Earlier this year, I was talking with a friend of mine who had some interesting thoughts about the Bible. The conversation went something like this:
FRIEND: It’s funny to me how many people think that they can just open up the Bible and read it and understand it. I’m talking about these English bibles that are available nowadays. It’s like people don’t realize that the Bible was not written in English. It’s been translated and translated and re-translated so many times and in so many languages, that you can’t really tell, from the English, what the original said. That’s why someone can’t just understand a Bible on their own. We need people to interpret it, because it's changed so much over time from all the translation.
MARIO: Well, they do translate the Bible directly from the original languages.
FRIEND: What do you mean?
MARIO: Take the New Testament as an example; it was written in Greek. But it’s not like they translated it from Greek to Latin, and then from Latin to French, and then from French to English. A modern-day English Bible is translated directly from Greek into English. A modern-day Spanish Bible is translated directly from Greek into Spanish.
FRIEND: I didn’t know that.
What an important conversation! I can see how it would be difficult to trust a Bible story if you think that the version you are reading came from some other language, and before that some other language, and before that another one, and so on. If you believed that, of course you are going to assume that a lot has been “lost in translation.” But that’s not the case with our modern-day Bibles. They are trustworthy English equivalents made from manuscripts written in the original languages.
I don’t know how widespread this myth is, but I think it would be good for Christians to make it as clear as possible that Bibles aren’t translations of translations of translations. And this is an important myth to bust, as it can lead people (like my friend) into thinking that they couldn’t possibly pick up a Bible in their own language and be able to ascertain its real message.
JESUS QUOTED THE BIBLE
It is interesting to me that Jesus quoted the Bible (well, the portion of it that was written during the time He lived on earth) and He did so in a way that shows He believed it was trustworthy and its meaning could be ascertained.
In Mark 12, the Sadducees asked Jesus a question about the afterlife - a concept they had major doubts about. Jesus answered them by quoting the part of the Old Testament where God said to Moses, “I am the God of Abraham.”
Jesus followed up by pointing out that God “is not God of the dead, but of the living.” (Mark 12:27) It seems that Jesus’ point was that people continue existing even after their death. After all, Abraham had died well before the time period of Moses, and yet God still spoke about Abraham in the present tense. During Moses’ lifetime God said, “I am the God of Abraham” not “I was the God of Abraham.
If this is true, that means that Jesus believed that the Bible could be trusted, even down to the verb tenses.
EVEN TRANSLATIONS CAN BE TRUSTED
The New Testament quotes from the Old Testament hundreds of times. Some of these quotations seem to be from the Hebrew version of the Old Testament (as Hebrew was the language that most of the Old Testament was originally written in.) However, there are many other occasions where the wording of the quotations follow the wording of the Septuagint (which was a Greek translation of the Old Testament that was available during the time of Jesus.)
Why does this matter? Well, I’m simply making the point that when New Testament authors taught people about God, they not only quoted the original sources, they also quoted from translations of the Old Testament.
So, it would be hard to make the case that the New Testament is against the translation of God’s Word. The New Testament seems to assume that the truth of God can certainly survive the trip from one language to another.
STILL THE BIBLE CAN BE HARD TO UNDERSTAND AT TIMES
Even with all of this being said, my friend (quoted at the top of this essay) does have a bit of a point. While I disagree with his contention that regular people couldn’t possibly pick up an English bible and understand God’s true message, he is not incorrect about the fact that it is helpful to have people who can help us interpret the Bible.
Because the Bible was written in countries we are unfamiliar with, and in cultures that we are unfamiliar with, during time periods of history we are unfamiliar with, sometimes even using words we are unfamiliar with (ex: English Bibles don’t usually even try to translate words like Selah or Shigionoth) it is not uncommon for some people to find the Bible difficult to understand.
For this reason, it is extremely helpful to have access to scholars who understand ancient Greek, ancient Hebrew, ancient history, ancient geography, and so on. The books they write can sit on our shelves alongside the Bible and can be used to better make sense of the message God has given us. It’s also great that God has provided His church with pastors and teachers who can develop sermons and lessons that make difficult parts of the Bible easier to understand.
HOWEVER, IT’S NOT AS IF OUR TRANSLATIONS ARE AN UNINTELLIGIBLE MESS
While I am happy to grant that scholars and teachers can help us understand the Bible better than we could on our own, that doesn’t contradict the idea that the average American can still pick up an English copy of the Bible and make sense of most of it.
There have been times in my life where I have talked to a new believer about reading the Bible and I’ve given them these instructions:
JESUS QUOTED THE BIBLE
It is interesting to me that Jesus quoted the Bible (well, the portion of it that was written during the time He lived on earth) and He did so in a way that shows He believed it was trustworthy and its meaning could be ascertained.
In Mark 12, the Sadducees asked Jesus a question about the afterlife - a concept they had major doubts about. Jesus answered them by quoting the part of the Old Testament where God said to Moses, “I am the God of Abraham.”
Jesus followed up by pointing out that God “is not God of the dead, but of the living.” (Mark 12:27) It seems that Jesus’ point was that people continue existing even after their death. After all, Abraham had died well before the time period of Moses, and yet God still spoke about Abraham in the present tense. During Moses’ lifetime God said, “I am the God of Abraham” not “I was the God of Abraham.
If this is true, that means that Jesus believed that the Bible could be trusted, even down to the verb tenses.
EVEN TRANSLATIONS CAN BE TRUSTED
The New Testament quotes from the Old Testament hundreds of times. Some of these quotations seem to be from the Hebrew version of the Old Testament (as Hebrew was the language that most of the Old Testament was originally written in.) However, there are many other occasions where the wording of the quotations follow the wording of the Septuagint (which was a Greek translation of the Old Testament that was available during the time of Jesus.)
Why does this matter? Well, I’m simply making the point that when New Testament authors taught people about God, they not only quoted the original sources, they also quoted from translations of the Old Testament.
So, it would be hard to make the case that the New Testament is against the translation of God’s Word. The New Testament seems to assume that the truth of God can certainly survive the trip from one language to another.
STILL THE BIBLE CAN BE HARD TO UNDERSTAND AT TIMES
Even with all of this being said, my friend (quoted at the top of this essay) does have a bit of a point. While I disagree with his contention that regular people couldn’t possibly pick up an English bible and understand God’s true message, he is not incorrect about the fact that it is helpful to have people who can help us interpret the Bible.
Because the Bible was written in countries we are unfamiliar with, and in cultures that we are unfamiliar with, during time periods of history we are unfamiliar with, sometimes even using words we are unfamiliar with (ex: English Bibles don’t usually even try to translate words like Selah or Shigionoth) it is not uncommon for some people to find the Bible difficult to understand.
For this reason, it is extremely helpful to have access to scholars who understand ancient Greek, ancient Hebrew, ancient history, ancient geography, and so on. The books they write can sit on our shelves alongside the Bible and can be used to better make sense of the message God has given us. It’s also great that God has provided His church with pastors and teachers who can develop sermons and lessons that make difficult parts of the Bible easier to understand.
HOWEVER, IT’S NOT AS IF OUR TRANSLATIONS ARE AN UNINTELLIGIBLE MESS
While I am happy to grant that scholars and teachers can help us understand the Bible better than we could on our own, that doesn’t contradict the idea that the average American can still pick up an English copy of the Bible and make sense of most of it.
There have been times in my life where I have talked to a new believer about reading the Bible and I’ve given them these instructions:
MARIO (to a new believer): Just go ahead and read one of the Gospels. Start with Mark or John. Read a little bit each day. And when you come across a part you don’t understand, underline it. Don’t freak out that you don’t understand a part. Just move on and keep reading. Move on to the next section and see how much of it you understand. Later on, you can meet up with a trusted pastor or friend and ask them about the parts that you underlined.
Sometimes, that person will come back to me later, show me their Bible, and ask me about the underlined parts.
And you know what I’ve noticed? The person never underlines everything. They never show me whole pages where every single word is underlined. Sure, there may be several sentences per page; sometimes it might even be a whole paragraph. But it’s simply not true that when English speakers read English Bibles, they can’t comprehend any of it without a scholar sitting over their shoulder. Most people can understand most of the Bible most of the time. This is good to know.
So, if you’ve had thoughts like my friend had, hopefully this has encouraged you to continue to pursue reading the Bible. It is worth the effort and time invested.
And you know what I’ve noticed? The person never underlines everything. They never show me whole pages where every single word is underlined. Sure, there may be several sentences per page; sometimes it might even be a whole paragraph. But it’s simply not true that when English speakers read English Bibles, they can’t comprehend any of it without a scholar sitting over their shoulder. Most people can understand most of the Bible most of the time. This is good to know.
So, if you’ve had thoughts like my friend had, hopefully this has encouraged you to continue to pursue reading the Bible. It is worth the effort and time invested.
