It is to be regretted that the churches and peoples of the English-speaking world are to be even further divided and confused by the appearance of yet another translation of the English Bible. The English Standard Version is the latest in the long list of English Bibles published to vie for acceptance as the most faithful and reliable translation of the Word of God. Published in the UK by HarperCollins Publishers, the English Standard Version has been produced in the USA by a translation team under Dr. J. I. Packer, the General Editor. Disappointingly, but not surprisingly, this Bible is based on a form of the modern critical text of the New Testament. God willing, a full review of this Bible will be published by the Society in due course.

It appears that this new translation's entrance into the Bible market has provided the opportunity for some to denigrate as extreme the Trinitarian Bible Society and others who hold to a historically consistent and conservative position regarding the text and translation of the Holy Scriptures. The Society would in no way wish to be associated with the very extreme views on the Authorised Version held by some in this country and by others abroad.

The views of the Society are well known, and are summarily expressed in our Diary for 2003, copies of which are now available from the Society. For the benefit of all our members and supporters, I am here reproducing what I wrote in the diary earlier this year to introduce the Society to any who may not be familiar with its stand:

"Throughout the last 170 years the Trinitarian Bible Society has been engaged in the publication and distribution of the Word of God.

"In the English language the Society publishes only the Authorised (King James) Version. This translation has been richly blessed of the Lord for the last four centuries throughout the English-speaking world, and has had - and continues to enjoy - a world-wide reputation for its faithfulness and reliability. It is well known that the men who prepared this translation were blessed of God with remarkable spiritual and academic qualifications for their task. The English-speaking world has been the privileged inheritor of the fruit of their labours, and the labours of such men as William Tyndale, on whose work the translators of the Authorised Version based their translation.

"Although over the last few decades many new translations in the English language have been published to rival the place the Authorised Version has enjoyed in the hearts and lives of the Lord's people, it is the Society's contention that not one of these new translations ought to be accepted as an adequate replacement.

"When preparing editions of the Bible for circulation in different languages, the Society believes it important to take into account the history of the Bible in these languages and countries. However, it does not publish old editions of the Bible purely because they are old! Rather, the Society seeks to promote and circulate editions that are the most faithful translations of the best forms of the Hebrew and Greek texts. Some, therefore, are of very recent date, some are revisions of earlier translations, and others date from the Protestant Reformation period.

"The Society, adhering to the doctrines of historic Christianity, believes that the Holy Bible is the infallible and authoritative Word of God. Unlike any other book, it is The Book of God. In its entirety it emanates from Heaven, and conveys to man the very words uttered by Almighty God. 'All Scripture' - every word in the Hebrew and every word in the Greek - 'is given by inspiration of God'.

"Although human authors were employed in the conveying of the Divine Revelation (and the distinctive individualities of these men are to be observed in their writings), these 'Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost', resulting in a volume of which it can be truly said, 'The words of the LORD are pure words'.

"The Society believes that the Bible, being such a wondrous Book, needs to be translated in a manner consistent with its divine nature. For this reason it insists that its translations be 'as literal as possible and only as free as is necessary', and that they be based on the historically accepted Hebrew and Greek texts, and not on the critical editions which are today so prevalent. The former have a history of usage among the churches going back many centuries. The latter are texts based on theories of textual criticism that came to the fore in the latter part of the 19th century, and which have resulted in the many omissions and changes to the text of the New Testament."

From the above it can be noted that the Society publishes the Authorised Version of the Bible because we believe it to be a good translation. Indeed, we believe it to be the best translation currently available. Further, it can be noted that we believe that it, and the foreign translations of the Word of God published by the Society, are to be based on the forms of the Hebrew and Greek texts that most faithfully and reliably represent the Word of God "immediately inspired by God, and, by His singular care and providence, kept pure in all ages".

Therefore, it is to be regretted that Issue 14 of the CRN Journal (the Journal of the Christian Research Network) is not only given over almost entirely to the discrediting of the Authorised Version and its underlying texts, but that it also lumps together as fanatics all who have a practical, high regard for the Authorised Version and its underlying texts, with those who hold doctrinally extreme and untenable positions, including the claim that the Authorised Version translators were inspired and that their resultant work was therefore perfect. These positions have never been advocated by the Society. Whilst the work of the Christian Research Network may have been of value in the past in drawing attention to issues needing to be aired, it is regrettable that it has resorted in this particular issue to unjustifiably identifying the Society (together with its Chairman and other friends of the Society), with its practical regard for the Authorised Version, with the extreme doctrinal position held by others. Whilst the Society disagrees fundamentally with the views held by some regarding the Authorised Version, it nevertheless deplores as unhelpful and unbecoming (if not mischievous), both the sarcastic and mocking tone of some of the articles, and the unwarrantedly dismissive fashion in which the arguments for the Authorised Version and its underlying texts are treated.

In humble dependence upon the blessing of the Lord, the Society will continue unashamedly to publish the Authorised Version, and other translations of the Holy Scriptures based on the Masoretic Hebrew text of the Old Testament and the Received Greek texts of the New Testament, for the glory of God and the spiritual good of our fellow men throughout the world! To all who oppose the Society, or would seek to distract us from our labours, we respond in the fear of God and in all humility, as Nehemiah did in his day, "We are doing a great work, so that we cannot come down: why should the work cease?"

The following are some of the textual articles published by the Society on the Authorised Version and the text of the Holy Scriptures: The LORD gave the Word, The Translators to the Reader, Why 1 John 5.7-8 is in the Bible, and A Textual Key to the New Testament. (A full list will be found in our catalogue and on our online sales website.)

Members and friends of the Society will be pleased to know that the Investigating Committee referred to in previous communications from the Society's General Committee has now been set up. Prayer is sought that the gentlemen undertaking this difficult but necessary task may be helped of the Lord in their work, and that the Report, together with its recommendations, may be completed without undue delay. It is important that the work is thorough but also completed as quickly as possible, that the Society's work may not be further hindered, that confidence may be restored, and, far, far more importantly - and this ought to be the greatest concern of us all - that the reproach this sad episode has brought on the Name of the Lord may be brought to an end.

The gentlemen serving on the Investigating Committee are:

The Rev. D. Blunt, Minister of the Aberdeen congregation of the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing)
Mr. G. D. Buss, Minister of the Gospel Standard Chapel, Chippenham
The Rev. G Ferguson, Minister of the London congregation of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster
The Rev. F. J. Harris, formerly Minister of Providence Chapel, Cheltenham
The Rev. G. Hutton, Minister of the Inverness congregation of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland
The Rev. J. Thackway, Minister of Holywell Evangelical Church, North Wales.
Mr. C. Thompson, Partner of Jacob Cavenagh and Skeet, the Society's Auditors.

The Convenor of the Investigating Committee is Mr. C. Thompson, and all communications relating to the work of this committee should be addressed to Mr. Thompson at Acorn House, 2 Greenhill Crescent, Watford Business Park, Watford, Herts., WD18 8AH.

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Preaching the Gospel

by Dr. David Allen
The sermon preached at
the Annual General Meeting, 8th June 2002

It has been customary for the annual sermon to focus upon some aspect of the Word of God: its inspiration, its inerrancy, its preservation, its power and its effectiveness in that God's Word shall not return unto Him void but it shall accomplish the Sovereign purposes of our Almighty God. But just as it is possible to preach about the Gospel without actually preaching that Gospel, so it is possible to preach about the Word of God without actually preaching the Word of God. The Lord Jesus Christ said, "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me" (John 5.39). If we read the Scriptures and if we study the Scriptures and we do not focus upon the Lord Jesus Christ of the Scriptures, then we read the Scriptures in vain. My intention this afternoon therefore is to preach from this inspired and from this infallible Word concerning the incarnate and the immaculate Word made flesh. Therefore I draw your attention to 1 Peter 2 and I draw your attention to the first part of verse 7 where the Apostle writes, "unto you therefore which believe he is precious".

The Lord Jesus Christ is Precious

Here is no abstruse doctrine. We shall not now lose ourselves in the mystery of the faith. For here we have an assertion which every believer in this meeting this afternoon can fully understand. It matters not whether you have been a Christian for forty, for fifty, for sixty or even for seventy years, or whether you were born again five minutes ago. If you are a Christian, born again of the Holy Ghost, quickened together with Christ, you will readily assent to the truth of this assertion: He is precious. If you can say this afternoon in all sincerity of heart that Jesus Christ is precious to my heart, then you have the faith of God's elect.

Is Jesus more precious to you than gold or silver this day? Seven times the Apostle Peter uses this word "precious". Indeed, it is a word which characterises the writings of the Apostle Peter. It is a word which describes those things which are of great worth, those things that are beyond price, those things which are of inestimable value. He first uses the word in verse 7 of chapter one: "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ" - the precious trial of your faith. He then uses the word in verse 19. Beginning in verse 18 he says, "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot" - the precious blood of Christ. He then uses the word in 2 Peter 1.1: "Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" - like precious faith. Then he uses the word in 2 Peter 1.4: "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises"; and now here in 1 Peter 2.4-7, three times the word "precious" is found in connection with our blessed Lord Jesus Christ.

He is that precious foundation stone, He is that precious cornerstone. He is that stone spoken of by the prophet Isaiah on two occasions in chapter 8.14: "And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem". When Moses was about to die, he pronounced a blessing upon all the tribes, but the benediction which he allotted to the tribe of Joseph was quite remarkable in its collection of extraordinary, precious things. In Deuteronomy 33.13-16 he writes, "And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, and for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon, and for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, and for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush". But the blessings here called by Moses as precious things were temporal mercies. They all will pass away, they all will perish, for there are no metals in the bowels of the earth, whether gold or silver or platinum, that are eternal; there are no gems, there are no minerals that can make a spiritual soul rich. And were it not for those final words of Moses to Joseph: "the good will of him that dwelt in the bush", the blessings of Moses would not have contained a word large enough to satisfy the immortal soul or give bliss to the heart of man.

But here Peter brings us face to face with One who is preciousness itself. He is the pearl of great price. Here is the supreme test of your religion: is Jesus Christ precious to your soul? I am not asking you whether you are a lifelong member of the Trinitarian Bible Society; I am not asking whether you use the Authorised Version of the Scriptures; I am not asking whether you are familiar with Calvin's Institutes or Berkhof's Systematic Theology. I am asking this most searching of all questions: is Jesus Christ precious to your soul, do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? If He is precious to you then you have the faith of God's elect, but if He is not precious to your soul this afternoon, He is that stone of stumbling spoken of in 1 Peter 2.8.

Peter reminds them in this chapter of what once they were. He tells them in verse 9 that they were once in darkness - the darkness of ignorance, the darkness of error, the darkness of depravity, the darkness of misery - but now they have been brought out of darkness into the glorious light and liberty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He tells them in verse 10 that they were not the people of God (or in the words of Paul in Ephesians 2.12 they were "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel"), without God, without hope, without Christ in the world, but now, now "ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people". He tells them in verse 10 they "had not obtained mercy, but now [they] have obtained mercy".

It is good for us to remind ourselves of what once we were by nature. We, too, were in darkness of ignorance. We, too, were not the people of God, we were the children of wrath even as others. There was a time when we had not obtained mercy, and I trust we are here this afternoon because we have been brought out of darkness, we are now the people of God, we have obtained mercy. To such a people and to such a soul, to one brought out of darkness and of ignorance, to one upon whom the Lord has lavished His mercy, to a child of wrath who by the grace and mercy and lovingkindness of God has been brought into fellowship with God through the death of His Son, then to such a soul today the Lord Jesus Christ is precious.

The poets and the hymn writers of old seem to have experiences of Christ which sadly so few of us today can enter into. Listen to Joseph Irons: he says of Christ,

"Thou art the Father's chief delight,
Thy beauty angels view.
Thou art all fair in Zion's sight,
and my beloved, too."

Bernard of Clairvaux puts it like this:

"Jesus, the very thought of Thee
with sweetness fills my breast;
but sweeter far Thy face to see
and in Thy presence rest.
No voice can sing nor heart can frame
nor can the memory find
a sweeter sound than Thy blessed name,
O Saviour of mankind.

John Mason writes,

"I found the pearl of greatest price,
my heart doth sing for joy
and sing I must for Christ is mine,
Christ shall my song employ.
Christ is my Prophet, Priest and King,
my Prophet full of light,
my great High Priest before the throne,
my King of heavenly light.

"Unto you therefore which believe he is precious." There was a time when with the world, with the ungodly, we saw no beauty in Him that we should desire Him; but now, He is the chiefest among ten thousand, now He is the altogether lovely one. He is precious. There are three things that make a thing precious: its rarity, its beauty, its usefulness. All three things meet in our adorable Lord and in a degree that neither imagination nor love could ever exaggerate. I bring two points only to your attention.

The Lord Jesus Christ is Essentially Precious

First of all, the Lord Jesus Christ is essentially precious. He is preciousness itself. He is the very essence, the very substance, the very sum of all that is precious. Much of our coinage and currency in the United Kingdom possesses no value whatsoever so that a £20 note is but a worthless piece of paper were it not for the promise from the Bank of England on that note. A £2 coin is worth far less than a penny in terms of the metal from which it is made. It has little or no intrinsic value; essentially a £2 coin is a worthless piece of metal. But the Lord Jesus Christ is essentially and He is intrinsically precious. The precious gopher wood of His perfect and His sinless humanity has been overlaid with the pure gold of His eternal deity. He is a mine of jewels. He is a mountain of gems. He is altogether lovely.

There is a beauty, a glory, a majesty about the Lord Jesus Christ so that John can say "(...we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth" (John 1.14). His manhood is without the least taint of sin. Indeed, Peter reminds us in 1 Peter 2.22, that Jesus "did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth". You remember that Pilate's wife sent a message to her husband, "have thou nothing to do with that just man" (Matthew 27.19), and Pilate washed his hands before the multitudes and said, "I am innocent of the blood of this just person" (verse 24). He was not innocent, but he was right in calling Jesus "this just person". The dying thief acknowledged, "this man hath done nothing amiss" (Luke 23.41), and even Judas had to confess before he hung himself, "I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood" (Matthew 27.4), the innocent blood of the spotless Lamb of God.

Jesus lived in this world without one transgression or violation of God's Holy Law; He was and He is immaculate manhood. In the Song of Songs, the question is posed to the bride, "what is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? what is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us? My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand. His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven. His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set. His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh. His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires. His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely" (Song 5.9-15).

He is all loveliness. There is no spot, there is no flaw, there is no mar to His character, He is the spotless One. He is so glorious as to be glory itself, so precious as to be preciousness itself. Language staggers under the weight of holy emotion which comes upon us when we think upon our blessed Lord. We can never say enough of God's unspeakable gift. Oh, for a live coal from off the altar to touch my lips that I might even begin to speak of Him! Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing my dear Redeemer's praise! There is none in heaven, there is none upon earth that can be compared unto Him. I recall reading of Samuel Rutherford, who wrote from his prison cell, "black sun, black moon, black stars, but oh, bright, infinitely bright Lord Jesus Christ". What beauty there is in Him! What rarity there is in Him! He is unique, He is the only One. We worship Him as God and we know and we believe Him to be Very God of Very God, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and with the Holy Ghost. We cannot speak too reverently of Him, nor set too high a value upon Him. What a wonder that God should veil himself in frail humanity, what condescension that the Infinite should take upon Himself the form of a servant and be found in fashion as a man! Perfect God, perfect Man, God's only begotten Son. The one who is so, so precious to the Father in heaven that thrice He cried from heaven, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased".

The Father finds infinite delight in the Son. If the Father's heart is so set upon the Son, should not our hearts be set upon Him? There is none else. There is none who can stand beside Him, there is none who can stand before Him, for He is God alone, God over all, blessed for ever, He and He alone is the brightness of the Father's glory, the express image of His person. "In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2.9). If you search eternity, if you ransack immensity, there shall never be found one fit to be second unto Him. He is so precious, so glorious, so beautiful, so unique. If a man should sell all that he possesses, if the rich should pool all their resources together, if the mines of Africa were to be exhausted of all their diamonds, if Peru were drained of all its silver and California emptied of all its gold, if Bolivia were emptied of all its platinum and the Arab Emirates drained of all its oil, it would fall far, far short of the preciousness of Jesus Christ. The whole world could never weigh against Him any more than a single grain of dust could weigh against the universe.

The old puritans of Massachusetts had this agreement: the state of Massachusetts should be governed by the laws of God until they had time to make better ones. There were no better ones. There never was a time. When we find that God has laid another foundation, perhaps we would look at it. When we discover a foundation more suitable for sinners than the sinless Saviour, we will consider it, but not till then. Till then we shall preach and we shall teach and we shall believe that doctrine taught by Christ and by His apostles. We shall believe that which the lips of Jesus Christ Himself taught, and we shall hold to that truth revealed by the Holy Ghost in His Word: whatsoever He saith, that will we do (John 2.5).

He is the only Name; "there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4.12). He is the only Way; He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14.6) He is the only mediator, "for there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2.5). He is the only sacrifice: "but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God"; "for by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified" (Hebrews 10.12,14). He is that one priest, that "priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec" (Hebrews 5.6). The one Name, the one Way, the one Mediator, the one Sacrifice, the one Priest, the one Lord: He is unique. How precious then He is to every believer!

Had not God been manifest in the flesh, you and I would have been lost for ever. Had the Saviour not been found in fashion as a man and humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, then you and I would have perished in the flames of Hell for all eternity and we would have been like that burning bush, we should have burned for ever and would not have been consumed. But He is precious: precious as we see Him going up to the tree and bearing our sins in His own body, precious is He when we see Him forsaken and abandoned of God discharging all our debt by that dread sacrifice for sin. He is eyes to the blind, ears to the deaf, feet to the lame, healing to the sick, freedom to the slave, joy to the mourner, life to the dead.

Think of that immaculate life and how that life gives life to the believer. Think of His death and how it redeems from Hell all those who put their trust in Him. Think of His glorious resurrection and how it justifies the believer. Think of His glorious and sure and certain second coming and how it delights the heart of the child of God. Think of your Lord in all His offices: Prophet, Priest and King. Think of Him for a moment in all His relationships to His people: Husband, Brother, Friend. Think of Him under all the types and shadows with which Scripture delights to set Him forth. Think of Him, the Good Shepherd laying down His life for the sheep, who rose again from the dead, who shall yet appear in power and in glory. Think of Him who supplies all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Think of Him whose grace is sufficient for your every need. He and He alone is set forth for the removal of your condemnation. He is set forth for the pardon of all your sins. He is set forth for the justification of your person. He is set forth for the changing of your nature and the preservation of your graces and for the perfection of your holiness. To the believer Christ is all and in all, Christ is God's unspeakable gift, He is immeasurably precious, He is incomparably precious, He is inconceivably precious, He is essentially precious. "Unto you therefore which believe he is precious."

The Lord Jesus Christ is Eternally Precious

The second point I would bring before you is this: He is eternally precious. The Lord Jesus Christ is that Living Stone who has conquered death. The powers of Hell sought to destroy Him. Satan sought to destroy the seed of the woman. The powers of Hell were unleashed upon Him upon that cross. He was nailed to the cross. His precious blood was shed. The Father in Heaven forsook Him and He cried, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27.46). Forsaken of God, abandoned by men, He trod the winepress of the wrath of God alone with none to support Him in that 'whelming flood. There upon the cross at Calvary, as God the Father imputed my sin and your sin to the Son, the wrath of God against that sin was poured out upon Him. He drank damnation dry for each and every one of His people, and then cried, "It is finished" and yielded up the ghost. His lifeless body taken down from the cross by Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus and laid in that borrowed tomb.

A Roman centurion and his soldiers kept their eerie vigil through those first two days and nights, but on that first Lord's Day He arose, declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead (Romans 1.4). Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, when it was yet dark, and saw the stone had been taken away from the sepulchre. She feared the worst and she ran to Simon Peter and to John. Peter and John ran to the tomb, and then returned home.

Mary came again to the sepulchre and she saw the two angels in white sitting, the one at the head and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had laid. They asked, "Woman, why weepest thou?", and she replied, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him", then turned her back upon the angels. That is remarkable. She turned her back upon the angels and saw Jesus. "Mary". "Rabboni... Master" (John 20.11-16). She heard the voice of the Good Shepherd who knows His sheep. Jesus was precious to Mary in His life. Jesus was precious to Mary in His death and now He is infinitely precious in His resurrection.

Since then, for upwards of two thousand years, the devil and men have focused the heat of persecution upon the church, but they have not succeeded in separating one believer from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Not one. Though earth and hell have combined and stirred up their malice, though the furnace has been heated seven times hotter and the child of God has been tossed into it and seemingly deserted, yet never, not in a single case has one believer redeemed by His precious blood been separated from this precious Lord Jesus Christ who says, "because I live, ye shall live also" (John 14.19). Martyrs have given up all for the Lord who is eternally precious. He is the same yesterday and today and for ever. He is eternally that precious, that immovable, that unchangeable foundation stone of that great edifice, the Church.

All the precious things of this world can and will be lost. Jewels and gems can be stolen, your house may even now be broken into by a burglar or by a thief and all will be lost in a moment; and at death, of course, everything is left behind. No doubt when the rich man in Luke 16 died there were those in his neighbourhood who said, "how much did he leave?" The answer is, everything. But let the child of God once say "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine", then He is mine for time and for eternity, for He is eternally precious to my soul. I can and probably will lose my health; I may lose my wealth; I may lose my friends; I may even lose my family. If we take our stand foursquare upon the authority, the all-sufficiency and the all-supremacy of the Word of God, in our degenerate age then we will lose our reputations very quickly. I may lose my joy, but as a child of God I can never lose my infinitely, my essentially, my eternally precious Lord Jesus Christ.

Listen to the Saviour Himself. He says in John 10.27-29, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand". How safe is the child of God! How doubly safe, how eternally safe is the child of God in that double embrace of the Father and of the Son! How often do we read those glorious words in Romans 8.35-39, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

He is essentially precious and blessed be God, He is eternally precious to the child of God. "Unto you therefore which believe he is precious". Is He precious to you? Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ this day? He is essentially and eternally precious. Keep your eyes upon Him and you will perceive more of His radiant beauty. The more that you are driven to Him the more precious He will become. The apostle writes in Ephesians 3.17-19 that he bows the knee unto the Father, "that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge": to know that which is beyond your comprehension, to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, "that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God".

As I preach here this afternoon, there are those here in this meeting to whom the Lord Jesus Christ is not precious, and I ask you, in the hour of death, on the verge of eternal judgement, to whom will you turn? To what will you turn? Now is the day of salvation. I hold before you as best as I can the Saviour, who is mighty to save. I hold before you the Redeemer, who hung and bled and died and shed His precious blood to redeem hell-deserving sinners. I hold before you the Lord of glory, who rose again from the dead and is ascended upon high. I hold before you the great High Priest after the order of Melchisedec, who ever liveth to make intercession for His people; the King of kings, the Lord of lords who will yet come in power and in great glory for His people. I hold before you the One Mediator appointed by God, the Man Christ Jesus. Is He precious to you or is He that stone of stumbling and that rock of offence? Oh, that the Lord Jesus Christ might from this hour be so, so precious to us that we might seek to serve Him all the days of our life. "Unto you therefore which believe he is precious". Amen.

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Turkey

by C. P. Hallihan

Introduction

The Scriptures make many references to lands which now are within the modern Republic of Turkey. In Genesis 15 there is reference to the Hittites, and thus to the region of the Hatti Empire in Asia Minor. The great rivers Tigris and Euphrates rise in this region. Saul's hometown of Tarsus is here, as are most of the cities of the Missionary Journeys. Demetrius a silversmith led a confused crowd saying, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians". Peter's scattered strangers (1 Peter 1.1) were in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, all in this exact region. John was directed to write to the seven churches which are in Asia, and the sites of all seven can be identified in modern Turkey. Early Church history fairly fizzed around here. Nicea, Chalcedon, Ephesus and Constantinople were the locations of important Councils, and emperors, bishops and theologians¹ crisscrossed the district, occasionally resorting to physical means of expressing their differences en route! On the northern shore of the Sea of Marmora is Istanbul (what was once called Constantinople, and before that Byzantium) hinge not only of the Eastern Empire of late Rome, but also of the Eastern Churches for much longer. Later, the word 'Turk', in European usage, was practically synonymous with Muslim. The Ottoman Empire, by direct rule and by vassalage, reached from the outskirts of Vienna to the Caspian Sea, and from the Dnieper to the Nile. Two of the Seven Wonders of the World were in Asia Minor: the tomb of King Mausolus² at Helicarnassus (Bodrum) and the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. The winding course of the river Meander has brought that word into the English tongue - along with yogurt, caftan, divan and others of Turkish origin.

Geography

Being partly in Europe, mostly in Asia, Turkey links the continents across the narrow straits of the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. It also links the Mediterranean and Black Seas by these straits and the Sea of Marmora. This position gives Turkey significant influence in the whole region. European Turkey (Thrace) north of the Sea of Marmora, has borders with Bulgaria and Greece. Asian Turkey (Anatolia) borders Syria, Iraq, Iran, Armenia and Georgia. There are long coastlines on the Black Sea to the north, the Aegean to the west and the Mediterranean to the south. The Sea of Marmora lies wholly within Turkish boundaries. Ankara, the capital, is on latitude 40 degrees N, similar to that of Samarkand, Beijing or Denver. The 300,950 square miles (779,460 sq.km.) of Turkey lie along the Alpine-Himalayan Mountain belt and more than three-quarters of the land area is above 1,600 ft. (488 m.), the average being 3,600 ft. (1097 m.). It is one of the more active earthquake regions in the world. There are four physical regions: the central Anatolian plateau and surrounding mountains, the eastern highlands, the Aegean coastline, and Thrace. The Pontic Mountains in the north and the Taurus Mountains in the south increase in height towards the east: the highest of the peaks is Mount Ararat, 16,804 ft. (5122 m.), in the extreme east.³ Vast stretches of the highlands consist of barren waste, not unlike Afghanistan. Lake Van is a large salt lake with underground connections to the Tigris and Euphrates headwaters in the nearby mountains.

Of the 63 million population, over 90% are Turks, and 98% are Sunni Muslim. About 3 million Kurds live in the eastern provinces, and several hundred thousand Arabs live in the Hatay enclave next to Syria. Some 25,000 Jews live primarily in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. The largest Christian denomination is the Greek Orthodox community. Most of the population speaks Turkish, although minorities speak Arabic and Kurdish. Over half of the population lives in urban areas. Ankara is the capital, but Istanbul is the cultural, industrial and commercial centre. Large-scale migration to the cities since the mid-20th century has led to overcrowding. Birthrate and life expectancy are closer to those of a Middle Eastern country than of a European country. There are substantial groups of Turkish speakers in England and in Germany - both of which at times affect the politics of the host nation.

History

Early Times

Historians of agriculture have suggested that an abundance of wild grain and cereals in the headwater valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates led to a development of arable farming and self-sustaining agricultural communities, as suggested by the ruins of Catal Huyuk.⁴ Certainly some of the world's oldest 'cities' were found in Turkey, where early Anatolian communities developed fine wall paintings, small statuary and furnishings during the 3rd millennium BC. Between BC 1940 and 1780 Assyrian merchants from Mesopotamia peacefully established trading colonies in central and eastern Anatolia. About 1750 BC the Hittites, an Indo-European confederation, subdued and unified the kingdoms of the central plateau. This made them a major player in the international affairs of their day and brought deadly rivalry with the Egyptian Empire (Rameses II) for control of Syria and Palestine (and thus also brought them into the scope of the Biblical record).

Semistra, the earliest-known settlement on the site of Istanbul, was probably founded around 1000 BC, a few hundred years after the Trojan War and in the times of David and Solomon in Jerusalem. Around 700 BC, colonists from Megara (near Corinth) in Greece settled at Chalcedon (now KadikOy) on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus. The Hittite state declined, and Anatolia fragmented again. The fall of Assyria in 612 BC, and of Babylon in 539 BC, left the field open to the Persians, who incorporated Anatolia into their empire under Cyrus the Great. Persia meddled in Greek affairs from its bases in Anatolia all through the 5th and 4th centuries BC; the rise of Philip II of Macedonia and his son, Alexander the Great, began a victorious Greek expansion that destroyed the Persian Empire. After Alexander's death a number of independent states again emerged in Anatolia, such as Bithynia, Cappadocia, Pergamum and Pontus, all of which were eventually absorbed by the Roman Empire in the 1st century BC. The Greeks and Romans called western Anatolia 'Asia', and later the name 'Asia Minor' or 'Little Asia', was used to distinguish Anatolia from the landmass of the greater Asian continent.

Byzantium and Constantinople⁵

The first historic settlement called Byzantium was founded, supposedly, by a Megarian colonist named Byzas in 657 BC on the shore of the Bosphorus opposite to Chalcedon. In 512 BC, Darius, emperor of Persia, captured the town during his campaign against the Scythians. Following the retreat of the Persians in 478, the town came under the influence and protection of Athens, Sparta, Samos and other forces. Byzantium willingly submitted to the armies of Alexander the Great, and in 179 BC it was captured and became part of the Kingdom of Pergamum. When the last Pergamene king died in 133 BC, he willed his entire kingdom to Rome, and Byzantium became part of the Roman province of Asia.

Generally, Byzantium enjoyed peace and prosperity under Roman rule until it picked the losing side in a civil war. Victorious Emperor Septimius Severus massacred Byzantium's citizens, and destroyed the disloyal city. The strategic importance of the city's position obliged him to set about building a new one. When Emperor Diocletian laid down his rule in AD 305 he left the government of the Empire to co-emperors Licinius in the east and Constantine in the west. The result was civil war, a war won by Constantine in 324 when he defeated Licinius at Chrysopolis, the modern UskUdar. Constantine became sole master of a reunited empire and decided to move the imperial capital to the shores of the Bosphorus. He laid out a magnificent new city on the site of Byzantium, dedicated on 11 May 330 as New Rome, but soon called Constantinople. The thousand-year-old 'fishing settlement' had become the capital of the Eurasian world, and would be so for almost another thousand years.

Emperors, Seljuks, and Crusaders

Emperor Theodosius II came to the throne as a boy in 408 AD, and when threatened by the forces of Attila the Hun, he ordered a more powerful and extensive circle of walls to be built around the city. Completed in 413, they were tumbled by an earthquake in 447 but rebuilt in a mere two months (the proximity of Attila and the Huns had that effect upon people). The Theodosian walls still stand today. During the 5th and 6th centuries, the 'barbarians' of Europe captured and sacked Rome, but the eastern capital prospered. With Emperor Justinian, who ruled 527-565, the Eastern Roman Empire came to the height of its strength. Soon after taking the throne, he married Theodora, credited with having great, and mostly good, influence over her husband. Under Justinian, Byzantium's great general Belisarius reconquered Anatolia, the Balkans, Italy, Egypt and North Africa.

From the 7th to the 11th century Muslim Arab pressure on Byzantium/Anatolia increased, whilst Slavs and Bulgars repossessed the Balkan Peninsula. This endless state of military necessity ultimately brought about a power struggle between the civil service and the generals, leaving them all prey to the invading Seljuk Turks, who had been forced out of Central Asia by the encroaching Mongols and who conquered Anatolia between 1048 and 1081. The Seljuks soon had a thriving empire of their own in central Anatolia, with the capital first at Nicaea and later at Konya; 1071 is taken as the 'start-date' for Turks and Islam in Anatolia. As Turkish power was thus consolidated to the east of Constantinople, further threats grew in the west. In 1195 the Fourth Crusade was assembling in Venice to sail for Egypt to 'attack the Infidel'. When Prince Alexius offered to pay richly to be put on the eastern throne, Enrico Dandolo, Doge of Venice, led the crusaders instead to Christian Constantinople, arriving in 1203. After months of impatient skirmishing, Dandolo ordered the conquest of the city. On 13 April 1204 the crusaders succeeded in breaking through the walls, and then proceeded to sack and pillage the rich capital of this Christian ally! When the smoke cleared, Dandolo took control of three-eighths of the city, leaving the rest to his fellow conspirator Count Baldwin of Flanders. The Byzantine nobility fled to what was left of their estates, fighting among themselves in true Byzantine fashion for control of the shreds of empire.

Ottoman Empire

By 1450 the Byzantine Emperor ruled an 'Empire' consisting only of Constantinople and a handful of Greek cities. Meanwhile, back in Anatolia, the descendants of a Seljuk warlord called Osman (d.1324) were establishing an Empire for themselves, to become known as the Ottoman Empire. Ottoman armies threatened both Constantinople and Belgrade; on 29 May 1453 Constantinople fell and the last Byzantine Emperor died defending the city walls. Within the city compliant districts were spared, and their churches left to them. Districts that resisted were sacked - a three-day riot was the pattern - and their churches became mosques. The supposedly greatest church in Christendom at that time was the Aya Sofia in Constantinople; it was at once made into a mosque. For Europeans this was 'the fall of Constantinople'; for the Osmanli Turks it was 'the Conquest'.

Although Constantinople was not officially called Istanbul until 1923, the name appears in popular usage from the time of the Conquest.⁶ In the 16th century the Ottoman Empire reached its peak under Selim I (1512-20) and Suleiman I , 'the Magnificent' (1520-66). Hungary, Albania and the Balkans generally, came under Ottoman rule, along with Syria, Egypt and Iraq. At a grassroots level of Ottoman society, self-regulating communities of Jews, Armenian and Orthodox Christians and various trade, craft, and mystery guilds were left to their own affairs within the general administrative requirements, a strange kind of controlled pluralism which may account for the odd cry found amongst the fringe parts of the Protestant Reformation, 'better a Turk than a Papist!'⁷ After Suleiman, the effectual power of the Ottoman Empire seems to have fallen into the hands of the women of the harem and some competent viziers. As early as 1571 the Ottoman navy was defeated by a coalition of Christian powers at Lepanto. Nevertheless, that which Turkish historians refer to as the Rule of the Women continued until 1687, when Ottoman forces once more laid siege to Vienna and once more failed to take the city. The Austrian and the Ottoman emperors then divided up the Balkans between them, but from this time the Ottoman Empire was on the defensive and in decline. Various attempts at internal reform and modernization failed.

Ottoman Decline and Modern Turkey

By the mid-19th century financial mismanagement, emergent ethnic nationalism and pressure of colonial expansion from France, Britain and Russia, brought to the Ottoman Sultanate the sobriquet of 'Sick man of Europe'. European diplomatic scheming was directed to solving the problem of how to dismember the Sick Man without upsetting their own obsession with the balance of power in Europe. Under these constraints Sultan Abdul Hamit II became so autocratic and despotic that a fierce liberal opposition emerged. The younger generation of educated Turks organized secret societies set on toppling the sultan. This Young Turk movement had enough power by 1908 to force constitutional renewal and in 1909 the Young Turk parliament deposed Abdul Hamit and put his brother Mehmet V on the throne.

A sultan still sat on the throne in Istanbul, but the Ottoman Empire was actually ruled by three members of the Young Turks' Committee of Union and Progress: Talat, Enver and Jemal. Their rule only worsened an already completely hopeless situation. In WWI these Ottoman rulers made the irretrievable error of siding with Germany and the Central Powers. With defeat, the Ottoman Empire collapsed, Istanbul was occupied by the British, and the sultan became a diplomatic pawn. Independence for one-time Arab and Balkan segments of their Empire was resignedly accepted by the Turks, but the attempt to distribute Anatolia itself amongst the successful European powers led to the Turkish war for independence, 1918-23. Under the leadership of Kemal Ataturk,⁸ Turkish nationalists established the Republic of Turkey, recognized as such in 1923.

Turkey became a member of NATO in 1951, but the relationship within Europe has always been made difficult by the long-running dispute with Greece about Cyprus and the Aegean Islands. There was three-year military rule in the 1980s but political democracy operates again now. To the Ankara government the Kurds of the Eastern provinces have been a continual challenge, a situation not helped by the Gulf War of 1991. When Kurdish refugees crossed over from Iraq, Turkey, in accord with NATO directives, was obliged to receive them, and thus to enlarge what to them constitutes a threatening minority. As well as, or perhaps because of, this awkward relationship in Europe, Turkey has pursued association and influence with the whole Turkic language connection throughout Central Asia since the fragmentation of the former Soviet Union; that is in such countries as Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Language and Religion

Before the 7th century the languages of Byzantium and Anatolia had been Greek, Armenian,⁹ and Kurdish. From the 6th to the 13th century a series of conquests and migrations from north-central Asia (in the region of modern Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan) brought Turkic-speaking peoples into Asia Minor. The Seljuks, along with the language, also brought Islam from their earlier Persian culture. Successors to the Seljuks were the Ottomans and with them that form of Turkic language spoken in Asia Minor became known as Turkish. Because of the ancient nature of the language, and the far-flung nature of the Ottoman Empire, Turkish has been written and printed in several scripts: Arabic, Armenian, Cyrillic - indeed, printed Turkish Bibles exist in each of these forms. As part of the reforming work of the early republic in the 1923-8 period, the Latin alphabet was adapted to the Turkish vowel system and adopted as the standard form of the written language.

Osmanli (Ottoman) Turkey is inseparable from the history of Islam. For some long time the Ottoman Empire was the de facto custodian of all of Islam's holy sites and was the perceived champion of Islam, metonymically representing Islam to the non-Islamic world. However, although Ottoman Turkey was never a thorough-going religious state, the reforms of the 1920s declared the new republic officially to be a secular state. More recently Islam has become much more of a factor, and freedom for non-Muslims, though supposedly guaranteed, has become an uncertain aspect of life. Certainly there is the deep-rooted cultural expectation that to be Turkish is to be Muslim, as elsewhere to be Greek is to be Orthodox.¹⁰ Minorities beside Kurds, Gypsies¹¹ and Syrians are often religious - Jews, Armenian and Greek Orthodox, Catholics of Eastern and Western rites.

Bible and Evangelical Christianity

There are believers in Turkey, but their numbers are small. Mission work began in the early 19th century, but 100 years later indigenous Turkish believers were but a handful; indeed, according to Operation World in 1960 there were fewer than ten known believers. Now there are several Evangelical Churches, but, although there is legal security for such Christian assembles and their buildings, much opposition and harassment take place. The UK-based Barnabas Fund reported in February of this year that as many as forty different churches had been threatened with closure since December. Christians believe that anti-Christian television and radio programs prompted the crackdown.

Evangelicals are not distinguished from cults and terrorists in the Turkish media or mind, and yet in September of 2001 the government permitted the opening of a Bible bookstore in Istanbul. This permission was on condition that the owners agreed not give away Bibles and to put up a sign in both English and Turkish. The store is allowed to sell Bibles in this predominantly Muslim country.

In writing of the Bible in connection with Turkey we are always conscious of the fact that significant portions of the New Testament were written to or from Asia Minor. Similarly, in contemplating Evangelical Christianity in the context of Turkey, we think of the mighty Apostolic testimony and teaching, and Churches begun and confirmed from Antioch to Ephesus. The scarcity of Bible work, Mission, or Evangelical witness and assembly in Asia Minor in the centuries since, must surely trouble any nation with a history of Divine blessing under the joyful sound of the Gospel. 'Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall' (1 Corinthians 10.12).

Greek and Armenian Scriptures (that is, in the language, not just the script) were extant in Asia Minor quite early, but the case of the Turkish Bible is different. Albert Bobowsky, a young Polish slave brought up at the Ottoman court in the 17th century, became chief translator, with the name Ali Bey. He was persuaded by Dutch diplomats to translate the Bible into Osmanli Turkish. This accomplished, the manuscript was taken to Leyden University in 1666. Disappointingly, it never saw print until the 19th century: the New Testament in 1819, the whole Bible in 1827 and 'standardized' works in 1885/9. These publications did, of course, take into account other work done, but any such work might be in any one of three scripts - Arabic, Armenian or Greek. Ataturk's language reforms in the early 20th century brought all into confusion. Not only was the script changed, but the 'purifying' of the Turkish language resulted in a comprehensive shift in vocabulary.

The need for a modern Turkish Bible has been great. The United Bible Societies published a Turkish Bible in October 2001, after their own principles of text and translation which we fear will render this Bible less than adequate. We have been actively engaged in the task of translating the Scriptures in Turkish for some time, working closely with Evangelical believers in Turkey. We look forward to having our Turkish Gospel of John for distribution soon, and look to the Lord for workers to continue the task until the entire Bible is available.

To confess Christ in Turkey, and to endure there, needs much grace. Brethren, pray for them, and for the abundant provision of reliable Scriptures so that saints may grow, and that preachers may gain wisdom and authority in their ministry.

Endnotes

¹ Including Arius and Athanasius

² Whence "Mausoleum"

³ So far east that it has often been considered to be in Armenia.

⁴ Some thirty acres of mud-brick huts, a suggested population of 6,000, growing wheat, barley, peas, pistachio, almonds and crabapples, and hunting wild goats, wild pigs and deer.

⁵ The desire to deal more fully in this article with the cultural and ecclesiastical history of Byzantium led to serious overrun of deadlines and space allowance, and has been drastically curtailed. I can but suggest to curious readers the kindly Short History of Byzantium by John Julius Norwich

⁶ An intriguing suggestion is that 'Istanbul' derives from the Greek expression eis ten polin - 'to the city'

⁷ Perhaps meaning not, 'better to be a Turk than to be a Papist', but 'better to live under the rule of Turkish power than Papist.' Perhaps, though, they deemed Turks more approachable in the Gospel than Papists!

⁸ Ataturk = "Father of Turkey"

⁹ Please see in Quarterly Record 555, April-June 2001, our article on Armenia for the interaction of Turkey and Armenia in Eastern Anatolia.

¹⁰ With what compassion, then, ought we to view not only the tensions in Cyprus, but equally this same deep and ancient strife and phobia throughout the Balkan States?

¹¹ 'Cingene calar, Kurt oynar; if the Gypsy plays, the Kurd will dance' (a dismissive Turkish proverb).

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Today's NIV
Yesterday's problems revisited today

by G. W. Anderson

This is the first of several articles which will examine Today's New International Version New Testament. This first article will discuss the reasons why the publishers believed this update of the New International Version was necessary.

In 1990, the Society reported in our article on the New International Version that the translators believed that the work of translation was never finished,¹ indicating that new editions of the NIV would periodically need to be published, no doubt replacing the old, 'archaic' editions of the NIV from the last quarter of the 20th century.² In 1995, such a move was made by the International Bible Society in their publication in the United Kingdom of the New International Version: Inclusive Language Edition New Testament Psalms and Proverbs.³ The entire Bible was due in 1996. It was assumed that this 'gender inclusive' Bible would be available throughout the world as the newest edition of the NIV. However, the response to this New Testament brought a halt to IBS's plans.

On March 29, 1997, World magazine, a well-known Christian periodical, published a cover story by Susan Olasky entitled "The Stealth Bible: The Popular New International Version is Quietly Going 'Gender-Neutral'". This article was a powerful rebuke of the International Bible Society and the publisher Zondervan, and provided a strong foundation for the upsurge against the growing tendency toward gender neutrality. Both those who had rejected the NIV and those who embraced it argued against the NIVInclusive. The outcome of the fierce debate was that the NIVI would not be published in the United States but would be available in the UK; however, it was soon available to any around the world with Internet access. In response, on May 27, 1997, 'The International Bible Society issued a press release saying it "has abandoned all plans for gender-related changes in future editions of the New International Version (NIV)".' It stated further that 'The present (1984) NIV text will continue to be published. There are no plans for a further revised edition'.⁴

A meeting of conservative Christians was held May 27, 1997, at Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA, to discuss legitimate ways of translating Greek and Hebrew words in instances in which they are truly gender non-specific. A document was produced called the 'Colorado Springs Guidelines for Translation of Gender-Related Language in Scripture'. The finished article was signed by those attending, including Ken Barker, Secretary of the NIVI Committee on Bible Translation and Bruce Ryskamp, president of Zondervan. Following this, several national newspapers, including USA Today and the New York Times, carried stories 'reporting that plans for a gender-neutral NIV had been cancelled'.⁵ In conservative Christian circles, the controversy thus subsided. Perhaps the entire episode should have served as a sign of the storm of protest to come.

On January 28, 2002, the International Bible Society and Zondervan Publishing House announced the publication of Today's New International Version, a revision of the trusty old NIV which was designed to incorporate 'gender-accurate' use of language. On February 23, 2002, World magazine replied with another cover story by Susan Olasky: 'Five days early, Five years late: The upcoming publication of a politically correct revision of the popular New International Version Bible seems like a scene from Groundhog Day'. She stated that, 'It was all reminiscent of the battles fought five years ago, beginning in March, 1997. That's when WORLD surprised IBS and Zondervan by breaking the story that the NIV was quietly going gender-neutral. IBS and Zondervan scrambled to get their side of the story out, taking advantage of the Internet to post open letters on their websites, and initially charging that WORLD got the story wrong'. In light of signatures of Barker and Ryskamp on the 'Colorado Springs Guidelines', Olasky commented that, 'when IBS and Zondervan announced plans for the TNIV last month, it was not merely a new product rollout. The two organizations were breaking well-publicized agreements that had seemed to deliver them from a public-relations quagmire. They were admitting that work on a gender-neutral Bible had continued despite IBS's pledge that it would not.'⁶

Apparently in the minds of the International Bible Society, producing a gender-neutral Bible had become necessary - as if, between the year 1997, when they signed the agreement, and 2002, when they published the TNIV, there had been considerable changes in the linguistic world. The preface to the TNIV states that, 'While a basic core of the English language remains relatively stable, many diverse and complex cultural forces continue to bring about subtle shifts in the meanings and/or connotations of even old, well established words and phrases.'⁷ Part of these 'complex cultural forces' has caused the IBS to make what it classifies 'gender-related' changes. 'All gender-related changes in the TNIV are made to update masculine terminology that, in view of the immediate context, is often misunderstood and clearly used with generic intent. The changes do not have any doctrinal impact upon the text of Scripture'. However, the publishers were quick to point out that 'The TNIV is not merely a gender-accurate edition of the NIV. More than 70 percent of the changes made were not related to gender'.⁸

Many view the changes engendered by these 'complex cultural forces' as being nothing other than the feminist agenda and political correctness to which more liberal translators have succumbed. And the placating words of the translators have not diminished the firestorm of protest against the TNIV. Institutions and individuals around the world have taken strong stances against the publication of the TNIV. The Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood has taken the lead in opposition. They have produced numerous articles which go into great detail in displaying hundreds of inaccuracies⁹ and instances in which the TNIV has altered and changed the NIV¹⁰ in ways which exceed the 'gender-accuracy' for which the translators claim to have striven.

The Council's website also provides a list of some one hundred Christian leaders who 'have issued a joint statement that claims they cannot endorse Today's New International Version (TNIV) that is produced by Zondervan publishers and the International Bible Society', stating that 'the TNIV goes beyond acceptable translation standards in several important respects'.¹¹

Many in this group of well-known pastors, educators, missionaries and scholars support the NIV and other modern versions, and no doubt few would support the principles and policy of TBS. It is doubtful that any two would agree on every theological point. However, these men and women have come together to protest something they see as harmful to the Christian church in a unanimity which shows the depth of concern which many in the fundamentalist, evangelical and reformed ministries have at the publication of the TNIV. Recently, two diverse conservative Christian denominations, the Southern Baptist Convention and the Presbyterian Church in America, each issued a statement from its yearly meeting rejecting the TNIV. As more and more people become aware of what the translators and publishers are doing, it is likely that further articles and statements of condemnation will be forthcoming.

This writer has not seen this level of condemnation of a Bible version since the publication of the Revised Standard Version in the 1950s. One quotation stands out as showing the feeling of betrayal and anger which many are experiencing. Vern Poythress, in stating his opposition to the TNIV, sums up the normal evangelical view of gender-inclusive language.

One can see in this extreme an affinity with political correctness and the modern culture wars. Political correctness includes an extreme, unnatural fear that someone, somewhere, sometime, for the flimsiest of reasons, might feel "excluded" or might misunderstand. It then distorts sound reasoning, sane communication, and other social realities for the sake of the triumph of its own vision of correctness. A person who has this fear will, as a matter of a general principle, remove the maleness in cases like Hebrews 12:7, for fear that females feel "excluded". And of course this is exactly what the TNIV appears to be doing, when it engages in programmatic alterations of gender about which its preface speaks: 'Among the more programmatic changes in the TNIV is the elimination of most instances of the generic use of masculine nouns and pronouns'. ("A Word to the Reader", p. vii).¹²

As the Lord wills, issues relating to the gender and other problems in the TNIV will be addressed in detail in the coming issues of the Quarterly Record.

Endnotes

¹ G. W. and D. E. Anderson, What Today's Christian needs to know about the NIV (London: Trinitarian Bible Society, 1992), p. 4, quoting Edwin Palmer, et al, ed. The Holy Bible: New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI, USA: Zondervan Bible Publishers, 1984), p. ix.

² previous editions copyright 1973, 1978 and 1984.

³ In January 1996, the Trinitarian Bible Society published a critical review of the New Testament in Quarterly Record No. 534.

⁴ Vern S. Poythress and Wayne A. Grudem, The Gender-Neutral Bible Controversy: Muting the Masculinity of God's Words, p. 20. Downloaded from http://keptthefaith.org/docs/gnbc.pdf, June 2002.

⁵ Ibid., p. 21.

⁶ World Magazine, volume 17.7, February 23, 2002.

⁷ Today's New International Version, "A Word to the Reader" (Colorado Springs, CO, USA: International Bible Society, 2001), p. vii.

⁸ http://www.tniv.info/quickfacts.php, accessed 29 August 2002.

⁹ http://www.cbmw.org/resources/tniv/inaccuracies.pdf, accessed 29 August 2002.

¹⁰ http://www.cbmw.org/tniv/short-list.html,accessed 29 August 2002.

¹¹ http://www.cbmw.org/tniv/leaders.html, accessed 29 August 2002.

¹² A Preliminary Response to Ellis W. Deibler: The Real Problem with Gender-Neutral Translations By Vern S. Poythress, Ph.D., Th.D. downloaded from http://keptthefaith.org/docs/Poythress_response.pdf, June 2002.

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Congratulations

We are pleased to congratulate Dr. Debra E. Anderson, Assistant to the Editorial Manager, whose PhD thesis, "'Choose this day...": A Comparison of the Textual Critical Methodologies and Philosophies Employed in the Production of the Old and New Testament Texts' has recently been approved by Reformation International Theological Seminary in the USA.

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The Word of God
Among All Nations

Africa

From Gauteng, South Africa

Many thanks for the calendars you sent for January 2002. We distributed all and the Lord provided in a miraculous way for postage for some of the calendars (people/Churches not in our immediate area). I would like to mention the following:- I have a cousin who keeps every single calendar she receives and hangs it up on her bedroom wall. In fact I heard of someone else who also keeps all the calendars (so do I). Another cousin told us that during 2000 she memorised every day's verse! Quite an achievement. The Portuguese people (Catholic as well as Protestant Churches) were eager to receive calendars. A Russian ship had docked in Cape Town and was delayed for quite some time. I heard of this over our local Radio Pulpit and contacted the Mission to Seafarers who were pleased to receive some calendars for the sailors. We subsequently received a letter from the Mission advising us that the sailors were so pleased to receive these and had taken them back to Russia. The Word of God truly "is not bound". A couple from our Cell group visited the Prison in Boksburg and also distributed calendars to the inmates. A few were handed out to hospitals. In fact, you could let us have "plenty" more to meet the demand, but we are very thankful for what you send to us yearly. I still cannot pay the postage as the Pound against the Rand is not competitive, and we are pensioners. However, we do not waste one calendar.

From Pietermaritzburg, Natal, South Africa

This has been during the many years we have received and handed out these calendars, a huge spiritual blessing to each person who received these. They actually ask for more! Thank-you, and God bless your work. We personally had used these calendars for the past 20 years!! We received our own supply from you for twelve years more. We used to get them from a Pastor in Durban. He is retired and we now give him some from our supply for his personal use! We have handed these Golden Thoughts to people all over South Africa and we know God is being blessed by His Word being read. Thank-you again! Our grandchildren said, "Granny, look what the Queen sent you!" after they saw the 'By Royal Mail' on the post bag!!!

From Rumuodara, Nigeria

Our expository preaching has helped the spiritual growth of our people. Our leadership programme is blessed with course lessons from a Bible Institute in the USA. Courses are marked and graded for the students' encouragement. One Saturday per month the seminarians meet for the study of systematic theology, homiletics, reformed Baptist church government and the doctrines of faith. About thirty-three are registered students. Regarding literature distribution, we have distributed 3,200 TBS Golden Thoughts Text Calendars for the year 2002 in English and Hausa. There is also more demand for more copies. Gospel tracts have been distributed during our evangelistic outings and visitations.

India

From Nagar, India

Best wishes to the Trinitarian Bible Society and its members in the name of The Lord Jesus, The Matchless Name. We acquired the parcel duly. All these were distributed prayerfully to the members of the church. Several of the previous items were liked by Youth. Our thanks to you for this. Our Request: If New Testament (Telugu Language Version) was available with you, please send us 1,000-copies, which will be very helpful for the local people, whose mother-tongue is Telugu language.

Europe

From Selwyn Gardens, Cambridge, England

Thank-you very much for the free copy of the Bible in Hebrew which I received today. I am head of Old Testament studies at M- College in Australia, and am in Cambridge on study leave. I think this edition of the Bible is beautifully produced, and congratulate the Trinitarian Bible Society on it. I appreciate receiving it as a gift very much. I'm wondering whether I would be able to get copies for my Hebrew students back in Australia when I return there? Would they be available there? If I should apply to the Trinitarian Bible Society in Australia, could you please send me their contact details? Many thanks once again.

From Marple, Stockport, England

Your letter was a direct answer to my prayer. In R.E. we have been studying Moses' story! Your Ten Commandment cards will be ideal for the three top classes, Yr5 and Yr6. Can I encourage you in your work, and if you would like to come to school and give out your free Bibles I will get a list of pupils who would genuinely like one to use.

From Glasgow, Scotland

On a Wednesday in June, a member of the Scottish Colportage Society left me speechless. I was attending the annual denominational meetings when she summoned me through to her bookstall during the lunch break. 'Stay there and don't move! I want to see your face'. With these words, she bent down underneath one of her tables and brought out a cardboard box. Inside were fourteen foreign language Bibles, which you had sent up for me to put into local lending libraries. I was absolutely stunned! She then explained that, when presenting her report at one meeting, she had just 'mentioned' our activities with our local libraries and my search for foreign language Christian books and Bibles. Subsequently, the box arrived unexpectedly at her door. Rather than forewarn me, she decided to spring your surprise upon me. I can't thank you enough for your generosity. The Bibles will be dedicated, as were the books we donated, before being handed over to the library staff. A quick visit to one of the libraries, and look through some of the books already donated, revealed that they are being consulted regularly. I am sure that the Bibles will also be referred to regularly. It is certainly the most powerful book we can donate.

From Snailbeach, Shropshire, England

You kindly came to our church one evening last year and gave us a super talk on the Society's work (which was enjoyed by everyone) mentioning TBS posters being displayed in different locations. A few weeks ago I happened to be at Shrewsbury Railway Station and noticed a TBS poster. I still vividly recall a TBS poster near to Platform 14, Manchester Piccadilly Station twenty-seven years ago, immediately after my coming to salvation through Jesus Christ. I was going through a particularly bad patch in my life at the time and the verses (Lamentations 3.22-23) were of great comfort and encouragement to me. I passed it morning and evening on my way to and from work.

North America

From Houston, Texas, USA

Pray all of you are well today and that you find everything is utmost blessed tremendously. Please send me all you can immediately as plan to make mission trip as soon as possible. I made one trip in March. I am sad because you don't print leather Spanish Bibles. Do you not have them? I preached with Mexican Brothers in huge prison in Mexico, over 600 prisoners. I gave 500 of your La Iglesia Del Dios Vivo (Church of the Living God) there. Please send me huge orders of Spanish Bibles. Do you have a few in large print? Send tracts possible as above, particularly Dios es Amor (Love of God). I need many. Do you have small Tracts 4-Cosas (Four Things)? I need many. The last shipment came in Parcel Post easily. Please send them to the Post Office. God Bless you for your help for thirty-three years.

South America

From Buenos Aires, Argentina

How can I thank you enough for your kindness in sending me this very much appreciated gift of the Reina Valera Bible. I can't! However, here I'll give my best thanks possible. It was delivered to me yesterday at our church hall. Not being a full-time worker, I don't feel free to ask for further complimentary copies. The Bible you made thirty of us a present of, on occasion of the birth of our then new Assembly in 1990, is now tattered and torn, in a shameful condition, which does not allow public presentation, but I constantly refer to it, as I treasure it enormously. Within a fortnight or so we will be celebrating, Lord enabling, our 12th Anniversary. Won't disturb you any more just reiterate my true thankfulness to you with my very best wishes for the Lord's blessing on your toils for Him.

From Conselheiro Lafaiete, Brazil

Dear brothers in Christ, we are thankful to be able to distribute Bibles. Our brother gave Bible to a paralysed young woman and she received it with smiles. It is a blessing from God to give to new converted and others.

Although certain phrases and expressions used in these letters may not be doctrinally accurate or in the proper English form, we reproduce the letters essentially as received, knowing that the Lord is using His Word to the glory of His Name and the furtherance of His Kingdom as the Scriptures are distributed among the nations of the world.

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Quarterly Record Online Production Team

• General Secretary D. P. Rowland
• Editor G. W. Anderson
• Production Editor Dr. D. E. Anderson
• Graphic Designer P. Hughes
• Assistants to the Editor M. J. Fenn, C. P. Hallihan

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Copyright © 2002 Trinitarian Bible Society. All rights reserved. The Trinitarian Bible Society permits reprinting of articles found in our printed and online Quarterly Record provided that prior permission is obtained and proper acknowledgement is made.