Re: Large # potential Bible students overseas. What should
Think of it this way: if marriage now is defined as something that even includes homosexual men in unions is the word marriage still the right word to use when translating the Bible when the modern English term now means something different than it did in the original NT era? I think we can easily see the answer to that.
So to answer your question, if we want to be precise in translating the Bible then it is more precise to use a different term than the term "marriage." Now to be fair some really good people and even good biblical ethicists use the term. Some do so because of tradition and some do so with even qualifiers added to it, like "biblical marriage" or "Christian marriage" etc. Those are loyal attempts and with good intentions to try and distinguish it from non-biblical ideas of the modern age. But again, if we are going to be thorough and truly precise those terms are still lacking because marriage as it stands is certainly antithetical to the idea of a holy covenant union as described in the biblical era. I have said before it is like saying "A Godly Devil." Attaching the term Godly to the word devil or Satan still does not work very well. Or it would be like saying: "The United States of America China." The terms just do not work well together.
Of course too, some use the term "marriage" or "wife" or "wives" in a metaphorical sense or a figure of speech sense. By that they simply pull one nuance from the term, a relationship, and apply it to their own respective sphere. For example, sometimes when a Judeo-Christian man who has a woman he is in a private covenant with says: "I am married and she is my wife" he is merely saying that this is the lady he has dedicated himself to. He is NOT saying he has gone down the road to the local government office and received a license and permission to be with this woman. Thus, he is using legal terms but in a figure of speech type of way. Granted, I would urge him not to do that as I think it is not the ideal way and could even place him at risk in some ways, but it is the reality that some do this. And with Bible translators many today use the modern terms of "husband" "wife" and "marriage" because they are the most common terms used but it is not really as precise and as clear as could be if they would choose other terms that reflect the private nature of the unions. I think as time goes on more and more translators will see that that the term "marriage" has become so diluted that it no longer reflects the true substance of what the biblical terms of gamos meant in the biblical era.
