Direct Answer
A truthful confidence in Scripture would acknowledge real translation issues without denying the authority or value of Scripture. It would seek to read Bible translations as the apostles intended, using sound reasoning, linguistic awareness, and historic Christian testimony rather than blind assumptions.
Support from Transcript
- Bercot explicitly says, “I’m not bringing up all these things in order to undermine your confidence in the Scriptures.” - He wants confidence “to be based on truth and sound reasoning, not on blindness.” - He says “our Bible translations need to read the way the Apostles would have intended them to read.” - He points out that translators must interpret capitalization, commas, quotation marks, and Greek wording. - He argues that when the Greek can be translated in more than one way, Christians should “lean heavily” on early Christian understandings. - He frames early Christian evidence as “historic evidence of how the New Testament terms were used and understood.”
Discussion Follow-ups
The transcript suggests that honest confidence is not threatened by translation complexity; rather, it is strengthened by facing that complexity responsibly.