“Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.” John 5:19 NLT
“People should see in you the life they can have in Christ.”
My thoughts and comments today are about “accurate translation.”
A translator has only one job, to accurately translate one language into another language for another’s better understanding. That can be more complicated than it first sounds. I learned in English classes long ago that words have both denotation, what they mean literally, and connotation, what they have come to mean in common usage. Languages can be a bit tricky for finding the translated word that best fits the speaker’s intention.
Some years ago, I was teaching in a conference in West Berlin attended by ministers from many European countries. I was teaching in English but being translated into German by a young minister. He was adequate enough in both English and German. After my first session, a man who spoke both languages asked to speak with me. He recommended we speak with the Conference leader, requesting a different translator because the young man was often carried away with what he wanted to say rather than accurately translating what I had said. Whatever his linguistic abilities, he failed his job as my translator.
Jesus said, “I assure you, the Son can do nothing by Himself. He does only what He sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does. . . by Myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and My judgment is just, for I seek not to please Myself but Him who sent Me.” John 5:19/30 NIV. Jesus watched and listened to His Father, and then did and said exactly what He saw and heard. Jesus said, “If you really knew Me, you would know My Father as well . . anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father.” John 14:7-10 NIV. Want to know what God is like? Read His Word and look at Jesus.
What does that have to do with you and me? Everything! As Christ-followers, you and I are the living translators of what God says, and more importantly, by professing His name we are the translators of who God is. “You are our letter . . known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” 2 Corinthians 3:2-3 NIV.
That should give you pause; it does me. When people hear yours and my words can they hear something of God’s voice? When people observe yours and my lifestyle and relationships, do they know a little more about what God is like. With the realities of our humanity, we may not translate God perfectly but we are expected to translate Him accurately, as much as we are capable of doing.
John certainly understood and embraced that responsibility. Listen to His words, “That which we have heard, which we have seen with our own eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched – this we proclaim concerning the Word of Life . . We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us.” 1 John 1:1-3 NIV. Someone is looking and listening to you, hoping to know more about God and His love. See 2 Corinthians 3:18 NLT. Let your life always translate His love and truth clearly.
My prayer for you today is that people see in you the life they can have in Christ.