THE ENDURING WORD LUTHERANS & BIBLE TRANSLATION
by Mathew Block “The Word of the Lord endures forever.”
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hat phrase, drawn from Scripture, was the rallying cry of the early Reformation. “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever” (Isaiah 40:8). And again: “The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the Word of the Lord remains forever” (1 Peter 22:24-25). What was true for the Prophet Isaiah, what was true for St. Peter, and what was true for the Reformers remains true today: the Word of the Lord endures forever. Rulers come and go, nations rise and fall, but “God’s Word forever shall abide” (LSB 657). And this Word isn’t a static thing either. It isn’t isolated to one place or people or time. God’s Word spreads. It expands. It grows, reaching out with the Good News of Jesus Christ, His death and His resurrection, unto the ends of the earth. So it is that Jesus commanded: “Go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15). Christians continue to bring God’s Word to the ends of the earth, and this year has marked a major milestone in the history of that mission. Wycliffe Bible Translators reports that in these past few months of 2020, we have seen the complete translation of the Bible into its 700th language. In addition to the 700 languages which now have a complete Bible, many more languages have a portion of the
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THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN September/October 2020
Scriptures translated. The New Testament is available in a further 1,548 languages. Smaller selections of Scripture have been translated into an additional 1,138 languages. Still, there is much work left to be done: 3,969 languages do not yet have a complete Bible. What is more, there are an estimated 2,115 languages in the world (representing 171 million people) for whom a Bible translation project has yet to begin. Lutherans are among those working hard to translate the Word of God into other languages. That’s not surprising, given the history of the Lutheran tradition. In many ways, the emphasis on Bible translation today can be considered one of the greatest gifts of the Lutheran Reformation to the wider Church. It is certainly one which has borne remarkable fruit.
MARTIN LUTHER & THE TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE At the Diet of Worms in 1521, Martin Luther was brought before Emperor Charles V to answer charges of heresy. Asked to recant, he answered that he was unable.
