The biblical manuscripts were originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek (means common Greek of 2000 years ago).
Hebrew is a language that is about 4000 years old. It died as a spoken language about 350 B.C. It has been revived in Modern Israel but with many changes.
Aramaic is a language that has been dead for many centuries. Translators must depend on ancient secular manuscripts to reveal the grammar and vocabulary of Aramaic. Parts of Daniel and Nehemiah are written in Aramaic.
Koine Greek is 1800 years old. It was the language of the common people when Jesus lived on this earth. Modern Greek is quite different but related.
Hebrew and Greek are rich languages that have an extensive vocabulary and a grammar and syntax that are capable of expressing fine differences in meaning. Sometimes the English language does not express all that the biblical languages expressed.
Moreover, early copies of the Scriptures were written in the ancient style with no space between words, no punctuation, no paragraphs, and with everything written in the equivalent of capital letters. A division by chapters and verses was not added until the Middle Ages.
The translator has to make choices: How is he or she going to move from one language to the other? What will the criteria be?
It needs to be emphasized that God has given us a dependable copy of his Word. Even though there are differences in the underlying manuscripts as well as a different approach to translation, the differences between the reliable translations are few and minor. None of them affects a major doctrine.
Credit: Much of this page makes use of material from Sheila Evans
| And he gave some, apostles; and some,
prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and
teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work
of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: (KJV) |
And He Himself gave some to be apostles,
some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and
teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of
ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, (NKJ) |
And He gave some {as} apostles, and some
{as} prophets, and some {as} evangelists, and some {as}
pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for
the work of service, to the building up of the body of
Christ; (NAS) |
| And he gave the apostles, the prophets,
the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the
saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body
of Christ, (ESV) |
It was he who gave some to be apostles,
some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to
be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for
works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built
up (NIV) |
It was he who gave some as apostles,
some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as
pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of
ministry, that is, to build up the body of Christ, (NET) |
| Some of us have been given special
ability as apostles; to others he has given the gift of
being able to preach well; some have special ability in
winning people to Christ, helping them to trust him as
their Savior; still others have a gift for caring for
God's people as a shepherd does his sheep, leading and
teaching them in the ways of God. Why is it that he gives
us these special abilities to do certain things best? It
is that God's people will be equipped to do better work
for him, building up the Church, the body of Christ, to a
position of strength and maturity; (TLB) |
Christ chose some of us to be apostles,
prophets, missionaries, pastors, and teachers, so that
his people would learn to serve and his body would grow
strong. (CEV) |
He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet,
evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christians in
skilled servant work, working within Christ's body, the
church, (Message) |
| Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I
say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit,
he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (ESV) |
Jesus said, "You're not listening.
Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this
original creation--the 'wind hovering over the water'
creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism
into a new life--it's not possible to enter God's kingdom.
When you look at a baby, it's just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can't see and touch--the Spirit--and becomes a living spirit. (Message) |