TNIVThree

First Corinthians 11:10 ~ "For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have
authority over her own head." (accompanying the word "own" is a footnote, which reads, "b10 Or
have a sign of authority on her."

The TNIV's rendering disrupts the flow of the passage, as if, after reasons 1-3 have shown why
the Corinthian women should cover their heads, reasons 4 and 5 suddenly explain why a
woman should have authority over her own head. By translating the Greek word epi as "over"
rather than "upon" or "on," and by suddenly abandoning the sense-for-sense translation-
technique, the TNIV-translators have twisted a verse that was originally about a head-covering
into a phrase that may become a virtual slogan of egalitarianism.

First Corinthians 14:33-35 ~ "For God is not a God of disorder but of peace -- as in all the
congregations of the people of God. Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not
allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. If they want to inquire about
something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to
speak in the church." (Verse 35 is accompanied by a footnote, which reads, "a34, 35 In some
manuscripts these verses come after verse 40.")

That footnote is a concern, because such minor variants in the manuscripts are common. The
only motive I can think of for including this footnote in a version aimed at ordinary readers ---
mentioning a variant which is far more insignificant than dozens which the TNIV does not
mention --- is to provide a basis for the dismissal of verses 34-35.

If one asserts that this variant shows that these verses originated as a non-Pauline insertion,
a major verse related to male-female roles in the church disappears, in effect. Dr. Gordon
Fee, an egalitarian who is one of the TNIV-translators, promotes that assertion in a
commentary on First Corinthians.

Also, notice the new punctuation. Unlike the NIV, the TNIV attaches the phrase "as in all the
congregations of the people of God" to the previous sentence. Thus verses 34-35 now
describe only the Corinthian congregation, rather than necessarily describing the practice of
the early church as a whole. Although the KJV and other translations also include this
phrase as part of verse 34, this alteration of the NIV's text is interesting.

Philippians 1:14-15a ~ "And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become
confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear. It is true that some
preach Christ out of envy and rivalry…"

Two observations: first, the TNIV has extensively re-worded verse 14. The NIV followed the
manuscript-variant "logon tou theou" ~ and the TNIV apparently does not. The TNIV seems to
follow manuscripts which read simply "word" ~ "logon." This leaves me wondering why
"logon" was translated as "gospel" here.

Second, via the insertion of "and sisters," the TNIV makes it clear that Paul is favorably
observing that women are preaching. A case can be made that this is not merely informal
evangelism (which all Christians, male and female, ought to do vigorously), because some of
the preachers, Paul says in 1:17, preach "out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing
that they can stir up trouble" for Paul. To some readers, that may suggest that formal
sermon-preaching is involved. (And, if formal preaching was not involved, why wasn't some
other term besides "preach" used?)

Because the TNIV thus presents Paul commenting favorably about women preachers, a
question may arise: "How could Paul approve of women preachers in Philippians, and then
forbid women to teach in First Timothy?" Some might answer, "He couldn't; this shows that
Paul did not write First Timothy." This is one example of how an assumption of inclusiveness
may have significant doctrinal impact.

First Thessalonians 5:20-22 ~ "Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to
what is good, reject whatever is harmful."

While a good intention may have provoked this new rendering, it is needlessly vulnerable to
serious misinterpretation. Some readers may get the impression that these instructions are
to be applied even to the prophecies in Scripture, rather than to prophesyings in early
Christian congregations. Also, it is somewhat unusual for a translation to render the Greek
word ponerou ("evil") as merely "harmful" here.

First Timothy 3:2 and First Corinthians 7:29 ~ "faithful to his wife" and "a husband or wife."

These two phrases significantly obscure the meaning of the underlying Greek text. The TNIV
gives "gunaikas" a novel definition in I Cor. 7:29 -- it now refers to men or women!

First Timothy 3:4 ~ "...and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy
of full respect." (w/footnote: "Or him with proper")

This new rendering appears to touch corporeal punishment. In the NIV, respect was given to
the elder by his children but now it seems to be something which the elder is supposed to
receive from others.

First Timothy 3:11 ~ "In the same way, women who are deacons" (with small half-brackets around
"who are deacons" and a footnote reading, "Or way, deacons' wives" with small half-brackets
around "deacons'")

How did "Women who are deacons" emerge from the one Greek word gunaikas? It didn't – but
readers might not realize that those little pieces of brackets mean that the bracketed words
have been supplied by the translators. The change here draws into question the claim that
"Every single passage that deals with male-female

relationships in the church and in the home [is] translated

exactly the way [it is] translated in the NIV."

Since half-brackets were used here, why not implement them

in every case where the words "and sisters" were inserted – or

at least in cases in which the inclusiveness of adelphoi is not

suggested by the context?

Hebrews 2:6b ~ "What are mere mortals that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care
for them?"

A question arises when one compares Hebrews 2:6-8 with First Corinthians 15:27-28. Watch
carefully: in First Corinthians 15:27, Paul quotes Psalm 8 as saying, "He has put everything
under his feet." Hebrews 2:6-8 ends with the phrase, "You ... put everything under their feet."
The TNIV includes an extensive footnote here, which includes the rendering which is used in
the text of First Corinthians 15:27. The same phrase in Psalm 8 is singular in First
Corinthians 15, and plural in the text of Hebrews 2:8, although the Greek text is singular in
both cases.

Despite the TNIV website's insistence that the author of Hebrews does not apply Psalm 8 to
Christ, this looks like a de-gendered reference to Christ to me: the Greek text of 2:6-8
contains singular male pronouns (all of which are pluralized in the TNIV's text), and 2:9
applies the same text ("made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory
and honor") to Christ. First Corinthians 15:27 makes it unrealistic to deny that the New
Testament affirms that Psalm 8 has a Christological dimension.

Hebrews 2:17 ~ "For this reason he had to be made like his brothers and sisters in every way..."

Although it was certainly not the intention of the translators, the insertion of the words "and
sisters" may give some readers the impression that Jesus was both male and female.

Hebrews 12:7b ~ "For what children are not disciplined by their parents?"

In this sentence, four leaps away from the original text have been made:

"huios" (son) becomes "child," and "child" becomes "children."

"pater" (father) becomes "parent," and "parent" becomes "parents."

Hebrews 12:9-10 ~ "Moreover, we have all had human parents who disciplined us and we
respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! Our
parents disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good,
that we may share in his holiness."

Every contextual indicator here points to a non-inclusive usage of the Greek word for
"fathers." The author explicitly parallels human fathers with the Father of spirits, and quotes
from a passage in Proverbs in which a father gives advice to his son. The author of Hebrews
used a different Greek word in 11:23 to refer to both parents. It is hard to see how the Greek
words pater and pateras could ever be seen as broad references to fathers if they are not seen
that way here.

Hebrews 13:17a ~ "Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority…"

The Greek word peithesthe is translated as "Obey" here in the KJV, NKJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV,
ASV, NAB, Revised Version, Moffatt, Goodspeed, TEV, CEV, and the Jerusalem Bible. It
connotes action, not merely attitude, as in James 3:3 and Galatians 5:7.

James 1:2, 1:16, 1:19, 2:1, 2:5, 2:14, et al

The book of James fits into a genre of writing known as "Wisdom" literature, which is
predominated by males writing advice to other males. James mostly used male examples to
illustrate his points: "double-minded man" (1:8), "Blessed is the man" (1:12), "A man who
looks at his face in a mirror" (1:23), and so on. James 2:1-3 also indicates that James took
for granted that his readers presided, to some extent, at congregational gatherings. James
does not seem to have assumed that his usage of male terms would or should automatically
be considered to refer to females and males alike.

James probably intended for some of his illustrations to be presented as male-oriented
visualizations. However, the TNIV removes – with surgical precision – the gender-

specific features of the Greek text of James. In James' 108 verses, the gender in

the Greek text has been replaced to produce a gender-related change in the TNIV

56 times. (In several other cases the TNIV ungenders the NIV's rendering, genuinely
bringing the translation into closer agreement with the Greek text.)

James 1:12 ~ "Blessed are those who persevere under trial, because when they have stood the
test, they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him."

The TNIV departs from the Greek text by treating the singular word aner ("man") as if it is
plural. The verse thus loses its original progression; it no longer refers first to one individual
(the man persevering under trial) and then to a group.

James 2:2 ~ "Suppose someone comes into your meeting…"

The TNIV website states that "The TNIV uses generic language only where the meaning of the
text was intended to include both men and women." However, there is no evidence here that
James meant to refer to females as well as males when he used the Greek word aner.

James 3:1 ~ "Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers and sisters, because
you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly."

Some readers might think that this verse conflicts with First Timothy 2:12 (where Paul states
"I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man"). James used a Greek
phrase for "brother or sister" in 2:15. He did not do so here; he wrote "adelphoi," not
"adelphoi kai adelphai." This is another instance in which the original text is "stretched" to
allow an inclusive rendering and then "squeezed" so as to not show that the Greek text may
be understood exclusively.

James 3:8a ~ "but no one can tame the tongue."

The Greek text does not just say oudeis ("no one"); it also says anthropon ("of men" or "of
humankind"). A better rendering would be "No human being can tame the tongue." The
word "anthropon" seems to have disappeared.

James 5:19-20 ~ "My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and
someone should bring them back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their
way will save their soul from death and cover over a multitude of sins."

This is another example of the TNIV's unusual grammar. The wanderer changes from
singular to plural to singular to plural, and a plural adjective ("their") describes a singular,
indistributable object ("soul").

First Peter 3:10 ~ "For, "Whoever among you would love life and see good days must keep your
tongue from evil and your lips from deceitful speech."

The replacement of "his" with "your" has made this verse quaint; it now seems to say that
everyone who wants to loves life ought to keep my tongue from evil.

Revelation 12:4-8 ~ These verse describe a dragon in a vision. The dragon symbolizes Satan,
as 12:9 plainly states. The TNIV refers to the dragon's tail as "Its tail" and the dragon is called
"it" in 12:4. Then, the dragon's angels are called "his angels" in verse 7 and the dragon is
called "he" in 12:8. These pronouns seem inconsistent.