Translating the holy spirit

There is a great article with an accompanying podcast at
https://restitutio.org/2015/11/05/translating-the-holy-spirit/ where they look at how many different Bible versions have translated (or more accurately mistranslated) Scriptures that deal with the holy spirit. According to their conclusion, it seems only the New World Translation and the Catholic New American Bible actually get it right:

"After seeing that eighteen of these nineteen translations personalize the holy spirit by capitalizing Spirit (most capitalize Holy as well) and that seventeen out of the nineteen use “who” or “whom” to refer back to holy spirit, what would someone conclude? Of course, they would go with the majority. Besides, the only translations that differ on this point are the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ New World Translation and the Roman Catholic’s New American Bible—the very two sources that evangelicals and Protestants are trained never to trust! In fact, the New World Translation does not even appear on major Bible websites (or in BibleWorks), so access to it is limited. What is so shocking is that the Greek very clearly reads “the holy spirit which God gave…” There is no ambiguity or confusing grammar to cloud the question. It is as plain as day, and any first year New Testament Greek student could easily verify it."


They add:

"The NASB team “adhered to the literal philosophy of translation” and required 'a word-for-word translation that is accurate and precise,' yet, they literally did not translate the word 'ὅ' as 'which.' The NET boasts that its nearly 61,000 translators’ notes enable readers to 'look over the translator’s shoulder' and make 'transparent the textual basis and the rationale for key renderings (including major interpretive options and alternative translations).' However, when I look at the footnotes on Acts 5.32, I see nothing whatsoever indicating they flat out changed a word to make their translation more palatable. Ironically, Daniel Wallace was one of the primary scholars involved in the NET and his paper on this subject exposes this very issue."

Again, visit this great article at https://restitutio.org/2015/11/05/translating-the-holy-spirit/

Visit the podcast at

http://trinities.org/blog/podcast-25-pastor-sean-finnegan-about-the-holy-spirit-part-1/