What is the difference between translation and transmission?

Some critics of the Bible have claimed either poor translation of the text (Jehovah Witnesses) or poor transmission of the text (Mormonism). The truth is that both claims are not supported by the evidence, but rather are attempts to discredit the Bible or distort Scripture to fit a theological view point not intended by the writers.

Translation deals with taking words from one language and writing them in another. Biblical manuscripts are primarily written in Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic. Translating from one language to another is quite a tedious task, even today. However, when translating texts as important as the ones in the Bible, the matter is significantly more complicated.

First, Greek, Hebrew and English are extremely different languages. Hebrew had no vowels until centuries after Christ, and Greek is quite a bit more detailed as far as sentence structures and word definitions. Add in the fact that the English language is changing drastically from one generation to the next and a couple thousand years to the equation and the difficulties can be easily seen. I can only imagine the countless hours involved into translating the Bible into a new language.

Some translations are better than others though. This is easily seen in the New World Translation (NWT) that is published by the Watchtower Society. Since Jehovah's Witnesses deny the Biblical doctrine of the Trinity (One God in three persons), the New World Translation tries to alter as many verses as possible dealing with this doctrine.¹ In order to support these blatant and unwarranted changes, the Watchtower Society claims that modern translations are not translated correctly.

While Jehovah's Witnesses claim translation issues, Mormonism claims problems with transmission. Transmission deals with the method of how manuscripts are copied and passed down through the centuries. Mormonism teaches that the Biblical manuscripts were corrupted over the centuries. However, since the manuscript evidence (See Manuscript Evidence) shows an unparalleled amount of consistency, this argument becomes one made from silence. With no "untainted" manuscripts with which to compare, Mormonism lacks the proof to support their claim.

When we read the LDS 8th Article of Faith, we see that it teaches, "the Bible is the word of God as far as it is translated correctly." The problem with this is that it does not simply refer to translation; it also refers to transmission of the Biblical texts. Thus, the 8th Article of Faith is most misleading indeed.

Ironically, many cults continue their attack on the Bible, despite the fact that no cult could possibly exist without it!

Footnotes

1) This is best seen in the NWT translation of John 1:1 which reads "in the begining was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a God." The insertion of the letter "a" seeks to make Christ a created being rather than eternally existed with the Father.