Author: Robert Smith

The publication of the Bible in everyday language stuck a chord throughout German speaking lands. For the first time in history, middle class families could afford to own a Bible and one they could read with their children! The investment was about what a modern American household spends on a car. Even his opponents recognized the high literary quality of its phrases and sound. Luther translated so it sounded good read out loud. Where his enemies faulted him was where he changed Greek and Hebrew figures of speech and added words not in the original texts to make the result sound like a German wrote it.

While in Coburg Castle waiting for the presentation of the Augsburg Confession, Luther wrote a letter now known as On Translating. In it he explained his method. The goal was to be faithful to the meaning of the original text while making it understandable in German. This is a very difficult thing to do. Translate idioms word for word and it will sound like nonsense. Here is how Luther describes what happens when you translate that way the greeting of the Angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary:

When the angel greets Mary, he says, “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you!” (Luke 1:28) … When does a German speak like that, “You are full of grace”? What German understands what that is, to be “full of grace”? He would have to think of a keg “full of” beer or a purse “full of” money. Therefore I have translated it, “Thou gracious one,” so that a German can at least think his way through to what the angel meant by this greeting … Suppose I had taken the best German, and translated the salutation thus: “Hello there, Mary!”

Martin Luther, On Translating, AE 35:190-191

So the Reformer picked words and figures of speech common in spoken German. No, he didn’t go as far as translate: “Hello, Mary!” He wrote: “Greetings, blessed one!” When Luther translated this way, he overturned much ancient churchly language. Over the centuries the words of translations obscured the gospel and the new translation brought to everyone the discoveries he found when studying the Scripture in their original language. It touched hearts, changed the way people spoke to each other and created in a few short years a standard form of the language. More than anything else, Luther taught scholars to translate and translations that follow were better for it.

©2019 Robert E. Smith. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com

St. Jerome was born into a wealthy Italian family just a few decades after Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. As a young man, he became a Christian and was baptized in his twenties. He devoted himself to study and became a devoted to the monastic life. He was ordained a priest in Constantinople in the 380s and came to serve as the personal secretary of Pope Damascus I. The pope commissioned him to revise the Old Latin translations of the Bible to produce an accurate version of the Scriptures in the common (Vulgatus) language. The finished translation became known as the Vulgate, and eventually became used as the universal translation of the Bible in the Western Christian Church. He is respected as the father of the art of translation and the patron saint of librarians.

St. Jerome, known for his wit, is often given credit for a Latin pun: translatio traditio est. The phrase can mean “translation is treason” or “translation is tradition.” It captures the truth that no translation can perfectly capture the meaning of its original text in another language. A translator simply cannot avoid interpreting the text he or she expresses in a new language. So, in a sense, every translation betrays its original author. Yet without translations, readers would need to learn Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic and to some extent Latin to understand the Bible. A good translation “hands down” the text to speakers of other languages.

This is why Lutherans insist that their pastors learn at least Greek and Hebrew. For the most part, the Bible was written in Koine (common) Greek and Biblical Hebrew. This allows them to see what God said without the filter of 2000-3500 years of interpretation. The result is much like watching a TV in high definition color after watching programs in standard black-and-white. It is the same text, but another dimension opens when you see the text as it was written down. They, in turn, have been sent to us by God to “hand down” his word to us.

So, if a person does not have the time or skills to learn these languages, how can you tell if the translation you use is accurate or whether to some extent it is colored by the translator’s views? For English speakers, who are blessed with hundreds of translations in their language, it helps to have several respected versions available. ([http://biblegateway.com)] puts many versions at your fingertips.) When your reading a passage, compare several to each other. If they say more or less the same thing, you know the passage is very clear in the original language. If they differ, ask your pastor to help with it. That way translation will pass down the word of God to you and not lead you astray.

©2019 Robert E. Smith. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com

Program Note: I’ve updated the Blog Post Series page ( https://whatdoesthismean.blog/blog-post-series/ ) to reflect all of our Church Words posts. More to come.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Electronic Resources Librarian
Concordia Theological Seminary
Blog Editor