For years, Back to Jerusalem has been reporting on the Chinese Communist Party’s project to produce its own translation of the Bible.
The project began around 2019 as a five-year plan to make Scripture more “inclusive” of socialism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and China’s traditional religions. After COVID-19 and strong international pushback, it now runs on a ten-year timeline pointing to 2029.
Beijing has since brought respected translation scholars on board, but Eugene points out that the final word belongs to the Party. The Party pays for the translation and must approve it, and every Party member takes an oath of atheism.
Earlier moves hint at the direction. A government-published ethics textbook rewrote John 8, so that Jesus stones the woman caught in adultery, and state-approved churches have had the first commandment replaced with Party language.
So why would an atheist government bother with the Bible at all?
Since 1949, the CCP has cut off foreign money, foreign teachers and foreign influence, and the underground house church has kept growing anyway. “The Word of God alone is a big obstacle for the Chinese government,” Eugene says. “If you can’t beat them, join them and retranslate their own book.”
The house church did not survive seventy years because of outside help. It survived because believers held on to the Word of God and would not be moved. That is why getting faithful, accurate Bibles into Chinese hands still matters, and why the Party is working so hard to replace them.
