International Outreach
About AFINT
A biblically faithful, academically rigorous, and spiritually transformative English translation of the New Testament.
Our Vision Statement
To provide a biblically faithful, academically rigorous, and spiritually transformative English translation of the New Testament that serves the global Church and reflects Africa's growing contribution to biblical scholarship.
Our Mission Statement
To honor Christ and strengthen the Church by producing a reliable, accurate, and readable English translation of the Greek New Testament, designed for study, teaching, preaching, and spiritual formation.
This mission is achieved through
Exegetical and textual faithfulness
Ensuring the translation faithfully reflects the meaning, grammar, and theological depth of the Greek text, maintaining both precision and clarity.
Scholarly and pastoral utility
Producing a translation suitable for academic research, theological education, and practical use in churches, ministries, and personal devotion.
African contribution to biblical scholarship
Amplifying African scholarly contribution to global biblical translation and theology, demonstrating Africa as an active participant in shaping the understanding of Scripture.
Global accessibility
Providing the translation in both British and American English editions to serve diverse English-speaking communities worldwide.
Missional and educational impact
Supporting evangelism, discipleship, and the training of Christian leaders by offering a reliable text for teaching, preaching, and personal growth, while laying a foundation for future indigenous Bible translations across Africa.
Product Description
A Groundbreaking Initiative
The African International New Testament (AFINT) is a groundbreaking biblical translation initiative designed to produce a theologically faithful, exegetically precise, and linguistically accurate English rendering of the Greek New Testament.
This project arises from the conviction that the global body of Christ benefits most when diverse voices contribute to the translation and interpretation of Scripture. While much commendable work has focused on translating the Bible into Africa's many indigenous languages, there remains a significant gap in African-led contributions to English Bible translation—a language that continues to serve as a principal medium for theological education, ecclesial discourse, and global Christian scholarship.
The AFINT seeks to fill this gap by offering a translation that reflects rigorous engagement with the biblical text, informed by the linguistic, cultural, and theological maturity of contemporary African scholarship.
Defining "African"
The term "African" in the project's title refers to the provenance rather than a contextual adaptation of the translation.
The AFINT is not an Africanized version of Scripture but an academically rigorous work produced under the leadership of an African biblical exegete and theologian.
Its goal is to serve the global Church, enriching biblical studies and advancing theological reflection through the contributions of African biblical scholarship.
Translation Philosophy: Literal & Explanatory Paraphrase
The AFINT is a carefully structured translation project built on a dual-layer philosophy. These two components function in deliberate relationship: the Explanatory Paraphrase is consistently based on, derived from, and governed by the Literal Translation, ensuring all interpretive expansion maintains accuracy, integrity, and accountability to the original Greek text.
AFINT: Literal Translation
The Foundation of Accuracy and Integrity
Serves as the textual anchor of the entire project. Its primary goal is to represent the Greek New Testament with a high degree of formal fidelity, while remaining intelligible in standard English.
- Formal correspondence to the greek text: The translation preserves grammatical structure and syntactical relationships as closely as English permits.
- Lexical precision and consistency: Greek terms are rendered with careful attention to their semantic range, often maintaining consistent equivalents to preserve conceptual continuity
- Minimal interpretive expansion: The focus is on what the text says, not on explaining or resolving every implication
- Transparency for study: Readers can observe the underlying structure of the Greek, making this layer suitable for serious study, teaching, and comparison.
Function: Establishes the definitive textual boundary for meaning within the AFINT framework. It ensures that the translation remains anchored in the original language, providing the standard of accuracy and integrity against which all interpretation is measured
AFINT: Explanatory Paraphrase
Clarity Built on the Literal Text
Explanatory Paraphrase is not an independent rendering but a carefully controlled expansion of the Literal Translation. Its purpose is to make the meaning of the text clear, explicit, and accessible, especially where the Greek communicates densely or implicitly.
- Derived directly from the literal translation: Every explanatory addition is rooted in the wording, structure, and meaning established in the AFINT Literal.
- Use of explanatory expansions: These expansions unpack compressed expressions, clarify implicit ideas, illuminate historical, cultural, and theological context, and highlight logical relationships within the text.
- Exegetical integration: The paraphrase incorporates grammatical, lexical, contextual, and theological insights into a unified presentation.
- Guided interpretive clarity: Where the literal text may allow multiple possibilities, the paraphrase provides a reasoned and textually grounded explanation.
Function: Articulate clearly what is already present in the text, as established by the Literal Translation. It does not replace the text but extends its meaning in an accountable and disciplined way.
The Governing Principle
The defining feature of the AFINT translation philosophy is the dependence of the Explanatory Paraphrase on the Literal Translation, ensuring:
- Accuracy – Interpretation remains anchored in a formally controlled base.
- Integrity – The meaning is not altered or detached from the original wording.
- Accountability – Every expansion can be traced back to the literal text.
The Literal Translation determines what the text says; the Explanatory Paraphrase explains what the text means — without contradiction or independence. This prevents interpretive drift and preserves the faithfulness of the translation as a whole.
Theological & Textual Basis
AFINT intentionally integrates translation and exegesis, but in a structured and disciplined sequence. Unlike traditional models that separate translation and commentary, AFINT embeds explanation within the translation itself, while maintaining a clear distinction between the textual base (literal) and the explanatory expansion (paraphrase).
While reflecting an evangelical theological orientation, this clarity is derived from the text as represented in the Literal Translation, constrained by grammatical and lexical evidence, and expressed as an outworking of exegesis, not imposed upon the text. Thus, AFINT maintains theological transparency under the authority of the text.
Textual Basis
The translation draws on the two most authoritative and widely accepted critical editions of the Greek New Testament:
- Novum Testamentum Graece, 28th Edition (NA28)
- The Greek New Testament, 5th Revised Edition (UBS5)
Purpose & Justification
The AFINT emerges from both theological conviction and missional necessity, with four primary purposes:
Exegetical faithfulness
To preserve the theological and syntactical depth of the Greek New Testament, translating with awareness of the text's historical, grammatical, and literary dimensions.
Textual variants
To provide transparency for modern biblical scholarship through textual footnotes highlighting significant manuscript variants, alternative readings, and interpretive options.
African contribution
To amplify the voice of African scholars in biblical translation and theology, enriching global conversations and providing a foundation for future translations into indigenous African languages.
Global missional utility
To serve the worldwide Church across denominational and cultural lines as a reliable tool for evangelism, theological education, leadership training, and spiritual formation.
Experience the Translation
A reliable tool for evangelism, theological education, leadership training, and spiritual formation. Discover the depth of God's Word through the lens of African scholarship.