Gender & Bible Translations

Today, I discovered something: gender neutral translations of the Bible exist. To some, that may seem obvious, because they have been around for a few years. But it was new to me.

A week ago, I wouldn’t have thought it was a big deal to have gender neutral translations. I’m a female, but growing up in church, the use of a general masculine never bothered me, in the Bible or elsewhere. But as a technical writing student, I know that gender inclusive language is the norm, and I can understand why using gender neutral language in Bible translations can help women not feel excluded.

My recent study of the book, Why Not Women?, has made me aware, though, of the need for Bible translations that are accurate in gender neutrality. The author writes that some critical verses have been translated incorrectly in many translations. At times, gender specific language has been introduced when the original was gender neutral. Case in point: 1 Tim 3:1. The authors says that the Greek uses a gender neutral word for “anyone” and that no masculine pronouns or verbs occur in the text. Yet, the verse is often translated, “If aynone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task” (NIV). The author arugues that a more accurate translation is, “if anyone sets his or her heart on being an overseer, he or she desires a noble task.” (I’d argue that it’s better to make the sentence plural, so “he or she” and “his or her” can be avoided. Since it’s not standard English, I’m not big on using “they” or “their” with a singular word like “anyone,” but it’s fine in some translations that want to use informal English.)

I don’t know Greek, so I can’t vouch for the Greek of 1 Tim 3:1 being gender inclusive. But it seems like an important difference to me. As a result of that discovery and others, I’ve started looking at getting a Bible like the TNIV or NLT that are gender inclusive. I think both of those, though, change the use of general masculine words in the original text to gender neutral English words. I’d really prefer to find a translation that stays true to the gender use of the original text – gender neutrality when it is neutral, gender specific when it is specific (even if the specific use of male meant “male and female”).

Typing that out, I wonder if that IS what I really want. I thought I wanted it to be a literal translation of the use of gender, saying “man” even if the implied meaning is “man and woman” and only using “man and woman” or other gender inclusive language when the original text was gender inclusive. But now that I think about it more, I might prefer a translation that says “male and female” when it means “male and female”, even if the original text was “man”. That way, I don’t have to guess from context whether it should include females or not.

For more info on why a gender inclusive Bible translation is a good idea, check out Mark Robert’s TNIV Blog.

Why Not Women?

I thought I’d post a few of the things I’ve learned from reading the book Why Not Women? In the book, Loren Cunningham says the belief that women shouldn’t hold leadership, teaching, and preaching roles is an attack against five things:

• The Attack Against the Gospel Workforce – 2/3 of all Bible believing Christians are women. Frank Franson said, “When two-thirds of the Christians are excluded from the work of evangelizing, the loss for God’s cause is so great that it can hardly be described.”
• The Attack Against Men and Their Ministries – The belief appeals to the pride of men.
• The Attack Against Women – The atrocities committed against women because of their believed inferiority, inside and outside of Christian nations, are numerous.
• The Attack Against the Character of God – “When bias against women is perpetuated by Christians, the message it sends is that God is unjust.”
• The Attack Against the Image of God – Male and female, together, were created in the image of God.

n the second chapter, “How We Know What We Believe,” Loren Cunningham writes about how to properly interpret the Bible. He sets up two points that I want to mention:

• Start with a Sound Premise – If you start with a false premise and build a logical sounding argument on it, you have false teaching.
• Recognize the Difference between Absolute Biblical Truths and Relative Biblical Statements – some of the Bible’s statements are relative to a particular time, place, and situation.

The second point may scare some people since it calls some of the Bible’s teachings relative. He’s not talking about relativism or anything like that. Instead, he writes, “For example, 1 Cor 11:14 says that a man is dishonored or shamed if he has long hair. Was this an absolute truth for all time, for all men everywhere? If so, how can you explain God’s telling Samson to let his hair grow long…? Paul’s instruction concerning men’s hair length is an example of a relative statement of Scripture.”

It’s that second point, recognizing the difference between absolute Biblical truths and relative Biblical statements, that I think is critical to understanding what the Bible really says about women’s roles in the Kingdom of God. On the one hand, we have verses like 1 Cor 14:34 and 1 Tim 2:12 that say women must be silent in church and can’t teach or lead men. On the other hand, we have Gal 3:26-29 that says there is no difference between male and female in Christ. We also have verses like Joel 2:28-29 saying that women will prophesy when the Spirit is poured out on them. In my opinion, all of these verses can’t be absolute Biblical truths, because they contradict each other. But what is the absolute truth, and what is the relative statement?

It’s my opinion, and the opinion of Loren Cunningham, that verses like 1 Cor 14:34 and 1 Tim 2:12 are relative teachings while Gal 3:26-29 and Joel 2:28-29 are absolute Biblical truths. Why? Because we should use Scripture to interpret Scripture. Loren Cunningham writes, “If Paul was stating an absolute, saying that women should keep silent in church, he certainly was contradicting what the Spirit said through Joel… Also, Peter quoted this promise from God on the day of Pentecost. If Paul was saying that women should always keep silent, he was even contradicting himself. Just three chapters earlier, in 1 Cor 11:5, he told women to pray and prophesy. Publicly testifying of Jesus is what prophecy is all about, according to Rev 19:10. 1 Cor 14:13 explains that prophecy is supposed to edify (teach), exhort (correct), and console (encourage). When Paul told the women how to pray and prophesy, he was expecting them to do this out loud and in public.”