Of the Holy Scripture, I:8

The Old Testament in Hebrew (which was the native language of the people of God of old), and the New Testament in Greek (which, at the time of the writing of it, was most generally known to the nations), being immediately inspired by God, and, by His singular care and providence, kept pure in all ages, are therefore authentical; so as, in all controversies of religion, the Church is finally to appeal unto them. But, because these original tongues are not known to all the people of God, who have right unto, and interest in the Scriptures, and are commanded, in the fear of God, to read and search them, therefore they are to be translated into the vulgar language of every nation unto which they come, that, the Word of God dwelling plentifully in all, they may worship Him in an acceptable manner; and, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, may have hope.

One point of confusion that sometimes comes up in discussions of the inspiration of Scripture is whether we consider a particular translation to be inspired. Perhaps the most well-known group today that advocates such an ultra-high view of a translation is the KJV-Only group. I don't propose to enter into that debate here except to observe that the Confession does not support such a belief. God inspired the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts--what are called the autographs--but we don't possess those manuscripts today, just copies. However, this is not cause for despair because God has sovereignly and providentially superintended the processes by which copies of the Scripture have been handed down through the generations such that we may be confident that today we do possess the content of those original manuscripts. The science of lower textual criticism has done the church a tremendous service in this regard, in that it corroborates the preservation of the text. The process of translation is not inspired, though.

Nevertheless, translation of the Scriptures into the various common tongues of the people of God is a most important and noble work. By this work, millions of Christians who would otherwise have no access to God's word may read it with profit, to the end that their worship of God may be acceptable according to his precepts and they themselves may have hope, the hope that the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ affords to all who embrace it. It is not insignificant that God originally provided the Scriptures in the languages of the people to whom they were at first given; the church carries on this work by ensuring that the Scriptures are rendered readable by all those to whom they are now given.

Tomorrow: Matters of interpretation.