I will be putting up a new section of this site, Lord willing, with quotes and comments from those who are or were inside the organizations in question. They will be explaining what is happening in the field, behind closed doors and what they are or were being told. Look for this powerful, first hand testimony soon.

"On January 4, 2012, Biblical Missiology sponsored an online petition called “Lost In Translation: Keep ‘Father’ and ‘Son’ in the Bible” on change.org. This petition asked Wycliffe, Frontiers and SIL to commit in writing to preserve the terms “Father,” “Son,” and “Son of God” in the text of their Bible translations. In response, Wycliffe sent a document to their staff, as well as to some of the signatories of the petition, rejecting the assertions of the petition. The following is a response by Biblical Missiology, with input from current and former staff of these agencies, global pastors, translators, linguists, missiologists and theologians with significant experience on the issue..."


Download the PDF response here.

Very succinct and informative article at Link Up Africa by Khalil Ullah regarding the insider movement. Here is a brief selection:

Insider Movement Premise: Filial language (i.e. “Father” and “Son”) and the phrases “Son of God” and “Son of Man” are not divinely inspired terms that must be literally translated

Challenge: If the Bible is divinely inspired (2 Tim. 3:15-16) so that even the use of a word in its singular form (e.g. “seed” in Gal. 3:16) points to Jesus, how much more three of the most important designations of our Lord: “Son,” “Son of God,” and “Son of Man”? Jesus' use of different names and titles for Himself is consistent with God's self-disclosure through different names in the Old Testament. If these three designations can be substituted with other words and phrases ultimately these terms are superfluous to understanding the Person of Jesus.

Read the entire text here.

A new online petition has been created, asking Wycliffe, SIL and Frontiers to commit their agencies to keeping Father,Son and Son of God references  intact in translation work. The petition reads:

To Leaders of Wycliffe, Frontiers and SIL:
The agencies you represent have a heritage that the entire Christian community can rightly be proud of. However, your good name is at risk. According to your own statements in publications such as Christianity Today and World magazine, your agency is responsible for the production of Bible translations that remove “Father,” “Son” and/or “Son of God” from the text of Scripture. This must stop. With this petition I am asking you to commit in writing that your agency will not support any translation that removes or replaces “Father,” “Son” or “Son of God” from the text, when referring to God the Father or God the Son. 

Deuteronomy 4:2 says, “You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you.” Taking away “Father” and “Son” from God’s own words changes our understanding of God and his ways. In particular, doing so obscures the eternal Sonship of Jesus and the good news that “the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14). 

Further, these translations compromise the essence of the gospel itself: the self-sacrifice of God the Son on our behalf, and the offer of an eternal relationship with God. 1 John 4:15 says, “whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.” How can those in need of the gospel respond to the promises of God, if they don’t know him as Father, Son and Spirit? 

When faced with obstacles to the gospel as great as any Christians face today, the apostle Paul declared, “We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God" (2 Corinthians 4:2). Translations that remove “Father” and “Son” from the text tamper with God’s word. With this petition, I am asking you to explicitly pledge not to produce such translations. 

And thus may the truth of God’s word continue to be an “open statement” to all in need of the gospel. 


Please add your name to the growing list of those calling Wycliffe, SIL and Frontiers to put an end to this practice by signing the petition.