Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 60:2 (Fall 1998)
Article: Gender In Bible Translation: Exploring A Connection With Male Representatives
Author: Vern Sheridan Poythress

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WTJ 60:2 (Fall 1998) p. 225

Gender In Bible Translation:
Exploring A Connection With Male Representatives

Vern Sheridan Poythress1

How do we handle gender in English Bible translation? The articles in World magazine and the subsequent debate in Christianity Today have opened a controversy.2 A special meeting in Colorado Springs on May 27, 1997, convened by Dr. James C. Dobson, produced the “Colorado Springs Guidelines for Translation of Gender-Related

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Language in Scripture.”3 Those guidelines criticize some of the practices of existing “gender-inclusive” translations. But other people disagree with the guidelines and defend gender- inclusive translation.4 The discussion continues to grow, so that it is difficult to keep track of all its strands.

I propose to focus on one little-noted feature of the debate. A common pattern belongs to quite a few of the passages whose translation is disputed. The disputed passages use a male human being or a word with a male semantic component5 in order to articulate a general principle.

Let us consider some of the disputed translation practices in detail.

The Greek word anēr usually has the sense husband or man (male human being).6 Until recently, English translations included the male semantic component in translation. But the new gender-inclusive translations show some changes.

In Acts 1:21 Peter discusses the replacement of Judas: “Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men (anēr) who have been with us. . .” (New International Version [NIV] 1984). But in the New International Version Inclusive Language Edition (NIVI 1996) and in the New Living Translation (NLT 1996) “men” becomes “one of those” (NIVI) or “someone else” (NLT). The change is theologically significant because it no longer conveys in English the Greek evidence that Peter did not think that a woman could be an apostle.

In Acts 20:30 Paul warns the elders at Ephesus about false teachers: “Even from your own number men (anēr) will arise and distort the truth. . .” (NIV). Indirectly, Paul

WTJ 60:2 (Fall 1998) p. 227

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