CHAPTER 7 Defining Evangelizing - Evangelism Unlimited

350 Evangelizology
One word (NAS), “Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing
in which they slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds, as they
observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.”
While these differences are subtle, they influence the feel, power, and accessibility of the text.
It is difficult to understand why anyone would want to dumb-down the Bible by removing even
mildly technical terms that any Junior High school student can easily be taught and understand.
It leaves us with a Bible without any theological teeth. 482 As regards some contemporary logic in
translation, perhaps Tyndale and Olivétan did die in vain.
7. SEMANTIC 3: Old Testament usage of the word “evangelize” (22 LXX uses of the verb
euvaggeli,zw) affirms the translation of evangelize as evangelize, especially as it relates to Isaiah
40:9; 52:7; and 61:1. Several non-spiritual OT uses of evangelize does not negate the fact that
the NT in all cases but one assigned a clear spiritual use to the word, especially since Isaiah
already had done so in his prophecies.
Similarly, the OT makes use of the word for “Gospel” merely for good news of military or
political victory (euvagge,lion, 2 Sam 4:10; euvaggeli,a, 2 Sam 18:20, 22, 25, 27; 2 Kings 7:9), but
we do not slight Jesus for giving this word a new usage in the NT (e.g. Mark 1:15; 8:35; 10:29;
13:10; 14:9; 16:15).
8. SEMANTIC 4: The use of “evangelize” in several unusual contexts does not provide conclusive
evidence that the word should not be translated as “evangelize”:
Luke 1:19 uses the word “evangelize” to explain the message of the angel Gabriel to
Zacharias
Luke 2:10, similarly, the angels announce the good news of the birth of Christ to the
shepherds in the field
Luke 3:18, the term is used to describe the preaching of John the Baptist
1 Thess 3:6 is a context in which Timothy shares the good report of the concern of the
Thessalonian church for Paul
None of the above uses of evangelize provides conclusive evidence that other uses of
“evangelize” cannot be properly understood if translated “evangelize’ into English. There are
many theological terms that have uses in both the spiritual and physical sense—quite likely to
protect the proper translation of the term.
9. ETYMOLOGICAL: Translating euvaggeli,zw in two parts: euv an abbreviation for euvagge,lion;
and avggeli,zw as a verbal derivation of avgge,llw (found once in the NT, in John 20:18), merely
divides the word into two pieces.
While further research into other languages may be warranted, this division into two words
seems not to have occured prior to Luther’s 15[45] translation (e.g. Gal 1:8-9), with the first use
of euvaggeli,zw in verse 8 and its use in verse 9:
Gal 1:8-9, “Aber so auch wir oder ein Engel vom Himmel euch würde Evangelium predigen anders,
denn das wir euch geprediget haben, der sei verflucht! Wie wir jetzt gesagt haben, so sagen wir
auch abermal: So jemand euch Evangelium prediget anders, denn das ihr empfangen habt, der
sei verflucht!”
[Perhaps to emphasize the word “Gospel”]
In the Vulgate, the French Olivétan, the French Geneva, and the English Geneva, the alternative
translation to “evangelize” was either “announce” or “preach,” emphasizing the mode of
communication, rather than the message of communication. However, the King James Bible
inserted “any other Gospel” (in v. 9) which modified the interpretation of the English Geneva
which read, “preach unto you otherwise,” from the mode of communication to the message
communicated.
482 “Imagine a chemistry book edited to exclude all chemistry terms! What chemistry teacher would want to
use such a book?” For other translation fallacies, see my “24 Fallacies about Bible Translation” available at
www.evangelismunlimited.org.