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Dr. Weymouth's translation was published in 1902. In 1901, another translation with
which it is sometimes confused was published entitled "The Twentieth Century New
Testament", a work "undertaken as a labour of love by a company of about twenty
persons, members of various sections of the Christian Church; our work has extended
over ten years". As an example of this version we give the passage already cited from
Dr. Weymouth's translation.
". . . . . and is for all, without distinction, who believe in Him. For all have sinned, and all
fall short of God's glorious ideal, but, in mercy, are being set right with Him through the
deliverance which is in Christ Jesus."
As we do not wish a subject that has, perhaps, a somewhat limited appeal, to occupy
undue space, we must continue this survey in our next article. In closing, we would,
however, add a word lest the reader should misunderstand our attitude towards the Word
of God, which is that of whole-hearted allegiance to the "words which the Holy Ghost
teacheth".
The reader may ask, "Believing as you do the verbal inspiration of Scripture, using the
Scriptures as you do, and finding arguments and doctrine in its every word, particle and
inflection, how is it that you do not enthusiastically advocate a Literal Translation?" Our
answer is, that there can be no such thing. Any one who has read a strictly literal
translation of the Greek N.T. will know that, left to himself, the result will be quite
unintelligible. If, unassisted, the reader can make sense out of a strictly literal word for
word translation, that reader does not need it; he knows the Greek well enough to do
without it. The assumption that the English language, or any language, can provide a
medium for such a literal rendering is a fallacy--no such language exists. A translation
being a necessity, we must perforce accept it with all its limitations, basing no doctrine
upon any of its renderings, but basing all our teaching upon the original itself.