The Translation Era: 6th Reason to Advance in Missions Today

March 12, 2010 – 9:11 am

It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth. (Isaiah 49:6)

The time we live in is the greatest period of Bible translation in the history of the world. More Bible translations have been produced for the world’s languages in the latter half of the twentieth century than in all the 25 centuries since the first oral Bible translation recorded in Nehemiah 8.

The first surge in Bible translation was after the writing of the New Testament up until about the seventh century. At the end of the Reformation, the next surge in Bible translation, there were only 80 languages in the world that had the Scriptures.

At the end of the 1800s, the golden age of missions, the number had risen to about 500, and sometime during the 1930s or 1940s the Bible became the “book of a thousand tongues.”

However, since that time, in the lifetimes of many of us, the number has dramatically risen so that now there are more than 2400 languages with at least a portion of Scripture translated into them. Nevertheless, the number of languages in the world is about 7000, meaning less than half have Scripture. So there is still much work to be done.

I am surprised to find out when I visit churches how many people think that the work of Bible translation for the world is all done, and that there is no more need. For about 500 million people in the world, there is still a great need.

That is a large group of people to forget about, so we need to remind ourselves and others of their need. Not only do these more than 4000 languages have no Scripture, but about 1500 of them don’t even have a written form of communication, only a spoken language.

Psalm 119:130 says: “The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.” What that verse means for us today is that one out of every twelve persons in the world today simply cannot understand God’s Word. But the good thing about the problem of Bible translation for the world is that the need is measurable and attainable.

We are making progress, to the point where, though we are not there yet, the end is in sight. The organizations in the world engaged in Bible translation for these people groups have a bold plan to have a translation project started in every language that remains by the year 2025, and to have a significant part of the Bible done by 2050.

This plan is measurable and doable, if the Christians of the world will unite and advance to finish the job of Bible translation for the world. Can you imagine what a world would be like where everyone can say: “God speaks my language”?

My eyes fill with tears and my fingers tremble as I write this. I can imagine no greater gift to give to the rest of the world than God’s Word in their heart language. Our time is now. We must finish the job.

Glenn Kerr, guest author for the MM Blog, provides 10 reasons why local churches should advance in their effort to start indigenous church planting movements in regions that do not have a gospel witness.

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Glenn J. Kerr is chief translation consultant for Bibles International, the Bible Society of Baptist Mid-Missions. He has worked as a consultant for 15 years, being involved with translation projects on five continents and about 28 languages.

He has a master’s degree in Hebrew and Semitic Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has done graduate studies in linguistics at Michigan State University, and is currently in doctoral studies through the University of South Africa.

He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Bible translation and related linguistic subjects on an adjunct basis at three Bible colleges and universities in the US as well as his consulting work overseas.