Why read the First Nations Version of the Bible?
This is a question that each of us as individuals, or in some cases, each congregation, will have to provide their own answer for. However, before we even get to answer that question, there is important ground to cover.
The First Nations Version (New Testament only), released in 2021, is also subtitled an Indigenous Translation of the New Testament. It came about as the result of a collaboration of many parties, including the well-known Christian Bible translating organization, Wycliffe, and a council of 12 indigenous Christian scholars representing over 25 tribes from Canada and the United States.
It is called the First Nations Version because it was written for the benefit of the people who first lived on this continent, hence first nations. Some first nations have had all or portions of the Bible translated into their individual language. However, these translations tended to use words that reflected more the meanings given to them in the language from which the translation was made, which was usually English. Indigenous Christians in North America, having had contact with Christianity for over 400 years, and therefore, in some cases, have been Christian for almost as long, have developed an appreciation and understanding of how their own culture and language can be used to convey the message of the Bible just as well as the languages that came from Europe, for example, English, French, and Greek, or the Near East: Hebrew and Aramaic.
The Bible we know was originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, languages that most of us are unable to read or understand. Therefore, when Christianity was spread into areas of the world where other languages were spoken, to bring the gospel to those people, which would include ourselves, the Bible was translated into many languages. Thus, we in North America, where English is the dominant language, are now able to read the Bible in that language.
Therefore, when this group of translators began to work together, they used the English language, as that is now also the common language used and understood by the many first nations of North America. However, to make it more relevant and meaningful to the indigenous people of North America, who share many cultural concepts and teachings, in spite of having many different languages, the translators used the English equivalent of many first nations words and names. In other words, one could say, they translated their concepts and names into English.
When the Bible is translated from one language to another, translators struggle to find words that can, as closely as possible, bear the same meaning in the new language as in the one it is being translated from. Likewise, names in one language version of the Bible may change to different words in another translation to suit that language and the culture and context it came from.
When one is not familiar with First Nations' descriptiveness, concepts and names, even though they are here presented in English, they can seem quite different and strange. They might even be hard for us to accept. However, we should be reassured that this translation is not attempting to change the truths of the Bible we know. It is definitely not trying to change Christianity (which is just a name given to those who follow Christ by people in Syria almost 2000 years ago, and not even a name that Jesus or the apostles used) into some indigenous religion. It is only attempting to make the Bible more understandable and acceptable to the First Nations of North America, who have had no choice but to use European terminology and understanding until now.
Indigenous people in North America have always referred to the ultimate being the English-speaking world calls God by the name the Great Spirit. In many languages of central and eastern North America, the indigenous word was Gitsche Manitou, the Great Spirit. The Bible has always taught that God is Spirit, so this is really nothing new.
Likewise, indigenous people have also often used descriptive phrases and titles as names. This is not that dissimilar to how those of us who have German ancestors often used such phrases as nicknames for individuals, especially in the Low German. Indeed, many biblical names, as we know, have meanings that require a word or phrase to indicate what the meaning is. We have just come to use the original language word instead of the phrase that it denotes, or a derivative of that name in another language. For example, John, in classic Hebrew is Yohanan, which became Johannes in German, and shortened to John in English. Like most names, John has a meaning. In Hebrew, translated into English, it is "God is gracious.” What the first nation version is doing is using their equivalent of such name definition phrases instead of the shortened word we have become familiar with.
Why then, should we, as Canadians or Americans pay any attention to the first nations version? One could say it is simply a matter of respect. The indigenous people of this continent have had to use the Bible in our languages for centuries. What is wrong with us now looking at the Bible how they translated it? Indeed, as many of us are finding when we read it, the message is often given a simple, beautiful expression that is enriching and different than what we have been used to. We have put so much English-defined theology behind many of the words we are familiar with in the Bible, that we often don't even really know, understand, or appreciate the meaning of these words, especially in their language of origin, be that Greek, Aramaic, or Hebrew. We are the ones who lose. God, the Great Spirit, can speak to everyone in their language, using their culture, context, and understanding. When we insist that only the language we grew up with is the one in which the Bible can be read, we are guilty of putting limits on God and his message to us. We are the ones who lose.
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