country. Amongst these are false religions such as Jehovah's Witnesses, and Charismatic practices, and there have been a few defections from the Evangelical Churches as a result. Along with western style food, come western style fashions, which are enthusiastically adopted by those who can afford to pay for them. Pornography, and its allied evils, is now available, much being imported from neighbouring Hungary.
Perhaps the greatest threat to the ongoing spiritual health of the Evangelical Churches is posed by the materialism that we are more familiar with in the West. Pastors are also reporting a falling off of the numbers attending week-evening meetings – and also Sunday evening services. It would be a matter of great shame and regret if any of this were in any way to be attributed to the less spiritual and more worldly attitudes of Western Christian visitors who have come in, supposedly to help.
We need to pray that the Lord would keep the flame of the Holy Spirit alight in Romania, and (as is now increasingly the case) Missionaries from Romania will go "into all the world" to preach the Gospel which they have proved to be the power of God unto Salvation.
by G. W. Anderson
One of most popular and important of the Society's articles is the New International Version: What today's Christian needs to know about the NIV (article 114). Slightly edited and reprinted in 1998, the NIV article has not only been popular in print, but has been popular on the Internet and has even been put on several websites (although without the Society's permission).
We normally receive some correspondence about our articles and almost all correspondence we have received about this article has been positive and helpful. On several occasions people have asked for clarification, particularly about our comments on the reading "God-breathed" in 2 Timothy 3.16. Regarding this phrase, we wrote in the NIV article under "Synonym Problems":
"As with the Old Testament change from 'peace offering' to 'fellowship offering', the NIV New Testament has found it necessary to change terminology long used by the English speaking church to wording they consider more easily understood. Terms such as sin, grace, propitiation, and righteousness, terms with precise meanings that have been understood and taught by the Church for centuries, have been retranslated by the NIV into less precise, even ambiguous words. A few will be listed below, and the major ones will be treated separately afterward."
There is, then, a list of problematic renderings. Included in this list is the statement: "given by inspiration becomes 'God-breathed' (2 Timothy 3.16 – a translation not found in any of the six standard Greek lexicons)". Actually, this is now seven, since a long-awaited new major lexicon, recently published, also excludes the rendering 'God-breathed'.
Second Timothy 3.16 in the Authorised Version reads: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness". The NIV has, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness". The question with which we are faced has to do with the translation of the Greek word Θεοπνευστος (theopneustos), its word formation and interpretation, and whether the statement that 'God-breathed' is "a translation not found in any of the six standard Greek lexicons" is correct.
It is not unusual for someone to hear a sermon or read a commentary or an annotated study Bible which says that theopneustos means 'God-breathed', usually worded something to the effect that "Every word of Holy Scripture is inspired or 'God-breathed' (Gk. theopneustos)", as found in the Authorised Version edition of The New Scofield Study Bible.1 This leaves them to wonder, is it 'God-breathed' or 'by inspiration'.
The problem here has to do with a misunderstanding caused by literal word formation. Theopneustos is formed by putting two words together: 'God' with 'breath'. From this, if Greek words were always to be translated as the sum of their parts, the rendering 'God-breathed' might be accurate. However, many times Greek words, when placed together, result in what is called a resultant use translation. Some compound words can be rendered literally using both parts and some cannot. This is why, as we noted in our article, the standard Greek lexicons do not list 'God-breathed' as the translation for this passage, since theopneustos is recognised by Greek scholars – including those who translated the Authorised Version – as being resultant use.
Not understanding the resultant use of the word theopneustos results in a misunderstanding of how God gave His Word. The idea many get from rendering the word 'God-breathed' is that God breathed inspiration into the words of Scripture. This is not what inspiration means. God did not breath into the words, but instead breathed out the words of Scripture. The source and authority of the words is from God Himself.
A good illustration is seen in the way different cultures accept the written and spoken word. In some cultures what a person writes is more authentic and authoritative than what he says. In other cultures, what a person says is more authentic and authoritative than what is written. This is the emphasis in Scripture. The authority is in Scripture because it comes, as it were, from the very mouth of God. Thus the words God has spoken have come from His lips and are the verbally inspired Word of God.
This idea of inspiration is not a new concept, but is seen in the vast majority of translations which have been used for centuries. These versions include those which use principles of literal Greek equivalence, formal equivalence, dynamic equivalence, paraphrases both simple and broad. Some are very old, some very new; some were done by a committee of scholars, some are one-man versions; some are Roman Catholic versions, some Jehovah's Witnesses, some theologically liberal or neo-orthodox and some represent wide denominational perspectives.2
One of the very few major translations to use 'God-breathed' is the New International Version. Because the term 'inspiration' has been so widely used instead of 'God-breathed', the NIV's use of the latter creates another problem for believers. If a person wanted to look up 'inspiration' or 'inspired by God', he would be able to do so in a wide variety of English dictionaries, encyclopaedias, Bible dictionaries, Bible encyclopaedias and concordances. He could also look up 'the doctrine of inspiration' in numerous theological works and commentaries. If he wants more information on 'God-breathed', however, he may find himself rather limited to the NIV Concordance and several other works based upon the NIV. Thus, rather than making it easier for the believer to study God's Word, the translators of the NIV have made it harder.
It is generally understood that the NIV translators and English stylists were concerned with the NIV needing to be easy to read. However, synonyms or expanded interpretative translations do not necessarily make a translation easy to understand. Common theological terms which God's people have been using for centuries and are still using today should not be replaced with synonyms simply because someone thinks they are easier to read. This is why we complained in the earlier NIV article that "terms such as sin, grace, propitiation, and righteousness, terms with precise meanings that have been understood and taught by the Church for centuries, have been retranslated by the NIV into less precise, even ambiguous words". The substituted terms, while appearing on the surface to be easier, do not make the Scriptures easier to understand.
Thus, while the literal meaning of the two Greek words can in theory be put together to mean 'God-breathed', the word theopneustos actually has the meaning 'inspired'. This has been understood and been the standard practice for many centuries, and in most instances is continued today. Rendering this word as 'inspired' will help Christians understand the doctrine of the verbal inspiration of the Scripture more clearly and correctly. Continuing to do so will enable new generations of believers to use the standard reference works to their benefit, and thus remain steadfast in the precious doctrine of the inspiration of the Scriptures.
Thank you for the materials which we were able to distribute at the Royal Cornwall Show this year. The show is normally held for three days in June, but this year, owing to the foot-and-mouth crisis, it was postponed until September, and no livestock was shown. However, the show was well attended, and we had opportunity to spread the Word of God.
Greetings to you and all at T.B.S. in the wonderful Name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. On behalf of all the believers here I write to sincerely thank you for your kind gift of thirty Bibles for our Bookshop/Outreach Ministry. We all greatly appreciate all the help you have given in the start-up of our new ministry and rejoice to be able to say that the Lord has blessed His Word and encouraged us in the work over these past few months. Ours is a town with much poverty and an overwhelming problem of drugs and alcohol abuse. The latest census just taken we believe will show that over 50% of the population is Asian with a good portion being Muslim. We are truly thankful to be able to have copies of the Word of God to place into the hands of those who enter our Bookshop and show some interest in the Scriptures. We want to also extend our thanks for the recent shipments of 15,000 copies of the Gospel of John. These are now prepared with labels on the back and one of our Church Brochures enclosed to deliver into the surrounding homes. So far we have visited over 28,000 homes and the majority of these have received a Gospel of John. Just this week a lady phoned to say that she had read through the copy which came through her door and that she would like to attend our Tuesday Bible Study. We continue to have responses most weeks from our regular distribution of literature. Thank you so much, not only for your help in supplying us with literature but also for your prayers for this new church-planting ministry. May the Lord be pleased to save many souls for the glory of His Name.
Thank you very much for the English Holy Bible in the black hard cover (Authorised [King James] Version of the Bible). The language of the Bible is probably from the Shakespeare's time, and yet, however, very interesting and 'serious' in the positive sense. Before of all, this is the Word of God, as to say: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Timothy 3: 16, 17) or "And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left" (Isaiah 30:21). Do you have the Bible in Ukrainian, which is available, and which one can send?
Our ministry in India is progressing by the grace of God. We are very glad and pleased to distribute the English Bibles supplied by you to the newly converted souls, many who are our students. These students are very fervent and punctual for Sunday School classes. Please send more English Bibles to be distributed free to converted souls.
I returned from a visit to the Angolan Refugee Camp and had a wonderful time. We distributed the goods from two containers which had been sent out. These goods included: food, clothes, shoes, reading glasses, literature, blankets and school supplies. The food of course was a real help and the children enjoyed receiving the empty fish tins and boxes to play with! I have distributed the Portuguese Bibles you kindly sent. I saw lots of them being used in the camp. There are only a handful left at the camp now so more would be very helpful in the future. Your help in this way is greatly appreciated.
We were very happy to receive (through our son and his wife in Canada) the English and Spanish G.T. calendars you sent to us. Thank-you very much indeed for this kindness! We did appreciate your loving note also! At present we are still here, as our van and house have not been sold yet. Hopefully we should soon be on our way. However, there has been some good news while still here…a nine year old girl has been saved, a bright little girl from a home which is "away from the Lord". Here in Metán, news came of a whole family being saved years after a testimony to the husband. The other day a lady from a nearby chicken store was telling of the blessing the calendar is to them every day. The verses, she says, are sometimes "just right" too! The calendar hangs over the counter where customers can look at the verse too, if they wish. We rejoice at all the good news described and pictured in your Annual Report which came yesterday! It is such a joy to see all! On page 21 we read many times the questions of "service" re Bible translation. We have never done that kind of thing, but perhaps the Lord is leading that way now. May He continue to guide us if that is His will. The verse (Psalm 67:1,2) is lovely too, and we love Numbers 6:24-26 with you all there also. Thank you again for all.
Although certain phrases and expressions used in these letters may not be doctrinally accurate or in the proper English form, we reproduce the letters essentially as received, knowing that the Lord is using His Word to the glory of His Name and the furtherance of His Kingdom as the Scriptures are distributed among the nations of the world.
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