I just posted a translation of 2 Corinthians 3:7-11 in the translation section (which will be followed-up with verses 12-18 soon). In this section, Paul makes some contrasts between the Mosaic Covenant, and the New Covenant. Here is a list showing the contrasts:
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“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”
John 1:1

Some have made the argument that the greek word λογος (logos, “word”) in the opening verses of John’s Gospel should be better translated as “logic.” Gordon H. Clark, Christian theologian and philosopher, once wrote “Any translation of John 1:1 that obscures this emphasis on mind or reason is a bad translation. And if anyone complains that the idea of ratio or debate obscures the personality of the second person of the Trinity, he should alter his concept of personality. In the beginning, then, was Logic.”

However, this hardly follows. Why should we assume that a translation is faulty, or outright wrong, for using “word” over “logic?” Presuppositions notwithstanding, I see no reason why every English translation that has been used by the Church since TyndalWycliffe has been a wrong translation. In fact, I believe the context of 1)the prologue (verses 1-14) of John, and 2) the Gospel of John en toto suggests that our translations have it correct.
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There is an interesting issue that creeps up in 1 John 2:12-14. Here is the passage in the NLT:

“I am writing to you who are God’s children
because your sins have been forgiven through Jesus.
I am writing to you who are mature in the faith
because you know Christ, who existed from the beginning.
I am writing to you who are young in the faith
because you have won your battle with the evil one.
I have written to you who are God’s children
because you know the Father.
I have written to you who are mature in the faith
because you know Christ, who existed from the beginning.
I have written to you who are young in the faith
because you are strong.
God’s word lives in your hearts,
and you have won your battle with the evil one.”

Certainly, the repetition in the passage catches our eye. The Greek is equally, if not more so, eye-catching. Before I actually get into the issue at hand, I do want to add that I really like NLT’s rendering of father and young men as “mature in the faith” and “young in the faith” respectively. The issue that I mentioned comes with how we translate the word ὅτι (hoti), which can be either causal (which the NLT, and most other translations, take it as), which would warrant a translation of “because,” or we it could be showing the content of John’s writing, which would be rendered “that.” In other words, is John giving the reason for writing or is he giving a summary of what he is writing?
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As I commented in my last post, I was absolutely clueless when I came across “Scythians” in Colossians 3:11.  I went straight to a few commentaries to find out what relevance the Scythians had to Paul’s discussion, and decided to translate it as a paraphrase.  In this post, I want to take a look at the verse as it really is and give an explanation for what it means.  Here it is with the two preceding verses:

“Do not lie to one another, since you have stripped off the old man with his practices and have clothed yourselves with the new man which is being renewed into a knowledge according to the image of the one who created it, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free, but Christ is all and in all.”
Colossians 3:9-11, verse 11 bold.

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