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Today's New International Version is a major and substantive revision of the NIV. Though this is not the first time the NIV has been revised—a small number of unannounced changes were incorporated over the years, and an inclusive-language edition appeared in Britain in 1995 (of which only bootleg copies ever circulated in the colonies)—the TNIV is the first large-scale revision of the NIV to be published in the United States. It is also an unusual revision, in that it will not replace the NIV, which will continue to be published.
Earlier this year, the first part of this version, the complete New Testament, was released. According to information supplied by the publisher, Zondervan, about 93 percent of the TNIV New Testament is unchanged from the NIV. Of the changes, about 20 percent affect headings and footnotes, while the remaining 80 percent—about 5.6 percent of the NIV text—involve revision of the translation itself. These revisions fall into several categories.
In some instances, the revisions reflect a change of opinion regarding the wording of the Greek text underlying the translation. At Mark 1:41 the NIV ("filled with compassion") reflects the reading (splagxnistheis) of most manuscripts of the text; the TNIV's "was indignant" apparently reflects the revision committee's decision to adopt the reading (orgistheis) of a significant minority of manuscripts. More noticeable are changes in the treatment of Mark 16:9-20 and John 7:53- 8:11, which are now set off in smaller italic type to signal more clearly that they are later, secondary additions to the text.
In other instances, changes in the translation reflect a difference in judgment regarding how to punctuate the Greek text. In John 1:18 (monogenes theos) both the 1973 ("God the only Son") and 1984 ("God the One and Only") versions of the NIV understand monogenes ("only" or "unique") as an adjective modifying the noun theos. The TNIV places a comma between the two terms (understanding monogenes as an adjective functioning as a noun, with theos in apposition with it): "the one and only Son, who is himself God."
The majority of the revisions in the TNIV, however, appear to be attributable to (1) an attempt to achieve greater accuracy and clarity, and/or (2) an effort to reduce the possibility of misinterpretation.
A striking example of the latter is provided by the treatment of some occurrences of hoi Ioudaioi in the Gospel of John. The traditional translation, "the Jews," is not inaccurate in some contexts (e.g., 6:41, 8:22, 8:31, 10:19). But in other instances, such as 7:11-13, the phrase clearly designates a subset within Judaism, specifically a group of Jewish leaders. In these cases, the traditional rendering is not only misleading but also has been misused in support of anti-Semitic attitudes. To avoid this, the TNIV in some contexts renders hoi Ioudaioi variously as "the Jewish leaders" (e.g., 1:19; 5:10, 15, 16; 7:1, 11; 9:22; 18:14; etc.—but why not 10:24?), "the leaders" (7:13), or simply "they" (e.g., 5:18, 18:31; also 9:18—but here, problematically, the antecedent in the TNIV is "the Pharisees").
Changes large and small in the interest of greater accuracy or clarity are evident on every page. Matthew 1:1, "A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ" (NIV), now reads "This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah" (the replacement of "Christ" by "Messiah" occurs throughout Matthew's gospel—except, inexplicably, in 1:18). In Matthew 3:2 and 4:17, the "kingdom of heaven has come near" replaces the ambiguous NIV "is near." John 1:16 now reads "Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given" (for NIV "From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another"). In Acts 11:18, NIV "repentance unto life" is now "repentance that leads to life." At Romans 16:1, Phoebe is no longer a "servant" who has been "a great help" (NIV) but rather a "deacon" who has been "the benefactor" of many people, and in 16:7 "Junia" (a widely attested woman's name) replaces "Junias" (a masculine name for which there is no contemporary evidence). An identical phrase in Romans 1:5 and 16:26, for which the NIV gave two renderings ("for obedience to the faith" vs. "for the obedience of faith"), is the same in both instances in the TNIV: "to faith and obedience."
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