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Question 7
He argues that if God preserved Scripture with zero variation, then “as soon as someone translated it… it would no longer be God’s Word,” citing ambiguities like *ruach* and issues like capitalizing “Spirit/spirit”; how does this reasoning confront common evangelical expectations about inerrancy, and what would a more “translation-aware” way of reading look like in daily discipleship?
Another way to ask: Bercot argues that if only one exact wording were God’s Word, then translations wouldn’t really be God’s Word, especially with words like *ruach* and choices like Spirit/spirit. How does that challenge common evangelical ideas about inerrancy, and what would reading with translation limits in mind look like day to day?

Direct Answer Bercot’s reasoning confronts the expectation that biblical authority requires exact, unchanging verbal form by stressing that translation necessarily involves interpretation and loss of ambiguity. A “translation-aware” reading would accept that God’s Word is preserved in its message and commands, and would read humbly, noting ambiguities and using helps like marginal notes.

Support from Transcript:

  • He says if Scripture turned on perfect precision, then after an error “it would no longer be God’s Word,” and after translation “it would no longer be God’s Word.”
  • He explains why: you can’t “precisely convey every meaning… every nuance… every verb tense” from one language to another.
  • He illustrates ambiguity: *ruach* “means both spirit and wind,” but English has no single equivalent; translators must choose.
  • He discusses capitalization: ancient Hebrew/Greek had no capitals, yet English capitalization (Spirit/spirit) forces an “unambiguous expression” where the original was ambiguous.
  • He concludes God guided transmission so Scripture could be translated into “hundreds and thousands” of languages, meaning it “could not turn on every single syllable.”
Discussion Follow-ups In your Bible reading, would you be willing to slow down and ask, “What ambiguities might the original language carry here,” instead of assuming your translation settles every question?

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