"Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Matthew 4:4 American Standard Version
"Human beings live not on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." New Jerusalem Bible
It has become customary in some newer Bibles to replace the word MAN and replace it with a more inclusive alternative so that women are not slighted.
However, when I check older dictionaries I am confronted with the fact that the primary meaning of "Man" was always "Human Beings."
William Graham MacDonald, in his Idiomatic Translation of the New Testament, writes: "The Idiomatic Translation faithfully conserves the univocal perspective toward gender of the New Testament itself, the generic masculine, comprehending male and female—without dyeing any of those ancient texts pink or purple to impose contrived political correctness. On the basis of Genesis 1:26,27; 5:2, man is properly understood and represented in certain texts as a synecdoche for all human beings."
Synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole or the whole for a part. For instance, the Bible often uses the word "Flesh" to mean the entire man, or even all men: "And all flesh shall see the salvation of God." Luke 3:6 ASV. Compare the same Scripture in the Goodspeed Bible: "And all mankind is to see how God can save!" If I say that someone has "nice wheels" I am actually saying that they have a nice car.
So when I hear that a University is banning the word MAN I have to wonder how many of those same people use the word GUYS in a gender inclusive way. That's right...when I say to a group of people "Come on guys" I have never heard an objection that the word "guys" is male and therefore it excludes females.
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