Hebrews 4:12

If you were to study the word logos you would quickly realize in its historical sense outside of Jesus it has a much broader meaning.

 

Why go back to the Greek as our "final authority"? Because that is the example of our beloved Bible. Note that over and over God inspired Scripture to give the original language and then a translation. One example is Christ on the cross saying in Aramaic, "Eli, Eli, lama sabacthani?" and then God inspiring the Gospel writer to translate it. Why did God give the original? It was important to Him and should be to us. There are many other examples of this phenomenon in the Word of God.

As a linguist, when I translate something into Japanese (including my translation of the NT) the original language edition is my final authority. There is a trend in modern translation studies to get away from that and give the translation a feminist slant or a more literary slant or a more liberal slant. I believe that to be a very mistaken practice. The translator has no ethical right to do anything but translate the Author's orignal meaning (called authorial intent among translation experts).