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Evidences Of Biblical Inspiration
English Bible vs Greek Bible
Thursday, September 12, 2019I was wondering if it is worth studying Scripture on a deeper level given my Bible is written in English. From what I understand, the New Testament was originally written in Greek. Since I am not a scholar or speak that language, I might not understand the fullest meaning behind the passages. Is the Bible meant for average folks to study in their own native language?
Sincerely,
It’s All Greek To Me
Dear It’s All Greek To Me,
The Bible is definitely meant to be understood and studied by average folks! There is quite a lot of chatter that the Bible has been mistranslated or that a translation leaves you unable to truly understand what the Bible writers intended – this is not true. When Jesus quoted the Old Testament, He quoted from the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament. The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew, but Jesus felt comfortable quoting from the Greek language version. This tells us that God has no problems with using translations to convey His wisdom to every culture and language on the planet. As long as you have a good word-for-word translation (read “What’s The Best Translation” for details on what that means), you will be just fine.
Every day, vital documents are translated into other languages without mishap. Peace treaties, corporate contracts, wills, trusts, and many other legal arrangements are made from one language to another. Linguists are skilled professionals that are able to properly convey the same ideas from one language to another, and major Bible translators are especially circumspect and fastidious to properly translate from the original Greek and Hebrew. Never fear, you have God’s Word just as much as the first-century christians did. SB