Opus 2026-200: Dynamic Language

English is a sponge. It soaks up words from other languages. Even those of us who are not native speakers can enjoy New Englanders trying to pronounce simple words like tortilla or taco. You don’t need to be highly educated to pick up the additions.

I would like to see more Bible translations making use of the original languages. A new translation, the Legacy Standard Bible (LSB), has started down that path. They have taken the Hebrew name for God, YHWH, and translated it Yahweh instead of “LORD” which was the previous standard.

There are other words that get confusing when we try to translate them. One that I run into is the English word “perfect”. It is used in the KJV and NASB New Testaments. At the same time I run into people who want to deny that such a concept should be considered. The problem is that they take the modern idea of perfect as being without flaw. That is not what the Greek is trying to convey. The Greek word,“telios” means to achieve the goal set for you. The best illustration I can come up with is to talk about a perfect baby. It wets, cries and throws up on you. It is still perfect if it is mine.

Or I would like to see agape instead of love. The concept of love has been so polluted by our modern culture that it is almost meaningless. Go with the Greek and make people think about what it means.

I am sure there are many other examples. Of course if you are a King James Only person you are quite content with words that now mean the opposite of what they meant in 1611. For you I say, “God bless you and help you know truth.”

homo unius libri