The other day I wrote a post on some interesting ways the Common English Bible decided not to go with gender neutral language in 1 John. I’m always interested in the choices taken, but I thought that was just a spot that had been missed. The NIV2011 was gender neutral in those same two verses.

Lo and behold, I got a response! There actually was a reason for choosing the masculine in that passage.

Dan, the CEB editors did discuss these verses and decided that the chapter is based on the story of Cain murdering his brother. So in a couple of verses the analogy to the murder is maintained with a masculine pronoun. It could go the other way, because we have a gender inclusive principle competing with a masculine context, but there is logic in either alternative.

I was impressed that I could hear back from a translation team and they would take the time TO respond. Translation in this internet age is really interesting.