This is absolute nonsense! I found it while surfing. It’s bad art. It doesn’t make sense to me! I don’t it!
It was ill-conceived.
I’m especially severe on English Bible translations in both Galatians and Romans, especially Romans, since it’s considered Paul’s magnum opus.
—from Paul’s Letter to the Romans (all bold emphases added):
1:3— “His Son was descended from David” vs “concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh” (ESV). κατὰ σάρκα, “according to the flesh,” is untranslated in the CEB. This becomes problematic in light of Paul’s use of κατὰ σάρκα throughout Romans. κατὰ σάρκα appears to be a technical term in Romans.
Perhaps ἐκ σπέρματος, “from offspring of,” rendered “descended from”—is sufficient.
1:4— “publicly identified” is good for the Greek ὁρισθέντος, rendered “declared to be” in ESV and others. I go with the CEB here.
1:5— “faithful obedience” vs “obedience of faith” (ESV). CEB treats πίστεως descriptively, avoiding the ambiguity of the ESV and others. Perhaps the CEB is to be preferred in light of the unfaithfulness of the Jews at 3:3.
1:15-17 marks a new paragraph against ESV and others at 1:8-15 and 1:16-17. I’m going with the ESV and others here because of οὕτως, linking verse 15 with verse 14, naturally.
3:22— “through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ” vs “through faith in Jesus Christ” (ESV). Of course I prefer the CEB here! It’s time to seriously rethink this matter.
What we have here is διὰ πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ in relation to δικαιοσύνη θεοῦ with the prepositional phrase εἰς πάντας τοὺς πιστεύοντας. It’s time we also recognize that Messiah was expected to be faithful and obedient. Paul brings this out in 5:19 and Phil. 2:8.
3:25— “Through his faithfulness, God displayed Jesus as the place of sacrifice where mercy is found by means of his blood.” We have a major rearranging of furniture here with “Through his faithfulness” for the Greek διὰ πίστεως, being applied to God’s covenant faithfulness, rather than the traditional reading of a text like the ESV (“to be received by faith”).
Now the only initial reason I see for this rendering in the CEB is to look back at the 3:3, where we find τὴν πίστιν τοῦ θεοῦ, “the faithfulness of God” and in v. 5, θεοῦ δικαιοσύνην θεοῦ, “the righteousness of God, with both of these coming together in 3:21-26.
4:1— “So what are we going to say? Are we going to find that Abraham is our ancestor on the basis of genealogy?” Now this is major rearrangement! What was Richard Hays, the translator of Romans in the CEB, thinking?
I first encountered this “rearrangement” in Mr. Hays Conversion of the Imagination: Paul as Interpreter of Israel’s Scripture (pp. 61-69). It commends itself in light of Romans 3:27ff. Also, let us NOT forget that Paul didn’t bring his thought at 3:31.
5:1— “Therefore, since we have been made righteous through his faithfulness combined with our faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Now you have to really wonder what’s going on with the CEB.
My informed assumption is that πίστεως is here treated as a plenary genitive, “his faithfulness combined with our faith,” with πίστεως functioning also anaphorically, pointing back to Abraham’s faithfulness, the God’s faithfulness, or Jesus’ faithfulness.
To be honest, this is too much for me to process right now.
6:4— “We too can walk in newness of life.” I remember Mark Strauss criticised the ESV “newness” here. Well, I was surprised to see the CEB, a newer translation, making the same “mistake.”
8:3-13—the Greek σάρξ, sarx, is rendered “selfishness,” “self-centered.” I find “selfishness” for sarx to be too weak, too narrow. Is Paul only talking only about “selfishness”? I think of “selfishness” as one among many vices.
8:26— “but the Spirit itself pleads.” The neuter English pronoun “itself” is used here for the Greek neuter pronoun αὐτὸ. So neuter pronoun for neuter? Fair enough? Now the gender of the Holy Spirit is called into question?
10:4— “For Christ is the goal of the Law…” vs “For Christ is the end of the law…” (ESV) The CEB’s “goal” is to be preferred for the Greek τέλος. But I find the TNIV’s “Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes”—to be superior.
12:1— “This is your appropriate priestly service” vs “which is your spiritual worship” (ESV). I go with the CEB here, given the significance of λογικός and the cultic imagery of λατρεία.
16:7— “Say hello to Andronicus and Junia… They are prominent among the apostles…” vs “They are well known to the apostles” (ESV). I read the verse in Greek. Consulted a few NT guys on the verse. I simply cannot defend the ESV’s rendering of the prepositional phrase ἐν τοῖς ἀποστόλοις as “to the apostles.”
If you’re use to reading Romans from a Bible translation in the Tyndale/KJV tradition, you’ll find the CEB both refreshing and challenging at times.
See my First Impressions of Galatians here.
Love him or hate him, the likes of biblical scholar N.T. Wright cannot be ignored. He must be engaged.
N.T. Wright on the lasting impact of Martin Luther and John Calvin on his approach to Scripture:
“Ever since I read Luther and Calvin, particularly the latter, I determined that whether or not I agreed with them in everything they said, their stated and practiced method would be mine: to soak myself in the Bible, in the Hebrew and Aramaic Old Testament and the Greek New Testament, to get it into my bloodstream by every means possible, in the prayer and hope that I would be able to teach Scripture afresh to the church and the world. The greatest honor we can pay the Reformers is not to treat them as infallible—they would be horrified at that—but to do as they did.”
Tom Wright continues,
“There is a considerable irony, at the level of method, when John Piper suggests that, according to me, the church has been “on the wrong foot for fifteen hundred years.” It isn’t so much that I don’t actually claim that. It is that is exactly what people said to his heroes, to Luther, Calvin and the rest. Luther and Calvin answered from Scripture; the Council of Trent responded by insisting on tradition.” (Justification, pp. 22-23, emphases added)
Yes, I’m all for “to soak myself in the Bible” and see it leads, perhaps to reaffirm certain traditions or to present the Bible afresh.
Yesterday I received my free copy of the Common English Bible (CEB) New Testament. The tag line for the CEB is as follows: A fresh translation to touch the heart and mind.
The CEB is a result of 115 leading biblical scholars from 22 denominations, field tested by 77 reading specialists in 13 denominations.
Here’s the grind: for the next several weeks, I’ll be posting my First Impressions of the CEB from Paul’s Letters, beginning with Galatians, with the ESV as a match up, from time to time:
—from Paul’s Letter to the Galatians:
1:6— “another gospel” and 1:7—”another gospel.” The CEB takes the Greek adjectives heteros and allo, respectively, as synonyms. However, the ESV doesn’t: “different gospel” and “another,” respectively.
2:9— “shook hands… as equals” vs “the right hand of fellowship” (ESV). I’m feeling that English idiom.
2:16— “by faith in Jesus Christ” for the Greek διὰ πίστεως Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ. I was actually expecting “through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ” here. Perhaps that would be the case in Romans 3:22.
2:20—interestingly the CEB doesn’t translate Χριστῷ συνεσταύρωμαι, “I’ve been crucified with Christ.” And there’s no footnote to explain this omission.
3:1— “You irrational Galatians!” vs “O foolish Galatians!” (ESV) I really like “irrational” better in light of the questions that follow (vv. 2-5).
4:5—the Greek υἱοθεσίαν is rendered simply as “adopted” vs “the adoption of sons” (ESV) or “adoption of children” (NRSV).
4:23, 29— “conceived the normal way” vs “born according to the flesh” (ESV). Given Paul’s use of sarx, “flesh,” in Galatians, which is often portrayed as an antagonist, the CEB’s “normal way” misses the point.
4:21-5:1 marks a section vs 4:21-31 and then 5:1 in the ESV. Given the Greek text and even the flow of thought, I go with the CEB here.
5:13-19— “selfish impulses,” “selfish desires,” “selfish motives” for sarx vs “flesh” in the ESV. I say keep it simple with “flesh.”
6:14— “God forbid” for that Pauline negative μὴ γένοιτο, “far be it” (ESV). Interestingly, even the NLT has “God forbid” here. Why not? It still rocks!
All in all, the CEB does have that freshness to it. I find it a smooth read as well.
Next, I shall consider Romans.
Last Saturday, about 90, 000 people rallied to Lincoln Memorial in Washington—to be a part of conservative TV host Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally.
Mr. Glenn said things like:
“Look forward. Look West. Look to the heavens. Look to God and make your choice.”
Which led a Southern Baptist leader Richard Land to say:
“This guy’s on secular radio and television,” Land said Saturday, “but his shows sound like you’re listening to the Trinity Broadcasting Network, only it’s more orthodox and there’s no appeal for money … and today he sounded like Billy Graham.” (emphases added)
When a Southern Baptist leader says the following about Mr. Glenn Beck— “Today he sounded like Billy Graham”—we have to wonder what this Southern Baptist leader has been smoking.
And yes, TBN has its issues. But what would lead Christian to say that Mr. Glenn Beck, a Mormon, is more orthodox than TBN?
Oh, he didn’t ask for money. Really!?
As a footnote, Mr. Glenn Beck has also reportedly “begun organizing top conservative religious leaders – mostly evangelicals – into a fledgling group called the Black Robed Regiment.”
Many news outlets have already anointed Mr. Beck as the new leader of America’s Christian conservatives—“mostly evangelicals.“
Are our Christian leaders so desperate to allow themselves to be commandeered by Mr. Glenn Beck, a Mormon?
This is sad. And quite disconcerting!
Mr. Glenn Beck is a Mormon who needs the gospel of Jesus Christ!
But if we think “God dropped a giant sandbag on his head[Glenn Beck's]” and the rally was Beck’s “Divine Destiny,” then Mr. Glenn Beck is our man! (read entire article here…)
But Mr. Glenn Beck is really not the problem.
Between 2 Worlds Christianity Today Parchment and Pen Scripture of the Day
