And the Word became flesh.
John 1:14
In missions work, translation is probably one of the most important things.
Well of course we know that, but I want to draw our attention to the fact that translation was also the work of God. When God became incarnate, he didn’t do so in a vacuum, or as some super human. But rather, he was incarnated as a Jewish person with local language and customs.
In other words, the process by which God spoke salvation into the world was… translation.
He translated into the Jewish culture in order to first reach the Jews. And on and on it goes to other cultures. Translation is incarnational. Translation is the process by which Jesus comes alive in another culture.
