WHAT A "GOOD' BIBLE TRANSLATION IS?

WHAT ABOUT TRANSLATIONS?

part one

Lesson taught Sunday Night

Rivers of Joy Baptist Church

ecember 28, 2008

“I had perceived by experience, how that it was impossible to stablish the lay people in any truth, except the scripture were plainly laid before their eyes in their mother tongue, that they might see the process, order, and meaning of the text.” William Tyndale, 1530

Jerome said this: “For I myself not only admit but freely proclaim that in translating from the Greek I render sense for sense and not word for word, except in the case of the Holy Scriptures, where even the order of the words is a mystery.” (347 – September 30, 420)

“The whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man’s salvation, faith, and life is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture. “ John Calvin: (10 July 1509 – 27 May 1564) was a French theologian during the Protestant Reformation.

MISUNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE, OF ANY TRANSLATION, WILL LEAD TO A MISUNDERSTANDING OF THE ORIGINAL INTENT OF WHAT GOD WANTED TO SAY IN THE FIRST PLACE.

To the Mohammedan the language as well as the matter of the Koran is sacred. They will not permit its translation. Its original Arabic is the only authoritative tongue in which it can speak. Only the Hebrew and Christians have sought to make their Bible speak all languages at all time.

• Let me say this: That inspiration and authority is ascribed to the original manuscripts alone: The Old Testament in Hebrew….. and the New Testament in Greek…. Being immediately inspired by God..are therefore authentic; so as all controversies of religion the church is finally to appeal unto them.
• Any and all English versions without exception is dependent on, subordinate to, inferior to and subject to correction by the original texts of the Scripture in Hebrew and Greek. Nor is any translation singled out as the standard by which all other translations are to be judged; such a position would usurp the unique and sole authority of the original language of Scriptures

• WE CAN STILL HAVE THE CONFIDENCE THAT GOD HAS PRESERVED ENOUGH OF THIS WORD THAT IN WHATEVER TRANSLATION THE BIBLE HAS BEEN TRANSLATED INTO, THERE IS ENOUGH TO BRING ABOUT THE SALVATION OF THOSE WHOM CHRIST DIED FOR ON THE CROSS.

HOW CAN WE DECIDE WHAT A ‘GOOD’ BIBLE TRANSLATION IS?

Let’s start with what the Bible itself provides us with some crucial guidance, not necessarily with specific instructions about how to translate, but with the foundation, explaining why Bible translation is part of God’s plan for the church

TRANSLATION BASED ON BIBLE’S COMMAND:

In the Great Commission Jesus instructs the disciples to:

19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded.”

Which implies that Jesus’ teaching will spread among the nations and will be understood and obeyed. This would mean that the teaching of Jesus would have to be translated into many different languages.

This means Jesus teaching (and the whole Bible) plays a part in the total process of fulfilling the Great Commission.

“MAKING DISCIPLES.”

• Does not mean merely translating the Bible and then throwing the completed version at some prospective disciple. We need to include evangelism and a process of growth that involves much teaching.
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FIRST THERE NEEDS TO BE A TRANSLATING:

• to reproduce a written or spoken text in a different language while retaining the original meaning.”

GOD GAVE US HUMAN LANGUAGES:

• “A system of communication with its own set of words.”

PART ONE.