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‘The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood — www.cbmw.org,
CBMW Responds to New NIV(2011)
camMw
November 19, 2010
Over the past three weeks, the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW) has been
conducting a review of the recently released and extensively revised new NIV(2011). As of now, the
translation is only available online. Zondervan’s release of the TNIV in 2002 (New Testament) and 2005
(fall Bible) brought about a significant controversy in the evangelical community over Bible transl:
philosophy in general and translation of gender-related passages in particular. Given that the Committee
on Bible Translation (CBT) used the TNIV as their starting point, and that CBMW was deeply involved in
opposing the TNIV, we feel a certain obligation to provide an assessment of the new NIV(2011). CBMW
does this out ofa sense of fairness toward a new product and a sense of responsibility to its constituency
+ First, we are grateful for the openness and honesty expressed by Zondervan and the CBT during the
early stages of this revision. Several private conversations were held long prior to the finalization of the
work of the CBT (indeed, the CBT humbly solicited input from a number of sources), and the leadership at
Zondervan was very forthright about their intentions and plan. Particularly to be commended are
Zondervan President Moe Girkins and CBT Chairman Doug Moo. Their integrity from the very beginning of
this process has set the stage for a respectful discussion of substance of this new translation.
+ Second, we are thankful that the CBT made some significant improvements in various areas. For
instance, in many passages “man” and “mankind” replace a gender-neutral equivalent, resulting in
greater accuracy in translating the Hebrew or Greek text. This is also true in many cases for the
words, “he,” “him,” “his,” “brother,” “father,” and “son.” In numerous passages that now contain these
words, the CBI revised many of the most egregious passages that concerned us previously.
+ Third, to offer an instance of a typical gender-language change from the NIV to the TNIV to the new
‘NIV(2011), Revelation 3:20 is an interesting example. It illustrates how the CBT has tried to dial down
the one-size-fits-all gender-inclusive approach of the TNIV. In 1984, the NIV translators were
comfortable with “generic he.” With the TNIV they insisted on only using the gender-inclusive plural
them/they. But in 2011 they have taken a middle ground, using “that person...they.”
NIV(1984) Here [ am! stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door,
I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
TNIV(2005) Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the
door, I will come in and eat with them, and they with me.
NIV(2011)_ Here I am! stand at the door and knock. Ifanyone hears my voice and opens the door,
Iwill come in and eat with that person, and they with me,
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Several things may be noted about the new rendering.
1. The CBT has obviously taken seriously the criticism that the TNIV’s use of generie plurals
(them/they) in place of singular pronouns (him/he) in the interest of deploying gender-neutral
language potentially obscured an important aspect of biblical thought—that of the personal
relationship between an individual and God expressed ubiquitously in the Bible by generic
singulars (him /he).
2. The CBT has attempted to remedy this problem without reverting to masculine singulars, but
by mixing gender-unspecific singulars and plurals (that person/they). And they do so offering
as justification and precedent — current English usage, Shakespeare and the Greek NT!
3. This is still going to leave pastors and teachers with the rather onerous
k of repeatedly
advising the flock: “that is a singular ‘they” or “that is a singular ‘them.” And in many
important verses, a reader will not be able to tell if “they” is meant as singular or plural from
the new NIV(2011) English text alone (see John 14:23 for example).
4. Furthermore, ironically but importantly, “that person” has a very cold, impersonal feel in
comparison to both “them” and “him.” That is not how we speak when we want to maximize the
warmth and intimacy of our relationship with someone in English. “That person” is how we
speak about someone we don’t know. The new NIV(2011) is going to struggle with that,
regularly.
5. Nevertheless, the CBT has at least wrestled to try to retain the individual aspect of Revelation
‘0 in the new NIV(2011), but their desire to avoid the use of a generic “him” has led to the
use ofa more distant-sounding “that person.”
+ Fourth, there are some significant problematic passages in the new NIV(2011) that have been retained
from the TNIV, not the least of which is the deliberately ambiguous rendering of authentein in 1
‘Timothy 2:12 as “assume authority.” The CBI says that this leaves the interpretation of the passage
open, but it actually intentionally introduces a crucial ambiguity that is not found in the original NIV
(which accurately translated authentein “have authority”). The new NIV(2011)'s translation of
authentein designedly lends itself to a common current egalitarian misinterpretation of this passage
(ie., that Paul is only addressing the case of women illegitimately “assuming” authority, rather than
prohibiting women from having/exercising authority as teacher/shepherds of the church). Bells
should go off when one notes that even the gender-neutral NRSV translates authentein “have
authority” here (!)—along with the NIV, NLT, HCSB, NKJV, and NIRV, while the NASB, HCSB and ESV
similarly translate it as “exercise authority.” Thus, the CBI is out on a limb here over against the other
main modern English translations. And it is out on a limb precisely because of its attempt to be
“neutral” on a passage that even the translators of the NRSV have not attempted to make more
amenable to an egalitarian interpretation. There are, of course, other problems with the rendering
“assume authority” in contrast with “have authority” (NIV) and “exercise authority” (NASB). For
instance, it is clear in English that the latter two prohibit women from the being in the state of
having/holding/exercising of authority, whereas “assume authority” could easily be misconstrued as
pertaining only to the taking up of authority (whether legitimately or illegitimately) or the way in
which one comes into the state of authority. But where is the evidence that authentein indicates only
entry into a state of authority? Thus the introduction of “assume” here carries with it a connotation
that either misleads or allows the English reader to be misled.
So, though we are genuinely thankful for the many positive changes in the new NIV(2011),
and though we are deeply appreciative of the very different process by which our friends at
the CBT and Zondervan pursued and unveiled this new version, we still cannot commend the
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new NIV(2011) for most of the same reasons we could not commend the TNIV. Our initial
analysis shows that the new NIV(2011) retains many of the problems that were present in
the TNIV, on which it is based, especially with regard to the over 3,600 gender-related
problems we previously identified. In spite of the many good changes made, our initial
analysis reveals that a large percentage of our initial concerns still remain. CBMW will be
releasing an exact percentage after we complete our full detailed analysis. We are also still
concerned about the frequent omission of the words, “man,” “brother,” “father,” “son,” and
“he.”
‘As the evangelical community turns to CBMW for trusted counsel on contemporary Bible
translations that are faithful and accurate in their rendering of gender-language, we will
continue to point them to the many translations available today that do a better job than the
TNIV and new NIV(2011) - translations like the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB),
the New American Standard (NASB), the New King James (NKJV), and the English Standard
Version (ESV).
If you want more information about gender-neutral translations we recommend that you
look at the resources available at http://www.cbmw.org/Gender-Neutral-Bible-Resoure
Though most of this material was prepared in relation to the TNIV, much of it still applies to
our primary concerns about the new NIV(2011), and interested readers can still use it as a
help in examining individual verses in the new NIV(2011).
Our prayer is that evangelicals will continue to be very discerning with regard to the Bibles
those translations that are the most accurate.
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