And He Gave Some As Teachers

We have been in Nicaragua a year now and, to be honest, are finding a few things difficult getting used to. One is the consistent 95˚F heat. It doesn’t sound bad considering winters in Ohio, but after a while it begins to wear on you. It also hasn’t been easy getting used to the aggressive driving and the poor customer service. But despite these negatives, and they are mild, it has been easy getting used to the Martin Luther University where we teach. UML, the central AG school in Managua, is both a university and Bible Institute. It is where the church prepares her new leaders.

God called us to Nicaragua to help train and equip these leaders, e.g. pastors, missionaries and Christian workers, for the work of the ministry. We are here to build-up the body of Christ in faith and knowledge so that it matures and grows into a viable witness for the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 4:11ff).

Meeting the students has been the most rewarding aspect of life here thus far. They come to the school hungry for the Word of God. Most are from poor families in Managua, some from outside the capital. Seeing these students’ desire to learn, and the light in their eyes when they do learn, makes all the cultural discomforts worth while. Here’s an example. Daniel was teaching one day on Luke 10:1 from the Spanish New International Version. This is where Jesus is appointing 72 disciples to go into the cities ahead of him, two by two. But the students noticed that in the Spanish Reina-Valera Version (RVR), the number of disciples recorded is not 72 but 70. (Note the King James Version). So they asked why the difference?

For Latin American evangelicals, the Reina-Valera is the default version of the Bible. It’s the most popular Bible version and is considered without defect. The Spanish NIV, on the other hand, is not taken seriously.


The problem, however, is that with the Reina-Valera the Greek manuscripts used to translate it into Spanish were younger and less reliable than the ones used to translate the NIV. This means that the NIV (both Spanish and English versions) used older and better manuscripts, those closer to the original writings of the New Testament, than those used back in 1602 when the Reina-Valera first appeared (1611 for the KJV). Why is this important? For a couple of reasons. First, it helps the students to see that the Bible, like Christ, is both divine and human. It was inspired by God but written by man. Therefore it is not without its human challenges. We do not possess any of the original manuscripts of the NT today; we have only copies of the originals. Some of those copies differ in places one from another. These differences are called Variants. Luke 10:1 has a variant reading of 72 and 70 for the number of disciples chosen by Jesus. Most scholars today believe the actual number was 72. This means both the RVR and KJV possibly err here. What then, do we throw out these versions? No. We respect them. But we also note that in some places (e.g. Luke 10:1) there are older and better manuscripts (copies of the originals) that the RVR (KJV) did not use because they were not available to them. This type of study was eye opening for many in Daniel’s class because they never considered the Spanish NIV credible. But now they’re seeing there’s a lot more to Bible study than first thought.

The second reason this is important is that the number 72 in Jewish tradition happens to represent the number of Gentile nations of the world. This number is based on a list of 72 names found in Genesis 10. In his gospel, Luke shows how he anticipated that, although Jesus chose 12 disciples for Israel (Luke 9:1), he also chose 72 others to send to the rest of the world (the Gentiles). This is truly amazing. Many today question the authority of the Christian to evangelize the world. But the early church saw that Jesus chose 72 to take the gospel to the world he loved.


What’s more, the biblical message didn’t end with the NT church. The message they understood applies to us today as well. This includes sending missionaries to countries like Nicaragua. But the message is also a call to Central American believers, Nicaraguans and others, that they are a part of the 72 called to the nations. God’s work is not finished and the responsibility does not pass over the Nicaraguans, it includes them in this great work of God. And that is why we are here.

We love teaching God’s word; it calls men and women, and imparts life. As we said, things are not easy here, but teaching the Lord’s word to the next generation of pastors and missionaries makes the difficulties seem secondary. Nicaragua is our calling. And that calling, which is really the students, keeps us here.