A translation of the Bible must be both trustworthy and trusted. Trustworthy is the objective reality of a translation that faithfully and clearly communicates the meaning of the original languages as it was communicated to the original hearers. Trusted is the lingual church’s perception of that trustworthiness, shown by their reliance on it for faith and good doctrine. If they come apart, the church leaves a text unused or relies on an unfaithful one, and checking is the church’s work.
Trustworthy and Trusted (2017) distinguishes trustworthy from trusted.
A trustworthy translation is:
the objective reality of a translation that faithfully and clearly communicates the meaning of the original languages as it was communicated to the original hearers in their cultural, historical, and linguistic context.
A trusted translation is:
the subjective perception of the trustworthiness of a translation by the lingual church that speaks that language, as indicated by their reliance on it for all matters pertaining to “faith and good doctrine” (1 Tim. 4:6).
Trustworthiness is a property of the text. Trust is a judgment of the church that speaks the language. Church-Centric Bible Translation aims at both.
The church that speaks a language will preach from the translation and form its people by it, so if that church cannot tell whether the text is faithful, it cannot steward sound doctrine in its own language.
In some parts of the Middle East, churches were not using recently completed translations of the New Testament. The lingual church did not know of any problems with the new translations, but the absence of known problems was not sufficient for them; they wanted to verify for themselves that the translations were trustworthy.
A church may rely on a translation that is not trustworthy and be unable to name the problem, and the church that cannot see the problem also cannot withhold trust. Church-centric work aims at alignment of reality and perception, because the church does not get that alignment from a faster shipment of text.
Leaders place a translation in one of four quadrants:
Quadrant | Alignment | Result |
|---|---|---|
Trustworthy and trusted | Reality and perception agree | The aim: the church relies on a faithful text |
Trustworthy and not trusted | Misalignment | Unused or unverified: the church has not confirmed it |
Not trustworthy and not trusted | Reality and perception agree | Rightly withheld: the church sees the problem |
Not trustworthy and trusted | Misalignment | The dangerous quadrant: the church relies on a text that is not trustworthy |
The work has two milestones. Text complete means translated text exists for a portion of Scripture, though suitability is a later question. Trustworthy means the translated text faithfully communicates what the original texts communicated to the original hearers, and translators reach text complete with less effort than they spend moving from text complete to trustworthy.
Translators publish their best work, then revise it as the church’s capacity grows. Translators who accelerate past the church’s capacity to affirm trustworthiness leave the church unable to check the text. Bible-centric work measures progress by how fast teams produce and publish a quality Bible. Church-centric work asks whether the lingual church can produce a trustworthy Bible and other theological resources, and keep them. If translators deliver a draft faster than the church can check it, they do not establish the church. The church leaves the draft unused, or trusts it too soon.
The lingual church grows the ability to check through formation (sound doctrine, handling Scripture, judgment with other believers) and through tools that help compare a draft with the original languages. translationCore is one tool unfoldingWord makes for that checking, and no tool replaces the church’s judgment.
Paul tells Timothy that “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17, BSB). A trustworthy translation lets the Word equip the church. A church that cannot understand the text, or cannot trust it, is not equipped.
In Nehemiah 8, hearing and understanding belong together. Ezra reads the Law aloud. The Levites explain it “so that the people could understand what was being read” (Nehemiah 8:8, BSB). Translators who stop at producing text, without the church hearing, explaining, and confirming meaning, have not finished the work.
Hebrews 5:11–14 and 2 Peter 3:15–18 present formation as the way the church learns to handle Scripture. Peter warns that some things in it are hard to understand, and the unstable twist them. Maturity comes “by constant use” as people “have trained their senses to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:14, BSB). A church learns to check a translation the same way: by practice with the Word.
No process or tool removes the need for the church’s judgment. Checkers can surface problems, but they cannot decide for the church whether a rendering is faithful in that language, or whether the church will rely on it. The lingual church makes that judgment together with the global and historical church: the one faith, the original languages, and churches that have handled the same Scriptures before. See how churches translate for an overview of drafting, checking, and church approval.
Original content © unfoldingWord, CC BY-SA 4.0. Last reviewed 27 August 2026.