One thing that impressed me about Steemit was the fact discussions were mostly civil, respectful, well thought out, and well written. So I looked for a forum where the Bible was discussed. Obviously I looked here in the BIBLE forum. Sadly I didn't find much focus on the Bible but rather the teachings and opinions of men.
Is it possible to actually use this forum for solid discussions of the Scripture?
An example of what I mean is this:
In Acts 17:31 the word pistis (πιστιν) is used. In Heb 11:1 the same word (different form) is used (πιστις). This world is most often translated into English as "faith" but most modern translation chose to use other words. However, the Wycliffe and the Concordant Literal translations do use the word "faith."
I think we know why the translators might have been tempted to avoid the inconvenience of a verse which says "tendering (or giving) faith to all ..." but can WE have a meaningful discussion of points like this? To be meaningful in my mind we should submit to the following constraints:
- Limit the discussion to the facts of the Bible, not what someone has said ABOUT the Bible
- Avoid, at all costs, the myriad of denominational interpretations on a particular verse and the accompanying divisions
- Treat everyone with dignity and respect, neither insisting nor resisting based merely on our current understandings
Possible questions to be discussed might be:
- Is there any grammatical or other basis for NOT translating πιστιν as faith since in many other occurrences it is translated so?
- If not then what are the ramifications of a verse which translates "... tendering faith to all..."?
Finally, if BIBLE isn't the correct forum for such discussions can someone suggest another, please?
I don't see anything wrong with the translation of "tendering faith to all".
This tells me that even our faith to believe is not originated from us but given by God. Romans 8:29-30 and Ephesians 2:8 confirm this!
Thank you for posting this discussion.
When I do this type of work I favor the blue letter bible website as it allows me to see the passage from all the translations but also to look up the strongs concordance of the word as well. I looked up the word you speak of and here is what this site had to say about the word:
https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?strongs=G4102&t=KJV
As usual, context is extremely important and I think it is up to the individual to make a decision on how to work through the linquistics of what is being said. I also think historical contexts are important too. So rather than using modern bias or interpretations, a study of history is also important so that you can put the context of the passage in the proper historical context. It is a lot of work. Kudo's for wanting to do the work.
Our approach is very similar but we use different tools. I use MySword Bible on my phone. It gives me the ability to compare various translations side-by-side as well as a hot link to the actual parsings of the Greek text and Strong # definitions.
It's true the goal is first to identify translation bias and then decide which might be the "best" translation. A simple, side-by-side display of various translations is usually enough to expose bias. Landing on an acceptable translation is a bit more tricky.
For me the most effective way has been to simply read the verses to obtain the facts which are stated. I don't read to obtain an understanding or interpretation. I don't perform an academic analysis (the reference sources are too biased ;-) I find that after I have the facts then the understanding the follows naturally.
(I do admit that the fact finding can get a bit technical at times but it's also fun ;-)