About nine minutes into this lecture in 2013, Peter Kreeft mentioned one of his favorite Bible passages and said: "Paul goes through all of his worldly prestigious plusses...all of this compared with knowing Jesus Christ, he says, is skybolan. Most of our politically correct Bible translations translate this as refuse, or garbage. It's the S word."
The passage he was talking about is from the third chapter of Philippians. Being unfamiliar with it when I heard Kreeft's lecture, I have since flipped to Philippians in my "go-to Bible," the ESV -- which by the way is not politically correct -- and sure enough, this is how it renders Verse 8 of Chapter 3: Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ...
So I opened to the same verse in my NIV and read: What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ...
My daughter's first Bible was an NLT, and although its print is microscopic I am able to see that it says: Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ...
Although I'm Protestant, I have on my shelf a Catholic Bible, specifically the New American Bible Revised Edition, and it reads thus: More than that, I even consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ...
Four Bibles in, I had two rubbishes and two garbages. Not a single shit, nor crap, nor even excrement.
I have pointedly mocked criticized the King James Only movement a number of times. If anybody from that movement has heard me do that, they are sure to be smugly self-satisfied happy to hear that when it comes to the Greek work skybolan, 'twas not until I perused the yellowing pages of my old KJV that I found a proper rendering in English: Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ...
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When it comes to problems with biblical translations, this example is obviously a misdemeanor.
Swapping out poop and replacing it with garbage does not change the core message Paul was trying to convey to the church at Philippi; namely, that prestige, power, and material possessions mean squat compared to spiritual salvation through Jesus.
But the oomph, the true depth of disdain that he expressed, is certainly lost. In his own words, Paul stressed that his once-lofty social status, which most people lusted for, turned out to be worse than the foulest, smelliest, most repulsive substance anybody can think of. His once-lofty position was in fact worse than something people scrape off the bottoms of their shoes while gagging if they happen to step in it.
People typically don't think of garbage, rubbish, refuse, etc. as being anywhere near as bad as what Paul had in mind. Garbage, rubbish, refuse, etc. can be crumpled-up napkins, or bottles of expired condiments, or lemons that are starting to look shriveled. It can be any number of things that aren't even necessarily offensive.
From our perspective, garbage is stuff we don't like or just don't want to keep around, so we seal it inside a Hefty bag and place the bag inside a can at the side of the street, then somebody else comes along and whisks it away.
I cannot think of a single good reason for this particular mistranslation to have occurred -- especially since there is no escaping the conclusion that it's probably intentional, seeing as how there's no mystery or nuance about the word in question.
Although I first learned of this curiosity from Peter Kreeft's lecture (in which he mentioned it almost in passing) last week I happened upon another reference to it while reading Michael Heiser's book The Bible Unfiltered: Approaching Scripture on Its Own Terms. On page 194, after quoting one of the Bible translations that uses the English word "rubbish," Heiser remarks that "(t)he verse might sound straightforward, but the translator has softened what was likely its intended force. The Greek word translated 'rubbish' is skybolan; while the term appears only here in the New Testament, it is found in classical Greek literature as a word for human excrement or manure."
But why "soften the force" at all? Especially for a word that isn't even vulgar to begin with? The Bible is filled with deep, complex subject matter for grown-ups. With all the killing, adultery, incest, and demonic treachery it deals with, the Bible is far from G-rated.
People sometimes act as if it is supposed to be a collection of feel-good lessons for kids, and that seems to be what a bizarrely large number of people had in mind when they converted Philippians 3:8 from Greek to English. It's like they were more concerned with keeping 8-year-olds from snickering in the back row than with communicating the fullness of Paul's thoughts.
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Again, the needless sanitizing of this verse is not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.
When I published Part One in this series of blog posts, I anticipated that Part Two would be about something more intriguing, like: Who were the Nephilim? What exactly was Eden, since Ezekiel refers to it as both the "garden of God" and "holy mountain of God" but Genesis merely says "God planted a garden in Eden [emphasis added]"? Speaking of Genesis, what exactly is it talking about when it says "the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them"? Why do so many pastors casually mention "the heavenly host" but never say what it is? Why are so many of my fellow Protestants so certain (sneak preview: they shouldn't be) that 66 books rather than 73 belong in the Bible?
But tomorrow night I am hightailing it to the mountains and I wanted to get a post written before I leave, and frankly this one was easy to crank out without spending a bunch of time engaged in borderline-obsessive research and proofreading.
And while the needless sanitizing of Philippians 3:8 may not be "a big deal in the grand scheme of things," I do think it illustrates how prevalent "translation issues" are when it comes to the Bible -- before we even get to the matter of interpretation.
To be continued...
And, many thanks to my cousin Sarah (not to be confused my daughter Sarah!) for letting me know about Peter Kreeft.
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