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Translators Down Through the Ages
- Thread starter John of Japan
- Start date
Here is an interesting quote about Jerome from a church history book:
“Jerome’s best use of his unquestionable learning was as a translator of the Scriptures. The older Latin versions were crude, and had fallen into much corruption. Pope Damasus proposed to Jerome a revision. That he completed for the New Testament about 388. The Old Testament he then translated in Bethlehem, with the aid of Jewish friends. It is a proof of Jerome’s soundness of scholarship that, in spite even of the wishes of Augustine, he went back of the Septuagint to the Hebrew. The result of Jerome’s work was the Vulgate, still in use in the Roman Church. It is his best monument.”
A History of the Christian Church (3rd ed.), by Williston Walker. Scribners, New York, p. 159.
“Jerome’s best use of his unquestionable learning was as a translator of the Scriptures. The older Latin versions were crude, and had fallen into much corruption. Pope Damasus proposed to Jerome a revision. That he completed for the New Testament about 388. The Old Testament he then translated in Bethlehem, with the aid of Jewish friends. It is a proof of Jerome’s soundness of scholarship that, in spite even of the wishes of Augustine, he went back of the Septuagint to the Hebrew. The result of Jerome’s work was the Vulgate, still in use in the Roman Church. It is his best monument.”
A History of the Christian Church (3rd ed.), by Williston Walker. Scribners, New York, p. 159.
Origen
Active Member
Both An Index of Dead Sea Scrolls Manuscripts, ed. Martin Abegg Jr., Accordance electronic ed. (Altamonte Springs: OakTree Software, Inc., 2015) and The Dead Sea Scrolls, Study Edition by Florentino García Martínez and Eibert J. C. Tigchelaar lists the fragments as:
4Q119 (4QLXXLeva) 4Q Septuagint Leviticus a
4Q120 (4QpapLXXLevb) 4Q Septuagint Leviticus b
4Q121 (4QLXXNum) 4Q Septuagint Numbers
4Q122 (4QLXXDeut) 4Q Septuagint Deuteronomy
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Origen
Active Member
Whiston's translation is disputed. Ralph Marcus translates the verb "copied." He states:
"The exact meaning of σεσημάνται in Arist., which Josephus has taken over in the infin. σεσημάνθαι, is a matter of dispute. Some scholars take it to mean "interpreted " and think it refers to a previous Greek translations of the Pentateuch, cf. Z. Frankel, Vorstudien zu der Septuaginta, 1841, p. 61 note k. It seems clear from the context, however, that it refers to Hebrew MSS. of the Pentateuch which have been carelessly copied from an original scroll (presumably kept in the temple at Jerusalem)."
Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, Vol. III: Books 7-8, Loeb Classical Library, p. 21 note c.
So four of the five Qumram Greek fragments were copies of the LXX, but the fifth, 7Q1 was either a copy of a lost translation or an in house translation?
Thank you, I believe I now understand what you told us.
Van
SavedByGrace
Well-Known Member
The LXX was not used by either Jesus Christ, or the writers of the New Testament Books. They would have used an Aramaic Version of the Old Testament, that was very close to the LXX, and from which the LXX was made. The LXX is only a translation of the Old Testament from the Hebrew, and not Inspired by the Holy Spirit, as the Original OT Books are. The LXX is like our KJV, NASB, ESV and other translations. It is impossible for either Jesus or the NT writers to have used an uninspired text.
SavedByGrace
Well-Known Member
Here is a quote from Bruce Metzger on this version:
"In theology Ulfilas was hospitable to Arianism (or semi-Arianism) ; how far his theological views may have influenced his translation of the New Testament, or whether indeed there was any influence, has been debated. Perhaps the only certain trace of the translator's dogmatic bias is found in Phil. ii. 6, where reference is made to the pre-existent Christ in terms of being galeiko guda (= 'similar to God'), whereas the Greek ισα θεω should have been rendered ibna guda." (The Early Versions of the New Testament, pp. 376-7)
SavedByGrace
Well-Known Member
It is interesting that Jerome, when working on his Latin Vulgate, did not much care for the LXX, but preferred the Versions of Symmachus and Aquila.
Nonsense. They could use whatever they wanted to.
SavedByGrace
Well-Known Member
that is exactly what you are talking, NONSENSE! You don't know what you are on about! The Holy Bible is 100% Inspired and THE Word of Almighty God, and NOT part God and part man!
And now back to our regularly scheduled thread, which is about translators.
One of my heroes is Adoniram Judson, the very first missionary to Burma (now called Myanmar). He left the US to go to India as a Congregational missionary, but ended up as a Baptist, due to Bible study, and in Burma. Before he could translate the Bible, he had to learn Burmese through a tutor he hired. He then had to write the very first dictionary and very first grammar in that language. He then wrote a tract and saw one man come to Christ after 7 years, a man name Myong as I recall. The man was probably saved before then, but Judson was old school, and looked for fruit before he would baptize him.
It took him many years to translate the Bible. In the meantime, war broke out between Burma and England. Though an American, he was cast into prison as being on the British side. His translation manuscript was cast on a garbage heap, but his wife found it and brought it to him in prison, where he used it for a pillow. When Burma lost the war, he was released and served as interpreter for the treaty negotiations.
Judson’s method of translation is described by his son: “The work of translating was done thoroughly and conscientiously. Every Hebrew and Greek word was turned as far as possible into its exact Burmese equivalent. The Greek word for baptism was justly translated into Burmese, Ya-hneat mengalali, that is, the water-bathing or immersing religious rite.”[1] Again, a letter from Judson’s wife says, “With all this, he has told me that he felt, when making his translation, an almost overpowering sense of the awfulness of his work, and an ever-present conviction that every word was as from the lips of God.”[2] Judson himself said, “I have endeavored, I hope successfully, to make every sentence a faithful representation of the original.”[3]
[1] Edward Judson, The Life of Adoniram Judson (New York: Anson D. F. Randolf and Co., 1883), 408.
[2] Ibid, 413.
[3] Ibid.
One of my heroes is Adoniram Judson, the very first missionary to Burma (now called Myanmar). He left the US to go to India as a Congregational missionary, but ended up as a Baptist, due to Bible study, and in Burma. Before he could translate the Bible, he had to learn Burmese through a tutor he hired. He then had to write the very first dictionary and very first grammar in that language. He then wrote a tract and saw one man come to Christ after 7 years, a man name Myong as I recall. The man was probably saved before then, but Judson was old school, and looked for fruit before he would baptize him.
It took him many years to translate the Bible. In the meantime, war broke out between Burma and England. Though an American, he was cast into prison as being on the British side. His translation manuscript was cast on a garbage heap, but his wife found it and brought it to him in prison, where he used it for a pillow. When Burma lost the war, he was released and served as interpreter for the treaty negotiations.
Judson’s method of translation is described by his son: “The work of translating was done thoroughly and conscientiously. Every Hebrew and Greek word was turned as far as possible into its exact Burmese equivalent. The Greek word for baptism was justly translated into Burmese, Ya-hneat mengalali, that is, the water-bathing or immersing religious rite.”[1] Again, a letter from Judson’s wife says, “With all this, he has told me that he felt, when making his translation, an almost overpowering sense of the awfulness of his work, and an ever-present conviction that every word was as from the lips of God.”[2] Judson himself said, “I have endeavored, I hope successfully, to make every sentence a faithful representation of the original.”[3]
[1] Edward Judson, The Life of Adoniram Judson (New York: Anson D. F. Randolf and Co., 1883), 408.
[2] Ibid, 413.
[3] Ibid.
Here's a brief bio I wrote about an almost unknown translator.
God’s Man in Japan’s Far North: John Batchelor
March 20, 1854—1944
Yezo, now called Hokkaido, is the most northern of the four main islands of Japan. It is beautiful and bountiful, with high waterfalls, beautiful peaks and many animals, including the Hokkaido bear, deer and fox. Nowadays it is the dairy producer for most of Japan, and a favorite vacation spot for many Japanese, Koreans and Chinese. This is the story of a pioneer missionary to the native tribes of this island.
Ainu hunter Isonash (“Great Hunter”) stopped, looked around and sniffed the air. He looked at the horizon and saw the dark clouds moving in. Reluctantly he put his short bow and poisoned arrows away and headed for home. It looked like about two feet of snow would fall before the day was over, and he did not want to be caught out in it, though they desperately needed the food. He would not find Brother Bear today.
Then he thought again. Ah, yes, Batchelor was going to speak in his village tonight and tell them where they all came from. The man did not realize that the world rested on the back of a giant trout, and that there were many spirit-gods. He said that there was only one Kamui (God), and said he had translated the book of the true Kamui into Ainu from who knew what language. It all sounded so strange, but maybe it would be interesting. Batchelor seemed to really love the Ainu, though the Japanese certainly did not! Batchelor San actually could speak Ainu! He decided to return to his round house, have a brief supper and then go to hear the foreigner.
What did the hunter hear that day? He heard of the love of Jesus Christ for the Ainu people, and how He died for their sins. Isonash may not have gotten saved that day, but over the course of Batchelor’s ministry hundreds of Ainu people did trust Christ!
John Batchelor was a long way from his native London when he arrived in the cold, cold north of Japan. It was December of 1878, and he had finally come to live here to reach the Ainu tribes for Jesus Christ.
John’s target culture, the Ainu, is the most ancient in Japan. They lived on the main island of Honshu during the early history of Japan until gradually driven up to the northern island by the Japanese samurai warriors. In those days they were a hunter-gatherer people, living on the deer and other animals on the island. Their favorite, though, was the bear, one of their gods.
Batchelor first went to Hong Kong as a missionary after graduating from a London seminary at the age of 21, but found that the climate there did not agree with him. He arrived in Yokohama in 1875, and shortly after that shipped for the northern island of Hokkaido, arriving in the port city of Hakodate eight days later. There he began working with Missionary Walter Dening.
In 1878 Batchelor switched his evangelistic aim from the Japanese to the Ainu. Learning their language turned out to be a huge task for him. Not only were there no grammars or dictionaries for the Ainu language, it had never even had a written language! Certainly no Japanese had ever tried to write the language down, since they considered this primitive people beneath their civilized notice. Thus the first ever grammar and dictionary of the Ainu language was written by Batchelor.
By 1885 John had learned enough of the language to translate into it the first ever Christian song, “Jesus Loves Me.” That year he also finished translating the Apostles’ Creed and the Lord’s Prayer. He printed these up to share with his Ainu friends on a small hand press, the first things ever printed in the language!
Batchelor’s primary effort in those days was to translate the Word of God, a much harder project. As a first step, his version of the Psalms printed, then announced in the New York Times of July 5, 1896, in an article entitled “The Bible in Obscure Tongues.” It said, “A version of the Psalms in Ainu, prepared by the Rev. John Batchelor of the Church Missionary Society of England, has been printed in Yokohama by the Bible Societies’ Committee of Japan.” Down through the years he printed various books as he finished them, getting them into the hands of Ainu believers and prospects.
Translating the whole New Testament was a huge project, but he began diligently working on it. After years of hard work he finally finished this precious task, and in 1897, as it says on the title page, it was “Printed for the Bible Societies’ Committee for Japan by the Yokohama Bunsha.” (It was recently reprinted for research purposes.)
The Ainu language wasn’t the only barrier Batchelor faced in trying to reach these people for Christ. According to historian Otis Cary, “The Ainu were addicted to strong drink, and the Japanese that dwelt among them and often tyrannized over them tried to keep them from coming under the influence of the missionaries” (A History of Christianity in Japan, by Otis Cary, p. 181). Batchelor never gave up, though, and on Christmas Day, 1885, he baptized the first ever Ainu convert to Christ, the son of a village chief.
After that a few more were baptized, but Batchelor no doubt despaired of ever reaching the whole Ainu people. Then it happened! In 1893 one hundred and seventy one people were saved! That year, “there was an increase from eleven church-members and two catechumens to two hundred and nineteen members and one hundred and fifty-one catechumens. The number of villages containing Christians increased from two to ten. Of one village Mr. Batchelor wrote: ‘Every woman in Piratori has accepted Christ as her Saviour. That is a glorious triumph of the cross, for the women have never been allowed to have any religion; the men only have worshipped God. Just think of old women over seventy years of age, now for the first time in their lives, praying—and praying to Jesus only!’” (Cary, p. 246).
Batchelor continued to do his best for the Ainu, not only evangelizing them but ministering to them in other ways. Along with another missionary he started schools in various places, and established a “rest house” in Sapporo to house Ainu people who came to be treated at the hospital there. He also wrote books about the culture that preserve their history and traditions as no one else has: The Ainu and their Folk-lore, Specimens of Ainu Folk-lore, etc.
Less than 20,000 Ainu were left as of 1914. Today even in Hokkaido there are few full-blooded Ainu left, though sometimes they can be found in tourist areas selling beautiful hand-carved animals, in particular the bear. Others demonstrate their dances and music and other aspects of their culture to tourists. However, almost all have been assimilated into Japanese society, though they still often face racial prejudice from the Japanese.
Few Ainu today still speak their language. A Japanese linguist, a professor at Yokohama University recorded on cassette tapes in the 1990’s one Ainu dialect from the last known speaker. When the old Ainu lady died at a very advanced age, something died with her. As Batchelor himself once said, “The race is a dying one, and nothing that can now be done can save it.” However, when we all reach Heaven there will be hundreds of Ainu there—all because of one man who dared to reach their cold, cold island for Christ!
Main source: A History of Christianity in Japan, by Otis Cary, 1909
God’s Man in Japan’s Far North: John Batchelor
March 20, 1854—1944
Yezo, now called Hokkaido, is the most northern of the four main islands of Japan. It is beautiful and bountiful, with high waterfalls, beautiful peaks and many animals, including the Hokkaido bear, deer and fox. Nowadays it is the dairy producer for most of Japan, and a favorite vacation spot for many Japanese, Koreans and Chinese. This is the story of a pioneer missionary to the native tribes of this island.
Ainu hunter Isonash (“Great Hunter”) stopped, looked around and sniffed the air. He looked at the horizon and saw the dark clouds moving in. Reluctantly he put his short bow and poisoned arrows away and headed for home. It looked like about two feet of snow would fall before the day was over, and he did not want to be caught out in it, though they desperately needed the food. He would not find Brother Bear today.
Then he thought again. Ah, yes, Batchelor was going to speak in his village tonight and tell them where they all came from. The man did not realize that the world rested on the back of a giant trout, and that there were many spirit-gods. He said that there was only one Kamui (God), and said he had translated the book of the true Kamui into Ainu from who knew what language. It all sounded so strange, but maybe it would be interesting. Batchelor seemed to really love the Ainu, though the Japanese certainly did not! Batchelor San actually could speak Ainu! He decided to return to his round house, have a brief supper and then go to hear the foreigner.
What did the hunter hear that day? He heard of the love of Jesus Christ for the Ainu people, and how He died for their sins. Isonash may not have gotten saved that day, but over the course of Batchelor’s ministry hundreds of Ainu people did trust Christ!
John Batchelor was a long way from his native London when he arrived in the cold, cold north of Japan. It was December of 1878, and he had finally come to live here to reach the Ainu tribes for Jesus Christ.
John’s target culture, the Ainu, is the most ancient in Japan. They lived on the main island of Honshu during the early history of Japan until gradually driven up to the northern island by the Japanese samurai warriors. In those days they were a hunter-gatherer people, living on the deer and other animals on the island. Their favorite, though, was the bear, one of their gods.
Batchelor first went to Hong Kong as a missionary after graduating from a London seminary at the age of 21, but found that the climate there did not agree with him. He arrived in Yokohama in 1875, and shortly after that shipped for the northern island of Hokkaido, arriving in the port city of Hakodate eight days later. There he began working with Missionary Walter Dening.
In 1878 Batchelor switched his evangelistic aim from the Japanese to the Ainu. Learning their language turned out to be a huge task for him. Not only were there no grammars or dictionaries for the Ainu language, it had never even had a written language! Certainly no Japanese had ever tried to write the language down, since they considered this primitive people beneath their civilized notice. Thus the first ever grammar and dictionary of the Ainu language was written by Batchelor.
By 1885 John had learned enough of the language to translate into it the first ever Christian song, “Jesus Loves Me.” That year he also finished translating the Apostles’ Creed and the Lord’s Prayer. He printed these up to share with his Ainu friends on a small hand press, the first things ever printed in the language!
Batchelor’s primary effort in those days was to translate the Word of God, a much harder project. As a first step, his version of the Psalms printed, then announced in the New York Times of July 5, 1896, in an article entitled “The Bible in Obscure Tongues.” It said, “A version of the Psalms in Ainu, prepared by the Rev. John Batchelor of the Church Missionary Society of England, has been printed in Yokohama by the Bible Societies’ Committee of Japan.” Down through the years he printed various books as he finished them, getting them into the hands of Ainu believers and prospects.
Translating the whole New Testament was a huge project, but he began diligently working on it. After years of hard work he finally finished this precious task, and in 1897, as it says on the title page, it was “Printed for the Bible Societies’ Committee for Japan by the Yokohama Bunsha.” (It was recently reprinted for research purposes.)
The Ainu language wasn’t the only barrier Batchelor faced in trying to reach these people for Christ. According to historian Otis Cary, “The Ainu were addicted to strong drink, and the Japanese that dwelt among them and often tyrannized over them tried to keep them from coming under the influence of the missionaries” (A History of Christianity in Japan, by Otis Cary, p. 181). Batchelor never gave up, though, and on Christmas Day, 1885, he baptized the first ever Ainu convert to Christ, the son of a village chief.
After that a few more were baptized, but Batchelor no doubt despaired of ever reaching the whole Ainu people. Then it happened! In 1893 one hundred and seventy one people were saved! That year, “there was an increase from eleven church-members and two catechumens to two hundred and nineteen members and one hundred and fifty-one catechumens. The number of villages containing Christians increased from two to ten. Of one village Mr. Batchelor wrote: ‘Every woman in Piratori has accepted Christ as her Saviour. That is a glorious triumph of the cross, for the women have never been allowed to have any religion; the men only have worshipped God. Just think of old women over seventy years of age, now for the first time in their lives, praying—and praying to Jesus only!’” (Cary, p. 246).
Batchelor continued to do his best for the Ainu, not only evangelizing them but ministering to them in other ways. Along with another missionary he started schools in various places, and established a “rest house” in Sapporo to house Ainu people who came to be treated at the hospital there. He also wrote books about the culture that preserve their history and traditions as no one else has: The Ainu and their Folk-lore, Specimens of Ainu Folk-lore, etc.
Less than 20,000 Ainu were left as of 1914. Today even in Hokkaido there are few full-blooded Ainu left, though sometimes they can be found in tourist areas selling beautiful hand-carved animals, in particular the bear. Others demonstrate their dances and music and other aspects of their culture to tourists. However, almost all have been assimilated into Japanese society, though they still often face racial prejudice from the Japanese.
Few Ainu today still speak their language. A Japanese linguist, a professor at Yokohama University recorded on cassette tapes in the 1990’s one Ainu dialect from the last known speaker. When the old Ainu lady died at a very advanced age, something died with her. As Batchelor himself once said, “The race is a dying one, and nothing that can now be done can save it.” However, when we all reach Heaven there will be hundreds of Ainu there—all because of one man who dared to reach their cold, cold island for Christ!
Main source: A History of Christianity in Japan, by Otis Cary, 1909
Looking forward meeting him in Heaven.
This story by me is a little long, but I think you will be blessed. (It will have to be continued in following posts.) This translator did the first ever translations of Scripture into Thai and Japanese, and helped on what was arguably the first Chinese translation. That's incredible!
Dream Big and Fear Not Failure
Karl Gutzlaff
1803-1851
Karl Gutzlaff was an amazing man, and his life was full of firsts in the Lord’s work. He was the first ever evangelical missionary in Thailand, where he translated the first ever portions of the Bible into Thai. He was the first missionary to dress like the Chinese, a practice later copied by Hudson Taylor, who became famous for it. In fact, the Chinese Evangelistic Society, the mission board Taylor originally went to China under, was inspired by Gutzlaff. He was the first ever to translate or help to translate books of the Bible into three different languages: Thai, Japanese and Chinese. Yet strangely he is little known today. Why would that be?
First of all, some authors have looked down on Gutzlaff as not being a true missionary. Modern missiologists would call him a tent-making missionary, since he worked in Hong Kong as an interpreter for the British government. He knew his true calling was to be a missionary, but he didn’t get his support in the usual way, from churches through a mission board. However, his burden was always and only to reach the Chinese for Christ!
Secondly, Gutzlaff dreamed big and failed big! As William Carey used to say, “Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God.” That is exactly what Gutzlaff did. “And now,” as radio story teller Paul Harvey used to say, “the rest of the story.”
Gutzlaff’s first effort as a missionary was in Thailand under the Netherlands Missionary Society. Thus he was one of the first two Protestant missionaries ever to go to that country, arriving the very same day as English missionary Jacob Tomlin, on August 28, 1828. Living there for almost three years, Gutzlaff translated the New Testament into Thai, with part of it being printed in 1834 and the whole New Testament being printed in 1843. Unfortunately, this was not a great translation, and was later superseded, but it formed a basis for future translations.
Among his other evangelism efforts in Thailand, Gutzlaff was permitted to spend many hours discussing the Gospel with members of the Thai royal family! Among the common people he saw many make professions of faith in Christ, but because of their fickleness he was not convinced that many actually trusted Christ as Savior.
In 1829 he married a lovely English missionary, Mary Newell, but sadly his bride and baby son died shortly after that. He eventually married again, lost that wife to death, and married a third time. In time Gutlaff himself became severely ill, and believing that he would soon die in Thailand if he stayed there, he prayed about the future. He learned Laotian, but was given little opportunity to reach Laos for Christ. Then, since this brilliant linguist had learned the dialect of the Fukien Province of China while living in Thailand, Gutzlaff’s next burden was for China.
Karl longed to go there to reach the 130 million Chinese for Christ, but unfortunately his mission board lacked the vision. Amazingly, they refused to allow him to change fields, so to be true to his call he quit the mission board and left Thailand in 1831. At that time he was hired as an interpreter for several sea voyages along the coast of China from 1831 to 1833. (It was also around this time that he began to live in Macao, the better to reach the Chinese for Christ.)
During those voyages another first for Gutzlaff was that he was the first Protestant to ever reach Korea, the Hermit Kingdom, with the Gospel. In 1832 he served as interpreter on the British warship “Lord Amherst” in an attempt to open Korea to trade. The British envoy, along with Gutzlaff and several others, were invited ashore, where their letter was to be taken to the ruler of Korea in the capital. In the meantime, the guests were able to present their case to two local “mandarins,” as Gutzlaff called them, local representatives of the Korean government.
While in Korea, which was at that time closed to all normal travel by foreigners, Gutzlaff was able to distribute copies of Robert Morrison’s translation of the Chinese Bible and some of Morrison’s Chinese tracts. More than that, in preparing the letter and presents to go to his majesty, Gutzlaff included a Chinese Bible and some tracts, saying, “I strongly hoped that the ruler of so secluded a country might be benefited with the perusal of the oracles of God. Could he receive a greater gift than the testimonials of God’s love in Christ Jesus, offered to sinful creatures? I highly rejoiced to have an opportunity of communicating to him those doctrines, which had rendered me happy for a time, and, I hope, for eternity” (Journal of Three Voyages Along the Coast of China, by Carl Gutzlaff, 1834, p. 273).
The British ship spent a full month in harbor, sometimes being allowed to go on land and sometimes not. They were able to see a good deal of the surrounding area and meet a number of dignitaries, but that was it. They finally left, disappointed that so little was accomplished. In Gutzlaff’s case, he rejoiced to have gotten out Bibles and tracts in Chinese to many of the better educated Koreans. He said, “Can the divine truth disseminated in Corea (sic), be wholly lost? This I believe not: there will be some fruits in the time appointed of the Lord” (ibid, 278). How glad he would be to know that Korea eventually became the most Christianized of all far eastern countries, up to 50% eventually claiming Christianity! Only God knows how much of that is owed to Gutzlaff’s pioneering evangelism!
So, with his stint on the British warship Gutzlaff’s “tent-making” career as an interpreter was well begun, but he did not forget his missionary burden. Early in his career as an interpreter, Gutzlaff did his best to fulfill his burden to reach China and the Chinese for Christ. Though foreigners were supposedly limited to a few cities on the coast of China, dressed in Chinese clothing, Gutzlaff traveled seven times to the interior during the years of 1831-1835. He moved to China and settled in Hong Kong in 1843.
Another first for Gutzlaff was that he was the first missionary to translate any portion of the Word of God into Japanese. In late 1834, seven Japanese seamen were rescued from a shipwreck and taken to Singapore. This meant they could never return to Japan on pain of death, it being before Commodore Perry's "Black Ships" sailed into Yokohama harbor. In Macao, the men met Karl Gutzlaff and so came to live with him and Samuel Williams. There several of them met Christ, and in particular Otokichi, Kyukichi and Iwakichi helped Gutzlaff translate Genesis, Matthew and the Gospel and epistles of John into Japanese from 1834-1836. Gutzlaff then had the Gospel of John printed in Singapore. This was the first translation of any book of the Bible printed in Japanese, and there are only seven original copies left. I recently was privileged to be given a facsimile of one of the copies.
In compassion, Gutzlaff made a plan in 1837 to try to return the men to their homeland, hoping thus to begin reaching Japan for Jesus. He borrowed the good ship “Morrison” from C. W. King, an American merchant living in China, and with King and his wife and two other missionaries on board, they took the Japanese men with them and sailed to Tokyo, then called Edo. However, the next day they were soon fired on from the shore with a cannon and had to leave. They then tried the port of Kagoshima where the same thing happened, forcing them to return to Macao. Arriving there the Japanese Christians remained faithful, two of working with Gutzlaff and two more working in the printing ministry of Samuel Wells Williams, one of the missionaries who had sailed on the “Morrison” to Tokyo.
Dream Big and Fear Not Failure
Karl Gutzlaff
1803-1851
Karl Gutzlaff was an amazing man, and his life was full of firsts in the Lord’s work. He was the first ever evangelical missionary in Thailand, where he translated the first ever portions of the Bible into Thai. He was the first missionary to dress like the Chinese, a practice later copied by Hudson Taylor, who became famous for it. In fact, the Chinese Evangelistic Society, the mission board Taylor originally went to China under, was inspired by Gutzlaff. He was the first ever to translate or help to translate books of the Bible into three different languages: Thai, Japanese and Chinese. Yet strangely he is little known today. Why would that be?
First of all, some authors have looked down on Gutzlaff as not being a true missionary. Modern missiologists would call him a tent-making missionary, since he worked in Hong Kong as an interpreter for the British government. He knew his true calling was to be a missionary, but he didn’t get his support in the usual way, from churches through a mission board. However, his burden was always and only to reach the Chinese for Christ!
Secondly, Gutzlaff dreamed big and failed big! As William Carey used to say, “Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God.” That is exactly what Gutzlaff did. “And now,” as radio story teller Paul Harvey used to say, “the rest of the story.”
Gutzlaff’s first effort as a missionary was in Thailand under the Netherlands Missionary Society. Thus he was one of the first two Protestant missionaries ever to go to that country, arriving the very same day as English missionary Jacob Tomlin, on August 28, 1828. Living there for almost three years, Gutzlaff translated the New Testament into Thai, with part of it being printed in 1834 and the whole New Testament being printed in 1843. Unfortunately, this was not a great translation, and was later superseded, but it formed a basis for future translations.
Among his other evangelism efforts in Thailand, Gutzlaff was permitted to spend many hours discussing the Gospel with members of the Thai royal family! Among the common people he saw many make professions of faith in Christ, but because of their fickleness he was not convinced that many actually trusted Christ as Savior.
In 1829 he married a lovely English missionary, Mary Newell, but sadly his bride and baby son died shortly after that. He eventually married again, lost that wife to death, and married a third time. In time Gutlaff himself became severely ill, and believing that he would soon die in Thailand if he stayed there, he prayed about the future. He learned Laotian, but was given little opportunity to reach Laos for Christ. Then, since this brilliant linguist had learned the dialect of the Fukien Province of China while living in Thailand, Gutzlaff’s next burden was for China.
Karl longed to go there to reach the 130 million Chinese for Christ, but unfortunately his mission board lacked the vision. Amazingly, they refused to allow him to change fields, so to be true to his call he quit the mission board and left Thailand in 1831. At that time he was hired as an interpreter for several sea voyages along the coast of China from 1831 to 1833. (It was also around this time that he began to live in Macao, the better to reach the Chinese for Christ.)
During those voyages another first for Gutzlaff was that he was the first Protestant to ever reach Korea, the Hermit Kingdom, with the Gospel. In 1832 he served as interpreter on the British warship “Lord Amherst” in an attempt to open Korea to trade. The British envoy, along with Gutzlaff and several others, were invited ashore, where their letter was to be taken to the ruler of Korea in the capital. In the meantime, the guests were able to present their case to two local “mandarins,” as Gutzlaff called them, local representatives of the Korean government.
While in Korea, which was at that time closed to all normal travel by foreigners, Gutzlaff was able to distribute copies of Robert Morrison’s translation of the Chinese Bible and some of Morrison’s Chinese tracts. More than that, in preparing the letter and presents to go to his majesty, Gutzlaff included a Chinese Bible and some tracts, saying, “I strongly hoped that the ruler of so secluded a country might be benefited with the perusal of the oracles of God. Could he receive a greater gift than the testimonials of God’s love in Christ Jesus, offered to sinful creatures? I highly rejoiced to have an opportunity of communicating to him those doctrines, which had rendered me happy for a time, and, I hope, for eternity” (Journal of Three Voyages Along the Coast of China, by Carl Gutzlaff, 1834, p. 273).
The British ship spent a full month in harbor, sometimes being allowed to go on land and sometimes not. They were able to see a good deal of the surrounding area and meet a number of dignitaries, but that was it. They finally left, disappointed that so little was accomplished. In Gutzlaff’s case, he rejoiced to have gotten out Bibles and tracts in Chinese to many of the better educated Koreans. He said, “Can the divine truth disseminated in Corea (sic), be wholly lost? This I believe not: there will be some fruits in the time appointed of the Lord” (ibid, 278). How glad he would be to know that Korea eventually became the most Christianized of all far eastern countries, up to 50% eventually claiming Christianity! Only God knows how much of that is owed to Gutzlaff’s pioneering evangelism!
So, with his stint on the British warship Gutzlaff’s “tent-making” career as an interpreter was well begun, but he did not forget his missionary burden. Early in his career as an interpreter, Gutzlaff did his best to fulfill his burden to reach China and the Chinese for Christ. Though foreigners were supposedly limited to a few cities on the coast of China, dressed in Chinese clothing, Gutzlaff traveled seven times to the interior during the years of 1831-1835. He moved to China and settled in Hong Kong in 1843.
Another first for Gutzlaff was that he was the first missionary to translate any portion of the Word of God into Japanese. In late 1834, seven Japanese seamen were rescued from a shipwreck and taken to Singapore. This meant they could never return to Japan on pain of death, it being before Commodore Perry's "Black Ships" sailed into Yokohama harbor. In Macao, the men met Karl Gutzlaff and so came to live with him and Samuel Williams. There several of them met Christ, and in particular Otokichi, Kyukichi and Iwakichi helped Gutzlaff translate Genesis, Matthew and the Gospel and epistles of John into Japanese from 1834-1836. Gutzlaff then had the Gospel of John printed in Singapore. This was the first translation of any book of the Bible printed in Japanese, and there are only seven original copies left. I recently was privileged to be given a facsimile of one of the copies.
In compassion, Gutzlaff made a plan in 1837 to try to return the men to their homeland, hoping thus to begin reaching Japan for Jesus. He borrowed the good ship “Morrison” from C. W. King, an American merchant living in China, and with King and his wife and two other missionaries on board, they took the Japanese men with them and sailed to Tokyo, then called Edo. However, the next day they were soon fired on from the shore with a cannon and had to leave. They then tried the port of Kagoshima where the same thing happened, forcing them to return to Macao. Arriving there the Japanese Christians remained faithful, two of working with Gutzlaff and two more working in the printing ministry of Samuel Wells Williams, one of the missionaries who had sailed on the “Morrison” to Tokyo.
Part 2:
Later Gutzlaff served as an interpreter in the first Opium War, 1840-42, then as a magistrate for the British after the truce. He was then part of the committee (along with Walter Medhurst, Elijah Bridgman and Robert Morrison) which produced the first Chinese Bible, translating into the High Wenli dialect, with Gutzlaff translating most of the Old Testament from Hebrew. This Bible was first published in 1847. It is said to have been a wonderful translation, foundational to all those which followed.
And now to Gutzlaff’s great failure. While in Hong Kong, Karl had a brainstorm. Foreigners in those days were limited to living in five cities along the coast of China. Why not have a society of Chinese evangelists who could go into the inland and preach Christ? And why not support those evangelists with Western money? The Chinese Association (sometimes translated “Chinese Union”) was founded in 1844, and wonderful reports began to reach Europe. Gutzlaff told of 130 Chinese evangelists, ten thousand New Testaments distributed along with many tracts and complete Bibles. The men traveled to all the provinces of China, and as far as the borders of Tibet and Mongolia. And best of all, Gutzlaff reported that 2871 converts had been baptized!
In 1850 he returned to London and began to campaign for his organization. According to Howard Taylor,
“From Ireland to Hungary he passed, proclaiming in all the leading capitals of Europe the duty of the Christian Church toward the unevangelized millions of China. For the first time the need and claims of that great land came home to many a heart, with the result that multitudes were on their knees praying as never before. It was prayer for which Gutzlaff primarily appealed, prayer for the outpouring of the Spirit of God upon China in its agelong darkness. But true prayer, potent in itself, is sure to bring about practical results, and in this case quite a number of organized efforts grew up in London and on the continent that resulted in permanent blessing” (Hudson Taylor: The Growth of a Soul, Vol. 1, by Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor, p. 88).
Alas, not all was as it seemed. The German missionary eventually entrusted with watching over the Chinese evangelists soon learned that most of the reports were fabricated. Very few of the evangelists had even gone past Canton, and some of the reports were written in opium dens not far from where Gutzlaff himself lived. Gullible and trusting, Gutzlaff did not have the leadership abilities to run the organization his burden created. Nothing daunted, Gutzlaff returned to China and did his best to lead his mission out of the mess and restore its reputation.
The sad missionary suffered a sudden illness in 1851, and died on August 9 of that year. According to the January 1952 edition of his missionary newsletter, “The Gleaner,” “Even in his last hours, all his thoughts were directed to the evangelization of China. He spoke of it with great confidence, and in the delirium of fever frequently expressed bright hopes for the blessing and regeneration of his beloved Sinim. Truly of him it may be said that he departed this life and entered the presence of the Lord bearing the millions of China upon his heart” (ibid, p. 91). He was buried in Hong Kong, where his grave can still be seen and one can walk on a street named after him.
So, was Karl Gutzlaff a failure? Were his dreams bigger than his talents? If so, he was a glorious failure! And yet his dreams inspired many a young missionary to follow Christ’s call, including such greatly-used missionaries as Hudson Taylor and David Livingstone. May we all dream big, pray for great things, and step out in faith to follow Christ to the ends of the earth!
Sources:
Hudson Taylor: The Growth of a Soul, Vol. 1, by Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor.
A History of Christianity in Japan, by Otis Cary, 1909.
A History of Christianity in Japan, by Richard H. Drummond, 1971.
Journal of Three Voyages Along the Coast of China, by Carl Gutzlaff
Later Gutzlaff served as an interpreter in the first Opium War, 1840-42, then as a magistrate for the British after the truce. He was then part of the committee (along with Walter Medhurst, Elijah Bridgman and Robert Morrison) which produced the first Chinese Bible, translating into the High Wenli dialect, with Gutzlaff translating most of the Old Testament from Hebrew. This Bible was first published in 1847. It is said to have been a wonderful translation, foundational to all those which followed.
And now to Gutzlaff’s great failure. While in Hong Kong, Karl had a brainstorm. Foreigners in those days were limited to living in five cities along the coast of China. Why not have a society of Chinese evangelists who could go into the inland and preach Christ? And why not support those evangelists with Western money? The Chinese Association (sometimes translated “Chinese Union”) was founded in 1844, and wonderful reports began to reach Europe. Gutzlaff told of 130 Chinese evangelists, ten thousand New Testaments distributed along with many tracts and complete Bibles. The men traveled to all the provinces of China, and as far as the borders of Tibet and Mongolia. And best of all, Gutzlaff reported that 2871 converts had been baptized!
In 1850 he returned to London and began to campaign for his organization. According to Howard Taylor,
“From Ireland to Hungary he passed, proclaiming in all the leading capitals of Europe the duty of the Christian Church toward the unevangelized millions of China. For the first time the need and claims of that great land came home to many a heart, with the result that multitudes were on their knees praying as never before. It was prayer for which Gutzlaff primarily appealed, prayer for the outpouring of the Spirit of God upon China in its agelong darkness. But true prayer, potent in itself, is sure to bring about practical results, and in this case quite a number of organized efforts grew up in London and on the continent that resulted in permanent blessing” (Hudson Taylor: The Growth of a Soul, Vol. 1, by Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor, p. 88).
Alas, not all was as it seemed. The German missionary eventually entrusted with watching over the Chinese evangelists soon learned that most of the reports were fabricated. Very few of the evangelists had even gone past Canton, and some of the reports were written in opium dens not far from where Gutzlaff himself lived. Gullible and trusting, Gutzlaff did not have the leadership abilities to run the organization his burden created. Nothing daunted, Gutzlaff returned to China and did his best to lead his mission out of the mess and restore its reputation.
The sad missionary suffered a sudden illness in 1851, and died on August 9 of that year. According to the January 1952 edition of his missionary newsletter, “The Gleaner,” “Even in his last hours, all his thoughts were directed to the evangelization of China. He spoke of it with great confidence, and in the delirium of fever frequently expressed bright hopes for the blessing and regeneration of his beloved Sinim. Truly of him it may be said that he departed this life and entered the presence of the Lord bearing the millions of China upon his heart” (ibid, p. 91). He was buried in Hong Kong, where his grave can still be seen and one can walk on a street named after him.
So, was Karl Gutzlaff a failure? Were his dreams bigger than his talents? If so, he was a glorious failure! And yet his dreams inspired many a young missionary to follow Christ’s call, including such greatly-used missionaries as Hudson Taylor and David Livingstone. May we all dream big, pray for great things, and step out in faith to follow Christ to the ends of the earth!
Sources:
Hudson Taylor: The Growth of a Soul, Vol. 1, by Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor.
A History of Christianity in Japan, by Otis Cary, 1909.
A History of Christianity in Japan, by Richard H. Drummond, 1971.
Journal of Three Voyages Along the Coast of China, by Carl Gutzlaff
Here's another historical translator:
The Lonely Bible Translator
Henry Martyn
1781-1812
Henry Martyn made an incredibly difficult decision as a young man. God had called him to the mission field, but he was in love. Lydia wavered. Could she follow him across the world from England to Asia? Surely that was too much to ask of a girl. She said no, but Henry never gave up. Even after reaching India to work with William Carey, he wrote a letter inviting her to come out to meet him in India, but it was not to be. He would remain lonely until he died deep in the heart of Persia.
Henry was a brilliant young man, educated at Cambridge, but with little spiritual depth. However, this changed when he came under the great spiritual influence of Charles Simeon, pastor of Cambridge’s Holy Trinity Church and one of England’s greatest preachers. As Simeon shared the prayer letters of William Carey, the great Baptist missionary translator of India, Henry began to feel the burden. Before long he was confident of God’s call to be a missionary. In preparation for this, he joined Simeon’s staff as a curate, and began to learn to preach and minister to the hearts of the members.
As a young man he loved the Lord and His Word with all of his heart. He did not speak of memorizing verses, but of memorizing passages. At one point he even assayed to memorize the book of Romans in Greek! This was a sign of the future—Henry on the mission field would become an amazing linguist! He delighted in reading the Bible in the original languages every morning, and after becoming an instructor in the classics at St. John’s College, he began learning Urdu, Bengali, Arabic and Persian on his own.
In 1804, as Henry began preparing to leave for India, he fell head over heels in love with the lovely Lydia Grenfell, and indeed, she seemed to return his love. In 1805 he dreamed of marriage, hoping that she was willing to be a missionary wife. However, things had not progressed far enough, and he took his leave of England without her by his side on July 19, 1805.
I remember my own appearance before the candidate committee of Baptist World Mission in the fall of 1977. I too was single with no prospects of marriage, but the mission board appointed me saying, “We believe you should be married, but feel you can make it on the mission field of Japan without a wife.” God in His wisdom led my future wife to apply to Baptist World Mission the very next year, so I did not come to Japan unmarried. But I have often wondered how it would have been as a single missionary. The Apostle Paul never married by his own choice. Henry Martyn never married though he was deeply in love as he left for the mission field. How incredibly difficult that must have been!
To continue our story, within 48 hours Henry’s ship was in the harbor at Falmouth, which was only 25 miles away from where Lydia lived. Napoleon’s navy had taken to sea and it was war time, thus preventing the ship temporarily from continuing to India. So Henry took the time to visit Lydia, and share with her his love for the first time. The two young people parted with deep emotion, neither knowing what the future held.
Once again on the ship headed for India, Henry had great tumult of soul, but yet as a missionary gloried in the opportunities before him. Even on the ship he was a faithful witness for Christ, preaching at the crew’s Sunday service, winning the ship’s carpenter to Christ and witnessing to a depressed marine corporal.
After arriving in India, Henry was privileged to meet the great Baptist Bible translation team of William Carey, Joshua Marshman and WilliamWard. The brilliant young linguist learned valuable lessons from these men that would greatly help his future, but deep within his heart was still back in England with Lydia, so he wrote her a long letter, asking her to come East with the British fleet in February and marry him. Alas, she did not even get the letter until March.
It was that year that Henry’s heart was broken. Lydia wrote him saying that she could not come to India and could not marry him. Her mother forbade it. There was nothing left to do for Henry but to throw himself into the Lord’s work. He preached, witnessed to Muslim and Hindu Indians, and worked on Urdu, Arabic and Persian (present day Iran) translations of the Bible. Amazingly, though Muslims are very stubborn in their religion, God blessed Henry’s witness with several Muslims coming to Christ.
On February 12, 1812, Henry finished his translation of the Persian New Testament. Henry had a dream of what to do with his translation. While Carey and his team were preparing to print the Persian New Testament, Henry longed to be able to present a manuscript copy to the Shah of Persia. Though ill with the fever, ague and tuberculosis, he headed north deep into Persia, at last arriving at the Shah’s court, where he was able to get no further than the prime minister. Sick, lonely, tired and feeling like a failure, Henry passed on to meet his Savior at age 31 on or about August 18, 1812. Few knew of him on earth until his biography by John Sargent, Memoirs of the Rev. Henry Martyn, was published in 1816. Few know today of the lonely Bible translator. But in Heaven, they all know him, for he served His Savior faithfully until the end.
Main source: My Love Must Wait: the Story of Henry Martyn, by David Bentley-Taylor.
The Lonely Bible Translator
Henry Martyn
1781-1812
Henry Martyn made an incredibly difficult decision as a young man. God had called him to the mission field, but he was in love. Lydia wavered. Could she follow him across the world from England to Asia? Surely that was too much to ask of a girl. She said no, but Henry never gave up. Even after reaching India to work with William Carey, he wrote a letter inviting her to come out to meet him in India, but it was not to be. He would remain lonely until he died deep in the heart of Persia.
Henry was a brilliant young man, educated at Cambridge, but with little spiritual depth. However, this changed when he came under the great spiritual influence of Charles Simeon, pastor of Cambridge’s Holy Trinity Church and one of England’s greatest preachers. As Simeon shared the prayer letters of William Carey, the great Baptist missionary translator of India, Henry began to feel the burden. Before long he was confident of God’s call to be a missionary. In preparation for this, he joined Simeon’s staff as a curate, and began to learn to preach and minister to the hearts of the members.
As a young man he loved the Lord and His Word with all of his heart. He did not speak of memorizing verses, but of memorizing passages. At one point he even assayed to memorize the book of Romans in Greek! This was a sign of the future—Henry on the mission field would become an amazing linguist! He delighted in reading the Bible in the original languages every morning, and after becoming an instructor in the classics at St. John’s College, he began learning Urdu, Bengali, Arabic and Persian on his own.
In 1804, as Henry began preparing to leave for India, he fell head over heels in love with the lovely Lydia Grenfell, and indeed, she seemed to return his love. In 1805 he dreamed of marriage, hoping that she was willing to be a missionary wife. However, things had not progressed far enough, and he took his leave of England without her by his side on July 19, 1805.
I remember my own appearance before the candidate committee of Baptist World Mission in the fall of 1977. I too was single with no prospects of marriage, but the mission board appointed me saying, “We believe you should be married, but feel you can make it on the mission field of Japan without a wife.” God in His wisdom led my future wife to apply to Baptist World Mission the very next year, so I did not come to Japan unmarried. But I have often wondered how it would have been as a single missionary. The Apostle Paul never married by his own choice. Henry Martyn never married though he was deeply in love as he left for the mission field. How incredibly difficult that must have been!
To continue our story, within 48 hours Henry’s ship was in the harbor at Falmouth, which was only 25 miles away from where Lydia lived. Napoleon’s navy had taken to sea and it was war time, thus preventing the ship temporarily from continuing to India. So Henry took the time to visit Lydia, and share with her his love for the first time. The two young people parted with deep emotion, neither knowing what the future held.
Once again on the ship headed for India, Henry had great tumult of soul, but yet as a missionary gloried in the opportunities before him. Even on the ship he was a faithful witness for Christ, preaching at the crew’s Sunday service, winning the ship’s carpenter to Christ and witnessing to a depressed marine corporal.
After arriving in India, Henry was privileged to meet the great Baptist Bible translation team of William Carey, Joshua Marshman and WilliamWard. The brilliant young linguist learned valuable lessons from these men that would greatly help his future, but deep within his heart was still back in England with Lydia, so he wrote her a long letter, asking her to come East with the British fleet in February and marry him. Alas, she did not even get the letter until March.
It was that year that Henry’s heart was broken. Lydia wrote him saying that she could not come to India and could not marry him. Her mother forbade it. There was nothing left to do for Henry but to throw himself into the Lord’s work. He preached, witnessed to Muslim and Hindu Indians, and worked on Urdu, Arabic and Persian (present day Iran) translations of the Bible. Amazingly, though Muslims are very stubborn in their religion, God blessed Henry’s witness with several Muslims coming to Christ.
On February 12, 1812, Henry finished his translation of the Persian New Testament. Henry had a dream of what to do with his translation. While Carey and his team were preparing to print the Persian New Testament, Henry longed to be able to present a manuscript copy to the Shah of Persia. Though ill with the fever, ague and tuberculosis, he headed north deep into Persia, at last arriving at the Shah’s court, where he was able to get no further than the prime minister. Sick, lonely, tired and feeling like a failure, Henry passed on to meet his Savior at age 31 on or about August 18, 1812. Few knew of him on earth until his biography by John Sargent, Memoirs of the Rev. Henry Martyn, was published in 1816. Few know today of the lonely Bible translator. But in Heaven, they all know him, for he served His Savior faithfully until the end.
Main source: My Love Must Wait: the Story of Henry Martyn, by David Bentley-Taylor.
Here are lecture notes from a class I once taught on the history of missions. The history of the Chinese Bible fascinates me. It is such a difficult language, yet so many have been burdened for the Chinese. Note that this will take two posts to get there, and the references are at the end of the second post.
The Conundrum of the First Chinese Bible
INTRODUCTION: The first New Testament translation into Chinese engendered controversy where there should be none. The questions involved include but are not limited to: Who completed their translation first? Whose translation was better? What should the word for baptism be? What should the word for God be?
A brief survey of the men and the issues should help us better understand the history of Great Commission work in China down through the centuries. The discussion revolves around two missionaries, Robert Morrison the Presbyterian, and Joshua Marshman the Baptist. Both men were great missionaries and Bible translators, and their differences should not reflect negatively on their missionary careers.
I. Robert Morrison (1782-1834)
A. A Scottish Presbyterian, Morrison was the first Protestant missionary to China. A brilliant linguist, he studied Chinese in London under a Chinese man before ever going to the country, it being against Chinese law to teach the language to a foreigner there. However, he evidently did not know Greek and Hebrew, the original languages of the Bible.
B. He arrived on the field in September, 1807. He was a “tent-maker” missionary, working for the British East India Company as a translator for 25 years beginning in 1809. He was able to do little evangelism because of his secular job and his literary labors. He baptized just eleven converts, and ordained one Chinese preacher, Liang Fah, as the first ever Protestant Chinese preacher.
C. “Labors were confined largely to literary activities, writing a Chinese grammar (1815), preparing an Anglo-Chinese dictionary (1815) and encyclopedia, writing tracts and books, preparing a hymn book, translating morning and evening prayers from the Book of Common Prayer, and translating the entire Bible.”[1]
D. Since foreign women were not allowed in Canton where he worked, he spent six months a year apart from his family. “Morrison’s long separations from his wife and children, as difficult as they were, had allowed him time for Bible translation, a task that he carried out with tireless energy.”[2]
E. Morrison worked together with William Milne to translate the Bible. Milne translated most of the Old Testament. What were the characteristics of this translation?
1. Translating from the KJV, they completed their New Testament in 1813 and the Old Testament in 1819. The Bible was published in 1923. It was in the “High Wenli” dialect, the language of scholars.
2. For God they used the Chinese character Shen (神), a common word in various idolatrous religions.[3] One objection to the use of this term is that it portrays the God of the Bible in a weak way.
3. For “baptize” (Greek βαπτίζω) they used the Chinese word xi (洗), meaning “wash.”[4] This rendering has been followed to the present day in the Chinese Union Version and the Japanese Shinkyoudo Version (senrei, 洗礼), as well as in other versions.
4. It was said to be “wooden and unclear” since Chinese partners were not sufficiently used.[5] Another source said that it used English word order rather than Chinese (they are similar).
5. It depended heavily on Catholic efforts, though a complete Catholic Bible did not exist until the 20th century. “His translation of the Gospels was founded on a Roman Catholic Harmony of the Gospels. The Acts of the Apostles and all the Pauline epistles except Hebrews were translated by a Roman Catholic.”[6]
II. Joshua Marshman (1768-1837)
A. An English Baptist missionary to India, he joined William Carey as one of the “Serampore Trio” in 1799. A brilliant linguist, Marshman was recruited by Carey while still a student at Bristol Baptist College, then taught Latin, Greek, Hebrew and Syriac before becoming a missionary.
B. Fervent in his mission, he was considered the preacher of the Serampore Trio, and established several mission stations. He and his wife founded three boarding schools for Europeans and Indians. In addition to the Chinese Bible, he translated or assisted in the translation of the Bengali Bible and the Sanskrit Bible.
C. With the Serampore Trio he established Serampore College in 1818, an institution which is still in existence after almost 200 years.[7]
D. As did Morrison, Marshman wrote a Chinese grammar, published in 1814. Also, in order to support the work of translating the Bible he translated the works of Confucius into English and used the profits for his Bible translation efforts.
E. What were the characteristics of Marshman’s translation of the Chinese Bible?
1. Translating from the original languages, they published in 1822, thus publishing the first complete Bible in Chinese. (Various Nestorian and Catholic translators had produced one or another portion of the Bible.)
2. For the word baptize (Greek βαπτίζω) they used the Chinese words zhan (蘸) and cui (淬), both meaning “to dip,” as well as both these characters in a compound, zhancui (蘸淬).[8]
3. For “God,” Marshman used the term Shen (神) as did Morrison.
4. Marshman’s translation, “according to his own son, ‘was necessarily imperfect,’ to be valued ‘chiefly as a memorial to his missionary zeal and literary perseverance.’”[9]
The Conundrum of the First Chinese Bible
INTRODUCTION: The first New Testament translation into Chinese engendered controversy where there should be none. The questions involved include but are not limited to: Who completed their translation first? Whose translation was better? What should the word for baptism be? What should the word for God be?
A brief survey of the men and the issues should help us better understand the history of Great Commission work in China down through the centuries. The discussion revolves around two missionaries, Robert Morrison the Presbyterian, and Joshua Marshman the Baptist. Both men were great missionaries and Bible translators, and their differences should not reflect negatively on their missionary careers.
I. Robert Morrison (1782-1834)
A. A Scottish Presbyterian, Morrison was the first Protestant missionary to China. A brilliant linguist, he studied Chinese in London under a Chinese man before ever going to the country, it being against Chinese law to teach the language to a foreigner there. However, he evidently did not know Greek and Hebrew, the original languages of the Bible.
B. He arrived on the field in September, 1807. He was a “tent-maker” missionary, working for the British East India Company as a translator for 25 years beginning in 1809. He was able to do little evangelism because of his secular job and his literary labors. He baptized just eleven converts, and ordained one Chinese preacher, Liang Fah, as the first ever Protestant Chinese preacher.
C. “Labors were confined largely to literary activities, writing a Chinese grammar (1815), preparing an Anglo-Chinese dictionary (1815) and encyclopedia, writing tracts and books, preparing a hymn book, translating morning and evening prayers from the Book of Common Prayer, and translating the entire Bible.”[1]
D. Since foreign women were not allowed in Canton where he worked, he spent six months a year apart from his family. “Morrison’s long separations from his wife and children, as difficult as they were, had allowed him time for Bible translation, a task that he carried out with tireless energy.”[2]
E. Morrison worked together with William Milne to translate the Bible. Milne translated most of the Old Testament. What were the characteristics of this translation?
1. Translating from the KJV, they completed their New Testament in 1813 and the Old Testament in 1819. The Bible was published in 1923. It was in the “High Wenli” dialect, the language of scholars.
2. For God they used the Chinese character Shen (神), a common word in various idolatrous religions.[3] One objection to the use of this term is that it portrays the God of the Bible in a weak way.
3. For “baptize” (Greek βαπτίζω) they used the Chinese word xi (洗), meaning “wash.”[4] This rendering has been followed to the present day in the Chinese Union Version and the Japanese Shinkyoudo Version (senrei, 洗礼), as well as in other versions.
4. It was said to be “wooden and unclear” since Chinese partners were not sufficiently used.[5] Another source said that it used English word order rather than Chinese (they are similar).
5. It depended heavily on Catholic efforts, though a complete Catholic Bible did not exist until the 20th century. “His translation of the Gospels was founded on a Roman Catholic Harmony of the Gospels. The Acts of the Apostles and all the Pauline epistles except Hebrews were translated by a Roman Catholic.”[6]
II. Joshua Marshman (1768-1837)
A. An English Baptist missionary to India, he joined William Carey as one of the “Serampore Trio” in 1799. A brilliant linguist, Marshman was recruited by Carey while still a student at Bristol Baptist College, then taught Latin, Greek, Hebrew and Syriac before becoming a missionary.
B. Fervent in his mission, he was considered the preacher of the Serampore Trio, and established several mission stations. He and his wife founded three boarding schools for Europeans and Indians. In addition to the Chinese Bible, he translated or assisted in the translation of the Bengali Bible and the Sanskrit Bible.
C. With the Serampore Trio he established Serampore College in 1818, an institution which is still in existence after almost 200 years.[7]
D. As did Morrison, Marshman wrote a Chinese grammar, published in 1814. Also, in order to support the work of translating the Bible he translated the works of Confucius into English and used the profits for his Bible translation efforts.
E. What were the characteristics of Marshman’s translation of the Chinese Bible?
1. Translating from the original languages, they published in 1822, thus publishing the first complete Bible in Chinese. (Various Nestorian and Catholic translators had produced one or another portion of the Bible.)
2. For the word baptize (Greek βαπτίζω) they used the Chinese words zhan (蘸) and cui (淬), both meaning “to dip,” as well as both these characters in a compound, zhancui (蘸淬).[8]
3. For “God,” Marshman used the term Shen (神) as did Morrison.
4. Marshman’s translation, “according to his own son, ‘was necessarily imperfect,’ to be valued ‘chiefly as a memorial to his missionary zeal and literary perseverance.’”[9]