Featured God's Providence and Bible Translation

I think that one of the least understood and taught doctrines is the providence of God. I want to explore how that works in Bible translation efforts, using my own experience in translating the Bible into Greek for illustration.

Providence differs from the miraculous in that it is a process, whereas a miracle is an event. As I have said before on the BB, a miracle is instantaneous. Providence, however, may take a great deal of time, such as when God used Alexander te Great to spread the Greek langue and prepre for the writing of the NT in koine Greek.

The best passage which speaks of this doctrine is, of course, Romans 8:28: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."

Here are a couple of theological definitions:

"The doctrine of God’s Providence is the teaching that God watches over and guides all that happens."
Millard Erickson, Christian Theology, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013), 78.

"Providence means that continuous activity of God whereby He makes all the events of the physical, mental, and moral phenomena work out His purposes; and that this purpose is nothing short of the original design of God in creation."
Henry Clarence Thiessen, Introductory Lectures in Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1942), 177.

 

God's providence in preparing me to be a Bible translator began when He created me with a dormant aptitude for and love for languages. In college Greek, I did poorly at first, but in my last undergrad semester I finally made an "A." Then I took a semester of seminary Greek and got a "B," but I was on my way.

Japanese at the prestigious Tokyo School of the Japanese Language was a cinch, and the two years of that were two of the best years of my life. I loved it: two hours every day two get into Tokyo; crowded rush hour trains; being put in an experimental class with a bunch of Chinese to learn more kanji (Chinese characters), doubles ping pong with a colonel in the Thai Army as my partner, hanging out with the SBC missionaries and a bunch of Chinese people, etc.

All of these were evidence that God was preparing me to be a Bible translator, though I did not know it at the time. God's providence was at work.

 

Meanwhile, we moved to Yokohama to evangelize and start a church. Towards the end of our first term in Japan, I was asked to teach at a Bible school down in Tokyo, teaching Isaiah, Synoptics, etc. I was also asked to teach Greek, but the dean felt I should get more training for that. So, on that furlough, in 1987 I took another semester of seminary, getting "A" i two different Greek classes.

More tomorrow.

 

We lived in Yokohama, and I commuted into Tokyo every Friday at rush hour (whew; I've got stories) to teach Greek, Isaiah, Church Education, etc.. It was quite a gas teaching Greek in Japan. The only textbook available was a translation of Machen. I had to learn all the Japanese grammar vocab, but that was very helpful in all of my work.

I only had one failing student in those years. One young man could not take the pressure, and left his wife and church and school, and ran off to the island of Shikoku to become a pachinko pinball gambler. He eventually got right with the Lord, but his chance to pastor was gone. My other students became pastors and pastor's wives around Japan; one is in Heaven now.

These experiences prepared me to become a translator. There I was, the Baptist Greek teacher in the Kanto Plain when a new translation effort began. More about that next time.

 

In about 1995 a missionary friend came to me and asked if I'd like to be on a team to translate the book of John from the TR. Until that time, the only TR translation in Japanese history was the Nagai NT, translated from Stephanus into classical Japanese by a scholarly Japanese pastor. It had long been out of print, though it was reprinted once after that. I was to be the Greek guy.

My friend was quite fluent in Japanese. There was also a good Japanese pastor, and another missionary who was poor in Japanese but made a good secretary. This setup strongly influenced my concept of a translation effort.

 

I'll attach a photo of us together. I'm the white guy on the left.


Unfortunately, this effort failed after only four chapters of John's Gospel. The chairman had to go on a long furlough, and the others also had interruptions of one kind or another. But in God's providence, that short effort got me thinking about Bible translation, and that completely changed my ministry land my future. God knows exactly what He is doing, even when an effort seems to be a failure.

 

Here are the guiding principles several of trhe men put together for the translation effort:

Kanto Plains Translation Committee

"Goals and Guidelines for Translation"

11/24/94

I. AN HONEST COMMITMENT is needed from all. Giving what each is able, whether great or small, but giving all!
A. To know:
1. The issue of the texts (K. J. V. VS. R. V./N. I. V.), etc.
2. The translation problems.
B. To Be Tedious:
1. Finding the proper and exact translation.
2. Referring to the Greek to get better understanding.
“God confused the languages in Babel, but He made them into complete languages.” Bro. F
C. To Be bold:
1. Refuse to bow to pressures of friends to stop.
2. To stay with the Greek T. R./K. J. V.

II. AN HONEST CONCERN is needed for the job.
A. Prayer:
1. strength, help, and wisdom from the Lord
2. financial backing
3. workers that are faithful and Christ-honoring
4. one another
B. Time:
1. With the Lord in His Word, prayer and study.
2. Spent in translating and necessary meetings.
C. Finances:
1. Sacrificial giving will be needed by all. Before we can expect others to give, we ourselves must lay the example.
2. Our desire will be to put out the Word without a copyright in order to get out as many copies as possible, into the hands of the Japanese. Money will not be a motive for our work.

III. AN HONEST CHARACTER towards the work.
A. Contentions cannot be allowed. Belittling or putting another worker down, or the raising of voices cannot exist.
B. Rational discussions to see us through the difficulties and till everyone is satisfied are most needful and helpful.
C. Problems or the men on the committee will never be mentioned to others in a critical way.
D. Translations should not be distributed to people who are not and will not become involved or interested in our work.

IV. AN HONEST CALLING of God
A. We believe that God is calling us to bring forth His Word. The task is big but so also is the need. God will see us through till the end.
B. We believe in God’s provision, we are trusting in His power, with humility and meekness before all men and God, and with one-mindedness as our goal—we take off!

V. AN HONORING CLAIM Ps. 68:11
“The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it.”

On 2/2/95, the notes read:
We have sensed a need to refrain from calling our translation work from the KJV since very few pastors in Japan are familiar with this text. All members chose unanimously to use the Greek TR as our basis for translation. Important books handling the Greek text’s differences should also be translated and published in time, to let pastors know this is not an English vs. Japanese issue or an American-Japanese difference. It’s a Greek textual difference. We do not intend to make light of or to criticize the KJV. We all strongly uphold it as the Word of God. But, when it comes down to translation work, we must have the Greek to guide us. Therefore, those wishing to work with us must take this same position. The KJV will also be invaluable for those who can translate from it into Japanese, but the final translation will be compared with the Greek. This is our position from here on for those wishing to help us.

 

We used to love the "CAJ Sale." This second hand sale happened twice a year at the "Christian Academy in Japan," a school for MKs (missionary kids) in a suburb of Tokyo (Christian Academy in Japan - K-12 international school in Tokyo). Missionaries from all over the Kanto Plain and sometimes elsewhere would bring stuff to contribute, and the school would receive the profits. Missionaries got rid of stuff and got stuff, and the school benefitted. We went there to have a break from the ministry, meet friends, and buy all sorts of good stuff, especially books. And there was always lunch and some great snacks. And the drink machine had what was probably the only brand ever of Japanese root beer!

Missionaries who went to Japan after WW2 were retiring back in the 1980s and early '90s, and you could find some great stuff. I still have the 5 volume set of Alford's Greek NT (a commentary) that I got there, so old it was probably owned by Alford himself! That has been helpful in translation work. But one day I found several books on Bible translation by Eugene Nida: Bible Translating, rev. (1947, a great read), God's Word in Man's Language (1952; great read, though he gets some things wrong ab. the Greek, such as the meaning of agapao on p. 63), and Toward a Science of Bible Translating (1964; laying out the theory of dynamic equivalence). As I recall, this was before I ever translated any of the Bible except in Greek or Hebrew class.

Though I had no idea at the time, this would launch me on a lifetime exploration of Bible translation theory and practice. This is a great example of God arranging things in His providence: some retiring missionary to sell his books, no one else to buy them, me to find and buy them, God to get me started on this lifelong journey.

 

A passage I should have quoted earlier on God's providence is from the wonderful story of God's providence in the life of Joseph in Genesis 50:

19 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?
20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
21 Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.

 

True, some do.

 

But this thread is not about that.

 

I'm sitting here at our seminary retreat, just marveling at what God has done in my life through his providence. I have the privilege of teaching Bible translation and theology to these guys. Years ago I could not have predicted this! What a privilege God has given me.

When our president and pastor told me after I came here that they were expected to teach seminary as well as college, I was floored, thinking "Who, me?" Then we instituted the MA in Bible Translation and I was on that path, teaching eschatology, Bible Translation Theory and Practice, and Translation Issues in Hebrew and Greek (with my son--awesome).

So I was down in Texas several years ago doing research at SWBTS, and in God's providence, I had lunch with the Paige Pattersons, both of them with PhDs. A seminary prof ought to have a doctorate. They encouraged me to go for a doctorate there, and I thought, "Who, me?" I ended up in the D.Min. program at a different institution. But I am so grateful to God for His providence in all of this and the Patterson's for their encouragement.

 

That first effort, though it failed, got me started. I began thinking about the possibilities. I tentatively translated Matthew 1, 2, and part of 3 sometime in 2000.

I still have the files. Some of my ideas were shot down later by Japanese partners, but at least I was in there trying, getting a start. At that point I really was not thinking about translating the en1tire NT, but was just translating for my own benefit. The providential event that actually started me on a NT project had occurred in 1990. That seed was growing in my heart and mind.

A missionary friend had wanted to get a Gospel of John printed, but was not that good in Japanese. He asked me to contact the publishers of the conservative Japanese version based on the NASB, the Shinkaiyaku (新改訳). However, those folks were very strict about giving permission, so my friend gave up. This got me thinking. Wouldn't it be great to have a version anyone could have printed without getting permission?

 

Another factor that lead to our new Japanese translation was the textual issue. In Japan's history there has only been one NT done from the TR. That was a one man translation in very difficult classical Japanese, done by Naoji Nagai, the pastor of the Tokyo Asakusa Church. The source text was Stephanus.

I used to think that the NT of the very first Japanese complete Bible, called the "Original Translation," was from the TR since it was said to have the KJV as the main source text, with reference to the Greek. However, studying it I learned that it followed an early critical text in some key passages.

So, following the first translation effort I was involved in, I determined to translate from the Scrivener TR. My position is actually Byzantine priority, but since those most likely to use the translation would be TR advocates, my skopos (translation goal) included Scrivener as the source text.

 

So note so far that God providentially:
1. prepares the translator, giving him or her linguistic ability.
2. leads the translator into training.
3. arouses the translator's interest into translating.
4. leads the translator to actually begin translating, even tentatively.

This past summer, due to various factors, we had one of our MA students do an internship in place here at our school. His native tongue is Farsi, the main language of Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. He and I and our linguistics prof met with him Mon-Fri, depending on the situation. (His wife just had twins, he has an active ministry to Farsi speakers, etc.). It was a huge thrill to see him start translating Genesis from the Hebrew, and realizing, "I can do this!" God has prepared and empowered him.

 

An extremely important area in which the Lord operates in Bible translation is in the area of personnel. God calls, equips, leads, and helps translators. Looking back, I can definitely see the hand of God in our Japanese translation effort.

I've already told you how I got started in Bible translation. One of my coworkers named Frank, who was starting a church across town, early on became interested in the project. Frank is an experienced linguist, having been trained by the US Air Force in Russian. As a missionary, he also became very fluent in Japanese, and of course was trained in Bible college in NT Greek.

As a linguist during the Viet Nam War, he would fly in a C-54 plane equipped to listen to all kinds of radio chatter. His plane would land in a very steep descent to avoid ground fire, but would still end up with bullet holes in it from AK-47 ground fire. Once he was flying in an intelligence plane in Turkey along the Russian border, when he heard a Russian fighter pilot say, "I have lock-on. Requesting permission to fire." Fortunately, permission was denied.

Frank turned out to be a great asset to the project. He always had good suggestions when we met for translation. Frank also brought Miyakawa San into the effort, and that turned out to be his greatest contribution.

"Uncle Miya," as he insisted we call him, was a retired high school English teacher, and knew his own language quite well. Many do not know their own language very well! I've found over and over that some of my students don't even know the parts of speech! Uncle Miya and his language skills were truly the gift of God to the project!

I translated the entire NT from Greek into Japanese, but that was only the first draft. My renderings were often imprecise, poorly nuanced, or even completely mistaken. One time he said to me, "Pastor, that is junior high Japanese." Ouch! So our translation is far better for having him as our partner.

Concerning Uncle Miya's abilities, he was the final editor for the English translation of a famous Japanese historical novel, Shiokari Pass, by Ayako Miura. The story is that of a Christian train conductor who gave his life to stop a runaway train by throwing himself under the wheels. God truly acted providentially in bringing Uncle Miya into the project.

 

Of particular concern to me was the lack of a clear verb for "forgive" in Japanese. There is a word pronounced yurusu that is used for both "forgive" and "permit." Now, there are different Chinese characters for the two meanings: 許す for "permit" and 赦す for "forgive."

I decided to use a Chinese compound verb that also means to forgive: 容赦する。 "Nailed it," I thought, until Uncle Miya got ahold of me. He revealed that this word is only used in a negative context, such as "I can't forgive him for that." We could not use it the way I wanted to.

This points out the absolute need for national/native partners. No matter how good one is in a language, there will be gaffs and misses when the language is learned as an adult.