Lesson 7 | The Word and the World [2]
Meaning and medium
The word gives meaning, the world lays out the mediums of language and culture to communicate it.
Translation philosophy
The classic dilemma with respect to Bible translations is whether they ought to be “word-for-word” or “phrase-by-phrase.” That is, should a translation seek to translate every word individually, as much the grammar will allow? Or, should a translation aim to provide a rendering of each phrase so as to produce a text with a more natural style?
Without opening up this debate entirely, I would suggest that word-for-word translations are best for those who are more biblically literate, since they bring such people closer to the original text. But for those new to the Bible, a phrase-by-phrase translation might be preferred. I was persuaded of this when a friend who works with Wycliff Bible Translators pointed out to me how obscure the idioms and expressions of scripture are to people in cultures without a scriptural foundation.
Paraphrastic teachings
The point of all this is to setup an analogy for our teaching as being phrase-by-phrase and not word-for-word. We love the very words of the Bible, but we do not love them for their letters; we love them for their meaning. Thus, it is that meaning that we seek to convey in our teaching. To do so, we let our culture determine the verbiage we use.
Now this point can be hard to swallow for some. You might want to contend with me and argue that the expressions of the Bible are not difficult to understand and that we should stick to them. If you feel this way, I suggest that it is for one of two reasons. Either you do not use a word-for-word translation, in which case I would encourage you to begin doing so, since you aim to teach the Bible. Or, you reject my suggestion that the language of the Bible can be difficult for those without biblical knowledge because you are not one of them. You do know your Bible well (praise the Lord) and so the language and style is familiar to you. But that is the point. You are called to help those who are not there yet.
To illustrate the need to help people in this way, let me put before you a non-biblical text that you may not be familiar with. The first scene of Act 1 in Shakespeare's Othello begins in the following way.
Tush! Never tell me. I take it much unkindly That thou, Iago, who hast had my purse As if the strings were thine, shouldst know of this.
Now, unless you have read much Shakespeare, that makes absolutely no sense. For it was written long ago in a different culture. So too the Bible. But it is poetry, you may contend. So are large parts of the Bible! The point is simply that a modern teaching on Othello would be poor if the teacher repeated “tush” many times in his teaching and just assumed that people understood him. So too will our teaching be lost on the biblically ignorant if we speak of Sheol or Immanuel or bond-servants without explanation. Our teaching on the Bible should always cling closely to the text and never depart from its meaning, but often will need that meaning said in a more modern way.
John Stott explains this well: Bible teachers are meant to be bridges from the word to the world. We must touch both.
Preaching is between two worlds. It is a bridge. Some sermons are bridges to nowhere, and some are bridges from nowhere.
Tony Merida, in summary of John Stott's book below
The Challenge of Preachingby John Stott
(An abridged and updated version of Between Two Worlds: The Art of Preaching in the Twentieth Century)
Click here to read an excellent excerpt from the book.
By the way, for those now curious about what in the world Shakespeare was saying in the above citation, here is a translation from sparknotes.com. “Come on, don’t tell me that. I don’t like it that you knew about this, Iago. All this time I’ve thought you were such a good friend that I’ve let you spend my money as if it was yours.”