Devotional 8: The Original Languages: God's Word in Hebrew and Greek for Every Nation

The Confession Read

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), being immediately inspired by God, and, by his singular care and providence, kept pure in all ages, are therefore authentical; so as, in all controversies of religion, the church is finally to appeal unto them. But, because these original tongues are not known to all the people of God, who have right unto, and interest in the Scriptures, and are commanded, in the fear of God, to read and search them; therefore they are to be translated into the vulgar language of every nation unto which they come, that the Word of God dwelling plentifully in all, they may worship him in an acceptable manner; and, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, may have hope.

— Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 1, Section 8

Introduction: The Book You Hold in Your Hands

There is a question that lies hidden beneath every page of Scripture you have ever read, and it is this: how did these words come to be in your language? You open your Bible in the morning, you read of Moses and the burning bush, of David and Goliath, of the apostles fishing on the Sea of Galilee, and you read it all in English as naturally as you might read the morning newspaper. But the prophets of Israel did not speak English. The apostles did not write in English. The words you read were originally spoken and written in Hebrew, in Aramaic, and in Greek — languages that belong to ancient worlds far removed from your own. The Westminster Divines, with their characteristic thoroughness and pastoral wisdom, gave an entire section of the Confession to this very question. They understood that the doctrine of Scripture is not complete until we have considered how the Word of God comes to us across the barriers of language and time. They knew that the Bible did not fall from heaven in an English binding. It came through a specific history — a history of divine inspiration, providential preservation, and faithful translation. And they knew that this history, far from being a dry academic matter, touches the very heart of the Christian life. For if we do not understand how we have received the Scriptures, we will not fully treasure what we hold in our hands. Consider what it means that you can read the words of Isaiah, who spoke to Judah in the eighth century before Christ, in your own language three thousand years later. Consider what it means that you can follow the arguments of the Apostle Paul, who wrote in the common Greek of the first-century Mediterranean world, as easily as if he were writing a letter to you. This is a miracle of preservation and translation that spans millennia and continents. And it is the subject of this section of the Westminster Confession. The Confession teaches three great truths in this section. First, that the Scriptures in their original languages are authentical — they carry the full weight of divine authority. Second, that God has preserved these originals pure through His singular care and providence. And third, that because the original tongues are not known to all of God's people, the Scriptures must be translated into the common language of every nation. Each of these truths carries profound implications for how we read, trust, and treasure the Word of God.

Scripture Foundation

The Apostle Paul, writing to the church at Rome, lays the foundation for the doctrine of the divine oracles. Romans 3:1-2 — What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. The Greek word translated "committed" is episteuthesan, from the root pisteuo, meaning to entrust, to deposit something of inestimable value. This word carries the weight of a sacred trust — like a king depositing his signet ring with a faithful steward. God entrusted His living words to the Jewish people, and this entrusting included not merely the substance of the revelation but the very language in which it was given. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, in the Sermon on the Mount, appealed to the authority of the Hebrew Scriptures in a way that demonstrates His regard for the original text. Matthew 5:18 — For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. The "jot" is the yod, the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet, no larger than an apostrophe in our English alphabet. The "tittle" is a tiny decorative stroke, a keren in Hebrew, a small horn-like projection that distinguishes one Hebrew letter from another. When our Lord says that not even these smallest features of the written text will pass away, He is affirming that the authority of Scripture extends to the very letters. This is the foundation of the doctrine that the Divines would later articulate: the Scriptures in their original tongues carry the full weight of divine authority in every syllable. The Apostle Peter, writing to churches scattered across Asia Minor, bears witness to the authority of the New Testament writings by placing them alongside the Old Testament Scriptures. 2 Peter 3:15-16 — And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Here Peter calls Paul's writings "scriptures" — the same Greek word graphas used for the Old Testament. This is one of the earliest witnesses to the recognition of the New Testament writings as divinely inspired Scripture, written in Greek and circulating among the churches. The Psalmist gives us the proper heart attitude toward the Word of God. Psalm 119:105 — Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. This verse, beloved, is the heartbeat of the Reformation doctrine of Scripture. The Word is a lamp — it gives light sufficient for the path we must walk. And that light must shine in a language we can understand. A lamp in a language we cannot read is no lamp at all. The Apostle Paul commends the study of the Scriptures to Timothy, grounding their authority in their divine origin. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 — All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. The word "inspiration of God" translates the Greek theopneustos — God-breathed. The Scriptures are not merely the writings of holy men; they are the very breath of God. And because they are God-breathed, they carry an authority that no translation can diminish and no human tradition can supersede. The Apostle Paul also testifies to the public reading of Scripture in the churches. Colossians 4:16 — And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea. Here we see the apostolic practice of reading inspired writings in the assembly of the people — in the common language of the people. Paul assumes that the Colossians and the Laodiceans can hear and understand the apostolic writings in Greek, which was the common language of the eastern Mediterranean.

What the Divines Meant

The Westminster Divines were addressing a specific and urgent controversy that had troubled the church for centuries. The Roman Catholic Church, through the doctrine of the Vulgate established by the Council of Trent (1545-1563), had declared that the Latin translation of Jerome was the authentic text of Scripture for public reading, disputation, preaching, and exposition. The Council decreed that no one was to interpret Scripture contrary to the sense held by Mother Church, and that the Vulgate was to be held as authoritative in all matters of faith and morals. This effectively placed the Scriptures under the control of the clergy and kept them from the common man. The Divines, standing in the great Reformation tradition, would have none of this. They affirmed with Luther, Calvin, and all the Reformers that the Scriptures belong to the whole people of God, and that the right of private judgment — the right of every believer to read and interpret Scripture for himself under the guidance of the Holy Spirit — is a foundational principle of the Christian faith. To deny the people the Scriptures in their own tongue is to deny them the means of salvation. But the Divines were equally concerned with the authority of the original texts. They knew that translations, however faithful and learned, are human works. The Hebrew and Greek originals, being immediately inspired by God, carry an authority that no translation can fully replicate. This is why they insisted that in all controversies of religion, the church is finally to appeal unto them. When a translation is disputed, when a passage is obscure, when the meaning of a text is contested, the final court of appeal is not any church council, not any human teacher, however learned, but the original Hebrew and Greek Scriptures. The phrase "kept pure in all ages" is particularly significant and has been the subject of much discussion. The Divines were not naive about the history of biblical transmission. They knew that scribal errors had crept into the manuscripts over centuries of copying. The science of textual criticism was in its infancy in the seventeenth century, but the Divines were aware that no two manuscripts were exactly identical. Yet they affirmed that God's singular care and providence had preserved the essential purity of the text. This is not a doctrine of absolute inerrancy in every copied letter — the manuscript evidence shows minor variations in spelling and word order — but a doctrine of providential preservation in all matters necessary for faith and practice. The distinction between the authority of the originals and the authority of translations is crucial. The Divines affirm that the originals are authentical — they carry the full weight of divine authority. Translations, on the other hand, derive their authority from their fidelity to the originals. A translation is not a new revelation; it is a faithful rendering of the original revelation into another language. This is why the work of translation must be undertaken with the utmost care, reverence, and learning.

Theological Depth

The great Reformer John Calvin, in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, wrote extensively about the necessity of Scripture in the vernacular. Calvin himself preached and wrote in French, the language of the common people of Geneva. He established the Genevan Academy to train ministers who could preach the Word in the language of the people. In his commentary on 2 Timothy 3:16, Calvin writes: "The Scripture is the school of the Holy Spirit, in which nothing is omitted that is both necessary and useful to be known." If Scripture is a school, it must be a school whose doors are open to all — not only to the learned clergy but to the simplest ploughboy. The Puritan Thomas Watson, in his magnificent work A Body of Divinity, draws out the implications of the translation of Scripture with his characteristic warmth and pastoral insight. "The Scripture," Watson writes, "is a spiritual telescope, by which we behold the glory of God. It is a sacred alphabet, by which we spell out the mind of God. It is a royal charter, wherein our title to heaven is assured." Watson argues with great force that the translation of Scripture into the common tongue is not a mere convenience but a divine necessity. "God would have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. How can they come to the knowledge of the truth if the truth is hidden in an unknown language?" The great Princeton theologian A. A. Hodge, in his commentary on the Westminster Confession, draws out the implications of this section with his characteristic analytical clarity. "The Church," he writes, "has always recognized the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures as the only authentic rule of faith and practice. The translations, however faithful, are but human interpretations of the divine original. They carry authority only insofar as they faithfully represent the original." Hodge emphasizes that the Confession's affirmation of the original languages is not a pedantic concern for scholarly specialists but a foundational principle of Protestant biblical authority. Robert Shaw, in his Exposition of the Confession of Faith, notes the pastoral wisdom of the Divines in this section. They do not merely affirm the authority of the originals; they immediately turn to the practical consequence: translation into the common tongue. "The Scriptures being the alone rule of faith and practice," Shaw writes, "it is of the utmost importance that all men should be able to read and understand them. The providence of God, which has preserved the originals, has also provided for their translation into the languages of all nations." Francis Turretin, the great Reformed scholastic theologian of Geneva, devoted a full disputation to the authority and purity of the biblical texts in his Institutes of Elenctic Theology. Turretin argues that the doctrine of providential preservation does not require that every manuscript be identical in every letter, but that the essential content of Scripture — all things necessary for faith and practice — has been preserved pure through all ages. He uses the analogy of a river: "The Word of God is like a river that flows through many channels but springs from one fountain. The fountain is the original Hebrew and Greek; the channels are the translations. The water is the same, though it flows through different channels." The Scottish theologian William Cunningham, writing in the nineteenth century, defended the Westminster doctrine of the original languages against both Roman Catholic and rationalist attacks. In his Historical Theology, Cunningham argues that the Confession's teaching on the original languages is inseparable from the Protestant principle of sola Scriptura. "If the Scriptures are the only infallible rule of faith and practice," Cunningham writes, "then it is essential that the church should have access to them in their original form. Translations are necessary and valuable, but they are not the final court of appeal." The martyred Bible translator William Tyndale stands as a powerful witness to the cost of bringing Scripture to the people. When he was strangled and burned at the stake in 1536, his last words were a prayer: "Lord, open the King of England's eyes." Tyndale gave his life so that the English ploughboy might know more of the Scriptures than the learned priest. His translation of the New Testament from Greek into English became the foundation of the King James Version and shaped the English language itself. Tyndale understood what the Westminster Divines later codified: that the Scriptures must be translated into the vulgar language of every nation.

Puritan Application

First, let the doctrine of the original languages lead you to a deeper and more profound gratitude for your English Bible. Every time you open it, you are receiving the fruit of centuries of providential preservation and faithful translation, bought at the price of the blood of martyrs. The Hebrew consonants were preserved by Jewish scribes, the Masoretes, who counted every letter of the Torah to ensure its accurate transmission. The Greek manuscripts were copied and recopied by monk-scribes in scriptoria across the Byzantine Empire. The English translation was the work of Tyndale, Coverdale, and the translators of the King James Version, who laboured for years to render the original Hebrew and Greek into the common speech of the English people. Do not take this gift for granted. When you open your Bible, do so with a heart full of thanksgiving for the countless hands that have brought these words to you. Second, when you encounter a difficult passage in Scripture, do not despair. The Divines themselves acknowledged in Section 7 that all things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all. But they also affirmed that those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed for salvation are so clearly propounded that not only the learned but the unlearned may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them. If a passage seems obscure, do not be discouraged. Consult a faithful translation, compare it with other reliable translations, seek the help of sound teachers, and above all, pray for the illumination of the Holy Spirit, who is the supreme interpreter of His own Word. The difficulty of some passages does not undermine the clarity of those that are necessary for salvation. Third, cultivate a reverence for the Word of God that extends to its very words. The great Puritan theologian John Owen wrote that the Scriptures are not a dead letter but the living voice of God, and that the words of Scripture are the words of the Holy Spirit. When you read the words of Paul or Peter or John, you are not reading the opinions of ancient religious writers; you are reading the very oracles of the living God, breathed out by the Spirit, preserved by providence, and translated for your instruction. Let this truth fill you with holy awe. The same God who spoke the universe into existence has spoken to you in words that you can understand. Fourth, support and pray for the work of Bible translation around the world. There are still thousands of language groups who do not have the Scriptures in their own tongue. The Westminster Divines affirmed that the Scriptures are to be translated into the vulgar language of every nation unto which they come, and this work is not yet complete. The Wycliffe Bible Translators, the Summer Institute of Linguistics, and many other organizations are laboring to bring the Word of God to the remaining unreached language groups. Pray for them. Support them. And remember that the same Spirit who moved the prophets and apostles to write is now moving translators to bring the Word to the ends of the earth. Fifth, when controversies arise in the church, learn to appeal to the Scriptures in their original sense. The Divines taught that the church is finally to appeal to the originals in all controversies of religion. This does not mean that every believer must learn Hebrew and Greek — though the study of these languages is a noble and useful pursuit for those called to teach. But it does mean that the final authority is not the pronouncement of any church council, nor the tradition of the elders, nor the opinion of any teacher, however learned, but the Word of God rightly interpreted. When someone says, "The church teaches this," or "The tradition holds that," the question must always be, "What saith the Scripture?" And when a translation is disputed, the question must be, "What does the original say?" Sixth, read your Bible expectantly, with faith that God speaks through His Word. The same promise that God gave to His people of old belongs to you: Isaiah 55:11 — So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. The Word that comes to you in your own language carries the same power as the Word that was first spoken by the prophets and apostles. It is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit. Open it with faith, and God will meet you in its pages.

Prayer

O most holy and blessed God, the Father of lights, from whom every good and perfect gift cometh down, we praise and magnify Thy holy name for the unspeakable gift of Thy Word. We thank Thee that Thou didst not leave us to wander in the darkness of our own imaginations, but didst speak to us through the holy prophets and apostles in words that were inspired by Thy Spirit, words that are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. We thank Thee, O Lord, for Thy singular care and providence in preserving these sacred oracles pure through all ages. We thank Thee that though the enemies of truth have sought to destroy Thy Word, though the flames of persecution have been kindled against it, though the cunning of false teachers has sought to corrupt it, yet Thou hast kept it pure and whole, that every generation of Thy people might have a sure and certain foundation for their faith. We thank Thee for the labours of faithful translators who brought the Scriptures into our own tongue. We thank Thee for William Tyndale, who counted not his life dear unto himself that we might read the Bible in English. We thank Thee for the translators of the King James Version, who laboured with such learning and reverence to render the original Hebrew and Greek into the common speech of our people. Lord, grant that we may never take this gift for granted. Grant us, we beseech Thee, a deep and abiding reverence for Thy Word. Help us to read it not as the word of men but as it is in truth, the Word of the living God. Give us the illumination of Thy Holy Spirit, that we may understand what we read and apply it to our hearts and lives. Remove from us all pride and prejudice, all dullness and distraction, that we may receive with meekness the engrafted Word which is able to save our souls. When controversies arise in the church, help us to appeal to Thy Word as the final authority. When we are perplexed by difficult passages, give us patience to search the Scriptures and wisdom to understand them. When we grow cold and indifferent, kindle in our hearts a fresh love for Thy truth. And when we close the sacred page, grant that we may go forth to live in accordance with its precepts, to the glory of Thy great name. We ask all this in the name of Christ, the living Word, who with Thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, world without end. Amen.