Our Aversion to Change
I was highly fascinated when I read that the words Jehovah and atonement (among others) were words that Tyndale simply made up. Then, because the translators of the King James Version recognized them as usable words, they carried on the usage of these words which are now part of our ever-growing, prolific English vocabulary. It is funny how we embrace words we think have always existed and then find out later that it was something that someone made up just because there was not an English word for a Greek or Hebrew word to be translated into and find it “interesting” or “cool.” If we really think about it, however, coining up words are things that we do all the time. But then again, as much as we use these words that we make up, there still seems to be a somewhat negative perspective of them. For some reason, there remains an intrinsic inclination in people to want to “correct” other people’s usage of unfamiliar or abbreviated words to “use the right term” – especially among the older generation.
The word “legit” immediately comes to mind. A decade ot two ago, the word legitimate was probably quite rarely used and whenever it was, it was most likely to be in more serious situations by older, more mature people. Then someone coined up “legit” and bam! There was an explosion in which young people all over (who probably did not even know of the existence of the word “legitimate” prior to this) started using it in almost every conversation. I can only imagine the raised eyebrows and shaking heads coming from the older generation as they dismally sigh, “Our young people today…” Although the word has pretty much become accepted by our culture over time, there is still a sense in which people feel as though our culture is deteriorating and is bringing our language down with it.
A common assumption we tend to make is that our culture is going down and we are headed straight for doom. Culture today is worse than it has ever been in history, and we must therefore fight against the current and cling on as tightly as possible to outdated traditions. Not really. Culture changes and language changes with it; that is the way that it has always been. The King James Bible was written the way that is was because it fit the culture of that time. Today we have versions of numerous kinds that fit the numerous subcultures within our culture. The purpose of Bible translation is for the purpose of understanding Scripture in one’s own tongue. Our world today may be immoral and corrupted, but when has it ever not?
Our inability to understand the King James Bible as easily as the New Living Translation is not due to a deterioration of culture or language but a mere different way of talking. While we perceive the language in the King James Version as beautifully lyrical, the older generations who adamantly preferred to cling on to Old English may just as well have looked upon Middle English with equal horror and apprehension that contemporary English today faces from our parents and grandparents. The reality is that we naturally push back against change that is unfamiliar to us – especially if we are not the driving force behind that change. So while my friends and I may be all for making up new words, those who are comfortable with the words already available are going to be the ones who try to correct us. The same goes for music and movies and everything else that shifts with culture.
My mother hates “contemporary hymns” because “they spoil the songs” while I love them because they retain the richness of meaning found in traditional hymns without having to be boring.
When it comes to vibrant and growing languages like English, we simply have to accept that it is constantly changing and will continue to change. That is what makes English so unique compared to most other languages. To say that our inability to comprehend the King James Version without complication is a reflection of our cultural decline would be the same as telling someone from 1611 that his inability to understand Anglo-Saxon was because of his cultural decline. It is when we accept the change and stop fighting it that we are able to appreciate the good things that our present culture has to offer us.
Instead of looking at our vast variety of Bible translations as a negative, I prefer to see it as an enormous pool of a fuller and richer resource that is available to us for the understanding of Scripture that the people of 1611 did not have the privilege to have access to. When a particular verse in the Bible speaks to me, I like to refer to it in several other translations to see the way it is worded and I get an even better understanding of the Word of God. Having already understood the text from another translation, the King James Version does indeed give the verse more depth and gives me a better appreciation for the Word as well as for literature and language.