New Testament, Preface (2000)
The Holman
Christian Standard Bible
The Bible is the inspired Word of God, inerrant in the original manuscripts. It is the only means of knowing God’s specific plan of salvation and His will for life. It is the only hope and the only answer for a rebellious, searching world. Bible translation, both a science and an art, is a bridge that brings God’s Word from the ancient world to the world today. In acknowledged dependence upon God to accomplish this task, Broadman and Holman Publishers presents the Holman Christian Standard Bible,™ a new English translation of God’s Word.
THE GOALS OF THIS TRANSLATION
The Holman Christian Standard Bible has been created:
- to provide English-speaking Christians with an accurate, readable Bible in contemporary, idiomatic English
- to equip the serious Bible student with an accurate Bible for personal study, private devotions, or memorization.
- to produce a readable Bible—neither too high or low on a reading scale—that is both visually attractive and suited to oral reading
- to affirm the authority of the Scriptures as God’s inerrant Word and its absolutes against the inevitable changes of culture.
The name, Holman Christian Standard Bible, embodies these goals: Holman Bible Publishers presents a new translation of the Bible for all Christians that will set the standard for Bible translations for years to come.
WHY ANOTHER NEW BIBLE TRANSLATION IN ENGLISH?
There are several important answers to this question.
- The Bible is the world’s most important book, confronting each individual with issues that affect all of life, both now and forever. Since each generation must wrestle in its own language with the message of God’s Word, there will always be the need for new translations such as the Holman Christian Standard Bible [HCSB].
- English is the first truly global language in history and the modern Lingua franca of education, business, travel, research, and the Internet. More than 1.3 billion people speak English as a primary or secondary language across the world; the HCSB exists to meet the needs of a large cross-section of those people. English is also the most rapidly changing language today. The HCSB seeks to reflect many of these recent changes by consistently using modern punctuation, formatting, and vocabulary, while avoiding slang, regionalisms, or deliberate changes for the sake of political correctness.
- This has been called the “information age,” a term that accurately describes the field of biblical research. Never before in history has there been as much information about the Bible as there is today—from archaeological discoveries to analysis of ancient manuscripts to years of study and statistical research on individual Bible books. Translations made as recently as ten or twenty years ago do not reflect many of these advances in biblical research. The translators of the HCSB have sought to use as much of this new data as possible.
- One of the most important developments in the modern world is computer technology. The HCSB has probably used computer technology and telecommunications more than any translation in history. Electronic mail was used daily and sometimes hourly for communication and transmission of manuscripts. The most advanced Bible software available was used to review the translation at each step in its production. A developmental copy of HCSB itself was used within this software system so that it could be cross-checked during the translation process—something never done before on a Bible translation.
TRANSLATION PHILOSOPHY
Translations generally follow one of three approaches to translating the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek words of Scripture into English:
- Formal Equivalence: Often called “word for word” translation, formal equivalence seeks to represent each word of the original text with a corresponding word in the translation so that the reader can see word for word what the original human authors wrote. The strength of this approach is that the Holy Spirit did inspire the very words of Scripture in the original manuscripts. A formal equivalent translation is good to the extent that its words accurately convey the meaning of the original words. However, a literal rendering can often result in awkward English or in a misunderstanding of the original.
- Dynamic Equivalence: Often called “thought for thought” translation, dynamic equivalence seeks to translate the meaning of biblical words so the text makes the same impact on a modern reader that the original text had on its readers. Strengths of this approach include readability and understandability, especially in places where the original is difficult to render word for word. However, a number of serious questions arise with dynamic equivalence: How can a modern translator be certain of the idea in the original author’s mind? Is not meaning always conveyed by words; if so, why not insure the accuracy of meaning by using words that are as close to the original as possible? How can a modern person ever know the impact of the original text upon its readers?
- Optimal Equivalence: This method seeks to combine the best features of both formal and dynamic equivalence by applying each method to translate the meaning of the original with optimal accuracy. In the many places throughout Scripture where a word for word rendering is clearly understandable, that literal rendering is used. In other places where a literal rendering might be unclear in modern English, then a more dynamic translation is given. The HCSB has chosen to use the balance and beauty of optimal equivalence for a fresh translation of God’s Word that is both faithful to the words God inspired and “user friendly” to modern readers.
HISTORY OF THE HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE
After several years of preliminary development, Holman Bible Publishers, the oldest Bible publisher in America, assembled an international and interdenominational team of 90 scholars to complete the initial translation. Smaller teams of editors; stylists, and proofreaders then corrected and polished the translation before publication.
The textual base for the New Testament [NT] is the Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece, 27th edition, and the United Bible Societies’ Greek New Testament, 4th corrected edition. Footnotes immediately below the text indicate significant differences among Greek [Gk] manuscripts of the NT. In a few cases, brackets are used to indicate texts that are omitted in some ancient Gk manuscripts.
TRANSLATION FEATURES
In keeping with a long tradition of Bible publication, the Holman Christian Standard Bible has maintained a number of familiar features:
1. Traditional theological vocabulary (words such as “justification,” “sanctification,” “redemption,” etc.) has been retained, since many of these terms have no dynamic equivalent that adequately communicates their exact meaning.
2. Traditional spellings of words found in most Bibles have been used in order to make the HCSB compatible with most Bible study tools available today.
3. In honor of the person of Jesus Christ and for ease in locating His spoken words in the New Testament, the words of Christ have been printed in red letters.
4. Nouns and pronouns that refer to any of the divine persons are capitalized.
5. Subject titles, printed in bold face and italics, have been placed above each section of Scripture to help readers quickly identify the contents of that section.
SPECIAL FORMATTING FEATURES
The Holman Christian Standard Bible has several distinctive formats:
- Old Testament [OT] quotations found in the NT are set in bold face type. OT quotes less than two lines long are embedded in the Bible text. Quotes consisting of two or more lines are block indented.
- In dialogue, a new paragraph is used for each new speaker, as in most modern books.
- Many familiar passages, such as 1 Co. 13, have been formatted as dynamic prose (separate lines block indented) for greater readability.
- A series of persons or items may be formatted as a list and block indented. Examples are the genealogy of Christ (Mt. 1:2-16), the 12 apostles (Mt. 10:2-4), and the precious stones in the New Jerusalem (Rv. 21:19-20).
- A written inscription that was posted for people to read, such as the sign above Jesus on the cross (Mt. 27:3 7), is placed inside a box and centered on the page.
FOOTNOTES
Footnotes located immeditately below the text indicate significant differences among Gk manuscripts of the NT. These are normally indicated by one of the following:
- Other mss read:
- Other mss add:
- Other mss omit:
Notes at the bottom of each page provide additional helps for readers:
- Lit: …………. a literal rendering of the Gk text
- Gk ………….. the actual Gk word is given using English letters
- Or: ………….. an alternate translation of the Gk text
- supplied for clarity … an indication of words added by the translators
- That is: ……. a clarification of the meaning of the English text
Additional notes at the bottom of the page explain biblical customs, places, and activities relevant to the text. Cross references are also provided, both for OT quotes and for related passages in 0th.er NT books.
WORD STUDIES
Located on the sidebar of many pages, word studies explain the meaning and usage of important Gk words. Each word study includes:
- the Gk word written in English letters
- an easy-to-use pronunciation guide for that word
- a frequent translation of that word in the HCSB NT
- the number of times that word is used by a NT writer and in the NT as a whole
Many word studies also contain historical background, theological significance, parallel passages, and cross references for the word.
SPIRITUAL INSIGHTS BY DR. HENRY BLACKABY
A special feature of this edition of the HCSB are sidebars that contain devotional insights by Dr. Henry Blackaby. These comments offer applications of the biblical text for daily Christian living.