LTKC: Our Inheritance (Part 2)
LTKC: Our Inheritance (Part 2)
As we previously examined the history and role of prayer in the Korean church, we must also now examine another hallmark of the Korean Christian experience. The Word of God.
One of the reasons that many scholars believe for the powerful proliferation of the Korean church can truly be traced to the fact that the Korean Bible was fully translated in 1784 by a Roman Catholic named Choi Chang Hyun also nicknamed “John the Baptist”. Alongside a Jesuit missionary named Rev. E Diaz, the entire Bible was translated into the Korean language from using the Chinese translated Bible. Fitting that Choi was named “John the Baptist” as this early translation of the Bible truly was a forerunner to prepare the way to what was to come to the Hermit Kingdom.
Over the course of the early 1900’s various Methodist and Presbyterian missionaries would add to the translation of the scriptures. In so doing, the heavy emphasis on the Scriptures served as a model and hallmark for the Korean church. By 1938 The Old Korean Revised Version would be fully completed and mass produced for the ever growing Korean Church to have for themselves. There is no doubt that the scriptures played a major role for the self-propagation of the Faith in Korea.
From the earliest manuscripts of various early Korean Pastors such as Lee Seong Bong, Yi Gi Pung, and Kim Ik Du, we can see that the transmission of and proclamation of the word of God was paramount. Built upon the traditional understanding engrained in the Korean people for reverence for Holy texts, there is clear evidence that this naturally translated to their view of the Bible.
Koreans have maintained a fierce and strong stance to a literal interpretation of the Bible. It really wasn’t until the last 20-30 years do we see the infiltration of liberal theology begin to make its way into the Korean theological system. But even still, many have maintained maybe even to a fault, a traditional and conservative scholarship of the scriptures in Korea.
As Korean Americans alive today, I believe there is much we can glean from this. Although many who are alive today may take the scriptures for granted as it has been fully accessible for us here in the United States since we can probably remember, the value for the Word of God is in our Spiritual Inheritance. There is a reverence for the authority of the word of God.
My concern today is that in the spiritual and cultural climate that we find ourselves in, is that we may be losing our grip on this once held belief in the authority of God’s word. Jesus himself declares that “heaven and earth will pass away but MY words will remain forever” (Matthew 24:35).
If this generation is going to recover our full inheritance, then I believe it is going to come from recognizing those who have gone before us, and the response of complete obedience that they had to the word. The reason why the early Christians of Korea would go to the prayer mountains to pray all night long is because they took the Old Testament literally to “take back the high places”. I believe it was this clear and focused understanding to study and obey God’s word that was a sustaining factor to the revival of Korea.