There is a story I have been told that may verge on the apocryphal. I have heard that one of my emigrant Norwegian Great-Grandmothers was somewhat distressed when her Norwegian Lutheran Church in Minnesota switched from using the Norwegian Bible to an English Bible. Reportedly, she stood up in the congregation and said, “If Norvegian vas gud enuf fur Yesus it is gud enuf fur me!”
Whether that was my Great-Grandmother or not, and whether that was spoken in a congregational meeting or at a coffee urn, I am quite sure that it was spoken. I have heard any number of exact replicas of that warm-hearted but less cogent logic passionately disclaimed across a whole spectrum of our deeply held preferences and convictions when it comes to that crucial hour and a half on Sunday morning that we call worship!
As attached as we get to our translations, we must always remember that translation is important. And it is also something we see in the Bible itself. This happens several times in the Gospel of Mark, the most well-known instance is found in Mark 15:34. In that text we read:
“And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’ – which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’”
In this text we see the Aramaic words Jesus spoke from the cross spelled out in Greek letters – and then translated into the Greek. From this we derive an essential doctrine concerning knowledge that is absolutely necessary for our pursuit of the Great Commission that Christ gave his church: truth can be translated from one language to another. Meaning can in fact be trans-linguistic. Words and ideas can be meaningfully translated from one langue into another. We are not so wedded to the precise syllables uttered by Jesus that we don’t make every effort to render those words intelligible to as many readers as possible. Aramaic was good enough for Jesus, but Greek is better for Mark’s original readers – and English is better for us!
Additionally, given the difficulty of translation work, translation is an ongoing task of the church of Jesus Christ. Perhaps the best known committee of translators in the western Christian tradition is the group of men known at the time as the “King James Translators” (and yes, they capitalized all three words![1]). At the conclusion of their 1611 “Preface to the Reader” in what we know as the King James Version, they make it clear that the work of translation is ongoing – finding the best way to communicate most clearly is a process:
“Yet before we end, we must answere a third cavill and objection of theirs against us, for altering and amending our Taanslations [sic] so oft; wherein truely they deale hardly, and strangely with us. For to whom ever was it imputed for a fault (by such as were wise) to goe over that which hee had done, and to amend it where he saw cause?”
(I think it is both funny and appropriate that they misspell “Taanslations” in that quote – but then I am easily amused! All of the other misspellings were actually legitimate alternative spellings for words at that time – but ‘translations’ always needed an ‘r.’)
Clearly the seventeenth-century ‘Translators’ were aware of the liability of human limitations, but they were not as aware of the changing nature of language itself. This constitutes another factor necessitating the need for renewed translations. Language changes over time. Translations need to reflect that.
At Church in the Canyon, the Session is considering changing our pew Bibles from the 1984 NIV to the ESV. It may be a hard change for some of us! In some ways they sound and ‘feel’ different. Speaking for myself, the NIV is the translation I memorized and have preached from since my first sermon way back when I was a mere nineteen year old kid! Both are good translations and have been and will continue to be used by God to accomplish great things. But one may serve us at this time better than another. So let’s entertain a cheerful flexibility as we learn more about the pros and cons of embracing a new translation. And always remember, God can use ‘Norvegian’ as well as English – and he can use the old NIV as well as the newer ESV.
Your Pastor,
Bob Bjerkaas
[1] For an exciting read, check out the award winning book: Adam Nicols, God’s Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible (New York: Perennial Press, 2004). This book was first published by Harper Collins under the title Power and Glory.
N.B. The old Bibles pictured at the top of this post are all old and dearly loved NIV Bibles that have been significant to me over the years. From left to right, the first was given to me by my parents in 1979, on the title page I recorded the date of my becoming a Christian: December 7, 1980; the second was a gift from my Young Life Leader when I was in high school: Troy Mackin; the third was the Bible I bought at the beginning of my seminary studies in 1991 – it is held together by duct tape, electrical tape, and staples; the fourth was a gift from my friends at Memorial OPC in Rochester, NY – where I interned in 1996; the fifth is the Bible I was using when I was ordained. I have always and always will love the old 1984 NIV! And my eternal thanks to all who have gifted me Bibles over the years!