Dear Aebi: "Why is vain conversation
in the King James Version of 1 Peter 1:18 translated aimless
conduct in the New King James, futile way of life in
the New American Standard, and empty way of life in the
New International Version?"
It is because vain is the same as "aimless,"
"futile," or "empty," and the word translated
conversation means "conduct" or "manner
of life" or "way of life," which we now popularly
call "life-style." Cruden's Complete Concordance
lists the word conversation as being used 18 times
in the New Testament and two times in the Old Testament in the
King James Version. Cruden says the word means "behavior,
or manner of life. It does not in the Bible mean discourse with
another. The Revised Versions change the word in all cases"
(p. 110).
This is because conversation meant "manner
of life" in 1611 when the King James Version was published.
A passage that shows conversation did not mean speech then
is 1 Timothy 4:12, where Timothy is told to be an example both
in word and in conversation. Words change meanings over time,
but that doesn't make the King James or any other translation
made before a word changed a bad translation. It just requires
us to recognize what such words meant when the translation was
made. We have the same problem with books written only a half-century
ago when it comes to words like gay or cool. One
reason so many English words have retained their meaning over
the last 400 years is because of the widespread use of the King
James Version. The lives of this and future generations will be
made more complicated by our having so many translations that
vary in their use of synonyms.
The word conversation in the King James
Version is actually used to translate four different Greek words.
(1) The most common one is anastrophe, which means "behavior"
or "manner of life" and is used in Galatians 1:13; Ephesians
2:3; 4:22; 1 Timothy 4:12; Hebrews 13:7; James 3:13; 1 Peter 1:15,18;
2:12; 3:1,2,16; 2 Peter 2:7; 3:11. Most of these talk about the
good or holy way of life Christians should lead, but some refer
to the wrong way of life led by people of the world or by people
before they became Christians. (2) A word related to anastrophe
is anestraphan, used in 2 Corinthians 1:12 to describe
the behavior of Paul and his fellow preachers at Corinth as they
worked in holiness and sincerity. (3) Two related word forms meaning
"citizenship" are used in Philippians 1:27 [politeusthe]
and Philippians 3:20 [politeuma]. The first must be understood
as "manner of life" and the second as "citizenship."
I found it interesting that the word citizenship was used
on our report cards in elementary school to describe the way we
behaved. (4) Hebrews 13:5 uses the word tropos, which usually
means "disposition" or "habit," to describe
the Christian way of life as opposed to covetousness or love of
money. Our way of life is the habit of being content with what
we have.
Does this mean that conversation is not
used in modern versions? No; for example, the New International
Version uses the word conversation in Colossians 4:6, and
the New King James uses it in Luke 24:17. In these places, the
older versions translate it speech or communication;
the word in the Greek is logos, which means "word."
It is worthy of note that "manner of life" also includes
conversation; people's conversations usually portray their
life-styles. Our speech needs to reflect our commitment to the
gospel of Christ, which should guide our words as well as our
thoughts and actions.
The important thing to remember about all this
is that Christianity is a way of life, not just a theological
concept. God requires that we believe Jesus to be the Messiah
(Christ), the Son of God, but He is just as concerned that we
live the gospel as that we believe it. Our lives must be in line
with our doctrine. We must walk the walk as well as talk the talk.
- 2660 Layman Rd, Vincent OH 45784 cjandi@juno.com