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Back
to Acts Verse List
Excerpt
from
"Dynamic Equivalence and
Some Theological Problems in
the NIV"
by
J. W. Scott
Westminster
Theological Journal 48 (Fall, 1986): 363-372
According
to the NIV, everyone in these two households professed
faith before being baptized. In its original edition
(NT, 1973) the NIV at Acts 16:34 related that the Philippian
jailer's "whole family was filled with joy, because
they had come to believe in God" before being baptized.
This was subsequently reworded (in the 1983 edition)
to "he was filled with joy because he had come
to believe in God-he and his whole family."
[Note from KepttheFaith.org: Here is the TNIV's translation:
"The jailer brought them into his house and set
a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he
had come to believe in God--he and his whole household"
(Acts 16:34).] In either version we are told that
everyone in the household believed.3 The NIV at 18:8
similarly credits an entire household with faith (prior
to baptism): "Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and
his entire household believed in the Lord." [Note
from KepttheFaith.org: Here is the TNIV's translation:
"Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire
household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians
who heard Paul believed and were baptized." (Acts
18:8).]
* * *
But once again the biblical support for infant baptism
is obscured in the NIV, which translates Acts 2:39 in
this fashion: "The promise is for you and your
children and for all who are far off-for all whom the
Lord our God will call." By not repeating "for"
before "your children," the NIV does link
children with their parents, but the dash before the
qualifying clause and its introduction with "for"
suggest that both "you and your children"
and "all who are far off" are modified by
it. Without a comma after "children," it is
unnatural to limit the qualification to "all who
are far off." And by translating "call"
(with most English translations) instead of "summon,"
the impression is given that the gospel call to those
old enough to understand it is exclusively in view.
Thus, the NIV follows the baptistic interpretation of
this passage. [Note from KepttheFaith.org; Here
is how the TNIV translates this text: The promise is
for you and your children and for all who are far off-for
all whom the Lord our God will call" (Acts 2:39).]
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