“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16).
The Apostle Paul was the evangelist who opened both Asia and Europe to the Good News. Talking to people in different cultures and different languages made Paul understand the problem of communicating the claims of Christ in terms that were readily understood. Writing to the Corinthians he said he would rather speak “five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue” (1 Corinthians 14:19).
“The highest proof of Scripture,” wrote John Calvin long ago, “is derived in general from the fact that God in person speaks in it.” For centuries, men have been telling others, “This is what God has said. This is how God wants us to order our lives!” But in telling the story, we are immediately confronted with a problem. Does God speak our language? If not, are His words being translated accurately so I know that what men say God says is really what He says? And in posing the questions, we are confronted with the problem of translation.
Most of the Old Testament was written in Hebrew while the New Testament was written in Koine Greek; it was the vernacular of the working man, the language of the street. Once this is translated from the original language, the individual who does the translation has interjected his own opinion as to what it really means. Every individual who translates from the original language—myself included—has a certain bias. He comes with prejudices and ideas. Some are convinced that the texts of Scripture are sacred, meaningful, and they were inspired by God’s Holy Spirit. Others approach Scripture as an ancient religious document but not with the same inspired awe.
The challenge of translation, however, is, “How do you convey the words of the original into language which is readily understood in the world and context of our day?” Now, the challenge is made further difficult by the fact that there are more than 6,800 known languages in the world with almost half of them having not a single word of Scripture translated into that language.
Millions of people today are indebted to a missionary by the name of William Cameron Townsend who was laboring in Guatemala in 1917 when he was asked, “Why, if your God is so smart, hasn’t he learned our language?” Townsend devoted the rest of his life to translating the Bible into the vernacular of thousands of people.
My hat is off to the dedicated men and women who labor to translate the Bible into the languages where people can read the Bible in their own tongue. More than a few of them have sacrificed their lives for the cause of Christ in their determination to make the Word readily available to the people they are serving.
I have been in Siberia where a group of people known as Sakha have only parts of the Bible translated into their language, and I’ve contrasted their thirst for the Word with the indifference which often confronts me in the West, where we have as many as a dozen Bibles in our homes but never read or study them.
Before China relaxed its opposition to Bibles being distributed, I have taken Bibles as gifts to Chinese Christians and will never forget the gleam in their eyes as they unwrapped and looked at a Bible. Had it been a solid brick of gold, no greater awe or excitement could have been expressed.
“Do you have a Bible?” a Chinese youth once asked a British tourist who explained that he did have one at home. “Do you read it?” was the next question which was answered with a shrug as he explained, “Well, it’s in the library but I never read it.” Puzzled the youth asked, “If you have a Bible, why don’t you read it?” But more than read it, study it and apply it to your heart and life.
Resource reading: 2 Timothy 3.
