
I want to continue the conversation from last week when I was talking about verbal, plenary inspiration but this time from the formal side. The question is whether functional translations betray a lower view of Scripture since they don’t translate every Greek word.
Let’s take a passage from the NIV that has long been an issue of debate, and that is the “absence” of translating all the occurrences of γαρ. Here are the relevant parts of Rom 3:9-19 (NIV’s paragraphing). Paul begins by expressing his thankfulness for them and then says:
(8) First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. (9) γαρ God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you (10) in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.
(11) γαρ I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong …. (13) I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.
(14) I am obligated both to Greeks and Non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. (15) That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome.
(16) γαρ I am not ashamed of the gospel, because (γαρ) it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. (17) For (γαρ) in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
(18) γαρ The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness ….
The charge can be made that the NIV does not translate the γαρ in vv 11, 16, and 18, and in some people’s minds this raises the issue of verbal, plenary inspiration. “If God inspired the biblical writers to say γαρ, then we should translate every one of God’s words.” The argument is that γαρ is an explicit indicator of a causal relationship that should likewise be explicit in the translation.