by Tom Wacaster
When God created man, He did not leave man to flounder in the
waters of ignorance and superstition insofar as his knowledge of God is
concerned. God has communicated with man "from the beginning"
(Matt. 19:4 ASV), albeit the different means of communications has changed
from dispensation to dispensation (Heb. 1:1-2 ASV). We are assured by
the apostle Paul that God "left not himself without witness" (Acts
14:17 ASV), and that "the invisible things of him since the
creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that
are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without
excuse" (Rom. 1:20 ASV). When our Savior ascended back to heaven, He
sent the Holy Spirit to guide the apostles into all truth (John 16:13 ASV). That
truth is made available to us through a combination of factors which include
the origination, revelation, inspiration, and translation of that heavenly
message. Let's give some consideration to each of these.
First, think about the Origination of the message. What we
sometimes refer to as "the scheme of redemption," or what God refers
to as the "mystery," was purposed and planned in Christ Jesus, "according
to the eternal purpose" of God (Eph. 3:11 ASV). God's plan for
the church, man's salvation, our heavenly home — all these things were in the
mind of God long before He ever communicated these things to man. This tells me
that the church is not some accident, or some "stop-gap" measure to
precede the coming of the kingdom. The church is the kingdom, and both
church and kingdom were in the mind of God from times eternal. There never was
a moment in all of eternity where God did not have in mind the church and the
role it would play in our salvation. What an astonishing thought.
Second, consider the word Revelation. Revelation is the
process of making the "things of God" available to men, "combining
spiritual things with spiritual words" (1 Cor. 2:13 ASV). It is
important to keep in mind that God selected specific words to communicate the
message to man. God did not give the apostles and prophets some
"thought" and then leave it up to them to relay that "thought"
to us. Instead, God selected the very word(s) that would most effectively
communicate the message to the mind of men. Sometimes an entire truth revolved
around the precise word that was selected by the Holy Spirit (cf. Gal. 15-16
ASV). Please keep this important truth in mind as we proceed. Revelation
means simply, "to make known." Before these things were made known,
insofar as man is concerned, it remained a "mystery" as to how God
would save man (Eph. 3:3-5 ASV). Throughout the history of man God has
used "divers manners" (or different manners or means) for
making His will known to man (Heb. 1:1-2 ASV). During the Patriarchal
age God spoke to the oldest male member of a family and that
"patriarch" would then teach his family (Heb. 1:1 ASV). As the
world became more wicked, God found it necessary to preserve the
"seed" from which the Messiah, the Savior of the world, would
eventually come. Hence, the call of Abram (Gen. 12:1-3 ASV). Time and
space does not allow us to trace the development of that "nation"
that would produce the man-child, the One Who was from everlasting to
everlasting (Micah 5:2 ASV), He Who is called "Wonderful,
Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isa. 9:6
ASV). When Israel had developed into a great nation, God gave them "living
oracles" (Acts 7:38 ASV) through Moses, and from that time until the
coming of the Christ, the nation of Israel was under the Law of Moses. But when
the "fullness of time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman,
born under the law" (Gal. 4:4 ASV), and through His Son, God "brought
life and immortality to light through the gospel" (2 Tim. 1:10 ASV). After
Jesus ascended into heaven to sit at God's right hand (Acts 2:33 ASV), the
Holy Spirit was sent to guide the apostles into all truth (John 16:13 ASV), thereby
completing the process of revelation and giving to man that which is "profitable
for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in
righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto
every good work." (2 Tim. 3:16-17 ASV). It is this third dispensation,
the gospel of Jesus Christ, to which all men are amenable.
The third word we want to concentrate on is Inspiration. Inspiration
is closely associated with revelation, for without revelation there can be no
inspiration. Inspiration is the process by which God assured the accurate
transmission of His word to others. As the apostles and prophets received the
revelation they were "moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Pet. 1:21 ASV) to
record the message of God. They were guarded from error by the careful watch
care of the Holy Spirit over these men who spoke and wrote that divine
revelation. Inspiration is the means by which human agency was used to
communicate the things of God to a lost and dying world.
Our last word for consideration is Translation. The Bible
was not written in English. In order for God's word to reach the masses it is
essential that the Greek manuscripts be "translated" into a specific
"target language." In our case, the "target language" is
English. The attitude of the translator toward the "original"
language (in this case, the Holy Bible) will have a direct bearing on the process
he uses in translating into the target language. If the translator has a low
regard for the inspiration of the Scriptures, he is likely to discount the
importance of Paul's statement in 1 Corinthians 2:13 ASV. He will be
looking for the "thought" contained in the passage more than the
precise wording that appears in the original. This approach is called
"dynamic-equivalence." The translator will give you the
"equivalent" of what he thinks the passage says and/or means. On the
other hand, if the translator respects the verbal, plenary inspiration of
Scripture, he will attempt to provide to his audience an exact duplication of
every word, every tense, every shade of meaning that is humanly possible. This
is called "formal equivalence." In the former approach, the
translator will tell you what he thinks the passage means; in the later he will
tell you what it says and leave it up to you to determine what it mea ns. It
seems to me that, in view of what we are dealing with, i.e. the divine message
of man's salvation, that those who love the truth would want a translation that
reflects what the original said, as nearly as possible, in his own language,
and leave it up to him as a student of God's word to determine what it means.
Modern translations (such as the New International Version, Good News for
Modern Man, etc.) that demonstrate a loose attitude toward God's word should be
rejected as reliable study Bibles. On the other hand, when I use a reliable,
trustworthy translation, a translation that is as close to the original as
possible, I can rest assured that I am getting an accurate rendering of that
truth that saves the souls of men.