The NIV Agenda: Husbands, Wives and Submission
Last week I wrote about a few things I discovered while preparing to teach an introduction to Romans.
Here's one other thing I discovered.
The NIV is a pretty blatantly agenda-driven translation.
Yeah, I already knew that. And poring over its choices of translation in Paul, and specifically Romans, the point really hit home.
But something else caught my eye that makes me want to aggressively go out and tell everyone I know to dump their NIV.
While immersed in Romans, I noticed how Paul has a little habit in his writing style. It comes out prominently in Romans 5-8. After every delineable segment of argument, usually around 8-12 verses long, he signs off his thought with a little Christological marker, either "in Christ Jesus" or "through Jesus Christ our Lord," or something to that effect.
Now take a look at Ephesians 5:21-22. You know, the famous "Wives, be submissive" passage. C'mon, all you hubbies, you know you've used that one before (or wanted to, at least). The NIV inserts the title "Husbands and Wives" after 5:21 and before 5:22. By doing so, it makes it seem that Paul is starting a whole new train of thought with the statement, "Wives, submit to your husbands." Take a look:
Wives and Husbands
22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her...
Now here's a wider look at the passage, going a few lines back, and omitting the (artificially inserted) section heading:
18 Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, 20 giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
21 Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.
22 Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Saviour. 24Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her...
22 Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Saviour. 24Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her...
Now notice how verse 20 ends.
So where do you think the next section should start?
Exactly, with verse 21 and the introductory phrase, "Be subject to one another out of reverence..." Read properly, then, this is not a section justifying the subordinate role of a wife, but, well, you get the picture.
Now lets all dump our old, dust-gathering NIV's once and for all and start being subject to one another.
Grace and Peace,
Raffi
I agree that the passage regarding submission of wives is just part of all of us submitting to each other, and not a unique kind of thing.
I guess I'm not seeing why, if it's read correctly, the NIV is a unique problem.
Ah, well ...
I do think that that passage is overused as a justification for some obnoxious behavior by men -- especially in light of the fact that if husbands love their wives as Christ loves the church, we're giving up EVERYTHING we want for our wives.
Think of it this way, Wic. Imagine a new believer hearing about this verse. She or he pulls out his or her fresh, new NIV, and turns to Ephesians 5. She or he looks down and sees the title "Husbands and Wives" and starts reading. Do you see my issue?
Grace and Peace,
Raffi
In the KJV, verses 17-21 seem to be all of one sentence. Their decision to insert a title break after 21 could be justified on that basis, but to present it as if the main thought of the section was the subjugation of wives was definitely wrong, especially as the next section is calling for husbands and wives to submit to each other as they would to Christ. It does cause a problem of "misuse-ability" of the verse. That's reason enough to not use the NIV.