Words, Words, Words!

Michael Morgan, CCM

In the narthex of Campbell Chapel there used to be a striking, dark-toned print of a preacher, standing in the pulpit on a typical Sunday morning. The text of the sermon emanating from his lips was simply an endless string of “words, words, words . . .”

That picture mysteriously disappeared a few years ago, and we’ll probably never know what happened to it. I like to think of it hanging in a preacher’s office somewhere across our General Assembly as a reminder that every word we speak is a significant and honest reflection of what is in our minds and hearts.

Presbyterians have been called “people of the Word,” because we put such stock in what Scripture says to us. Our worship is founded on “Word and Sacrament,” putting the Bible right up there with Eucharist and Baptism as the cornerstones of our faith. We believe the Bible in our hands is divinely inspired, rendered into words we can understand by scholars, theologians, saints, and martyrs, yet ever vulnerable to an evolving culture with its archaisms and prejudices. Just consider these examples:

•  Two centuries ago began a series of translations which rendered baptizo as “immerse” instead of “baptize”—a challenge to how we approach half of our Sacraments!

•  The King James Version tells us it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to get into heaven —a strange image indeed, especially for early 17th century English scholars who probably never even saw a camel! George Lamsa, in his translation from the Aramaic, argues that similar words can mean either “camel” or “rope.” Certainly the analogy of a rope is much more feasible than a camel!

•  All Protestant Bibles use the imagery of a shepherd in the 23rd Psalm, but Catholic Bibles, drawing on the Vulgate Latin, begin their translation, “The Lord ruleth me”—no allusion to a shepherd at all.

•  The Revised Standard Version of the New Testament in 1946 caused considerable furor with its description of Mary as a “young woman” and not a “virgin.” The translation was denounced by many, and Bible burnings—reminiscent of the early Reformation when William Tyndale’s New Testament was burned at St. Paul’s Cathedral—testified to the heresy many attributed to it.

Some Christians adamantly affirm: “If the King James Version was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for me!” But are they talking about the first edition of 1611, the subsequent revisions of 1616, 1629, 1638, 1675, 1762, 1769, or any of the altered texts up to the Twenty-first Century King James Bible? (Surely they are not considering the notorious “Wicked” edition of 1631, which omitted the negative from the seventh commandment, reading, “Thou shalt commit adultery”!)

An equally disturbing slogan is, “God said it; I believe it; that settles it.” Our Scriptures, inspired by God, are communicated through human beings who, like us, cannot avoid letting their personal beliefs influence their efforts. The 20th century humorist, James Thurber, was once approached by a woman who remarked, having read his books both in English and a French translation, that she preferred the translation. To this, Thurber replied, “My work always suffers in the original!” Indeed, if all we had before us were the original texts—Hebrew scrolls, Aramaic and Greek codices—there would be little value in reading the Word in our worship.

The old Italian proverb, “Traduttore traditore”—“The translator is a traitor”—may sound harsh, but obviously speaks an element of truth. So the best we can do is to open our eyes, ears, and hearts to whatever version attracts our attention, fosters our understanding, and strengthens our faith. “Sola Scriptura” was a critical byword of the Reformation and our Reformed faith—all we believe is based in Scripture, and that Scripture is not so much the “words” of God as it is the “Word” of God—the embodiment of who we perceive God to be. What may be “words, words, words” to some of us may indeed be the Law and Gospel to others, and we may not know where the two diverge and coalesce until, as Benjamin Franklin reminded us, “we meet the Author face to face.”

Seminary Musician Michael Morgan is an avid collector of English versions of the Bible, the New Testament, and the Psalms, which he displays at the seminary and at church music and Bible conferences around the country. He has generously made his library accessible to others, including the staff of Vantage for this issue. Also the organist for Central Presbyterian Church, in Atlanta, he is a Certified Church Musician and a member of the executive board of the Presbyterian Association of Musicians.