A Brief Summary of Concerns About the TNIV

I agree with removing male-oriented words when there is no male-oriented meaning in the original Greek or Hebrew text. But when there is a male meaning, we dare not under-translate and conceal that meaning  just because that emphasis is unpopular today.

The heart of the controversy is this: In hundreds of verses the TNIV translates only the general idea of a passage and omits male-oriented details. Such changes may sound more acceptable to modern culture, but details of meaning in the underlying Greek text are lost. Here are some examples:

A. Changes affecting singular "father" (Greek pater) and singular "son" (Greek huios):

NIV Hebrews 12:7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?

TNIV ... what children are not disciplined by their parents?

The TNIV mistranslates the Greek terms huios ("son") and pater ("father"), which in their singular forms do not mean "child" or "parent," and surely not "children" or "parents." It also obscures the parallel with God as Father in this passage.

Is it true that children are disciplined by their parents? Yes. Is that what this verse says? No. The author is using a specific male example, yet the TNIV has changed it to a generalization.

In defending this rendering for Hebrews 12:7, the TNIV web site incorrectly claims that pater in the singular means "parent." Though the TNIV does not yet call God our "Parent," this claim opens a wide door for calling God "Parent" in Hebrews 12:9 and elsewhere in future editions. In fact, in line with "political correctness" in language, the new BDAG Lexicon has already added "Parent" as a definition of pater when used of God the Father (with no new evidence to support this new definition, p. 787). If we accept the TNIV in 2002, we should get ready for "Our Parent in heaven..." in 2010.

B. Changes affecting singular "brother" (Greek adelphos):

NIV Luke 17:3 If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.

TNIV If any brother or sister sins against you, rebuke the offender; and if they repent, forgive them.

The TNIV inserts "or sister," which Jesus did not say. Jesus is using a single male individual ("your brother") as an example of a general truth, but the TNIV will not let him do this. I agree that the verse applies to sisters who sin, but that is application, it is not translation. The Bible often points to a single individual to teach a general truth, as in the parable of the prodigal son - which applies to prodigal daughters, but it should not be translated prodigal "son or daughter" (as even the TNIV recognizes). Similarly, in the Ten Commandments, "You shall not covet your neighbor's wife" also applies to not coveting your neighbor's husband, but we should not change the words of God to translate Exodus 20:17 as "You shall not covet your neighbor's wife or husband." God's words are not ours to tamper with as we please.

C. Changes affecting "he/him/his" (with Greek 3rd person masculine singular pronouns):

NIV (1984) 1 Corinthians 14:28 If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God.

TNIV 1 Corinthians 14:28 If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to God when alone.

The TNIV translators thought (mistakenly) that modern readers might read the word "himself" and decide that this verse did not apply to women, so they changed it to "when alone."  But there is nothing that means "when alone" in the Greek text (the dative pronoun heauto here means "to himself"). The suggestion that this means "when the speaker is alone" may be some commentator's further explanation of the passage, but it is probably an overly restrictive explanation, and it is surely not an accurate translation of the passage. Prior to the TNIV, people could differ over whether Paul allowed uninterpreted prayer in tongues in small private groups outside the church meeting, but here the TNIV invents a new rule that Paul (and God) never said: someone praying in tongues must be "alone."

NIV Revelation 22:18: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues ...

TNIV If anyone of you adds anything to them, God will add to you the plagues ...

The TNIV implies that if any one person in your group adds to Scripture, "you" all, the whole group, will receive the plagues. The TNIV changes the meaning of the very verse that tells us never to change the words of Scripture!

D. Other changes

NIV (1984) Hebrews 2:6 What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?

TNIV (2002) What are mere mortals that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?

The TNIV needlessly obscures the possible connection of this verse with Jesus, who often called himself "the Son of Man." It mistranslates the singular Greek words huios ("son") and anthropos ("man"). It no longer refers to the human race as a unity named "man" (the best translation of the name given by God in Gen. 5:2), but "mere mortals."

NIV Hebrews 2:17: For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest ...

TNIV For this reason he had to be made like his brothers and sisters in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest ...

Did Jesus have to become like his sisters "in every way" in order to become a "high priest in service to God"? All the Old Testament priests were men, and surely the high priest was a man. This text does not quite proclaim an androgynous Jesus (who was both male and female), but it surely leaves open a wide door for misunderstanding, and almost invites misunderstanding. Meditate on that phrase "in every way" and see if you can trust the TNIV.

There are many other problems, such as changing "Jews" to "Jewish leaders" in Acts 13:50 and 21:11 (and several times in John) with no justification in the Greek text, thus obscuring larger corporate responsibility. With respect to gender language, "he" is changed to plural "they" 271 times (and to so-called "singular they" 112 times), "he" is changed to "you" 90 times, to "we" 9 times, and simply omitted 48 times. "Father/fathers/forefathers" are removed 39 times. Singular "brother" is changed to "brother or sister" or something like "believer" 43 times. "Man" (when translating the male-specific term aner) is changed to things like "people" or friends" 26 times. In each case these changes remove details of meaning that are there in the Greek text.

The TNIV distorts the meaning of Scripture in hundreds of such changes, not because the original Greek words have changed, and not because the meanings of ancient Greek words have changed (they haven't!), but merely to avoid five simple words that many in our culture find offensive: "man," "father," "son," "brother," and "he/him/his."

E. Do New Testament quotations of the Old Testament support the TNIV?

Some TNIV defenders claim precedent for such changes in the New Testament authors' quotations of the Old Testament in verses like 2 Cor 6:18, where Paul adds "and daughters" to 2 Samuel 7:14 and says, "you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty."

The problem with this argument is that the New Testament authors freely adapt Old Testament verses to apply to the situation at hand. Paul is not purporting to give an exact translation of 2 Samuel 7:14. We can see this from the fact that no Bible translation has ever taken Paul's adapted rendering and put it back into 2 Samuel 7:14 as the proper translation!  That would give an impossible translation in which God says to David, "I will raise up your offspring after you .... He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.  I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men ..." This makes no sense, and it is an impossible translation of the Hebrew. Paul is not translating, he is adapting and applying.

F. Widespread concern about the TNIV

Soon after the TNIV was released, thirty-seven evangelical scholars (the majority with Ph.D.'s in New Testament) signed a "Statement of Concern" saying: "In light of troubling translation inaccuracies - primarily (but not exclusively) in relation to gender language - that introduce distortions of the meanings that were conveyed better by the original NIV, we cannot endorse the TNIV translation as sufficiently accurate to commend to the church" (see statement and names at www.cbmw.org).

Then in June, 2002, over 100 respected evangelical leaders signed a public "Statement of Concern" opposing the TNIV (see more details and verses at www.cbmw.org).  And the Southern Baptist Convention and the Presbyterian Church in America last summer overwhelmingly passed denominational resolutions opposing the TNIV. But the International Bible Society, which owns the copyright and makes the final decision, continues to promote the TNIV.

If the TNIV should gain wide acceptance, the precedent will be established for other Bible translations to mute unpopular nuances and details of meaning for the sake of "political correctness." The loss of many other doctrines unpopular in the culture will soon follow. And at every case Bible readers will never know if what they are reading is really the Word of God or the translators' ideas of something that would be a little less offensive than what God actually said. "You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it" (Deut. 4:2).