Bill Mounce is a Greek Ninja. Of all the people who can kung-fu greek style – he’s one bad dude you don’t want to mess with (imagine if he and Con Campbell double teamed you!). He’s written a flippin’ sweet blog post on how to use Greek in the pulpit:
“Before the ESV was available, I used another translation that was a little freer in its translation philosophy. There were two Sundays in a row where I had to correct its interpretation to make what I thought was the true point of the passage. After the service a new Christian came to me and asked, “Can I not trust my Bible?” Ouch! So here is one of the big no-noes from the pulpit. Do not correct the English Bible. Ever! Never say, “the translators got this wrong.” The damage you can do to a person’s trust in Scripture is unimaginable.”
Read the whole thing. His post helps Pastors to not be jerks in the way they use greek from the pulpit – this is a must read for all wannabe preachers/greek ninjas. Seriously.
(h/t acl)
I’ll have to read the article, but at the moment it sounds like he is asking preachers to lie.
The word of God is a serious thing, and if translators got it wrong, the congregation ought to know. I’m assuming Mounce addresses this…
i’ll be back after i’ve read it :)
ahh I see. His problem is in making yourself the authority. Chances are you’ve got it wrong yourself, or the translators know a lot more than you, so approach it with humility with care for your flock.
From the quote you provided i thought he was saying “If it’s wrong, just don’t tell them”, which would be a horrendous thing.
I feel better now.
see you feb 9!
AMEN!
It’s bad when dudes like us with a tiny bit of Greek correct the Bible in sermons, but even worse when dudes with NO Greek correct the Bible in a sermon (and this happens surprisingly a lot). on ya Mounce!
Nick
hey geoff – starting to sound like a sydney anglican in your first comment!! ;)
glad you feel better now.
good call nick. good call.
lol. I’ve sat there and cringed while a bishop has told my congregation that the NIV translators were ‘silly’. I know how it is.
But with what I thought he was saying, I stand by my sentiments.
However, does Mounce actually offer anything concrete apart from going to the footnotes?. What do you do in the situations where clearly the translators have made a mistake, and the footnotes don’t have anything tosay on it?
He doesn’t seem to offer any advice on how to go about it when preaching. do you ignore it and just keep going?
Ps. Dave, what does a Sydney Anglican sound like?
Ps. Dave, what does a Sydney Anglican sound like?
look up at the shiny thing on the wall next time you clean your teeth!!
;)
ps – i’ve always liked piper’s article here: http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/TopicIndex/54_The_Bible/1534_Good_English_With_Minimal_Translation_Why_Bethlehem_Uses_the_ESV/
Do you like it because he is an example of how not to preach? He always corrects the NIV, and actually says he’d prefer not to see people use the NIV. It sounds similar to when there was the call by some prominent Sydney Anglicans to see everyone use the ESV, because that was the ‘best’ version, much to the dismay of the greek department at Moore.
So are you saying that Piper is an example of how not to be? He seems to be doing what Mounce was arguing against, don’t you think?
it’s not a typical sermon. i think it was a midweek seminar type thing.
no i’m not saying piper is an example of how not to be.
i really like the quote below. he is valuing the power of the word of God no matter how weak the translation – yet throughout the article still explains why he prefers his translation of choice over others.
I praise God that we have the Bible in English. What a gift! What a treasure! We cannot begin to estimate what this is worth to Christians and churches, and even to the unbelievers and the cultures of the English-speaking world. Ten thousand benefits flow from the influence of this book that we are not even aware of. And the preaching of this Word in tens of thousands of pulpits across America is more important than every media outlet in the nation.
I would rather have people read any translation of the Bible—no matter how weak—than to read no translation of the Bible. If there could be only one translation in English, I would rather it be my least favorite than that there be none. God uses every version to bless people and save people.
But the issue before the church in the English-speaking world today is not “no translation vs. a weak translation.” It is between many precious English Bibles. A Bible does not cease to be precious and powerful because its translators overuse paraphrase and put way too much of their own interpretation into the Bible. That’s the way God’s Word is! It breaks free from poor translations and poor preaching—for which I am very thankful. But even though the weakest translation is precious, and is used by God to save and strengthen sinful people, better translations would be a great blessing to the church and an honor to Christ.
I came across this problem almost every time I prepared sermons last year. I had to keep a couple of things in mind.
a) Even though I have access to the Greek, I’m not actually terribly good with it – I’m still an L-plate exegete.
b) My church had a minister that used to regularly trash the NIV, which had raised that whole trust issue.
c) The church had made a conscious decision to stay NIV, and it’s my job to preach from what they have at their fingertips.
d) If I was unhappy with the NIV rendering (and I often was) I needed to simply present the Greek word, translate the senses that the word conveys – and also explain gently that English doesn’t always exactly transliterate – try this phrase for fresh air.
ESV isn’t universally accepted – I’ve just started as student minister in Cambridge Park (Penrith) where it’s called the Eastern Suburbs Bible, and is of an English level simply beyond some parishioners. Is it my job to say that their NIVs are insufficient? Is it my job to try to up their English skills? Or is it my job to read the living Word of God, and explain it so that their ears and hearts can soak it in? I’ll preach to them from a Good News, or a CEV or a bloody Message if I need to!