FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Questions & Answers related to Bible translation

1. What is the Bible Translation Triad?

We coined this phrase “Bible translation (BT) triad” to speak of the disciplines of theology, exegesis, and linguistics.

A quality translation includes expertise in all three fields.

Obviously, no one person can be an expert in Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, OT studies, NT studies, NT use of the OT, hermeneutics, textual criticism, biblical theology, systematic theology, historical and practical theology. This is one reason why the major English versions are committee translations. We ought to pray that the Lord would thrust more workers into His harvest, where the laborers are few (Matt. 9:37).

At BTF we aim to heighten awareness of the many roles and jobs necessary for producing faithful translations, so that many more would be those laborers, going to not only do the work but to train national believers who can be laborers and trainers in their own language (2 Tim. 2:2).

Many people, in thinking about the work of BT, picture an introverted scholar who knows many languages and sits at a desk all day. While this picture may be true of some who do BT in the field, there are many other gifts and skills necessary to support the work of BT.

Additionally, BT work needs the help of local pastors, exegetical consultants, target language stylists, theologians, and people who can manage a team well. We want to help resource-rich churches to identify many more gifts and skills in their congregation, and to encourage their members to participate in BT work.

Translation agencies depend on others to help with the many disciplines required of translators. BTF wants to encourage a new generation of missionary translators in the BT triad of disciplines to partner with BT organizations, societies, church planting networks, Bible colleges, and seminaries.

BTF hopes to bring awareness and education on the many roles of BT projects. We should ask ourselves and our churches what we are doing to serve both lack of quantity and promotion of better-quality bible translations.

While it would be good if trained linguists received more theological training, one person cannot do everything. At BTF, we hope to promote team/committee translations. We want to help support teams of theologians and pastors and biblical exegetes to go join linguists, thus helping in the much-needed work of BT. We also hope to encourage BT work that is integrated with the ministry of local churches and networks of churches.

“But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.”

— 1 Corinthians 12:18

2. What is a pastor-translator?

3. What is “ecclesial missions”?

We understand the Bible to teach that missions is the privilege and responsibility of the church.

While para-church ministries can help the work of missions by providing specialists (e.g. linguists to serve on Bible translation teams), it is the responsibility of local churches (and networks of churches; and para-church ministries) to labor in the work of planting and strengthening churches.

Evangelism and discipleship are part of the work of missions, but not the end goal. The goal of missions is to glorify God in and through the establishment of healthy local churches. Standing with the historic orthodox church, we believe the gospel is made visible in local churches. As the Great Commission is worked out on the pages of Scripture, we see the Apostles and their partners laboring to establish healthy local churches where the gospel is rightly preached and the sacraments are rightly practiced.

Scripture is central to the life of the church, where God commands throughout the OT and NT that in the gatherings of God’s people the Word is to be read, preached, prayed, sung and even “seen” in the sacraments (ordinances).

We insert “ecclesial” to remind ourselves and others that missions is not simply evangelism, nor simply discipleship, nor the production of Bibles. Rather, these necessary labors must have as their aim the establishment of healthy churches. 

Ecclesial missions is the work of the church to fulfill the Great Commission by evangelizing and disicipling that leads to obeying all of Scripture (Matt 28.19-20), where those whom God is redeeming gather into local assemblies, order themselves biblically, and covenant together in their repentance and faith to live out the gospel as a community under the lordship of Jesus.

4. Why did you start BTF if there are other BT organizations?

To serve the church in its Great Commission by integrating Bible translation with the mission of the church.

We want to see God’s Word not only translated, but used in the life and ministry of the local church. This means we need to train local leaders to translate and minister the Word in the language they know best.

The goal in missions is not simply a translated Scripture product; it is a healthy church, gathered under the ministry of God’s Word as it is read, preached, prayed, sung, and “seen” in the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

Historically, we first began with advocacy and recruiting because most Christians don’t know that the work of Bible translation is still needed.

So we started talking to pastors and folks at conferences and schools and churches to present about Bible translation needs.

Then we found we needed to do more networking and advising to help people get involved. We were helping others think through different options for an agency or organization to work with; and that process is very different for everyone because there is no single agency that is best for everyone.

And then pastors began asking our advice on choosing a missions’ agency for sending their members, or for help finding a team to join. For this, we recommend you contact Propempo for a consultation. But this is also why we started The GCF.

Second, we are focused on the integration of Bible translation with the Great Commission task of planting and strengthening churches (which includes theological education).

We want to educate and encourage churches to co-labor in the work of Bible translation, while integrating that work with church planting or church strengthening (including theological education).

Our focus at BTF is to advocate, recruit, to network churches, and to provide consulting to gather a force of well-trained people to serve on translation teams.

We don’t recruit for any BT agency or organization; rather, we’re recruiting people to partner in the work of integrating Bible translation with the mission of the church.

We gladly advise individuals who are exploring the possibility of a vocation in Bible translation by helping them think through education, sending agencies, BT roles, etc.

We’re especially passionate about serving pastors, to help them lead their churches to embed Bible translation in their missions’ work and partnerships.

Third, there is so much work to do in Bible translation! We believed we could contribute by focusing on the intersection of Bible translation, the Great Commission, and theological education.

We have a great Advisory Board with a lot of experience in the areas of church planting, theological education, and Bible translation. So we thought we could contribute by advocating, recruiting, networking, and providing help to others to get involved.

Fourth, we’re a bit different in that we’re not only recruiting individuals to serve in Bible translation.

We’re especially recruiting pastors and theologians. Pastors to go serve as pastor-translators; theologians to serve as theologian-translators. And also for pastors to stay and serve the missions community by leading their churches to embed Bible translation into the DNA of their commitments, partnerships, and budget in missions.

We’re advocating and recruiting and networking pastors and churches so they can pray and partner with others who are integrating Bible translation with the church’s work of church planting and strengthening.

We saw a need to educate and recruit people and especially pastors to get involved, so we started advocating for BT needs, recruiting people, and networking them together.

We hope that people will use the Great Commission Fellowship to form teams of linguists, translators, theologians, educators, and pastors, as well as to find people and projects to support.

Finally, we find it more helpful to connect people with people instead of just pointing people to organizations. We too are an organization, even an Associate Member of the Forum of Bible Agencies International (FOBAI).

But we developed the Great Commission Fellowship (GCF) in an effort to help people and churches get directly involved in integrating Bible translation with the mission of the church by finding, vetting, and partnering with others directly. With The GCF, individuals and churches don’t need an organization to manage their relationships and funds. The GCF even frees up organizations from the burden of so much administrative work, so they can focus on helping translators with the training and software and tools they need to do the work.

May the Lord give us grace for the work ahead.

5. Does BTF support audio resources or just written?

There has been a good emphasis in recent missiological practice to provide audio versions of the Bible for those who cannot read, and this is a wonderful thing. However, it seems there are a number of organizations which are moving away from written Bible translation (and the audio versions of those translations) in favor of Bible storytelling, video, and drama.

Storytelling (often called Chronological Bible Storying, or Oral Bible Storying) can be a great means of evangelism when the stories aim to get the main point of a biblical passage and convey that point in simple, re-crafted (i.e. not translation) formulas for oral proclamation.

Some within the orality movement actually keep their eye on literacy and include literacy as a goal. Unfortunately, others in the orality movement have moved away from written Bible translations, replacing the written, translated Word of God with re-crafted stories, which they call an “oral Bible.”

This is not to decry orality initiatives insofar as they are used for evangelistic purposes.

However, 1 Timothy 4:13 is clear that the life and health of the local church is tied up with direct commands to have the written Word read aloud. Indeed, the whole NT and OT make it clear that the Word is to be read aloud, preached, prayed, and sung in the corporate gatherings and life of the church (2Tim. 2:15; 3:14-17; 4:1-4; Col. 3:16).

Therefore, BTF is focused on promoting translation work that brings about written Bibles for people to read (especially pastors and teaches who minister the Word in corporate gatherings), along with audio readings of those written Bible translations so that the non-literate can listen to the reading of God’s written Word when not gathered with the congregation.

Moreover, BTF is especially concerned with integrating BT work with church planting and theological education, so that not only is the Word translated, but pastors are trained to read (aloud), preach, pray and lead others in the singing of the Word in the corporate gatherings of the church.

God has provided a method in His Word for reaching both literate and non-literate alike; it is the local church, led by faithful pastors who read, preach, pray, and lead the congregation in singing, hearing, and obeying the Word (Eph. 4:11-16).

6. How can I support the work?

You can support BTF directly, contact one of our non-staff partners, or join Great Commission Fellowship.

Translators, translation societies, churches, and anyone working in a discipline which directly supports the Great Commission may be in The GCF.

We encourage people to support projects and personnel directed at languages which are in great need of translation work, including new or revised translations.

Please especially consider supporting those who can serve as exegetical or translation consultants or those who train mother-tongue translators, pastor-translators, and the like.

7. Are Bible Translation projects producing stable texts?

We have hundreds of versions of the English Bible.

This is in part due to revisions of the same translation (i.e. NIV 1984, TNIV, NIV 2011). These revisions are grounded in many motivations, from financial to historical changes in the English language. The anomaly of the KJV’s legacy of a few hundred years is likely never to be seen again with the modernization and urbanization of the world and the impact that has on language change.

Too often in the work of BT, the local church and its leaders are not consulted. Sometimes this is the case because translation work is begun where there is no church or believers. BTF seeks to reintegrate BT work with the local church, even if that means training Christians in an area that neighbors the targeted unreached community, so that national believers would be equipped and equipping others in the triad of BT disciplines, serving both the local church and the unreached community.

Men like Martin Luther and John Calvin were not just translators and ivory-tower scholars, they translated and wrote because they were concerned with people in their local congregations and throughout their country.

The interplay of BT work and the work of the pastorate overlap in the triad of BT disciplines and thus BT work ought to involve local church pastors and theologians who are churchmen, not simply language and linguistic scholars who are not thinking about the Reverberation (cf. Jonathan Leeman, Reverberation) of the Living Word in the life of the local congregation, and in the networks of congregations that participate together in missions and evangelism.

8. Does BTF support other Christian literature and resources, or just BT work?

Our priority is to get the Bible into every remaining language of the world where there is a legitimate Bible translation need for churches in that language.

Others in The GCF may need help with translating literature and resources which aid translators (e.g. commentaries, dictionaries, encyclopedias, Greek and Hebrew grammars).

Some in The GCF may also be looking for help with translating confessions, creeds, church constitutions and covenants, or other Christian literature.

Writing and translating Christian literature is also important for the maturity of the church in each language group.

9. Does BTF endorse a certain philosophy of translation?

At BTF we’re aiming for locals to be equipped in the full BT triad to serve as pastors, theologians, and translators.

The BT community needs laborers who know the biblical languages to help train mother-tongue translators in the full BT triad (see FAQ above on the BT triad).

Many translations that were produced in the last 500 years need revision. Or sometimes the churches using first translations are asking for a different translation altogether. The local church in each language is best positioned to know whether a revision or a new translation is best.

On the question of translation philosophy, it can be helpful to think about who a translation is intended to serve and what function it serves:

1. What level of understanding do the people have in reading or hearing the language when it is read aloud?

2. Will it be primarily to distribute to non-believers who have no regular access to Christian teachers?

3. Or is the translation being done for Christians, theological training, or for the corporate gathering (1Tim 4.13)?

Answers to these question might influence whether you include explanatory footnotes and cross-references, or a glossary with key theological terms, or whether you coin (i.e. create) a lot of new words that do not currently exist in the language.

How you answer these questions can also influence how long the sentences are, so that the public readers of Scripture can actually read in breath-units and the listening congregation can follow what is being read!

Or maybe you’re just asking, “Do you subscribe to a dynamic equivalence or a literal philosophy?”

This question is in fact quite loaded. It has become common when discussing English translations to try to pin a translation down on the spectrum between more literal (formal equivalence, e.g. NASB, ESV) and more dynamic (or “functional equivalence,’ e.g. NLT, GNB). However, even within a single translation (often done by many individuals), you can often see both principles at work, unless someone is just producing an interlinear, which is not a translation.

On the one extreme (literalism or formalism), we do not believe an interlinear is an intelligible translation. Interlinears can be helpful study tools but they are more like glosses than translations. To be even more “literal” or “formal,” we’d have to stick with transliterations, but even then only some of the original sounds transfer to the new language, but the “forms” have been changed by using the letters of another language.

On the other extreme (functionalism or “meaning-based”), we have plenty of concerns as well. Some proponents can (wrongly) give the impression that form and function/meaning can somehow be disconnected; where meaning is somehow extracted from the form of one language and then transferred into the new form of the other language. But form and function are bound together in language, just as in life (e.g. body and soul); hence, we like Kenneth Pike’s language of “form-meaning pairs.” And which level of meaning is really extracted from the forms: word-level meaning, morpheme-level, discourse-level? What about the sounds of the language, especially in poetry? Does that not contribute to meaning, understanding, beauty, instruction, retention, and therefore lend towards obedience? On this extreme, we share D.A. Carson’s warnings in “The Limits of Dynamic Equivalence in Bible Translation.”

In point of fact, translators (if they are working from the biblical languages) are constantly making decisions in rendering from Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic into another language about how words and clauses and whole discourses can be rendered to reflect the form-meaning pairs found in the original languages, while maintaining intelligibility in the translation.

Sometimes the grammatical forms or categories of one language compare quite closely to those that exist in the biblical languages, which allows for an easier mapping of form-meaning pairs. At other times, the language does not have a comparable form, such as when a language does not have a passive voice verb (e.g. The man was hit by the ball). So would you say that a language without a passive voice should create that new form? Or should the translator render the passive into an active form (e.g. “The ball hit the man”)?

When asking about philosophy, are you also thinking of the audience’s reading level, which impacts sentence length and structure, vocabulary choice (or creation), footnotes, etc.? Even translation teams that share a similar philosophy and theological commitments might aim their translation at a different reading/comprehension level, such as a Bible translation for young children, first generation readers in that language, etc.

On the one hand, it is important (initially) to guard the language from being overwhelmed with too many new terms (or forms), as this can make the translation overwhelmingly unintelligible. And yet, over time the Christian community can and will build a specialized vocabulary; in fact the translation itself can help to standardize that vocabulary, but this takes time.

On the other hand, history has also shown that as the church grows up with a translation that is more dynamic or paraphrased, it often requests a new translation that is more literal, or more closely translated from the biblical languages, or includes footnotes and explanations if new or difficult words are chosen to better communicate the breadth and depth of the biblical languages. This often happens when Christians compare their translation with translations in other languages that have a more literal translation, or if some folks start learning the biblical languages and believe their translation doesn’t accurately reflect the biblical languages (which might have happened because the first translation was done using another translation and not the biblical languages).

Many Christians don’t realize that a lot of translations do not start with the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek Scriptures as their source (see Paul O’Rear, “Bible Translation and Biblical Language Competence: A Luxury?”). Rather, most translators start with English, French, Spanish, Mandarin, Russian, or some other translation they have. If they don’t know the biblical languages, they will use whatever translation they can as their source.

At BTF we’re trying to recruit people who know the biblical languages to go help train mother-tongue translators in the full triad of the BT disciplines.

Maybe what you’re really asking is whether we hold to biblical inspiration and inerrancy, and so believe every word of Scripture is from God and is therefore essential for life and ministry?

If this is your question, yes, we do. But the morphemes and words and phrases and clauses and whole discourses of Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek contain form-meaning pairs. These form-meaning pairs stretch across every level of language and require very different renderings when moving between the languages which God Himself created. The order of words (better: “constituents”) in one language will often have to be re-ordered in translation. And what about the order of clauses in a whole discourse?

For example, because English generally follows the order of Subject, then Verb, then Object while Greek and Hebrew can do Verb, Subject, Object (but are also quite flexible), should we say that an English translation is “dynamic/functional” and “not literal” or “not formal” because it rearranges the Greek word order to make sense in English? If the translators did not rearrange the word order it would be an interlinear and the English reader/listener could not differentiate subject from the object!

Translation teams need great wisdom! And many more laborers who know the biblical languages, theology, and hermeneutics.

Please pray for more laborers (Matt 9.38)!

10. How does Bible translation work relate to church planting?

We believe Bible translation should follow the work of church planting, or at least be simultaneous to it. Scripture is first and foremost for believers.

There are thousands of languages without Scripture, so how do we decide where to send limited people and limited money?

Evangelism, discipleship and initial church planting can all occur orally, while church planting evangelists, pastors and translators begin working on a Bible translation when God begins saving people.

The languages which still need translation work are often known by people who speak multiple languages.

Missionaries could focus on training pastor-translators who can read and preach from the language of wider communication, while at the same time those pastor-translators can be working on the translation in the language needing Scripture.

It is the gathered church that is commanded to sit under the ministry of the Word, hearing it read (1Tim 4), preached (2Tim 4), prayed, sung (Col 3), and even “seen” in the ordinances.

The gathered church needs the Scriptures, so church planting and church strengthening must include the work of Bible translation, whether a first translation or a revision when the time comes.

11. Which languages should we prioritize for translation?

We believe those languages which have Christians should be the first priority for translating all of Scripture (NT & OT).

While it is a good and profitable thing when portions of the Bible are translated before there are any known believers in a language group, so that those portions can be used for evangelistic purposes, we believe it is also a biblical principle and historical fact that evangelism can and does happen through oral proclamation (or sign language) and thus does not require the translation of written and printed media.

At BTF we believe that the priority of producing written Bible translations be focused on language groups where there is a local church in need of the Word in their language.

An established, healthy church is where God dwells and manifests His glory in a language group (Ephesians 1-3). Where the church has the Word and lives by and under the Word, it will be faithful in (oral) evangelistic proclamation to other nearby language groups that need to be evangelized.

Scripture itself gives us this pattern of oral, then written (2Thess. 2.13-15). Throughout the OT God spoke to the prophets, and commanded them to write His revelation to them. Kings were commanded to copy the Scriptures. Priests were responsible to read the Word aloud, interpret it, and teach the people (Neh 8). Scripture itself commands leaders of the church to read (aloud), preach, pray, and lead God’s people in singing His Word (1Tim. 4.13; 2Tim 4.2; Col. 3.16; Eph 5.19). There can be no doubt, Christians need the full counsel of God’s Word in their gatherings and in their lives (Acts 20.20-32; Col 1.28; Rom 15.14; 2Tim. 3.14-17). While it is desirable to have written copies of Scripture for evangelism, it is not required, especially where people are not literate.

In other words, a written translation is essential for the life and health of a church, but a written translation is not required for evangelism, since believers can learn another language and share the gospel orally even before a written translation is warranted or even wanted by the unbelievers in that language group.

12. What are the various Roles for working on a Bible Translation Team?

There are tons of opportunities for women and men to serve on Bible translation teams!

For a list of the many roles in Bible translation and its related disciplines, see here.

Opportunities for women in Bible translation are practically limitless: language survey work, translator, exegetical advisor, facilitator, tester, reviewer, keyboarded, translation consultant, etc.

One of the most crucial roles today is the role of a Translation Consultant or an Exegetical Advisor (or Consultant). These are folks who know the biblical languages, are well-trained in theology and exegesis and linguistics, are good facilitators and team leaders. They have tremendous opportunity to serve mother-tongue translators in getting more training and in helping check the translations.

All missionaries, whether male or female, need much wisdom in navigating a whole a web of relationships on the mission field, including: the pastor(s) in their local church, spouse, mission agency, and sending church.

We encourage women to keep on serving and we praise God for their service! If you’re a woman (or man) desiring to serve, we advise you to seek counsel from your church as to the best way you can offer your gifts on a like-minded team where you can serve to see God’s Word translated and used!

If you see a lot of talk at BTF about pastor-translators, it is because we have a special burden to see healthy churches raise up more men who can pastor and serve on translation committees.

The end goal is not a translated Bible that goes unused, but a healthy church that uses the translation in its life and ministry.

Healthy churches need both men and women to serve in the the various roles that God have given them grace for. No matter how God has given you grace (i.e. gifted you) and skill, you can use it to serve the church in its various Bible translation needs.

Contact us if we can help you on your way!

13. What is the Process of Translating the Bible?

Katharine Barnwell has outlined the following 10-step procedure for Bible translation in her book Bible Translation (4th ed., p.71):

1. Exegesis – study the meaning of the source text

2. Make the 1st draft, retelling, keyboarding

3. Prepare supplementary helps

4. Team Check

5. Community testing & reviewing

6. Prepare for consultant check

7. Check translation with consultant

8. Reviewing & more testing

9. Final editing & consistency checks

10. Final reading through for approval

There are number of questions that should be raised when considering the whole process, even from the beginning of the language survey.

What factors lead the surveyor to determine a translation is needed? Are these factors merely anthropological and linguistic, or are they also consistent with biblical-theological principles (see above FAQ on church planting and BT)?

It should be noted that the “source text” of step 1 is usually not the original Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic but a translation into the language of wider communication of the region or country (e.g. Spanish, French, English, etc.).

If the translator is not versed in the biblical languages, hermeneutics, and theology, how will he do step number 1? This is where it is in the best interest of the long-term health of local churches to train pastor-translators, who can serve as both as consultants or exegetes, and who will minister the translated Word in the church, by teaching, preaching, counseling, singing, reading aloud, and praying the Word.

Training a national pastor is training a Bible translator’s best friend. And if they are elder-qualified men, these pastor-translator-consultants are the men who will lead healthy churches, revise the translation in 20 years, author good Christian books, and disciple the next generation of pastors, translators, and disciplers in their language community.

BTF partners Dave and Stacey are producing short videos that provide helpful details on the Bible translation process which their team is using in Cameroon. The Seed Company has also produced this short video about how they believe translation should be done.

14. What do we mean by “resource-rich”?

In God’s providence and sovereignty, some churches (largely in the Industrialized West) have enjoyed a significant amount of peace, economic prosperity, and stable economy for many generations.

This stability has enabled hundreds of years for Christian thinkers to build upon one another in the areas of the triad of BT disciplines, producing millions of Christian books, thousands of Bible colleges and seminaries, and an entire industry has thus built up around these disciplines which support healthy local churches and networks of churches.

Eighty percent of the world’s evangelical wealth is in North America! We are not only economically wealthy, but we are rich with Christian books and colleges and seminaries, which all help to train new generations of Christians to be leaders in the world, pastors in the church, and disciple-making church members who love and follow the Lord faithfully.

Meanwhile, many of our resource-deprived sister churches in the majority world are lacking the ability to translate the Bible, write and produce biblical helps, and plant healthy churches among the unreached around them.

Scripture provides the example that churches should think it a privilege to care for their brothers and sisters in churches where there is greater need, whether it be physical (2 Cor 8-9) or spiritual need (Philippians; 2 Cor 10; Rom 10, 15).

Thus, we at BTF want to encourage a new generation of theologians, pastors, scholars and translators – indeed anyone with facilities and gifts in the BT triad of disciplines – to be missionary theologians, missionary pastors, missionary scholars and missionary translators, or else to be senders who support these missionary goers (Rom 10:13-17).