These “guides” usually use a computerized test such as the Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level tests. In other words, it is unlikely that Biblica had thousands of 7-year-old third graders read the New International Reader’s Version and afterwards tested their comprehension of what they read.[i] More likely, they plugged the NIrV or parts of it into a computer and ran tests. In such tests, different parts/books of the Bible would (should) come up with different reading levels. Some are more grammatically complex and complicated than others are. A computer can test that, somewhat. Peter indicated some of Paul’s letters were complicated, and he did not even have a computer through which to run them for a test! Much of this “ease of reading” banter is a barking up of the wrong tree. It ignores that the Bible is not standard reading, but also a spiritually discerned document.
There is a false premise based on mere intellectual
understanding of the Bible. When someone says that all we need is a translation
with words we can understand, this centers understanding the Bible in the
natural man (intellect) rather than the spiritual man. However, the Bible includes
a spiritual element not present in natural documents. It is spiritually given (2
Timothy 3:16-17) and spiritually understood (1
Corinthians 2:14). “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and
is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all
good works.” “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of
God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they
are spiritually discerned.”
Peter, a notable apostle, tells us that in all of
Paul’s epistles there are “some things hard to be understood” 2
Peter 3:16. Those who would remove “some things hard to be
understood” seek to remove some things that God has given by inspiration. Even
new “easy-reader” versions have to admit this is true: Paul’s “letters include
some things that are hard to understand” (2
Peter 3:16, NIrV).[ii]
So, the Bible can be difficult to understand, even for the spiritual. However,
the Spirit will guide into all truth (John
16:13). Without the Spirit, it is impossible to know the things of
God (1
Corinthians 2:11).
There is a false premise that places discernment outside
the community of faith. Yet, the community of faith is crucial to our best
understanding of the word of God (Acts
17:11). This is not the hierarchical Roman Catholic doctrine that the
church tells everyone what to believe.[iii]
It is recognition that the faith was once delivered to the saints (Jude,
verse 3). It is recognition that the faith is passed on through the
generations by faithful witnesses who commit it to other faithful witnesses (2
Timothy 2:2). An individual Christian is not a “Lone Ranger.” There
is discernment at the local church level. Those who are in the faith help and
teach those who come into the faith (Matthew
28:19-20). “Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the
multitude of counsellors there is safety” (Proverbs 11:14).[iv]
God has set teachers in the church, and this gift
should not be despised (1
Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians
4:11). We are to teach one another, even through our songs (Colossians 3:16). The modern mantra hands the individual a Bible with the promise
that it is easy to understand, and tries to cut out the “middleman” of the
church, the local community of faith. On reflection, though, the translators and
revisers remove the intermediary they want ousted and install themselves as the
mediators between God’s word and man.[v]
The teachers God gives us should not be discarded, but may we cry with the
eunuch of Ethiopia, “How can I (understand what I read), except some man should
guide me?” See Acts
8:30-31.
[i] The Bible Gateway site gives the NIrV as “3+ (ages 7+).”
[ii] The
Bible can be counterintuitive. Those who “should” understand may not, and those
who “should not” understand may. “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank
thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things
from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.” Matthew 11:25.
[iii]
Roman Catholicism says that 2
Peter 1:20-21 forbids the individual undertaking to read and
understand the scriptures. Rather, Peter taught that interpretation proceeded
not from the will of man, but from the Holy Ghost who moved the prophets to
speak.
[iv] In
his book Commenting and Commentaries,
Charles Spurgeon writes, “It seems odd, that certain men who talk so much of
what the Holy Spirit reveals to themselves, should think so little of what he
has revealed to others.”
[v] Even constantly changing
it. According to translator
Bill Mounce, the NIV committee on Bible translation meets annually to
consider making changes to the NIV. “English is in a constant state of
flux...This is one of the reasons why the CBT was originally formed with the
mandate to meet every year and keep the NIV up-to-date with current English and
biblical scholarship.”
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