• About
  • Apologetics, Theology, and Political Posts
  • Home
  • Sermons
  • Son of God Human Supremacy: Future Humanity’s Destiny in Him

Against All Odds

~ Engage Life

Against All Odds

Category Archives: Inerrancy

The Life Wars (part V): Exodus 21:22 – 23, An English Translation of this Text Supports Abortion?

04 Monday Jul 2022

Posted by Prime Theologian in Abortion, Biblical Interpretation, Difficult Texts, Inerrancy, Infallibility, Scripture

≈ Comments Off on The Life Wars (part V): Exodus 21:22 – 23, An English Translation of this Text Supports Abortion?

Tags

Abortion, Bias, interpretation, life, old testament, Scripture

Exodus 21:22 – 23 bears on the abortion discussion. What happens when an unclear version of an Old Testament text is used in preference to clear versions? In a word, bias happens. Being biased of course is an inescapable part of being human; the contention here is that using a hugely unclear version represents abject bias. That bias comes through any translation from Greek into English by the translators is unsurprising and simply a necessary part of a translator’s task. Some might even argue that the incorporation of certain human ‘bias elements’ is part of the Spirit of God’s good intent, similar to how the humanity of Jesus was incorporated and united to divinity. In this Exodus text, there is abject bias that directly influences the abortion debate born out of the New Revised Standard Version’s translation. Framing this is the first task; the second task is to investigate the organization responsible for this translation. Can it be the case that abject bias is driven by modern issues, using those issues to decide how to translate an OT text?

The ancient Hebrew text, the Masoretic Text, comes through this way in English. The translation is mine, but I have been careful to let the text be overly wooded with little interpretive liberty taken:

“If men are fighting and they smite a pregnant woman and her child(ren) come out and no harm is, he {the man who struck the woman} will be fined a fine as what the husband of the woman sets, and he will give it according to the judges. If, however, harm occurred to the child(ren) then you shall give life in place of life . . ..”

Here is how the New Revised Standard Version translates this text:

“When people who are fighting injure a pregnant woman so that there is a miscarriage, and yet no further harm follows, the one responsible shall be fined what the woman’s husband demands, paying as much as the judges determine. If any harm follows, then you shall give life for life . . .”

There is blatant logical incoherence in the NRSV’s translation. The miscarriage is harmful and yet a fine should be punishment for causing the miscarriage while at the same time the text calls for “life for life” as punishment. Which is it? Someone might protest that the harm considered here is concerning the mother and not the child — starting to be framed strikingly like a modern abortion discussion.  The first line of the NRSV deals with maximum harm to the child (= miscarriage, death), but the Hebrew Masoretic text’s first line tells us the opposite, that “no harm is” to the child.

 . . . so that there is a miscarriage, and yet no further harm follows . . . (NRSV)

. . . and her child comes out and no harm is . . . (MT)

The difference in meaning is a canyon sized gap. The NRSV instructs that a monetary fine suffices as punishment, for covering the death of the child. The MT teaches that only if the child is born prematurely with no harm to him does a monetary fine suffice as punishment. How do other modern English translations render this text?

When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life . . . (ESV)

If men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband may demand of him, and he shall pay as the judges decide. But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life . . . (NASB)

If men fight and hit a pregnant woman and her child is born prematurely, but there is no serious injury, he will surely be punished in accordance with what the woman’s husband demands of him, and he will pay what the court decides. But if there is serious injury, then you will given a life for a life . . . (NET)

When men get in a fight and hit a pregnant woman so that her children are born prematurely but there is no injury, the one who hit her must be fined as the woman’s husband demands from him, and he must pay according to judicial assessment. If there is an injury, then you must give life for life . . . (CSB)

If some men are fighting and hurt a pregnant woman so that she loses her child, but she is not injured in any other way, the one who hurt her is to be fined whatever amount the woman’s husband demands, subject to the approval of the judges. But if the woman herself is injured, the punishment shall be life for life . . . (GNB)

And if men fight and they injure a pregnant woman, and her children go out and there is not serious injury, he will surely be fined as the woman’s husband demands concerning him and as the judges determine. And if there is serious injury, you will give life in place of life . . . (LEB)

If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life . . . (NIV)

And when men strive, and have smitten a pregnant woman, and her children have come out, and there is no mischief, he is certainly fined, as the husband of the woman doth lay upon him, and he hath given through the judges; and if there is mischief, then thou hast given life for life . . . (Young’s Literal Interpretation)

More differences prevail than this between these two texts, but is there another ancient version of this text that the NRSV might be using for its translation? Yes, there is, and it is the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament (most scholars date it to around 200 B.C. to 0 A.D.).

“Now if to men fight and strike a woman being pregnant, and her child might come out not having been fully formed, he will be punished with a fine according to whatever the husband of the woman might set: he will give in accord with what is decided, but if the child has been fully formed, he will give life for in place of life . . .”

The italics show a verb, ἐξεικονίζομαι (exeikonizomai), used twice in this passage but never used anywhere else ever in Greek literature. This is known as a hapax legomena, a word only used in one context. Because of its lack of use, determining its meaning is notoriously difficult — I put in a meaning for the word pulled from Lexicon on the Septuagint. I will offer a bit of insight but preface this by saying I am engaging in conjecture: the word is a compound word, likely the combination of ek and eikon potentially having the meaning of “resembling a deviated semblance.” Neither I nor anyone else knows what this word means: that is the larger point. The meanings of words are built out of contexts and situations; if we do not have enough contexts or situations for the word’s usage, locking down a determinate meaning is impossible. If my suggested meaning for the verb is used, we come out with a translation very similar in meaning to the ancient Hebrew (MT) text.

“Now if two men fight and strike a woman being pregnant, and her child might come out not resembling a deviated semblance, he will be punished with a fine according to whatever the husband of the woman might set: he will give in accord with what is decided, but if the child resembles a deviated semblance, he will give life in place of life . . . (trans. mine, from LXX)”

The contention here is that the NRSV’s translation is evidence of abject bias. Two major supports demonstrate this: (1) the ancient Hebrew text is considered more ancient and thus more authentic than the Septuagint, and (2) why bother using the Septuagint text (LXX for short) when it has a hapax legomena in it, whose meaning is impossible to decide? The LXX could very well have the meaning I have crafted for it, but why would I bother dealing with a meaning of a verb I have to guess about when I could just use an abundantly clear text like the MT? The answer is that a person would do so because they have an agenda.

The NRSV’s abject bias is on display, translating Exodus 21:22 – 23 to support that a monetary fine is all that is needed to cover the death of a child still in the womb. As a translator myself, I am baffled why the NRSV translators would use an unclear text (the LXX) when they have the clarity of the MT. The MT clearly equates a human life in the womb as to that of one out of the womb. They are equally valuable. This resoundingly puts this Old Testament text on the side of the pro-life movement. The NRSV’s manner of translation this text diminishes the value of human life in the womb by making the penalty for the child’s death so light. God said earlier in the OT that “whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image (Gen. 9:6).” Although it is fitting to allege that the NRSV’s version of the text advances the idea that a “fetus in the womb is not yet fully human,” it would be going too far to say that the NRSV’s version solidly supports abortion. The text is about the inadvertent death of a child caused by the violence of men. The child’s death is accidental. Still, suspicion is appropriate about the NRSV’s agenda given the abject bias of the translation.

In closing, there are broader scriptural themes that the NRSV’s version breaks away from: the lex talionis (law of retribution) of the Old Testament Law would require “life for life,” blood requires blood as retribution (Gen. 9:6), and God’s knowledge of a person predates or accompanies his or her time being formed in the womb (Ps. 139). That abject bias can make its way into translation of the Bible is clear. Modern issues may just cloud the judgment of translators, and that include me too. The influence of bias can only be managed well by an admission of one’s own biases, and that biases are inescapably a part of every person. Much of the translator’s work is unambiguous; we can be certain about what God has said. For those situations like Exod. 21:22 – 23, God instituted the professions of pastors and teaching, or elders and theologians.

Dr. Scalise

Infallibility of Scripture: Distinguishing Infallibility from Inerrancy in an Example

29 Saturday Nov 2014

Posted by Prime Theologian in Inerrancy, Infallibility, Scripture

≈ Comments Off on Infallibility of Scripture: Distinguishing Infallibility from Inerrancy in an Example

Tags

Bioi, Inerrancy, Infallibility, Scripture

Continuing from the last blog post on the long question asked there for me to answer:

If we hold to infallibility, then the question of inerrancy is avoided without much trouble. This position, in some of the ways it has been formulated, allows for some wiggle room; some would configure infallibility to mean that there could be errors in places in the texts that are not intending to teach something truthful and accurate. For instance, did Jesus just flip the tables in the Temple (Matt 21:12 ff.) or did He make a whip to drive everyone out (John 2:14 ff.) and flip the tables? If we hold to inerrancy, this may be problematic; if we hold to infallibility, in the way some configure it, then we simply say that our biblical author is more interested in presenting Jesus as an imposing and indignant figure than in reporting his precise actions. We still have the question at this point, “Is this a mistake or merely allowing for literary creativity of the biblical author?” The truthful and accurate point of the the Temple-cleansing narrative is that Jesus was intimidating and upset about how God’s house was being used, not about how precisely this played out. We must remember that deciding what is true or truthful has not always been judged in the same way. This is the point of studying the Greek literature during the time of writing of the NT; NT scholars have discussed the literature called ancient Graeco-Roman bios, or bioi. Bios is a Greek word during the time of the NT, and it means a “person’s manner of life,” or “life-style.” It is easy enough to see the common meaning between this Greek word’s meaning and our English word “Biography.” Looking at how historians around the time of the NT  handled reporting historical facts is important for understanding how they saw the world and how they went about reporting it. We trumpet accuracy today because of the marvels such scientific accuracy has given our world. Accuracy has allowed us to stop bleeding people to try to heal them and instead give them accurate antibiotics for their specific ailment. Accuracy made it possible to do math in such precision that man has walked on the moon. Of course, what we can’t forget is that scientific accuracy thought about in these ways is about what is produced from such accuracy; we deem accuracy “good” because it produced such incredible things. Science, however, is about observing impersonal realities that follow general laws that are relative to other influencing factors or laws. Bios and modern biography concern themselves with reporting a human life, which is personal and therefore volitional, active, and intelligent. Ask yourself this question: Have I even been accused of something that I did wrong, but it seems inaccurate without many other points that played into my action?” You might protest, “You have to consider this fact, and then there are all these little actions that had a cumulative effect that led to my actions!” Any husband and wife know about what I am mentioning here. Yes, I may wrong my wife, but when she gives me the opportunity to explain what led to it, I feel much better even if I still admit I committed the wrong. We all know that being human means being complex, and reporting one action accurately of a person apart from all other actions and influences around it makes us feel like an injustice has occurred. Hence, scientific accuracy is not a great method for reporting how humans act because humans cannot be reduced to impersonal entities like scientific laws and laboratory experiments.

Dr. Scalise

Infallibility of Scripture: Distinguishing Infallibility from Inerrancy

29 Saturday Nov 2014

Posted by Prime Theologian in Inerrancy, Infallibility, Scripture

≈ Comments Off on Infallibility of Scripture: Distinguishing Infallibility from Inerrancy

Tags

Inerrancy, Infallibility, Scripture

The Question I was asked: “I know that the accuracy of the Bible far outweighs any other ancient text and that most of the errors are irrelevant to the meaning of Scripture, but it still bothers me that there are significant errors or uncertain additions (like the adulterous woman section). How many mistakes are there that we don’t know about? What does it say about God that He would allow mistakes in His Word? How are we to practically approach Scripture and its truth knowing our understanding must be checked against our own cultural biases, the historical context of the texts, and translation or copying errors? Overall, how can we ever know the Bible is infallible when our own understanding must clearly be fallible at some level?”

Here is a whole bunch of questions packaged as one, but these concerns are real and are often grouped like this. Please forgive the complexity of my response over the next few posts, but the sophistication of the question demands such. I originally wrote my response as one long essay, but it was entirely too long so you will have to read this response in parts to get at the whole. I have given specific subtitles that clarify what I am aiming at in each post, each subtitle under the broader domain of the title “Infallibility of Scripture.”

First, infallibility and inerrancy are not the same thing. Infallibility of Scripture is a stance that Scripture is accurate and truthful in all it intends to teach. Inerrancy is the position that there are no errors, i.e., no mistakes or misstatements, in the original documents — the original writings of Scriptural Books are called autographs. What is sometimes suppressed in these conversations is that we don’t have any autographs of the NT (or OT for that matter). Thus, inerrancy, as a confession found in many Universities, Churches, ParaChurch organizations, and Seminaries’ core values, is a statement of faith that cannot be proven or disproved in the sense of 100% accuracy either way. This does not mean that there isn’t a probability of inerrancy being true, or false; it just means that no one can say the original autographs are 100% certainly inerrant or errant. If someone does, he is prideful and a deceiver, at least at the current state of knowledge. It could be the case that we discover an original autograph, but that is not the case now; the earliest manuscript is just a fragment of the Book of St. John from sometime in the 120s AD (125 is typically agreed upon), only a few verses visible (John 18:31 – 33, 37 – 38). This manuscript is called the Rylands Papyri, which is written in shorthand as P52, the “P” standing for “Papyri” and the “52” refers to it being the 52nd Papyri cataloged. There has been some rumors of a 1st century manuscript of Mark that has been discovered, but it is being treated with a “hush-hush” attitude. We know little about it to date, but this discovery will be announced publicly soon enough. If it is corroborated by rigorous testing to be from the 1st century, then we will finally be able to say that we have a 1st century fragment of the NT. As the Church, we shouldn’t rush to use this evidence to support our faith claims about the Bible; we will be able to do this in time, but we must first wait, vet, and remain open about what each new discovered fragment or manuscript portends. Why shouldn’t we rush to do this? I think we show ourselves to be ideologues when we do so; an ideologue is a person who advances an agenda despite evidence or simply because of the agenda itself without concerns for other matters that could disconfirm that agenda. The best example of ideologues are political pundits, who will twist, use, or adopt just about anything to advance their ideas (hence, ideologues). Evidence and reason for ideologues are tools to be used to confirm their ideas, but evidence and reason are abandoned if or when it disconfirms ideologues’ ideas. The Church of the living God, however, is to be devoted to the truth, sincerity, and honesty; we cannot advance the agenda of the Church by misleading people about the textual evidence to date. What do we call people who intentionally mislead? The answer is not flattering.

Dr. Scalise

Infallibility of Scripture: the Current Status of the NT manuscript Data

25 Tuesday Nov 2014

Posted by Prime Theologian in Difficult Questions, Inerrancy, Infallibility, Textual Criticism

≈ Comments Off on Infallibility of Scripture: the Current Status of the NT manuscript Data

Tags

Inerrancy, Infallibility, New Testament Manuscripts, Textual Criticism

I got a really elaborate question about the infallibility of Scripture from an old friend of mine. I am breaking her complex questions into a number of smaller posts so that each isn’t excessively long. The first follows here.

How many mistakes are there that we don’t know about?

This question is a bit confusing because, if we know there is a mistake, then we know it rather than not knowing it as the question above implies. There is no way for me to say how many mistakes there are that are unknown. Let me read into her question a bit more. I think she means to ask about how many variations are there among the NT manuscripts, which evidence is withheld from the Church. I personally am ambivalent about whether this evidence is knowingly withheld or just ignorantly not known. If we look hard enough at scholarship, we can find an answer. Presently, as of 2013, there are roughly 400,000 variations among the NT manuscripts. Most of these variations do not effect the meaning of the text except in small ways: of course, it should concern us if a variation changes the meaning at all, at least in how we think of accuracy in this scientific age. We might need to rethink how we think of accuracy, however, in light of the fact that God is Trinity. I cannot go into this now, but it is worth the time to ponder on how truth in Christianity is linked to the intrapersonal relationships among the Father, Son, and Spirit, who all together constitute the “Truth.” I know that there are at least two texts (one in Hebrews and one in Mark) in the NT whose meaning is changed considerably by a variation. Whether the variations among the manuscripts affect the meaning in only small ways or in large ways doesn’t change the fact that we have to face this difficulty. A fellow colleague of mine once said that it does us no good as the Church to put our head in the sand like an ostrich and pretend as though this difficulty and potential danger to our faith doesn’t exist. The variations are literary and historical facts; nothing can change that. If we decide to obfuscate (hide) or suppress these historical and literary truths as leaders of the Church or as a leader in a parachurch organization like an adventure youth camp or in universities and seminaries, we have serious character issues. Suppression of the truth is the work of the kingdom of Darkness, not the work of the kingdom of Light (God) who uncovers all attempts to hide truth. I will not offer a solution for the variations here; I will give a number of suggestions in my other posts that deal with this topic. I only wanted to lay out the current state of the NT manuscript data, so we, as the Church, are not ignorant of our own Scripture around which so much of our Faith revolves.

Dr. Scalise

Recent Posts

  • The Fall of Historic Liberalism: How it became Autocratic Liberalism through a Discussion of Freedom, morality, and God
  • Some Thoughts on Critical Race Theory as a System of Liberal Ideology
  • The Future of Humanity as Contained in the Humanity of the Son of God
  • Power, Demonism, and the Likeness to Governmental Power
  • World Economic Forum, Transhumanism, and Afterlife (part 9):Their Notion of Heaven and a Comparison

Archives

  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • January 2016
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • June 2012

Categories

  • Abortion
  • Adam and Eve
  • afterlife
  • Anachronism
  • and Bitterness
  • Apologetics
  • apotheosis
  • artificial intelligence
  • Baggett and Walls
  • Beauty
  • bias
  • Biblical Application
  • Biblical Interpretation
  • Blaspheme
  • Christ
  • Christ and Culture
  • Christ and Economic
  • Christ and the Politico-Economic
  • Christian Ministry
  • Christmas
  • Christology
  • Church Leadership
  • Comparative Religion
  • contingent
  • Copycat
  • cosmic origins
  • Creating
  • Defending Resurrection of Jesus
  • despotism
  • devaluation of currency
  • Difficult Questions
  • Difficult Texts
  • Dimensions
  • Discipleship
  • discrimination
  • Economics
  • Elitism
  • Enlightenment
  • entropy
  • eternal life
  • Exegesis and Interpretation
  • Expecting Parents
  • fascism
  • Fear
  • Freedom
  • futility
  • Gay marriage
  • Gender Issues
  • Genesis
  • God
  • God Speaks
  • Good God
  • Gospels
  • Government
  • hades
  • Hallucinations
  • heaven
  • Hebrews
  • hell
  • Historical Issues with Resurrection
  • Holy Spirit
  • Homosexuality
  • Homosexuals
  • human error
  • Human Experience and Theology
  • Humlity
  • Hypostatic Union
  • Illumination
  • imagination
  • Incarnation
  • Inerrancy
  • Infallibility
  • inspiration
  • Jesus
  • Joy
  • justice
  • law of thermodynamics
  • Learning
  • Legends
  • Libertarianism
  • limitations
  • monetary policy
  • Moral Apologetics
  • Morality
  • mystery
  • Near Death Experiences/Consciousness
  • Origen
  • Philosophical Explanations for God
  • plato
  • Pregnancy and Theology
  • preservation
  • Problem of Evil
  • Resurrection
  • Satan
  • Science
  • Scripture
  • soul
  • Spiritual Formation
  • Spiritual Warfare
  • Textual Criticism
  • Theodicy
  • Theological Interpretation
  • theology
  • Traditional Problems in the Debate between Theism and Atheism
  • Transhumanism
  • Trinity
  • Trinity and Allah
  • Trinity and Pregnancy
  • Truth
  • Uncategorized
  • Virtues
  • WEF
  • World Economic Forum
  • Zombies

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

 

Loading Comments...
 

You must be logged in to post a comment.