A controversial decision by a number of Bible translation companies to remove the terms "Father" and "Son" from Arabic Bible versions is stirring a debate over the importance of semantics.
The words "Father," "Son" and "Holy Spirit" are integral to preserving the true meaning of the Gospel and should never be tampered with, some ministries say. But some Bible translation organizations – such as Wycliffe Bible Translators and the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL), have argued that in certain cultures, keeping the literal translation creates the wrong context and does not portray the relationship between God and Jesus Christ correctly.
Controversy is swirling around the Arabic and Turkish translations of the Bible. The word "Father" is replaced with "Allah" (meaning God in Arabic), while "Son" becomes "Messiah."
Biblical Missiology, a consortium of mission groups based in Boulder, Colo., has started a petition on Change.com, which they hope will convince Wycliffe Bible Translators and SIL to reconsider their decision to translate the words in such a way.
According to Yahoo News, representatives of the organizations have already sat down with leaders from the Bible translation companies in question, but have failed to reach an agreement.
One example of this change in the text concerns Matthew 28:19, which instead of "baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" becomes "Cleanse them by water in the name of Allah, his Messiah and his Holy Spirit."
The reason for this modification, both Wycliffe and SIL say in similar statements released which address the concern, is so that Muslim readers of the Bible are not confused into thinking that the relationship between God and Jesus is a physical father-and-son one, where God is the biological father of Jesus.
"We, along with all other Wycliffe organizations worldwide, strongly affirm the eternal deity of Jesus Christ and require that it be preserved in all translations. Scripture translations should promote understanding of the term 'Son of God' in all its richness, including His filial relationship with God the Father, while avoiding any possible implication of sexual activity by the Father," The Wycliffe branch in Canada explained in a statement.
However, a number of experts in Christian-Muslim relations are saying that such a change is unnecessary.
"(These efforts are) a western imperialistic attempt that's inspired by cultural anthropology, and not by biblical theology," said Rev. Bassam Madany of Middle East Resources, an organization dedicated to approaching the challenge of global Islam from a Christian and historical perspective.
"This translation is 'an all-American idea' with absolutely no respect for the 'sacredness' of Scripture, or even of the growing Turkish church," added Turkish church leader Rev. Fikret Böcek.
Other experts have warned that regardless of cultural needs, we should be looking to preserve the Bible as is.
Founder and president of Teaching The Word Ministries, Dr. Paul M. Elliott, who holds a doctorate in Biblical exegesis and has written four books and hundreds of articles and booklets, explained that the most important aspect concerning translating and interpreting the Bible should be preserving the meaning of the original source.
"We need to have the authentic source text – of course, that has been an issue that has been debated a lot. But translators who come to the Bible (and want to use) a proper approach must be faithful and accurate in translating it, and must to the extent that is humanly possibly, not impose our theological, political or cultural agendas," Dr. Elliot said.
"The issue first and foremost is that we need to recognize the issue of the Bible as a religious book – it is in fact the Word of God – it is a supernatural book. We do not have the right as human beings to do that kind of manipulation of the text. We need to be faithful and accurate in translating it from the original language. It is not legitimate to do what is in fact not a translation, but an interpretation," he said, addressing Wycliffe's contextualization of the Scripture for Muslims.
As a response to Wycliffe and SIL's claims that such a cultural-specific translation is necessary, Biblical Missiology produced a "fact-check" document that addresses the different contentions the Bible translation organizations have made.
"This must be clearly stated at the outset: the "impression" of the reader never justifies replacing or removing "Father," "Son," or "Son of God" from the text of Scripture, regardless of the reader's misunderstanding or objections. The nature of the reader's offense has no bearing on what God actually says and means in his Word," the document positioned.
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Debate over 'Father' and 'Son' terms in Arabic Bible translations
By: Stoyan Zaimov, Christian Post
Wednesday, 1 February 2012, 21:33 (IST)
Copyright © 2012 Christian Today. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior permission.
Have your say on this article
Added: Thursday, 2 February 2012, 20:28 (IST)
Allah was a 'god' in ancient Babylon, their moon God. Which explains the Islamic symbols. We have to understand that allah doesn't mean 'God' its the name of an near eastern idol that God asked Abraham to forsake when he left Ur.
Dantheman, Port Colborne Canada
Added: Friday, 3 February 2012, 0:22 (IST)
This is totally and completely wrong. Not only for the reasons stated in this article, but also because it may cause Muslims to think that the false god, Allah, of their religion is equal to Jehovah God of the Bible, the one, true God. This is a perversion of Scripture which shouldn't even be given legitimate consideration. Shame on the so-called "scholars" who endorse such blasphemy.
Wayne Greulich, Arthur, Canada
Added: Friday, 3 February 2012, 5:08 (IST)
There is nothing wrong with using the term. MESSIAH m is there . That also is the truth!
Connie Lewis, Edmonton Ab, Canada
Added: Sunday, 5 February 2012, 1:31 (IST)
Anyone who doesn't like the use of the term 'Allah' should ask an Arabic Christian what they call God in their language. Not that it can replace Father as an equivalent, but it is the Arabic translation of the word 'God' (capital G!), or Hebrew, El, or Greek, theos. It's as simple as that. What do you want Arabic Christians to call God in their language, if not ' Allah', their word for God?
MH, Calgary
Added: Monday, 6 February 2012, 14:47 (IST)
I am a Palestinian/Arab Christian. Allah is my God; otherwise, what should I call Him? The Bible was written in my culture; so do not tell me that WE have a cultural problem; maybe Western Christians have. I teach Muslim students about Christianity, and they have deep respect of the differences. As we both have the same God, they understand easily that God is spirit, and there is nothing sexual in God's relationship with his Word. Do not touch my [translation of the] Bible. I love it the way it is.
Jamal Khader, Bethlehem - Palestine
Added: Wednesday, 8 February 2012, 1:50 (IST)
With all respect, Jamal, I reject your comment, "As we both have the same God," referring to Muslims and Christians. We do not, in fact, have the same God. Please tell me you not teaching your students this dangerous, false theology. Allah of Islam, is not the same as Jehova of Scripture. Any study below a very superficial level will easily expose this. I hope I have misunderstood your post, Jamal.
KJF, Dallas, USA
Added: Friday, 2 March 2012, 23:01 (IST)
More important than the translation of God to Allah is the translation of SON to Messiah. Jesus is the ONLY begotten, unique son of the ONE TRUE God. I MIGHT could give them their Allah IF it were SIMPLY, a translation for the word God. (However, using Messiah in place of son changes Jesus from the only unique Son of God to simply a mere human being that has the anointing of a prophet , as Islam already sees Him. When my pastor spoke to an Islamic man about Jesus, he smiled and said," yes, Jesus, Mohammed's brother". WRONG! Jesus is the spiritually & miraculously conceived yet biological, Son of God. I say biological because Jesus, as the Son of God in human form was a biological being because he was born of a woman. Jesus was without sin because sin is passed through the blood line of mere human males. He was not conceived in a biological way though, a human male by supernaturally by the Holy Spirit. NO HUMAN male, was involved. He is truly the Messiah but He is TRULY, the Son of God first and foremost, born of a virgin.
Veta, Hot Springs, USA
Added: Tuesday, 13 March 2012, 11:03 (IST)
I agree with Jamal Khader 100%. Yes KJF of Dallas you really did misunderstood Jamal. This is the problem with translating Father as Allah: In English we say "God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit." Transliterated it would be "Allah the Allah, Allah the Messiah, Allah the Holy Spirit." As you can see "God the Father" means something. "Allah the Allah" Doesn't mean anything. The concept of using the word "Father" gives a presence of intimacy. This intimacy is extremely vital to the Christian. It is life to our souls to be able to call God "Father". To translate "God the Father" as "Allah the Allah" That intimacy is absolutely destroyed. Therefore I have no problems with Allah being another word for God. For if ALLAH represented the moon in Pre-Islamic times, then What I understand is that the Moon was the Biggest and brightest object that ruled the night sky in a sky full of stars. The Moon was the "God of gods" so to speak. Therefore, the word Allah is the Closest to the development of a Monotheistic theology of God that can be found in the Arab speaking World. Of course I would have to do more on the Pre-islamic representation of the Sun. But this is beyond the scope of this article. Allah meaning God is fine. But Allah meaning Father? Not acceptable. and if this corrupted and perverted translation of God's word is accepted then there is a hidden agenda to make Christianity bow down and submit to Islam. Allah Forbid.
Sanchez, New York, USA
Added: Saturday, 7 April 2012, 0:09 (IST)
KJF, I think you need to learn more about Islam and Allah in Islam. if he is not the same as Jehova, who is he then? I don't know what are you sources, but I hope it is not influenced by western islamophobia... Between Dallas (USA) and Bethlehem (Palestine), I think we have more knowledge and experience with Islam (more than 1500 years!). I read the Quran in the original language (Arabic), and I know what Muslims mean when they say Allah. In Arabic, we say Allah is Father (not Allah is Allah!). Dear KJF, I hope there is a misunderstanding here, and not a negative attitude towards Muslims and Islam.
Jamal Khader, Bethlehem- Palestine
Added: Tuesday, 1 May 2012, 4:06 (IST)
Most English-speaking N. Americans react very emotionally to the word Allah because we are experiencing it from within our own language and culture. Actually the word Allah is simply the Arabic word for God, just as the words El, or Elohim, is the original Hebrew word for God. Arab and Hebrew are linguistic cousins. Arabic-speaking Christians have used this term for centuries, long before Muhammed even came on the scene. He, in fact, simply took the Christian term, Allah, and used it for Islam. Today, we in the West, with our short memories and limited understanding, think it has always been used by the Muslims. This is untrue. For various languages in the world, the term the believers themselves choose to use in their Bible is still Allah, as the One Creator God. Another interesting point -- we are emotionally attached to our term "God," but few of us realize where it came from. It was borrowed from the German "Gotte", in fact a very pagan term at the time. Today, to us, it is sacred indeed. We need to slow down in our hot judgment of this issue and seek to discover the truth about our own language. Bible translators give their lives very sacrificially to the heavy responsibility of sharing the Good News with those still waiting to hear it. We would spend our time better to pray for these dedicated people, many of whom are men and women in very remote areas, painstakingly translating Scripture for their own people.
Kathy, Calgary, Alberta
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