Why another translation?
Nearly every year there is a new English translation of the Bible or a rework of a previous translation and so why would there be a need for yet another English translation? What is wrong with all the English translations which are currently available? As I have studied the numbers and the many pictures, types and shadows within the Bible I came to the conclusion that many doctrines within Protestant theology (which I once believed) are incorrect. However, this led me to question the theological clarity of the written words in the English translations available. Why do the numbers, the pictures and the Protestant interpretation of theology not agree? I soon discovered through examining the Greek text that many passages which appeared to contradict the numbers and pictures or were ambiguous in nature contained aorist tense verbs. This led me to try and understand what an aorist tense verb was. Many Greek Grammar books teach that an aorist tense verb is a simple past tense verb. But is this correct? Many Protestants rely upon the past tense of a verb in the English translations to form their theological arguments. Within the New Testament there are over 12,000 aorist tense verbs. With so many, this could dramatically change our understanding of what the Biblical authors were communicating under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, compared to current understanding, from our English translations.
Aorist tense verb
The definition of aoristic is undetermined or undefined. This means that the type of action (aspect) of an aorist tense verb cannot be defined as simple, continuous or completed. It also means that the timing of the action cannot be defined as past, present or future. As the aorist tense verb is an undefined action, we must leave the possibility open of two or more of the three types of action. e.g. An aorist tense verb could denote a simple and later a continuous action. As we operate in a time continuum an aorist tense verb must have timing but again is undefined. Therefore an aorist tense verb may have two or more timings. e.g. An aorist tense verb could denote a past element and a present element or an aorist tense verb could denote present and future elements or could denote past, present and future elements.
As I studied how verbs in Greek are constructed it became apparent to me that an aorist tense verb was indeed a broad verb, potentially covering all aspects and timings. If we take the following example of the Greek verb λυω (I release) to explain:
Present λυω – I release
Future λυσω – I will release
Imperfect ἐλυον – I was releasing
Aorist ἐλυσα
It can be clearly seen that the Aorist tense is formed using the present tense stem, the augment ‘ἐ’ is added at the beginning like the imperfect tense and a sigma ‘σ’ is added after the present stem like the future tense. Examining how the language was built led me to further believe that the aorist tense was not a simple past tense verb.
I then discovered that in 1972 Frank Stagg had written an article in the Journal of Biblical Literature called ‘The Abused Aorist.’ He documented the inconsistencies of how the aorist tense had been translated in English translations and how the aorist tense was an undefined tense, just like the meaning of the word:
“The aorist can properly be used to cover any kind of action: single or multiple, momentary or extended, broken or unbroken, completed or open-ended. The aorist simply refrains from describing.”
DA Carson in his book ‘Exegetical Fallacies’ addressed this article on page 70 and concluded regarding the meaning of an aorist tense verb:
“The aorist, after all, is well named: it is a-orist, without place, undefined. It simply refers to the action itself without specifying whether the action is unique, repeated, ingressive, instantaneous, past or accomplished.”
There is no aorist tense verb in English grammar, so in light of all the above, how then should an aorist tense verb be translated into English? To maintain accuracy I propose to create an aorist tense verb in English by translating it as the simple present tense suffixed with an ‘a.’ In this way, the reader can easily recognise the aorist tense and interpret the type or types of action and possible timings of those actions by the immediate context and the overall theological message of the Bible. Sadly, I believe Protestant theology has influenced how many of the aorist tense verbs have been translated to fit with their theological system and to fit the English language rather than allowing the aorist tense verb to inform theology. However, even if you disagree with my belief that an aorist tense verb is undefined, the translation which follows remains accurate as it simply informs the reader of the aorist tense, leaving the interpretation to the reader.
Definite article ‘the’
Greek has a definite article ‘the’ but no indefinite article ‘a’ or ‘an.’ English has both. The problem with many English translations of the New Testament is that when the definite article appears in the Greek text it is left out in the English translation for read-ability. Conversely, when the definite article does not appear in the Greek text it is often put in the English translation, again for read-ability. This causes the reader a problem in determining if there is significance as to why the Greek author has or has not used the definite article. English translations are therefore interpreting the Greek rather than accurately translating the Greek. As there are no indefinite articles in Greek, this translation has not inserted indefinite articles so it may not flow on occasions.
Capital letters
Capital letters have only been used in this translation for the beginning of sentences, names, titles and for God. Other words such as ‘him,’ ‘father,’ ‘spirit,’ which other translations have capitalised, with the understanding of referring to a person of the Godhead, have been left uncapitalised in this translation as it has been left to the reader to interpret from the text whether God is being spoken of.
Plural of ‘You’
In older English it was possible to distinguish between ‘you’ singular and ‘you’ plural as the singular was simply ‘you’ and the plural was ‘ye.’ However, in modern English translations the singular and the plural are both translated ‘you,’ making it impossible to distinguish between them. In an effort for the reader to distinguish between the two, this translation uses ‘you’ for the singular and ‘yous’ for the plural. ‘Yous’ in the past may have been thought of as incorrect English but has now been accepted into the English dictionary and so it has been employed to distinguish the singular from the plural and thereby aiding in understanding what the Greek authors are communicating.
Recreating the Greek text
It would be my argument that for a good language translation to be accurate there would need to be sufficient information contained in the translation to be able to recreate the source language. However, with the English translations currently available it is my belief that this would be impossible, especially in light of what has been discussed relating to the aorist tense verb. With the notated English translation which follows I believe it would be possible to very accurately recreate the Greek text.
Consistency
Many translations very often use multiple words in the English language when translating the same Greek word which appears in multiple places within the Greek text, whether this is a noun, verb or even a preposition. It is to be acknowledged that no language has a one for one translation of word for word and there can be a semantic range of words for a particular Greek word. However, this translation has attempted to limit the number of English words for the same Greek word and only deviate when the context and sentence necessitates.
Study-ability versus read-ability
This translation has focused upon accuracy for the purpose of studying what the authors meant rather than read-ability in the English language. It may therefore be more difficult to read compared to some ‘modern translations.’ It has also attempted to remain free of interpretation where possible, especially theological interpretation upon the text, although it is acknowledged no translation from one language to another can be completely free of interpretation.
Textus Receptus
The Greek text used for translation into English is the Textus Receptus. This translation has not been reviewed by anyone.
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