I've dug out an article that I wrote quite a few years ago:
“God means what He says, and He has a meaning for every word that He says. All His works and all His words are perfect, in their choice, order and place. So perfect, that, if one word or expression is used, there is a reason why no other would have done.” (author unknown)
This is a beautiful statement, and I share that delight and confidence in God’s Word. However, the more I think about it, the more reservations I have: it’s a wonderful sentiment, but it’s poetic exaggeration. If it were taken too literally, we would be reduced to despair – because we cannot know what God has said with such perfect exactitude.
Let me explain:
Firstly, we do not possess the original Scriptures (for either the Old Testament or the New Testament). We have copies of copies – very good, very accurate copies, for the most part – but they differ one from another in small ways. The texts from which our Bibles have been translated (the Received Text, for example) have been prepared by “textual critics”; they are not manuscripts in their own right but compilations made from many different sources in order to try and eliminate the spelling mistakes, omissions and additions that have crept in over the centuries. One example that I have come across is Revelation 22:14. In the KJV, this says, “Blessed are those that do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life…” But the modern versions, following a different text, have, “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life…” There’s a bit of a difference, isn’t there! When I investigated this, I discovered that there are many variations between the manuscripts of the book of Revelation; this is just one of the most obvious. And whenever archaeologists discover a more ancient document somewhere (e.g. the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls), the standard text may need to be adjusted to take account of it.
Secondly, it's impossible to be totally precise in translating one language into another. This is not only because words rarely have exact equivalents in another language, but also because of widely diverse grammatical systems. Russian has no articles (‘a’ and ‘the’); Japanese doesn't distinguish between singular and plural. There must be many nuances of Greek and Hebrew that we miss in English, all unknowingly.
Yet God’s Word is flawless (Proverbs 30:5)! It's both powerful and flexible enough to communicate His truth in any and every language. Not because of every ‘jot and tittle’ being in exactly the right place, but because the Speaker Himself is totally reliable! And so we can enjoy His Word in English – and rejoice in the details with confidence – but exact precision, fortunately, is not necessary.
