February 4 2002

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The International Bible Society (IBS) has released an updated English New Testament called Today's New International Version (TNIV).

Made public in January, it comes nearly five years after conservative critics blasted another NIV translation for using gender-inclusive (proponents called it "gender-accurate") language.

Zondervan, which publishes many best-selling NIV study Bibles, will also publish the TNIV New Testament. The TNIV joins several new English translations, including Tyndale's New Living Translation (the successor to the Living Bible paraphrase) and Crossway's more literal English Standard Version (ESV).

A full TNIV Bible will not be available until 2003 or later. IBS and Zondervan will honor a commitment made in 1997 to continue to market the existing NIV, the best-selling Bible translation in the world.

Seven percent of the TNIV New Testament text and footnotes has changed from the NIV. Some alterations are stylistic. Mary, mother of Jesus, is "pregnant" in the TNIV, instead of "with child."

Other changes focus on gender. For example, Matthew 5:9 (NIV) reads: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God." The TNIV, similar to the King James Version, reads: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God."

In Romans 3:28, the TNIV updates the NIV's "man" to "person" (just as the ESV updates the RSV's "man" to "one").

The Committee on Bible Translation (CBT), an independent group of Bible scholars, is producing the TNIV text. "Developments in biblical scholarship … made a new translation necessary," said Ronald Youngblood, a CBT member and chairman of the IBS board. "There have been many, many changes in the way in which contemporary English has developed."

CBT completed a ...