February 12th, 2016
15. Why is your translation called the Evangelical Heritage Version?
Our translation is called Evangelical because its highest goal is to proclaim the good news of the gospel of salvation through faith in the atoning work of Jesus Christ, God’s eternal Son. Though there are many topics in the Bible, all of them are there to serve the gospel of Christ. All of our work in producing and distributing this translation is directed to the glory of God and to the eternal salvation of people’s souls.
Almost all our congregations have the word evangelical in the name that identifies them. The word evangelical expresses the nature and purpose of the congregations of our church bodies.
Our translation is called Heritage because this word looks to the past, the present, and the future.
Heritage expresses our respect for the generations of Christians and for the faithful translators who have passed the Bible down to us. We are very conscious that we in the present are building on the foundation which they have laid. As the old saying goes: We can see so far because we are standing on the shoulders of giants. Our translation is called a Version as an acknowledgement that we building on a foundation laid by previous generations of translators.
The term Heritage also looks to the future. The gospel is a precious inheritance that is to be passed from generation to generation until Christ returns. It is our prayer that this translation will have a part in that great mission which the Lord has left for his church. Our goal and motto is expressed in the hymn verse:
God’s Word is our great heritage
And shall be ours forever
To spread its light from age to age
Shall be our chief endeavor.
Through life it guides our way.
In death it is our stay.
Lord, grant while worlds endure
We keep its teaching pure
Throughout all generations.
The words evangelical and heritage were two of the words that received the most favorable recommendations during our test of names among our supporters so we are confident that this name will express the hopes and dreams for our translation among our translators, reviewers, editors, and users.
Evangelical Heritage VersionTM EHVTM and Wartburg BibleTM are trademarks of the Wartburg Project.