Bridge to God’s Word

In this episode I take a closer look at what Jesus said about heaven and hell in the Gospels. It turns out, he talks a lot less about heaven and hell as places where we go when we die, and much more about the Kingdom of Heaven, which is here and now on earth.   In order to research this podcast, I wrote down every verse in the Gospels that mentions heaven and hell, or things like heaven and hell,...

In this podcast, I give an overview of the views of heaven and hell that arose through Greek philosophy and then were integrated into the New Testament. The worldview of the New Testament shifts as a result between the Gospels and the following Letters. In Revelation, the Old Testament worldview comes to culmination. The book takes place in heaven, but has an ultimate goal of a New Earth where God...

We return to the Key Terms in Translation series with the terms "heaven" and "hell". These terms are much more complicated than the meanings of the words. They reflect the worldview of the people in the Bible. This podcast explores the worldview of the Ancient Near-Eastern people of the Old Testament, and how that affected their view of God's space, the place of the dead, and their eternal destiny...

Adapting to culture is a huge part of missionary life. There are many ways to define culture, and many overlapping cultural features. One aspect of culture that I find particularly interesting is how people respond when they have done something wrong. Three basic responses are guilt, shame, or fear. Missiologists have used these three responses to identify three cultural types that determine what...

"Abomination of Desolation" is a term that often leaves Bible readers scratching their heads. These words themselves aren't often used, and together they are even less clear! This podcast looks at the meanings of each word, the meaning of the phrase together, and how it is fulfilled in history (because it is used in prophecy!). It also looks at how we translate terms like this that are confusing w...

My translation team has had some difficulty with the word "preach". What exactly does it mean to "preach"? Is it the same as an "announcement"? Listen to find out the Hebrew and Greek words, the etymology of our English words, and how we have chosen a word for our translation.

Another key term in translation! This podcast looks at the key term "In Christ". This term is one that my team has considered and actually changed in our translation. "In Christ" seems like a phrase that is easy to understand, but the implications are a bit more complicated. How do we understand and then translate the deeper meaning of "in Christ"?

As we approach Easter, I wanted to look at another key term - the term "Passover". I wanted to look at this from a slightly different perspective. What do we do when we come upon a new interpretation of a well-known word? I read an article with a possible new interpretation of the word Passover. Listen to find out the new interpretation and what we do with that as translators.

Atonement has been a hard word to translate for our team in West Africa. Part of the reason is that the meaning of atonement now is quite different than the meaning of the original Hebrew word. How did that happen? This podcast talks about both the linguistic and meaning paths that "atonement" took from Hebrew to English, and what that means for translation.

Do the words "righteousness" and "justice" mean the same thing in English? How about in French? And what are the words in Greek and Hebrew? These questions prompted me to look a little more in depth at these key terms, which are very significant terms in translation.

Grace is our next key term in translation! This is a word we are quite familiar with, but is still difficult to translate as we consider the depth of the word. Here we consider the meanings of the original words, along with a particular translation that uses the word "love" to translate grace, and then the translation I am working with, which uses the phrase "free help". So do these accurately rep...

For our next podcast series, I wanted to look at some key Biblical terms. These terms are significant for our understanding of faith, so they are very important for translation. The first word I want to consider is "glory". We have a sort of intuitive understanding of this word, but it can be hard to define...and translate! I also wanted to consider the passage 1 Corinthians 11:7, which says that...

We have reached the end of Titus! This podcast covers Paul's final words of caution to Titus and his greetings from those with him to the church. We also look at our most important translation principle. I hope you have enjoyed this look at the nuances of drafting a Biblical text!

We are nearing the end of the book of Titus! In this episode we look at the translation principle of how to translate special Biblical terms, and then we see this principle in action in verses 4 through 7, which contain a mini gospel! There are many key Biblical terms, but we look specifically at "regeneration" and "renewal".

In this episode we consider how to draft Titus 2:11-15. We also look at how to translate figures of speech, and note that in this verse, grace is personified so that it appears, offers salvation and teaches. What happens if it doesn't make sense in a new language to have an abstract noun do those things? This section ends Titus chapter 2!

As we continue through Titus considering various translation issues, we look in this episode at Titus 2:1-10. This section talks about Christian relationships and behavior. Five different groups of people are given instructions on God-honoring behavior: older men, older women, younger women, younger men, and servants. The primary translation issue is how to translate all these characteristics and...

In this podcast, we look at translation issues in Titus 1:10-16. In this section, Paul is giving Titus instructions for dealing with "the rebellious", and particularly "those of the circumcision party." We discuss how translators sometimes have to take cultural information that would have been implied to the original readers and actually state it outright for a new audience. We look at the example...

We are continuing our look through Titus. In this podcast we look at translation issues in Titus 1:5-9, which includes both how to translate words in lists that are very similar like "self-controlled" and "disciplined", and the issue of the "one woman man" - does this mean an elder is faithful to his wife, or has only one wife?

As my translation team works through the book of Titus, I thought it would be fun to look at it in podcast form as well. We will consider the issues that are specific to translation, which are different than the types of things you might consider in devotional study. This podcast looks at the introduction - verses 1 through 4, and considers issues like how to translate "slave", how to translate "G...

Come along with our translation team as we draft Titus! Join me as a I go through the book of Titus as I would with our translation team, considering issues that are specific to translation and thinking about how to clearly, naturally, and faithfully express those concepts in another language. This episode gives the background that we need before starting to translate.

Join us in the translation room in this podcast! Our primary task while I was in Africa was Exegetical Checking - checking a text that has been drafted to revise it and make it as accurate as possible. Get a glimpse of what it was like as you hear our translators talking through the text together.

There are many "support" roles that are essential to Bible translation, one of which is a teacher. Missionary teachers allow families to stay on the mission field by providing quality education for their kids, which also allows parents to work at various aspects of translation while the kids are in school. In this episode, meet Mindy, who is our teacher here in West Africa. She is an essential par...

While I'm in West Africa, I wanted to give you a look at some of the people who are working here, and who have dedicated their lives to Bible Translation! This is Marty and Tina, who started working here in 1995, and have faithfully dedicated their lives to this translation project. It's a bit longer than usual, but their story is worth the listen!

Now we reach the end of the story of the Bible. This podcast looks at the spread of the Gospel from Israel to the ends of the earth, and then considers our part as the modern day church in the story of the Bible. But, the story doesn't end there. The Bible gives us a peak into the final conclusion of the whole Biblical story in the book of Revelation. Christ is victorious! 

The promise has been fulfilled! However, the end of the story isn't quite here yet. The New Testament tells the story of how the sin problem is actually solved through Christ. This podcast looks at the beginning of the book of Acts, and the first church as it learns to live as a community of believers and as God's new temple, and also as they prepare to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth.