A: The approach to gender usage in the TNIV represented the committee’s best efforts to articulate God’s unchanging Word in contemporary English as we understood it at the time. As part of the process of updating the NIV for 2011, we reviewed and reconsidered every single change introduced into the TNIV relating to inclusive language. Some changes were preserved, some were rescinded in favor of the 1984 rendering, and many were re-worded in a third, still different way.

The committee took all the major published comments on our approach into consideration, and particular attention was paid to external feedback in the area of gender language. As part of the update process, the CBT also initiated a relationship with Collins Dictionaries to use the Collins Bank of English, one of the world’s foremost English language research tools, to conduct a major new study of changes in gender language. Working with some of the world’s leading experts in computational linguistics and using cutting-edge techniques developed specifically for the NIV update, the committee gained an unprecedented and authoritative perspective on contemporary linguistic norms. (See Collins Research summary)

A: Our mandate under the NIV charter is to maintain the NIV as an articulation of God’s unchanging Word in contemporary English.  To the extent that gender-inclusive language is an established part of contemporary English and that its use enhances comprehension for readers, it clearly was an important factor in the decisions we made.

As the committee stated in announcing the planned update, every single gender-related change made from the 1984 NIV to the TNIV was reconsidered. We divided the entire Bible into six major sections, each of which was fully reconsidered, taking into account all the major published comments on our approach, as well as external submissions. Some changes were preserved, some were rescinded in favor of the 1984 rendering, and many were re-worded in a third, still different way.

In addition to considering feedback from scholars, pastors and laypeople, the committee also initiated a relationship with Collins Dictionaries to use the Collins Bank of English, one of the world’s foremost English language research tools, to conduct a major new study of changes in gender language.  The Collins Bank of English is a database of more than 4.4 billion English words that provides objective, statistically significant data on the state of written and spoken English at any given point in the history of the language. All gender decisions for the updated NIV were subjected to rigorous scrutiny in the light of this data to ensure that the words chosen maximize comprehension of the original meaning. (See Collins Research summary)

For more detail on our approach, see “What was decided about inclusive language” in Updating the NIV for 2011.