God could have written the Bible Himself but chose instead to communicate through speech, through the language of men. There are 3 instances where God actually wrote:
- The original tablets given to Moses
- On a wall to a Persian king
- In the dirt before a crowd of religious authorities
So God could have written everything down by His own hand and given it to man, but instead God spoke to men and instructed them to write His words down, obviously in their own language. And ever since, men have been translating His Word into other men’s languages as well as providing updates as their own language has changed over time. What has NOT changed is the power and message of those Words as they transcend every linguistic and cultural barrier to change hearts in the same way every time.
This is due to the fact that God’s Word is not merely a textual document but is, in fact, His power and character at work.
- “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
- Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
- “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
- So are My ways higher than your ways
- And My thoughts than your thoughts.
- For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
- And do not return there without watering the earth
- And making it bear and sprout,
- And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
- So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;
- It will not return to Me empty,
- Without accomplishing what I desire,
- And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it
- — Isaiah 55:8-11
- In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
- — John 1:1-3
Put another way, the message transcends the messenger. The power of God’s Word has proven countless times that it successfully communicates regardless of the number of languages into which it is translated or the number of times it’s updated for any single language.
Think about the consequences of the events at the Tower of Babel. The world was purposely changed from a mono-language entity to many. God, Who judges the hearts and thoughts of man, did not see a “problem” with so many languages. He knew that it was not an insurmountable barrier or He would not have executed this change.
Consider Pentecost, where NONE of the New Testament was yet written. The Holy Spirit descends on Christ’s followers and immediately bridges the language gap by speaking the message of the Gospel in the language of everyone present. From the outset the Gospel transcends any one language and universally achieves the same results for every hearer of His Word. The precedent is set at Pentecost that God’s Word will be translated and understood in every language.
The work continues to this day through organizations such as Wycliffe Bible Translators to translate the Bible into new languages. Every time the same results are experienced over and over again as God’s message transcends language itself.
|
