Westminster Project 1.8
8. The Old Testament in Hebrew (which was the native language of the people of God of old), and the New Testament in Greek (which, at the time of the writing of it, was most generally known to the nations), were immediately inspired by God. By His unique care and providence they have been kept pure in all ages and are therefore authentic, so that in all controversies of religion, the Church’s final appeal is to them. However, because these original tongues are not known to all the people of God, who have right to and a legitimate claim to the Scriptures, and who are commanded, in the fear of God, to read and search them, the Scriptures are therefore to be translated into the common language of every nation into which they come, so that, the Word of God dwelling plentifully in all the nations, they may worship Him in an acceptable manner, and so that, through patience and the comfort of the Scriptures, they may have hope. (WCF 1.8)
Have you ever gone to a Christian bookshop and asked for a Bible or searched online for a verse that’s on the tip of your tongue, only to be met with the same question: "Which translation would you like that in?" At last count, there have been over 500 English translations in circulation, with revisions and new versions being worked on every year. It is a complete understatement to say that we have an embarrassment of riches here in the West.
That’s because it has always been the firm conviction of the church to have the Scriptures in the vernacular, so that the common person can understand the Word of God for themselves (remember Wycliffe and Tyndale from last week?). This is why the prophets wrote in Hebrew and the apostles wrote in what’s called common (Koine) Greek—they wrote in the receptor languages of the people they were addressing so those people could comprehend and treasure the Scriptures for themselves.
However, as you may have noticed, we don’t naturally understand either of those languages anymore. Thus, it is the job of translators to take what was “originally inspired” and do the hard work of making the manuscripts make sense to their audience in the 21st-century West.
This is where things get very difficult, because different translators have different approaches to make that happen. Some (like the NIV, NET, NLT) translate “dynamically,” meaning they work hard to ensure there is no confusion on the part of the readers. For example, if the original text states that someone has a “cat in the neck,” we would struggle to understand what that means. However, if the translators recognise that the author was using a colloquial phrase, they might render it as “a frog in the throat,” so readers won’t be left scratching their heads—they’ll understand the person was having trouble clearing their throat (which is the point of the phrase in the first place).
Another philosophy translators use (like the ESV, CSB, NASB, KJV) is called “essentially literal.” This approach looks for the closest literal equivalent of the Hebrew or Greek. For example, we don’t naturally use the word “propitiation,” but that is the closest you’ll get to the Greek found in Romans 3:25 and 1 John 2:2. With these translations, you might need a dictionary handy. Even then, translators have to make the English work. For instance, Matthew 1:18b literally states, “before came together of them found in womb having from spirit of holy.” The ESV renders this, “Before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.”
All this to say, whatever philosophy translators take, none of them follow the original exactly because English speakers would never understand what was being communicated otherwise—a total failure on the translators’ part (see 1 Corinthians 14:6, 9, 11-12, 24, 27-28).
We live in the golden age of Bible translation, and all good evangelical translations communicate the same essential message, just using different approaches. So, I say use them all—they all belong to you. I like to preach from the ESV because it is the most popular and natural English translation, yet I love the KJV and NLT and use those in personal devotion and Bible studies, sometimes supplementing sermon preparation with Greek and Hebrew.
That’s why the confession states that although translations are great, it is always the original texts that must be appealed to, because the original languages communicate the original meaning. But in saying that, our faithful translations do an incredible job of taking what God said in Hebrew and Greek and rendering it into English so that we “may worship Him in an acceptable manner” (Colossians 3:16). Of that, we can be most sure.