Christian Publishing House Blog
Apologetic Defense of the faith, the Bible, and Christianity
UNTIL THE MIDDLE OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, all major English Bible translations were based on the premise that the goal of Bible translation is to take the reader as close as possible to the words that the biblical authors actually wrote.
Genesis 1:1 has long been translated as "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Is this the correct way to render it? How do we respond to those who would say otherwise? Is there only one correct way of translating the Bible, or are there multiple ways?
An important necessity of good communication is that it be understood without difficulty. If the words that we use are not immediately understood by the one we are communicating with, it will be like they were attempting to carry on a conversation with a foreigner, in the foreigner’s language. All of this is vitally important if we intend to have effective communication.
What is the fight for the truth worth if the person misrepresents (alters by adding to or removing from) God's Word (Revelation 22:18-19) when the textual reading or the translation does not favor the theological position of a textual scholar or the Bible translator/publisher or an interpreter or a Christian reader. Do we prefer outright lies in the translations? Would Jesus want that?
DR. DON WILKINS: has worked with The Lockman Foundation (TLF) as a senior translator since 1992 on the NASB. Wilkins offers a brief objective article herein that answers this question for us.
Why did most people have virtually no access to the Bible in John Wycliffe’s time? What was the impact of the Wycliffe Bible? How did the clergy react to Wycliffe and his movement? Of what are we convinced, and how does this strengthen our faith? How does God’s Word deepen our love for him?
