You may have read some of my Bible quotes and found them unfamiliar. That is because I have recently decided that the King James Bible is a hindrance to my message. Why? Quite simply, it is archaic. The language is too old to be valuable for comprehensible, in-depth Bible study, and some of it is actually translated inaccurately. Many of the words used in the KJV have entirely different connotations or even denotations in modern English than they did during the time in which they were written. Other words are simply too shallow to communicate the meaning of the original Hebrew or Greek expressions. Thus, I take the Hebrew and Greek of the texts used in the KJV and I personally translate them into modern language using the Strong's Bible Dictionaries. This allows me to more effectively communicate Scriptural concepts. My translation philosophy is neither primarily word-for-word nor thought-for-thought. I usually take a word-for-word rendering and a thought-for-thought rendering and try to blend them so as to retain the original structure and language as much as possible while balancing as much as the original thought expression as possible. For example, here is John 3:16 translated by me using word-for-word translation.
"See, God in this way loved the world: that He gave up His only begotten Son so that whoever has faith in Him will not die, but have eternal life."
Not bad, I know. However, one major constraint here is the language; it is difficult to translate into common speech. There are children, teenagers, and even adults who would have a difficult time truly comprehending the meaning of the verse. So, then, here it is again, in a though-for-thought translation.
"See, this is how much God loved the world: He gave up the only Son who was personally His so everyone who has faith and trusts in Him will not go to Hell, but instead will go to Heaven."
This is a much simpler translation, and would obviously help the Biblically-illiterate to understand what it is saying. However, translating a verse that way has disadvantages. For example, many verses are constructed so as to have multiple meanings, express parallel thoughts, or demonstrate a specific concept. By completely changing the form of the verse, you may hinder the ability to gain all of the truth the scripture has to offer. You also run the risk of leading people astray or at least stunting their spiritual growth if you misinterpret the verse. Thus, a balance is needed in able to ensure optimal results. See my final rendering of the verse.
"See, then, God loved the world so much that He sent His one and only Son so that whoever puts his faith and trust in Him will not be destroyed, but have eternal life."
Thus, there you have it. This is how I translate my verses for these blog posts. If you have any complaints, corrections, questions, or comments, be sure to email me at servant.of.elyon3@gmail.com or comment on this post.