Gilead Appreciates the New Version

December 1, 1950

The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society

124 Columbia Hts.

Brooklyn 2, N. Y.

Dear Brothers:

In our opinion one of the greatest gifts we have received as Christians in these last days has been that of the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures. On behalf of the instructors and the ministerial students here at the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead I wish to convey to you our great appreciation for this scholarly instrument. For this exceedingly “good gift” we render our thanks to the “Father of the celestial lights”.—Jas. 1:17, NW.

From the commencement of this school we have been looking for the ideal Bible translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures to be used as our basic textbook. Now beyond expectations we have found that ideal translation. I can assure you that since the release of the New World Translation we here at Gilead have been using it night and day in our studies and Bible research work.

As a body of close students of the inspired oracles of God we have ever been eager to grasp the precise sense or meaning of any particular Bible texts we are examining. For the past fifteen terms of school since 1943 hours upon hours have been spent in consulting scores of Bible versions and technical works in search for the original language meanings of various Bible references. During our present term, the sixteenth, matriculated since the convention at Yankee Stadium, much research time has been eliminated for both the student and the instructor by reason of this new work. In every respect the New World Translation meets our dire need for a translation that specializes in rendering as far as modern scholarship permits the exact original sense of the Christian Greek Scriptures in good, modern, understandable English. This new translation is indeed a dream come true for both the faculty and the student body.

In the brief four months just past since the release of this new Bible version, many gemlike discoveries have been made by us as to its eminent merits. From when we first received a copy the restoration of the divine name has been a towering merit. Each time a text is read where the name Jehovah appears one still pauses to reflect on the increased significance conveyed. What helpful proofs are submitted not only in the footnotes but also in the Foreword and the Appendix to substantiate this restoration! The other technical aids, such as the critical apparatus in the footnotes, the cross and chain references in addition to the wealth of scholarship made available in the Appendix, heighten the value of this work in the eyes of every ministerial servant of God.

Another surpassing merit is that in its faithful renderings of the Greek the new translation consistently distinguishes things that differ. By performing this service NW makes an inestimable contribution in enabling one to return to an accurate understanding of early pure Christian doctrine. For example, many translations use the one English word “world” to translate three different Greek words, aión, oikouméne and kósmos. Obviously three so widely differing Greek words could not enjoy a common English word in translation. NW uniformly throughout translates these “system of things”, “inhabited (habitable) earth” and “world”, respectively, we are pleased to note. At once important texts, such as Matthew 24:3, 14, and 21, containing these three different Greek words in close proximity, yield clear meaning, preserving the things that differ.

In other Bible translations we have found that koimáo is rendered at times “to sleep” (see Acts 7:60) and other times that same word is translated “be dead” (see 1 Cor. 7:39). Now in most translations the ordinary Greek word hypnos is rendered “sleep” (Matt. 1:24; Luke 9:32) and nekrós as “dead” (Matt. 8:22), words widely different from koimáo. We are happy to see that NW uniformly translates koimáo as “asleep in death” and hypnos merely as “sleep” and nekrós as “dead”. Surely it is vital to ascertain from the Scriptures whether ordinary “sleep in rest” is being spoken of or “sleep in death”, which incidentally further disproves the false doctrine of conscious human existence after death.

We have particularly appreciated this further discovery of merit in the fact that NW makes a careful study of pístis, “faith,” the noun form, and pisteúo, the verb form. Most translations render these words interchangeably as “faith” or “belief” and “believe”. It is good to see that NW always consistently translates pístis as “faith” (Rom. 1:5) and the verb pisteúo by the verbal phrase as either “puts faith” (Matt. 18:6) or “exercises faith” (John 6:29), and thus retains its root association with the noun. The kindred form apistía, which other translators have rendered “unbelief”, NW meaningfully translates as “lack of faith”. (Matt. 13:58; Mark 6:6) Now observe what clearness of thought and vigor of argument is conveyed at the points where two of the above Greek forms appear in the same text, as at Romans 3:3 and Ro 4:5. So there is preserved for us additional meaning by means of contrast which no doubt the original writers had in mind in so expressing themselves in the Greek.

A further merit we have noticed is either NW’s selection of choice expressions or its finding the apt English word to consistently convey the Greek sense in a superior way to any other contemporary translations. Following are a few of the host of examples we could cite. The phrase “in union with” instead of “in” at John 17:21; “sacred secrets” instead of “mysteries” at Matthew 13:11; “godly devotion” instead of “godliness” at 1 Timothy 3:16; “on the basis of my name” instead of “in my name” at Matthew 24:5; “undeserved kindness” instead of “grace” at John 1:14; “Chief Agent” instead of “Prince” at Acts 3:15; “declared righteous” instead of “justified” at Romans 2:13; “disown” instead of “deny” at Matthew 10:33; “examined” instead of “discerned” at 1 Corinthians 2:14-16; and “first recognition” instead of “foreknow” at Romans 8:29.

So you see we keenly appreciate the wise selection the translators have made in their English equivalents for the Greek vocabulary used by the apostolic writers. All this has added colorful vividness to the Biblical narratives, and clear-cut understanding of the sayings of Jesus and the arguments employed by the apostles.

This letter expressing our great delight in using the New World Translation would be incomplete without referring to the superb translation of the first chapter of the gospel of John. Not only because it rightly conforms to the Greek in maintaining the difference between the God Jehovah and the Word, Christ Jesus, who “was a god”, but, by properly using the English word “came into existence” in verse 3 to translate fittingly egéneto, the whole account of the prehuman biography of Jesus discloses new vistas of thought. It emphasizes the great universal fact that life comes through Jesus Christ. NW’s rendering reads glowingly, “What has come into existence by means of him was life, and the life was the light of men.” (Joh 1:3, 4) Each time one rereads NW’s translation of John 1:1-18 new delights of spiritual understanding are in store for him.

To us it seems the spiritual gems we are constantly discovering in this new translation are innumerable and unending. Daily as we use this translation we thank Jehovah God our loving Provider for having given us this timely instrument with which we may constantly peer into “the depth of God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge”. (Rom. 11:33) We are grateful that the Watch Tower Society has come into possession of this faithful and illuminating translation. May the Lord Jehovah grant the New World Translation a wide and phenomenal distribution, that large numbers of men of good will toward God may come to a fuller understanding of the inspired Christian Greek Scriptures.

For the many happy residents here at the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead I send you our warm love and greetings.

Your fellow servant,

A. D. SCHROEDER, Registrar

Watchtower Bible School of Gilead