Matthew 7:29 says, “for [Jesus] was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.” One of the ways that this comes across in the Sermon on the Mount is by Jesus’ refrain, “You have heard that it was said … but I say to you.” When Jesus taught, he did not rely upon the authority of others, but on his own authority as the Son of God.
While statements like that portray the authority of Jesus in English, the Enga language has additional subtle features that demonstrate the authority with which Jesus spoke. Enga uses various suffixes to indicate whether the speaker saw something with his own eyes or whether he is reporting something that he did not see with his own eyes but only heard about from the reports of others. These sorts of suffixes are used especially when speaking about events in the far past. For example, in Mark 10:1-11 Jesus is talking about divorce with some Pharisees. In verse 3 he asks them, “What did Moses command you?” The Pharisees reply, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.” In Enga, the reply of the Pharisees contains a suffix that indicates that the Pharisees themselves did not witness Moses saying this, but that they are reporting what they have heard. But when Jesus responds, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment,” and continues on with his reply, the Enga contains a suffix indicating that Jesus himself was an eyewitness of what Moses said. As the Son of God, Jesus is eternal and omnipresent, and so he does not make statements on the basis of what he has heard from others. Rather, he speaks on his own authority. That is why in John 8:58 he says, “Before Abraham was, I am.”
We are thankful for the subtle ways we can emphasize the authority of Jesus in the Enga language. With the use of one small suffix, Jesus can assert his authority whenever he speaks about events in the past, which is something the scribes could never do.
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| Jesus taught as one who had authority |
Translation Progress
The features of the Enga language that I describe on the previous section have taken me nine years to wrap my brain around. There is one suffix in particular that I have asked about repeatedly without receiving satisfactory answers. However, it can be difficult for a person to explain how their own language works, especially when they have never received any formal education in their own language. For example, imagine if a non-native English speaker were to ask you, “Why do you say ‘went’ instead of ‘goed’?” Would you be able to explain why? Most English speakers would know that ‘went’ is correct and ‘goed’ is incorrect, but very few could explain that ‘went’ is actually the past tense of ‘wend’, which was co-opted as the past tense for ‘go’ since ‘go’ never had its own proper past tense (even in Old English). In the same way, when it comes to evidential suffixes, Enga speakers know what is correct and what is incorrect, but they find it quite difficult to explain why one way is correct and the other way is incorrect. Thankfully, after my persistent questioning, one of the team members was able to explain the suffix to me. This visual evidential suffix is just one of many minor points of grammar that we as a team have finally wrapped our brains around after many years at the translation table. So although we have consultant-checked all of the books of the New Testament, we are now methodically reviewing some of these finer points of grammar as we aim to complete the Enga New Testament over the next few months.
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| Bella, with a friend, in her folklorico dress |
Quinceañera
Two days ago on December 30, we were able to host a quinceañera for Bella’s fifteenth birthday. In many countries in Latin America, it is customary to have a special party for a girl’s fifteenth birthday. A quinceañera is somewhat similar to the concept of a Sweet Sixteen party in the United States. And perhaps we could even call a quinceañera a “Festive Fifteen.” Thanks to our dear friend Roberta, we were able to get Bella a traditional folklorico dress shipped in from America (right before the postal service was suspended due to COVID). We were also able to get a piñata shipped in from Australia. So Bella had her entire ninth grade class over, and they had a great time enjoying traditional Mexican music, hitting the piñata, and singing fun and silly karaoke songs. It was a great night, and we can’t believe our Bella is now fifteen years old!
