One feature which must override all others in biblical translation is accuracy. Since the RV appeared, all its successors (apart from the NASV) seem to contain one common error: Mark 10:45 reads “… to give his life as a ransom for many”. Linguistically, the word ‘as’ does not appear in any original manuscript; theologically, it introduces a note of ambiguity and is therefore dubious. Bishop Donald Robinson, who has advised me on this, points out that Tyndale’s 1534 edition reads “to give his life for the redemption of many”, a permissible interpretation in the light of the two main Hebrew words underlying the Greek ‘lutron’.
The efficacy of the atonement rests upon substance, not simile. Obviously we cannot change the multiplicity of versions in use, but preachers and study leaders ought to avoid using ‘as’ when they speak.
Donald Howard
Elderslie, NSW, AUS
