I. As we close our study, please keep several thoughts in mind:
A. As long as this old world stands, this subject will continue to be important. It's not a topic a person can examine one time and then forget about. New translations will continue to appear; some of the older ones may pass from favor. The Christian will have to evaluate the merits and reliability of the translators' work (I Thess.5:21;I Jn.4:1).
B. Sometimes you will encounter people who refuse to have confidence in ANY translation. Often they will say such things as, "How can we trust the Bible? So many men have corrupted God's Word for so long that I don't see how you can have faith in any of it! Really,the Bible we have today is just man's work." Those who hold such a view forget our Lord's sure, unshakeable promises: "For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth forever" (I Pet.1:24-25).
1. Does any religiously-minded person truly think that God is so weak and man is so strong that, even though our Creator wants us to know the truth (I Tim.2:3-4), He wasn't able to accurately preserve His word?
2. Do we so soon forget the words of Christ in Matt.24:35: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away"?
3. It may very well be that those who profess little or no confidence in the Bible are consciously, or unconsciously, simply refusing to submit themselves to God's will. There is overwhelming evidence to convince the honest-hearted individual that the Bible is God's word and that God has preserved the accurate transmission of His word. Remember what Abraham said to the rich man in Luke 16:30-31. While this has not, primarily, been a study in evidences, consider the points made in the first half of our survey.
C. That's not to say, however, that the Christian has to accept blindly every translation as being equally reliable.
1. Remember,there is no one English translation of the Bible that has been authorized by God for all English-speaking people, for all times.
2. DILIGENCE, WATCHFULNESS, AND A WORKMANLIKE ATTITUDE are all required to evaluate the genuiness and reliability of each translation. These have always been necessary qualities of every Christian (2 Tim. 2:15; Phil. 2:12.
3. In considering any new translation, time is your ally. Do not jump to hasty or haphazard conclusions. Do not blindly accept the judgment of one or two individuals, especially if little specific evidence is offered, without doing your own work. Generally, over a period of years, the strengths and weaknesses of a particular translation will become well-established.
4. Above all else, STUDY, STUDY, STUDY, the good, reliable translations we do have! I've known individuals who would debate the merits of various translations for hours, but, when it came time to read and study God's Word, they seemed to have little interest. Don't be of that number!