God’s Tokples

The language of wider communication in most of Papua New Guinea is Tok Pisin. It is similar to English in some ways (because it’s an English pidgin language), but it is very different in other ways. There are many English words that are very difficult to translate into Tok Pisin and there are some Tok Pisin words that are difficult to translate into English. One of those words is ‘tokples’. Its literal ‘word-for-word’ English translation would be ‘talk place’. But a better translation might be heart language or mother tongue or first language. It’s the language that you speak in your place, your village, your home, your family.

During our recent village trip, we were translating some short picture Bible stories. One of them was the creation story when God forms Adam and then speaks to him. We were sitting in my co-translator’s bamboo thatched-roof house because of some light misting rain outside. We were translating and chatting and poking at the fire. My co-translators began to wonder what language God and Adam spoke to each other.

‘What is God’s tokples?’ they wondered.

It’s a natural question to have as we translate from English/Greek/Hebrew into Domung while also speaking Tok Pisin to each other. But it’s not a question a typical monolingual, English speaker thinks about very often.

Many people in PNG think that there is some sort of ‘heavenly language’ that we will all speak when we get to heaven. They might be right – after all, the angels existed before the creation of the world and they probably communicated to each other somehow. But the Bible is also clear that many human languages will be present and spoken in heaven (take Rev 7:9 as one example).

We discussed the fact that when the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, people heard their own languages spoken. They didn’t learn a mysterious heavenly language. English and Tok Pisin and Domung (and all the other 830+ languages of Papua New Guinea) will be spoken in heaven. They seemed surprised that God values their language enough to ensure it is spoken in heaven. And He does!

‘But, really, what is God’s tokples?’ they asked.

So we talked about how Jesus himself spoke the languages of the people he ministered to. Hebrew, Aramaic, and probably Greek. And we talked about how the angels that brought messages to the men and women of the Bible spoke the languages of the people they were sent to. God doesn’t demand that we speak His language. No. God speaks our language. All of our languages.

‘That’s good to know, but what do you think is God’s tokples?’ they asked.

So we talked some more about Babel and how it may not have been the curse that everyone often thinks. Perhaps it was really a merciful blessing designed to disperse humanity and to fill up this beautiful world. (You can check out this previous blog post for more about this idea.) Perhaps it was a reflection of the fact that no one single language is sufficient to declare the glories of God – even ten thousand tongues is not enough!

‘That’s interesting, but, really, what is God’s tokples?’ they still wondered.

And that’s when it happened. A MASSIVE thunderclap. One so loud that all three of my co-translators jumped and yelled as loudly as they could (a common cultural response to anything startling). They were so loud, they woke my co-translator’s 2-year old sleeping son.

‘Ahhhh! THAT is God’s Tok Ples!’ they exclaimed! ‘God heard us talking and he answered us!’

It’s as good an explanation as any for that single massive thunderclap. Thunder is not common in these mountains and there was no other thunder for that entire day.

But as we sat and reflected on this event, I was reminded of John 12:27ff. We looked it up and read it together in English and in Tok Pisin. The passage begins with Jesus speaking…

“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father save me from this hour’? But for this purpose [to die] I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine… when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself.”

God desires to glorify his name. God desires to draw all people to himself.

And He does it not by tyrannically demanding our praise, but by sacrificially dying in our place.

This is the gospel. The best news in all the world.

And a large part of this good news of gospel grace is this: God. Speaks. To us. Sometimes through thunder. Sometimes through a whisper. Sometimes through the words of men and missionaries and ministers. But ever and always through The Word – His Son. And ever and always through His written (and spoken) inspired Word. Translated into our language. God wants to speak to us. In English. In Spanish. In German. In Domung. In every one of the thousands of languages in this world.

It’s why we are here in PNG doing this work. And it’s probably why you are reading this article right now. Thank you for being a part of this work!