Basically, it makes all the difference because the Bible is not simply a book or a collection of books. I believe that behind it stands God. Additionally, it is the main vehicle for God speaking to us as human beings, explaining to us who we are, and what is the ultimate objective of our lives.
Above everything else, it tells us how to develop a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
It has meant everything to me from a very young age.
The very first phrase in the Bible: ‘In the beginning God…’ (Genesis 1:1), was used by the pastor who married my wife Sally and me, 56 years ago.
And it stuck firmly in our minds. He had little idea that one day I would be publicly defending the doctrine of creation. But he used that particular statement to point out that we were making a new beginning the day we married and that there’d be other new beginnings in life. And he said: ‘Always remember, number one: “In the beginning God…,” whatever beginning it is.’
It has meant a huge amount to us in our lives together and individually.
Culture revolves around our language. When I learnt German, it helped me to gain an insight into continental culture that I couldn’t have had otherwise. Likewise, it was the same with learning French.
And I’ve experienced, firsthand, seeing a new translation of Scripture being handed over by Wycliffe and the joy it brings.
Reading the Bible in any other language than your own poses a distance, obviously, between you and the text.
So, for me the work of putting Scripture into other languages is perhaps the greatest work anyone can be involved in.
As Christians begin to develop how AI can serve them, particularly in speeding up work such as Bible translation, I can see it being an enormous help.
But everything it does will have to be carefully checked with native speakers. I know that there’s a great tradition among Bible translators – my cousin served with Wycliffe for many years – of carefully checking the translation.
I’ve no doubt AI is going to be an immensely important tool in saving time. And anything that saves time – provided we use it carefully and don’t let it become our master – is worth having.
The world still has a significant number of languages that don’t have the Scriptures in their own language.
Bible translation is an unfinished task. I wish God’s blessing on everyone who seeks to finish it. And who goes further than we have been before, so that people who are unreached with Scripture will be reached.
Oh, it would be enormously different. If I didn’t have it in my own language, I would have to rely on people who knew something about the Bible. And then have it explained it to me. But that would mean adding many different levels of distance from Scripture.
So clearly, it would make a vast difference. To have a Bible of one’s own, and not simply to rely on one that’s chained to a desk or in a library, is wonderful.
For more on John Lennox, visit johnlennox.org.
