The Holy Bible is not out-of-date just because people of old wrote it. The original languages were used simply because those were the common languages of the day for God’s people and all those coming into his Kingdom. We can have full confidence knowing that the Bible is sacred and trustworthy because it is God’s Word to his people everywhere at every moment in time.

The Greek language was the common (Koine) language of the day during the early church. “For centuries, the Septuagint (Greek for 70-Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures) was the predominant form in which Jews read their Scriptures” (Lewis, 2019, para. 2). Greek was such an important instrument in the spread of the Gospel in the early church because pretty much everyone knew the language. Both Hebrew and Greek languages are good vehicles for God to transmit his truth because religious Jews value the Hebrew language and all other people spoke Greek at the time of its writings.

God made the Jews holy (set-apart) and gave them their own language and identity in order for the world to get to know him. Having Jewish blood or having great knowledge about the Hebrew/Aramaic/Greek languages does not make one holier than the rest. All people from the OT to the NT were saved by faith in God. So, we can infer that the NT Greek language was also God’s way of showing the Jews that the Gentiles can and will be his people too, by grace through faith in the Son of God.

Understanding God’s use of the two languages helps us better understand Scriptures and the newer Bible translations that are available today because we can realize why these languages were chosen and how we can respect the Bible’s history and value our translations just the same. “The interesting thing about these translations is that most are considered to be inspired, authoritative, or sacred to those who use them, even though they are sometimes far from the original languages of the Bible” (Lewis, 2019, para 10).

All people at all times can read the Word as long as we understand the language. All translations are inspired by God because it is his holy Word written for everyone on the earth. The language of the Bible does not determine is value; the author does, and he is God. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (New Living Translation), “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.”

Many people have said that they do not feel like they are lacking anything when they read from a version other than the original Hebrew or Greek. We should not rely on the paraphrase versions such as the MSG because they are not God’s inspired Word, they are only means to reach children or those that struggle greatly with the Bible. We ought to find what regular translation we prefer, and saturate ourselves in it. We should not worry so much about the translation and get all religiously deep because Christianity is a relationship and not a religion. Our goal should be to spend time in the Holy Bible so that we can grow in intimacy with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Reference

Nicola Denzey Lewis, “What Was the Original Language of the Bible?”, n.p. [cited 20 Nov 2019]. Online: https://www.bibleodyssey.org:443/tools/bible-basics/what-was-the-original-language-of-the-bible

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