THE Bible is God's revelation in word to the children of men. That Book contains sixty-six divisions, or books, or letters, written by many different men, upon different subjects, at different times. These men were of different walks in life. Some were kings, some priests, some scribes, statesmen, accountants, physicians, scholars, herdmen, fishermen. The stamp of the individual, of his limitations, his environments, his training, is upon his writings, even as the stamp of a musical instrument is upon the music produced, yet the Incarnate Word speaks thru the Bible writers, even as the master musician speaks thru the often defective musical instruments. "All scripture is God-breathed." "The Spirit of God spake by me, and His word was on my tongue." "Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth."
The inspiration pertains therefore to the words; because, first, man could not comprehend the ideas of God so as to express them in his own words; secondly, the prophets did not themselves understand what God revealed thru them (Daniel 12); and, thirdly, the revelation was given for all time to come.
The inspiration must pertain only to the original words, not to the translations thereof.
What assurance have we, then, that we have the word of God, when the original copies are lost, and but few of the people can read the translations?
In reply we will say, we have every reasonable assurance that we have the revelation of God's will.
1. Those who copied the original were generally superstitiously careful to copy exactly.
2. Different ones copied, and their copies, or copies of their copies, agree. On the whole no serious mistakes have been made, and these have been quite generally detected.
3. Those who have translated the originals have according to their light and scholarship endeavored to express the meaning of the words of the original. In this matter not only has scholarship been at stake, but honesty also, and men have not alone been anxious because they wished to truly express God's word translated, but they have been ambitious as scholars to present translations which would meet the approval of other scholars, who might be of different theological thought.
These reasons have assured us reasonably accurate translations.
The Best Translation.
There are many English readers who think the "King James," or "Authorized" Version, or Common Version, the only thing which ought to be used, and who consider it almost sacrilegious to use any other version or translation, and this because the Gospel has come to them thru this channel. They would not thus act in any other matter of importance.
To illustrate: Suppose that a family in America should receive a letter from India, declaring that this family, among others of the Aryan race, were heirs to large estates and much wealth in India. The original of this letter was written in Sanskrit, a tongue not understood by the heirs. Several copies were made of the original by persons widely scattered. The original was lost or worn out. Copies were made of these copies, one of which reaches America. The heirs have a translation made of this Sanskrit copy, and are overjoyed. Other translations are made by better scholars which correct a few minor errors and confirm the first translation.
After a long time, as certain enemies criticize and throw doubt upon the matter, some of the heirs are determined to learn all they can about it. They visit other lands. They examine the old libraries of other members of the family, they gather other translations, in French, in Greek, in Latin, in Syriac, made from earlier copies of the Sanskrit original. They obtain in their search very early copies in Sanskrit from different sources. Scholars among the heirs collate these, critically and carefully examine them, find a few mistakes in their copy and translation, and, aided by the best of scholarship, make a new translation, which is truer to the original, clearer and more consistent, and which confirms the older but less perfect copy and its translation.
Which would these heirs prize the more, the earlier or later translation? For every reason, the later one. It is made from earlier copies of the original, which from the places where they were found show them to be not copies one of the other. Discovered translations in other tongues from still earlier manuscripts confirm it. The later evidence becomes the strongest of evidences to the authenticity and the truth of its contents.
So it is with God's word. The original copies were worn out, destroyed, or lost. But these were copied, and copied, and copied, for centuries, and in all these repetitions some mistakes were bound to creep in. From these later copies and the imperfect Latin Vulgate the earliest English versions were translated: the Wyclif Bible, in 1382; Tyndale's Bible, 1535; the Coverdale Bible (the first printed in English), 1535; Matthew's Bible, 1537; Taverner's Bible, 1539; the Great, or Crammer's, Bible, 1539; the Geneva Bible (the first printed in Roman with divided verses, popular for more than half a century), 1560; the Bishop's Bible, 1569; the "Authorized Version" (never authorized, however, by king, church, or state, but appointed to be read in churches in the place of the Bishop's Bible), 1611.
The Revised Version, 1885, and the American Standard Revised Version of 1901 stand preeminent among the later translations. Of these the American is the later and better. Its translators and revisers had at their command all the benefits of Biblical research for three centuries. This gave them access to the very earliest manuscripts discovered, as well as the earlier translations of these manuscripts. As a result we have a splendid translation, more consistent, more uniform, more correct, than any translation ever made. This is acknowledged by the scholarship of the world. It presents as does none other the will of our heavenly Father to His children.
Some of its better features, with the editor's permission, will appear next week.