06/22/05
I
recently posed this question on the r-f-w email list:
-----Original
Message-----
From: r-f-w@yahoogroups.com [mailto:r-f-w@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of J.
Parnell McCarter
Sent: Monday, June 20, 2005 8:30 AM
To: r-f-w@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [r-f-w] thou, thy and thee
I
am sure there are some minister(s) or other men on this list who use
"thou", "thy", and "thee" (instead of
"you" or "your"), as a matter of
conscience,
in addressing the Lord in their prayers.
I would request that one or some of such explain the reasons for this
practice. I think it may
be
helpful for list readers.
Thank you…
An initial response by a list member is excerpted below, and
I think it represents what may be called the modern mainstream view:
From: r-f-w@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:r-f-w@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of KenVAE473@aol.com
Sent: Monday, June 20, 2005 11:54 AM
To: r-f-w@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [r-f-w] thou, thy and thee
...
My personal feeling is that it is not a matter of conscience but of habit and
practice from childhood, now 82, as I was raised on the KJV - and even the
revised edition of 1881-1885 based on the 1611 edition - edited by the
American Revision Committee of 1901, and also of the prevalence of this manner
of speaking in the early church I was raised in. When antiquarians
such as I gradually die out I guess you will see less and less of this.
Nevertheless I have gradually been inserting "you and your" in recent
decades but still slip into "thou, thy, thine and thee" at times and
even have been known to mix them up. Grown families and abundance
of grandchildren help modernize the old mind. However, a favorite
inclusion in prayer is I Chronicles 29:11,12 which certainly has "you and
your" in my now preferred NKJV but I just automatically say "thine,
thee and thou" in such a blessed passage as this certainly not from
conscience but from long years of memorization…
I too was of the above view, but I am coming to find out there is more to
it than that. To help understand this,
let’s consider an observation by Dr. Joel Beeke, president and professor at
Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary,
in a pamphlet entitled “Practical Reasons for Retaining the KJV”. Here he writes the following: “A More
Precise Idiom. Often attacked at this
very point, the KJV actually is a more accurate and helpful translation
precisely because of the archaic pronouns (“thou, thy, thee,” etc.). Both Hebrew and Greek distinguish clearly
between the 2nd person singular (“thou”) and the 2nd
person plural (“ye, you”). In many
statements this makes an important difference (e.g. John 3:7). In a sense it is correct to say that in
praying the Lord Jesus used “Thou” – God is one, not many! – for He definitely
used the Hebrew or Greek equivalent.”
The Church very much has an
interest in the language of the people, especially pertaining to theology. God calls us in His word to understand and
embrace doctrines precisely, and to convey doctrines precisely as well. We are not to ignore the “dot and tittle” of
the word of God. But precise communication
of doctrinal truths requires a people’s precise understanding and use of
language pertaining to theology. It
takes hard and determined work for the Church to bring the language of a people
so it precisely conveys the truths of God’s word in the original tongues
(Hebrew and Greek). We should not take
for granted, for example, that the English language has and retains such
theological terms as “justification”, “sanctification”, “providence”,
“trinity”, “propitiation”, etc. There
are many people in the world who are not so blessed with a language so
influenced by a Christian heritage as the English language has been, and
missionaries to such people are at greater pains accurately and precisely to
communicate Christian truths to the people.
The Church should not be lax about maintaining precise language for
theological use in the English language.
It is to be regretted that so much of the modern Christian Church has
become lax in this respect. It is to be
regretted, for instance, the lax and imprecise use of language in so many
modern translations of the Bible into English, even in the example of the NKJV
cited above. It surely suggests an
increasing indifference and laziness concerning the things of God. And the fruit of indifference and laziness
over time is surely ignorance, such as is exhibited in modern man in general.
Here is how one person explained
the case in the course of the discussion on the r-f-w list:
“Our attitude to God’s Word is
important as it reflects our attitude to God Himself. Do we see ourselves in a
position of humility and submission before Him? Are we careful to represent Him
accurately? Thee/Thou is accurate You is not. It isn't the way He reveals
Himself. This has a knock-on effect to our attitude to God in prayer and
worship. We should address Him in prayer in accordance with the way that He has
revealed Himself.
The answer to the Westminster
Shorter Catechism Q54 “What is required in the third commandment?” is: “The
third commandment requireth the holy and reverent use of God’s names,
titles, attributes, ordinances, Word, and works”. The
following catechism A55 states that the third commandment: “forbiddeth all
profaning or abusing of anything whereby God maketh himself known”. As
Cornelius Van Til has said, the Bible declares to us the self-contained God who
is the final point of reference and we must not infringe the authority and Word
of God in favour of man’s self - important pride.
btw...Thee/thou was not the common form of second person singular address in 1611. The translators insisted on using it because it was accurate.“
So the Church has a real interest
in preserving the precise use of theological language, even on this matter of
preserving the 2nd person singular for theological discourse among
ourselves and in prayer to God. May God
keep us from laziness and indifference in our theological communication.