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Theology and Purpose of Translation

The Spirit and Bible Translation

Bruce Ashford has just posted an interesting item on the role of the Spirit in mission, which includes the following insights:

The Spirit Reveals

Throughout the ages, Christians have recognized that God reveals Himself through His Word by His Spirit. Indeed, the human writers of Scripture wrote as they were moved by the Spirit (2 Pet 1:21) so that Paul could make clear that all Scripture is theopneustos, or “God-breathed,” and profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” Scripture is the very breath of God. This teaching has manifold and serious implications for our missiology.

For example, there are entire people groups, consisting of millions, who are unable to access Holy Scripture. This means that Christian workers must (1) make every effort to communicate the Scriptures to them even though they are not able to read the Scriptures on their own; (2) equip those same oral learners to share the gospel and build the church even while they are unable to read the Scriptures; (3) pray for and support those who work in Bible translation; (4) pray for Bible translation movements just as we pray for church planting movements; and (5) pray for, and work toward, the development of literacy in these people groups. Why should we withhold from them the very words of God, the workmanship of the Spirit of God?

This also means that we must pray, work, and even fight to have the Scriptures translated accurately. Read More.

2 replies on “The Spirit and Bible Translation”

But let’s not use weapons of mass destruction to get the Scriptures translated accurately! 😉
But amen to the rest of it!

Great blog post! Right now, there are about 193 million people around the world in more than 2000 language communities that have no access to scripture in a language that they know best–the language of their heart. Your prayers for the workers and the translators are appreciated. Keep up the great work.

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