Not Your Father's NIV
The NIV New Testament was published in 1973, followed by the whole Bible in 1978. In 1983 some revisions were accepted by the ongoing Committee on Bible Translation (CBT) and included in editions printed after that date. A plan to further revise it in 1997, using "gender inclusive language," died quickly under a barrage of objections from conservative evangelicals. "Gender inclusive language" meant, among other things, eliminating masculine pronouns when they were intended to include both males and females.
So the publishers brought out, not a revision but a new named alternative, Today's New International Version (TNIV). It met strong opposition, seeming to many to further the feminist, egalitarian agenda, but it left the old NIV as it was.
The TNIV immediately became a factor in the battle over the egalitarian vs. complementarian views relating to a "wider use of women" then the classic texts, 1 Timothy 2:8-15 and 1 Corinthians 14:33b-35, would seem to allow.
Wayne Grudem, professor of Bible and Theology at Phoenix Seminary and a leading spokesman at Evangelical Theological Society meetings, wrote a scathing rebuttal, The TNIV and the Gender-Neutral Bible Controversy. He counted 3000 places where such words as "man," "father," "son," "brother," and "he" vanished from the text. He raised convincing objections to what Grudem felt was the TNIV's treatment of specific texts that failed to be loyal to the authors' intent.
Now a new updating of the NIV is being announced for 2011. It includes some, though apparently not all, of the "gender neutral" revisions of the TNIV. Translation committee Chairman Douglas Moo says this time more than a dozen Bible translation committee scholars will "review every single gender-related decision we have made and make sure we are putting God's unchanging word into English people are actually using."
Maureen Girkins, president of Zondervan, publishers of NIV, says the "divisive" TNIV and the "cherished" NIV will no longer be published after the newest (NIV) comes out. If you go to your bookseller to buy an NIV after that occurs, you will not come away with the NIV with which you are familiar.
Attempts to remove "he" for gender neutral reasons often results in stilted language, unsuitable for a translation whose purpose was to be more readable, and it sometimes results in poor grammar. 1 John 4:16 is translated, "God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God and God in them." A plural "them" is used when the antecedent is a singular "whoever," and besides the grammatical difficulty, it changes our fellowship with God from a personal reality to a collective abstraction. Revelation 3:20 is translated, "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me." Again, a plural "they" standing for an antecedent which is singular. I learned not to do that in fourth grade English.
1 Timothy 2:12 in the old NIV reads, "I do not permit a woman to teach or have authority over a man: she must be silent." "To exercise authority over a man" is the English Standard Version translation. Both correctly convey the meaning of Paul's original words. The new NIV changes "have authority over a man" to "assume authority over a man." Like the KJV, which unfortunately translated "usurp authority over a man," this leaves the impression that if a woman is given permission by someone in authority to lead or teach over men, she could do so; she would not then be "assuming" or "usurping." The original does not have that connotation.
Leland Ryken, Professor of English at Wheaton (Illinois) college of literary consultant on the ESV translation committee, expresses concern that too liberal use of dynamic equivalency in the New NIV "adds an editorial layer of judgment and commentary." Cultural changes and "political correctness" may be dictating translation policy rather than the need to translate accurately, neglecting to remember that what is being translated are the very words of God.
Be aware that the next NIV you buy will not be the one with which you are familiar.
Source: USA Today (9/1/2009, "Update of Popular 'NIV' Bible due in 2011." Christian Post, 3/13/2011, "New NIV Bible to Debut Amid ongoing concern." Gospel Advocate, July 2011, "The Revised NIV: Trojan horse of Error," by Gregory Alan Tidwell.