Saturday, November 3, 2018
Acts 2:7-8 Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, "Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born?"
THE WONDERFUL WORKS OF GOD IN OUR OWN LANGUAGE
One of the earliest convictions of Martin Luther was that the people of Germany must have the Bible, and to this end it must be translated into their own language. His first translation of the New Testament into German was published in September of 1522. The complete translation of the entire Bible did not take place until 1534. Luther's German Bible became the basis for the modern German language. It is estimated that five thousand copies of Das Neue Testament Deutzsch were sold in two months. Luther's translation of the Bible remains the standard by which other translations are often measured.
Luther wanted God to speak to his people in their own language. What a blessing that we are able to hear the wonderful works of God in our own language! It is a sad fact that our age is also one of gross spiritual darkness. This is because, in spite of the availability of the Bible in our own language, very few people make the effort to search the Scriptures. Most families do not have family devotions, and very few people personally read and study the Scriptures. Even pastors tend to read books about the Bible rather than the bare Scriptures themselves. If God is going to effect a twenty-first century Reformation, it will have to come through a reawakening and a realization of the importance of the searching (reading and studying) of the Bible. May we, by the power of the Holy Spirit, seek to speak the wonderful works of God to the next generation in their own language. The power of the gospel is in the small still voice of God's Word. May God's Word continue to be our great heritage.
-- From the "Lutheran Spokesman"
