Why are the Bible’s original languages are so important?
Watch our Truth in Two to understand the reason(s)!
[And don’t miss the Afterword!]
Dr. Mark Eckel is Executive Director of the Center for Biblical Integration at Liberty University. Support MarkEckel.com (here). Find the MarkEckel.com YouTube Channel (here). Mark is President of The Comenius Institute (website) and interprets culture from a Christian vantage point (1 minute video).
Pictures: Josh Collingwood, Snappy Goat
FULL TEXT
The source of biblical theology comes from the biblical languages. So imperative is the study of the Bible’s original languages, that I will make this declaration: as soon as a Christian university or seminary gives up the necessary study of Hebrew and Greek, its theology will move from its foundations. The reason? If there is no original word from which our words come, then biblical theology can easily become a man-made theology. As I’ve argued in other Truth in Two episodes, languages, definitions, interpretation, and care for words are essential. Find these and other links at the end of this Truth in Two.
The Protestant reformer, Martin Luther knew the importance of language. In a letter to a friend he wrote, [Quote] “I am convinced that without knowledge of literature pure theology cannot at all endure. I see that there has never been a great revelation of the Word of God unless He has first prepared the way by the rise and prosperity of languages.” [End Quote] – And in one of Luther’s most famous statements about Christian education, he said, [Quote] “Let us thank God for this precious treasure, and guard it well. For though the Gospel has come through the Holy Spirit alone, we cannot deny that it has come by means of the languages, by which the gospel was spread and by which it must be preserved. As we prize the gospel, let us guard the languages. And let us be sure of this: we shall not long preserve the gospel without the languages. The languages are the sheath in which this sword of the Spirit is contained.” [End Quote]
So, we should thank God for scholars who study the original languages, words essential to the foundation of The Church. When Scripture says, “It is written,” remember: the original languages are the well from which we draw the living water of God’s Word. For the Comenius Institute, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, Executive Director of the Center for Biblical Integration at Liberty University, personally seeking truth wherever it’s found.
AFTERWORD
References for Luther’s comments come from, first, Martin Luther, in a letter to Eoanus Hessus, quoted by Leland Ryken in Worldly Saints: The Puritans As They Really Were (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1986), p. 258, ftnt. 71; second, from Martin Luther, “To the Councilmen of All the Cities in Germany, That They Establish and Maintain Christian Schools,” quoted from Armin Panning, “Language Requirements for a Gospel Ministry,” Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly, vol 80, no. 2 (Spring, 1983), pp. 116-17.
References to our Truth in Two include, “Book Burning,” “Language,” “Control,” “Definitions,” “Interpretation,” “Words,” “Words-2,” and “Caring for Words.”