The Bible is the Book of Life that contains God’s thoughts and will. It is a no-brainer to say, “Amen” to the statement that we Christians must accurately know and understand God’s intent and meaning in the text for our eternal life (John 5:39). 

However, most Christians in reality live their Christian life based on a deluge of erroneously translated versions of the Bible despite their need to access the truth. It is even confusing and very hard for believers to discern which text is truly reliable. The bottom line is that a flood of translated texts of the Scriptures, most of which are reader-friendly, allows Christians to take the individualistic interpretation of the Bible depending on their own tastes or preferences for a different version. This further causes a shallow understanding of the Scriptures due to their indulging in taking individualistic viewpoints and a feeble attempt to delve into the Scriptures due to complacency on the fixated personal interpretation. Therefore, it is upsetting to see when Christians find that a strong emphasis on original text is a bit of a stretch because they are already satisfied or comfortable enough for their Christian life with just translated texts. 

On the other hand, the original text does not always negate the necessity of translated texts because even those who teach the original text can speak falsely (Pharisees and Sadducees were native speakers of Hebrew in the time of Jesus yet denied Him upfront and there were many Greek speakers who stood up against the Apostles’ teachings).

Rather, what should be underscored is that we Christians need to be aware of limitations in translation and bring the original texts over the translated texts and that we need to be guided by the Holy Spirit who knows God’s deep thoughts (1 Cor. 2:10). We would need to pour our hearts and efforts into following original Scriptures if and only if the unfathomable and complicated puzzles can come off as one complete picture. Then, the whole journey for greater scrutiny in original Scriptures would be sweet and rewarding, right?

Now, let’s briefly list out some problems of translated texts. The kinds of mistranslations in the Bible include (1) lack of contextual coherency, (2) inconsistency of adherence to the same word choice throughout the text, (3) countless liberal translations caused by linguistic discrepancies between Hebrew/Greek grammar and the target language grammar, (4) mistranslations caused by the omission of words or disarrangement of sentence structures, and (5) biased translations in favor of certain doctrines.

These mistranslations affect believers’ perspectives on God’s words and their Christian life, which would eventually create misconceptions about God. This would place believers in great danger even to the point of destruction instead of guiding them to life. Thus, the advent of heretic teachings, distorted views on Christianity, and misguiding theologies in disguise would be attributed to the teachings short of careful examination through the original Scripture.  

(Note: click here to learn more about mistranslations and misconceptions)

Throughout church history, faithful believers would always refer to the Scripture as the basis for their theological arguments. Indeed, Jesus and the early church emphasized fidelity to (original) Scriptures as the sole reference to the Word of God, when they proclaimed the gospel (Luke 24:27, 44; John 5:39; 21:25; Acts 17:2, 11; 18:28; Rom. 1:2; 4:3; 9:17; 1 Cor. 15:3-4; Gal. 3:8, 22; Gal. 4:30; 1 Tim. 5:18; 2 Tim. 3:15-16; Heb. 3:15; 2 Pet. 3:16). For example, according to Acts 15-16, when Paul and Barnabas had a debate with some brothers from Judea over the issue of whether the physical circumcision according to the custom of Moses is necessary for salvation, Paul and Barnabas lowered themselves not to push the dissension any further with their limited knowledge at the moment; yet, they decided to go on a long journey walking from Antioch (a province located in current Turkey) all the way to Jerusalem (approximately 500 miles in distance from Antioch) only to counsel the issue with the other apostles and elders. The takeaway from this scene is that the passion and efforts to deliver the message of God as accurately as possible at all costs are what we as Christians should all emulate.

Pros Original Bible Church, therefore, following suit of the apostles, solely exists and is wholeheartedly committed to teaching the Word of God accurately through the original Scripture and to set an example of the life of Christ’s disciple so that all believers can advance toward the Father through Jesus Christ, not being “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (Eph. 4:14).