The Obligation
“I am under obligation both to Greek and to Barbarian” Romans 1:14
When we hear the word “barbarian” we immediately think of someone who is crude, rude and probably violent. When the ancients used the word barbarian it did not immediately have that connotation.
It is true that by the time of the fall of the Roman Empire there was extreme violence by the barbarian hordes, however, this was not the violence of terrorist mobs- rather it was outright invasion by neighboring states that were sick and tired of Roman expansion and were set on ending it.
The word “barbarian” comes from the Greek word “barbarous”. Barbarous is what we call an onomatopoeia- a word that sounds like what it means. Another onomatopoeia would be the word “buzz”- it sounds like what it means. Essentially the word means “to babel”. Thus the concept behind barbarous is someone who speaks a language I can’t understand.
This is evident by Paul’s use of the word in I Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians 14:11 Paul says: “but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner (barbarous) to the speaker and the speaker will be a foreigner to me.”
The entire Roman Empire was united by its use of the Koine (common) Greek language as the trade language of the empire. Every people group maintained its ethnic dialects for interaction in everyday life. However, everyone learned Greek from childhood.
From the gospels, it is clear that Jesus, and most of his contemporaries, were fluent in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. This was common practice all over the empire.
Paul’s statement in Romans 1:14 implies that it is right and proper for Christians to translate Scripture into various languages so that each people group can read Scripture for themselves. It also implies that as language evolves and changes it is proper to contemporize its message into language that is understandable by that generation.
In the last decades there has been a lot of well-meaning push back by conservative Christians against new translations of Scripture. They argue for the use of the old KJV as a matter of conviction fearing that God’s Word is being changed in these new translations.
Now, to be sure, there are many new translations that are sloppy at the least and downright deceptive at the worst. These need to be rejected by serious Bible believers. However, translations produced by solid Biblical Scholarship that upholds a belief in inerrancy are not to be feared, rather they should be embraced as helpful to the growth of God’s kingdom.
We have an obligation to make God’s Word understandable to all- Greek and barbarian.
Because of grace,
Tim
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