Bible and the Headlines: News You Can Use

By Editor | June 17, 2026

BILINGUAL REPRESENTATION

By David Bachelor, PhD

Hospitals recognize that a patient whose language is not understood by hospital staff may not get the care they need. For this reason, many hospitals include linguists as part of their care teams. There are other vocations where bilingual ability impacts the services provided. Recent headlines showcase the effect polyglot ability has on business, education and government.

The educational news website The 74 asked its readers on June 8, “Businesses Want Bilingual Workers, Families Want Bilingual Kids, So Why the Gap?” This op-ed uses a 2025 research study to examine the gap between what employers want and what America’s educational system provides. The study’s author states, “In today’s global economy, language is not just a cultural asset — it is essential to doing business.” The study found that the shortage of qualified bilingual teachers is the first problem to address.

Indiana’s morning newspaper Pharos-Tribune on June 12 featured, “Jocelyn Aguilar to Become First Bilingual LCSC Administrator.” LCSC stands for Logansport Community School Corporation, a regional educational headquarters. Ms. Aguilar is transitioning from teacher “… to take on the role of assistant principal at Landis Elementary … She will be the first ever bilingual administrator within the school corporation.” The LCSC has bilingual secretaries who unofficially act as interpreters. Aguilar can now directly address the educational concerns of parents who do not speak English.

On June 13^th, the online legal news service Jurist announced, “Canada High Court Rules New Brunswick Language Rights Require Bilingual Lieutenant Governor.” Two facts influenced their ruling: Canada has two official languages and the Lieutenant Governor is the highest ranking official in New Brunswick. The Court ruled, “A unilingual appointee violates the equality of status between the two languages in the provincial government.” The ruling may have the unintended consequence of disqualifying any monolingual applicant to a federal position- including Prime Minister.

The Bible tells of an episode that is the inverse of New Brunswick. The government officials were bilingual but their constituents were not. When Assyria was preparing to invade Israel, a delegation was sent to Jerusalem to compel its surrender. The city’s officials tried to use their second language to keep a secret from the people. The Assyrians made their demands in Hebrew, but the city’s officials said to the Assyrians, “Please speak in Aramaic, for we understand it. Don’t use Hebrew, for the people standing on the walls will hear you” (2Ki 18:26). The Assyrians continued to use Hebrew because they wanted the people to know what was coming (2Ki 18:27).

The early church in Jerusalem also had a language problem. The number of believers was exploding among both Hebrew and Greek-speaking citizens. Some of the Greek-speaking believers felt they were being neglected. We are told in Acts 6:1, “Those who spoke only Greek complained that their widows were being discriminated against, that they were not being given as much food in the daily distribution as the widows who spoke Hebrew.” The disciples chose people who could be trusted to address this problem (Act 6:5).

We will not have a language problem when Jesus comes back. In the vision God revealed to John, the Bible says, “There was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb … And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb” (Rev 7:9-10). We will finally get the care we need regardless of our native tongue.

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