Feature Articles

Concerning the Great Commission, the church has two problems. The first is that there are too many places and people and not enough missionaries. There never has been enough, but it is worse today. The world’s population is exploding while our missionary force is decreasing. The sad truth is we just do not have enough laborers. Matthew 9:37 is as true today as when Jesus spoke it—“the labourers are few.” Jesus told us to pray for more laborers; are we really doing that? If not, why? That answer is explained by the second problem: The church has too many missionaries. We can’t afford the ones we have (or we think we can’t); why should we ask God for more? Do you suppose Jesus gave us this important assignment, but didn’t know that it would be so expensive? Or to be more ridiculous, do you think that God has run out of money? Could it be that He wants everyone in the world to hear the gospel and be saved, but He lacks the funds to send the gospel messengers to most of the world? Or could it be that He would supply the finances for this world outreach if we would just look to Him for it?

King Ahasuerus had an important message that he wanted sent to every person in his vast kingdom. “For he sent letters into all the king’s provinces, into every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language, that every man should bear rule in his own house, and that it should be published according to the language of every people” (Esther 1:22). The King of kings has an even more important message, one that He wants to reach “…every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;” (Rev. 5:9). He has committed that message to you and me—how are we doing at putting it in the writing and language of every people? I believe that we can learn some good lessons from a pagan king.

The Lord has ways of humbling His missionaries. About the time they think they’re learning the new language, someone will inadvertently or blatantly let them know they talk funny. Do we really sound bad? What makes us talk with a foreign accent? Can it be avoided? Why do missionary kids speak so much better than their parents? The adults have superior intelligence and education, but language learning has little to do with these. The parents attend classes and slave over books while their children learn the language playing with the native kids. We could learn a lot from our children!

There are three basic aspects to speaking a language: pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary. Mom and dad missionary can use their intelligence and education to advance in the grammar and vocabulary. Their children will probably excel more in the pronunciation. Grammar is important. We must know the correct word order, verb tense, gender, number, noun modifier agreement, etc., or we may be misunderstood. Our vocabulary must increase, or we will limit our message and talk like children instead of the educated adults we are. A missionary might say, “I get by in the language.” May I say as kindly as possible, dear brother, “As an ambassador of Jesus Christ, you must do better than that!” Correct grammar and an ample vocabulary are important, but in the beginning, pronunciation must take top priority.

This story takes place in II Samuel, chapter eighteen

At a safe location away from the fighting, King David anxiously awaited word from Joab, his general, concerning the battle. He wanted to hear that the rebellion had been put down and also that the rebel leader, his son Absalom, had been spared. A watchman announced that a runner was approaching. He would have the message the king wanted. Then the watchman reported a second runner who had passed up the first. Furthermore, this second runner looked like Ahimaaz—well known for his speed. David was encouraged, knowing Ahimaaz to be a good man; surely he would bring good news.

With our increased interest in Bible translation for the many Bibleless people groups also comes many questions about who should translate—and how. As Independent Baptists, we are very zealous for the pure Word of God and very opinionated, even dogmatic, about how it should be transferred into other languages. This position of strong conviction is a good place to begin, but to this zeal, we must add knowledge.

One question almost always comes up: Should a translation of the New Testament be based on the English King James Bible or on the Greek Text? One person argues: We have a perfect English Bible; let’s just translate it into the ethnic language. Another insists an accurate translation can only come directly from the Greek. Which line of reasoning is correct?

We are all familiar with Acts 1:8 in which Jesus commanded His disciples to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judaea, Samaria, and the uttermost part of the earth. This command is also a literal prediction, and we in America are proof that it was fulfilled. From Jerusalem, America is the uttermost. We use this verse today as a guiding principle for our missionary outreach. We begin in our Jerusalem and reach to the uttermost, whatever we consider that to represent.

I don’t claim to be the authority as to how this verse should be applied symbolically, but here is what it means to me: Jerusalem is my country, Judaea is other English-speaking countries, and Samaria is the major trade languages and countries. The uttermost represents the ethnic groups speaking languages that have never been reduced to writing and have no Scriptures. The focus of my thought here is Samaria and the uttermost.

An inexpensive Bible with cheap paper and a vinyl cover costs only dollars, but if you want a nice, leather-covered Bible with thin pages, you will pay dearly for it. In Communist Europe a Bible once sold for $400.00 on the black market. However, this is not what I mean when I talk about the price of a Bible. I refer more to the sacrifice that must be made so that a people can have God’s word. For instance, what did it cost William Tyndale to give the English world the Bible? It cost him years of work done in hiding; and he was rewarded in the end by being burned at the stake!

Before the translator takes up his pen, he must first take up his cross. This is the price that any true disciple must pay. Death to self, death to his personal ambitions, is the first expense to pay. Translation is not a quick task. In spite of modern technology, it is still going to take the very best years of his life. In theory, computers should speed up the process, but computers cannot heal sick babies, disciple baby Christians, build airstrips and church buildings, home school the children, and a hundred other things that demand the translator’s time.

Thirty-two years ago my wife and I were students at a newly established missionary school called Baptist Bible Translators Institute (BBTI). I was also trying to raise support to go to the mission field when our specialized training ended. One pastor was having a difficult time understanding me (maybe because I was speaking Yankee) as I explained the phonetics, culture, and language learning classes at BBTI. He said I was wasting time at this school and should just get on to the field. In desperation I asked, “Pastor, how many Baptist missionaries do you know who are translating the Bible?” He answered, “None.” I replied, “That is exactly why I need to be at BBTI!” I wish I could say that the lights came on in his mind; however, I think he stayed in the dark about linguistic training and Baptist involvement in Bible translation.

We understand fluency in relation to language. But a fluent speaker, in the truest sense, not only can make the sounds correctly, but he knows what his listeners are going to understand by his words. This requires much more than a good pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary. It requires cultural fluency. All missionaries say that learning the culture is important, but I’m afraid most only learn a few customs and the culture that is obvious on the surface of native society. In the same way that language fluency takes hard work and diligent study, cultural understanding on the deepest level is only obtained by digging.

As the missionary was about to leave for the field, the board leader told him, “You have three assignments for the next couple years: 1) learn the language, 2) learn the language, and 3) learn the language.” This leader understood the importance of learning the language very well. However, if I were challenging this missionary, I would say, “Learn the language and the culture, the language and the culture, the language and the culture! Culture is the thing missionaries most often fail to understand.

Language, with its pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary, is not easy to learn, but it is available; it is open. We can hear it, write it, and analyze it. People are seldom reluctant to help us learn new words or better pronunciation. They want us to learn their language; our strong accent is offensive to their ears, and even their small children have a broader vocabulary than ours! The culture, however, is a different story. It is more obscure and difficult to discover. Yes, the missionary can learn several things about the culture. He can bow when he greets a person he should respect, or he can observe that men walk in front of their wives. He can watch how the people eat and imitate them. However, culture is more than customs. It is what people believe and think. It is what they are. The words people speak reveal their culture, but we often miss it because we assume the words mean what we think they mean—what we want them to mean. For instance, the Latin American told the American, “I finally figured out what is wrong with you americanos. You think mañana means ‘tomorrow’, but it doesn’t. It means ‘not today.’”

An understanding of the problem of syncretism is vitally important to successful missionary work. Syncretism is the blending of two distinct beliefs, thinking or pretending that they are the same.

In Acts 14, Paul and Barnabas found themselves up to their ears in syncretism. Paul had just healed a lame man that had never walked (vs. 8-10). When Peter and John did this in Acts 3, a great revival broke out; however, a revival of syncretism broke out after Paul’s miracle! Verses 11 to 13 go on to say, “And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people.” When the apostles realized what was happening, they put a stop to it. Nevertheless, the syncretism had escalated too far, and the religionists did not appreciate Paul revealing the truth. Paul was stoned shortly thereafter! Let’s notice some important facts in this account.

Several years ago a friend, who is a Bible printer in Wisconsin, put together an unusual “Bible” that he called “The Tribal Bible.” It consists of a cover and blank pages. The purpose of this wordless book is to illustrate the fact that no one has translated God’s Word into nearly 4,000 languages. In many churches I have set this Tribal Bible on my missionary display table. Almost always, when people look at it, their immediate reaction is to laugh. Then I ask them, “What if that were your Bible? It wouldn’t be so funny, would it?” At that point they usually get serious and say, “No, I guess I wouldn’t want a ‘Bible’ with no words.”