Have you ever noticed the abundance of picture books and videos that tell Bible stories such as David and Goliath, Noah's Ark, and The Life of Jesus? But how many have you seen that illustrate the book of Romans, Galatians, or Ephesians?

Probably none. An Internet search yielded only a few illustrations representing concepts from selected verses. Why the lack of visuals for non-narrative Scripture?

Narratives are filled with words that easily bring images to our minds, but non-narrative concepts are difficult to imagine graphically. Can you visualize what Paul is saying in Romans 5:6–8 (NIV)?

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

For oral cultures, whose speakers often communicate ideas and teaching through stories rather than abstract, logical styles, the New Testament epistles are difficult to understand. But if these cultures can hear the verse and see a simple animation that visualizes the concept of Jesus dying in our place (see www.visualwisdom.org/HeartExchange), they can more easily understand the passage.

What does this have to do with Bible translation? Imagine national workers translating a passage of Romans. If they understand the concepts well, then choosing the right wording is easier. We want to provide visuals to help convey those concepts.

Author Don Richardson in his book Peace Child tells how he discovered that an exchange of children between two warring tribes constituted their traditional way to make peace. This analogy helped the Sawi people of New Guinea understand redemption—God's way of making peace with man through Jesus. Romans is full of such concepts—justification, sanctification, propitiation—that are hard to grasp without a related visual.

Imagine if we could harvest those images from translators and store them in visual form for others to see. What if we could use a combination of drawings, animation, and drama to capture those concepts and present them with each chapter and verse of Romans? What if we could publish them in verse order on the Web so other “visual translators” could suggest improvements?

What if we could compile enough visuals to illustrate all the epistles? What if we could make these visual illustrations available to translators along with the many other helps they receive?

What if these visuals could greatly accelerate the translation process? What if the visuals for Romans were so clear that the truths contained within them might speak loudly and clearly to churches everywhere?

Is it possible to put Romans or the epistles into a visual form? I think it can happen, but it will take God working through a diverse team of people, granting them insight, creativity, and unity.

So far, I have attempted to put a few abstract visual ideas into simple 2-D animation. They can be seen at www.visualwisdom.org .

Please feel free to contact me if you have questions or suggestions at Greg_Lorei@sil.org .

—Greg Lorei

April 2011