Posted by AF [AF] on March 29, 1999 at 13:14:46 {daOt1gg/Zk0HLFdSxeD2MWwDjRmAxB/kM}:
In Reply to: Divine Name in New Testament posted by Rick on March 29, 1999 at 12:00:03:
I agree that there is a reasonable justification for using some form of YHWH in the New Testament whenever the NT writer is quoting an Old Testament passage that also uses it. This is, of course, assuming that the supposed 1st century LXX fragments that contain a form of YHWH are legitimate, which I know of no reason to doubt.
The NWT goes way out on a limb, however, in using "Jehovah" in other places. If you carefully read the explanation given in the NWT Reference Bible you'll find that the only justification given is that a number of Jewish NT's from around the 1400s use it. According to most scholars this is not a very good justification because it cannot be proven that the Jewish NT's are not simply reflections of the opinion of the translator. A careful reading of the NWT appendices shows that in some cases the NWT translators used their own opinions -- which went against all of the referenced manuscripts -- and nothing else in order to insert "Jehovah" in a passage.
The information given by George Howard is relatively new and provides no justification whatsoever for what the NWT translators did, except in hindsight.
Without solid evidence to justify doing otherwise, a wise translator will translate according to known texts, not according to speculation based on doctrinal imperatives. Speculations are properly left to the footnotes.
AF