Transmission and Translation
Since God
has nowhere promised an inerrant transmission of Scripture, it is necessary to
affirm that only the autographic text of the original documents was inspired
and to maintain the need of textual criticism as a means of detecting any slips
that may have crept into the text in the course of its transmission. The
verdict of this science, however, is that the Hebrew and Greek text appear to
be amazingly well preserved, so that we are amply justified in affirming, with
the Westminster Confession, a singular providence of God in this matter and in
declaring that the authority of Scripture is in no way jeopardized by the fact
that the copies we possess are not entirely error free.
Similarly,
no translation is or can be perfect, and all translations are an additional
step away from the autographa. Yet the verdict of linguistic science is that
English-speaking Christians, at least, are exceedingly well served in these
days with a host of excellent translations and have no cause for hesitating to
conclude that the true Word of God is within their reach. Indeed, in view of
the frequent repetition in Scripture of the main matters with which it deals
and also of the Holy Spirit’s constant witness to and through the Word, no
serious translation of Holy Scripture will so destroy its meaning as to render
it unable to make its reader “wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus”
(2 Tim. 3:15).[1]
[1] Sproul, R. C.
2009. Can I Trust the
Bible?. Vol. 2. The Crucial Questions Series. Lake Mary, FL:
Reformation Trust Publishing.
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