When Christianity was decided to be the main religion of the Roman Empire in 313 A.D., most of the scripture that the Christians had was Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) and translations of the New Testament. Since most people spoke Latin, there was a great need for a Latin Bible. Many had attempted to write one, but by the fourth century most Latin manuscripts were unreliable. In order to fix that problem the Bishop of Rome asked a scholar named Jerome (340-420) to put together a Latin Bible. Jerome worked over a twenty year period and the result of his labor became known as the Latin Vulgate. Unfortunately Jerome’s work was somewhat inaccurate. For example the word repentance was translated “penance” which game the Catholic Church the idea that you had to pay for your sins. Later the Vulgate became the official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church. When the Roman Empire fell, in what scholars believe was 467 A.D., people adapted other languages. In Medieval Europe, you had to understand Latin to read the Bible. Over time, the Roman Catholic Church realized they could make a little money by having to pay for absolution (a priest granting you to heaven). They also said you could go to heaven by being good, giving money to the priests, fasting, and giving to the poor. Because the common people did not know what the Bible said, they tried to do all of these things out of fear of going to hell if they did not.
The depravity of the Church did not go unnoticed. A man by the name of Waldo of Lyons and his followers became known as the Waldensians. They began to preach repentance instead of penance. They also translated parts of the Bible. The Pope tried to stamp them out by putting many to death, but was unsuccessful. There are still descendants of Waldensians today. In fact, I researched this heavily, and my daddy and I found a few of their descendants about an hour from where we live. That is fascinating to me.
Once of the strongest voices of protest came from an Englishman named John Wycliffe (1320-1384). At Oxford, Wycliffe earned his fame as a teacher, lecturer, and theologian, but it was his work as a reformer that he is remembered best for. From his study of the Bible, he realized the Catholic Church had strayed and were living on their own terms. Through his sermons, lectures, and writings he opposed the Catholic Church. He preached that Christ is the head of the Church. He called the Pope “an antichrist” and Wycliffe believed that every man or woman should be able to read the Bible for themselves. He took on the task to write the first English Bible which was finished in 1382. Although Wycliffe translated the Wycliffe Bible from the Vulgate (he didn’t know how to read Greek or Hebrew) his translation was still somewhat inaccurate. However, this opened up a door to the common people, earning the title “The morning star of the Reformation.”
About a century and a half later a monk and professor named Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses (or complaints) to the Church door at Wittenburg, Germany. Luther, greatly inspired by Wycliffe, believed that every person should have the Bible in their own language. This led him to write the first German New Testament. This was made possible by the Gutenberg press.
Luther used Erasmus of Rotterdam’s 3rd Edition to a Greek New Testament to translate his Bible into German. Erasmus was a well known scholar who disagrees on many teachings of the Catholic Church, but never broke away. Erasmus put together a Greek New Testament. He realized that the Vulgate was incorrect so he decided to rewrite a new Vulgate.
In the early 1500s, a man named William Tyndale translated an English New Testament using Erasmus’ Greek Bible. Tyndale was caught, charged, and put to death by burning at the stake. Unfortunately he did not finish the Old Testament, but God had plans to move forward regardless of the tenacity of evil men.
A year before Tyndale died, Myles Coverdale published an English translation of the whole Bible called the Coverdale Bible. When Mary I (or Bloddy Mary as she is known by) was persecuting protestants, many protestant leaders fled to Geneva. While there in 1560 they produced a Bible known still today as the Geneva Bible. This was the first Bible to have chapters and numbers for the verses. This Bible was written for the people, by the people and was used by many of the Puritans and Separatist we know today as the Pilgrims that landed in America in 1620.
All the Bible translations during this time came to a screeching halt in 1611 when King James had authorized about 50 scholars to write this version. The translations they used were the original Hebrew, Latin, and Greek manuscripts, and English translations, and Luther and Erasmus Bibles to write the King James version. The King James version still is used widely among Christians today. What a blessing to pick up a Bible off my shelf and read it without being put in prison or burned at the stake for having it in my possession.
In our family, we read many different versions. My parents refer to the King James most often along with the ESV. My daddy bought my brother a wonderful ESV, my sister wanted the Geneva, while I enjoy my Keyword King James because it has great study notes and a helpful concordance. My other sisters like their KJV, but we all really enjoy mama’s Founders’ Bible NASB version if we want a little lesson in how all of our Founder’s documents came straight out of the Bible. A fun little history fact about the Geneva Bible, it was written outside of the King’s rule by common folk. They did not trust the king or wanted his interpretation, and you can understand why. For example, King James did not like in Exodus that the midwives defied Pharaoh when they were ordered to kill the babies of the Israelite mothers. It came against the Israelite’s God in murdering these newborn babies. King James saw this as defying the authority of man and made note of this. In his study notes in the King James 1600 version of the Bible, he had the scholars note that no one was to defy the King’s orders even if it went against any conviction of man. I find pieces of history so fascinating.
I hope this blesses you today and you find it encouraging that our God and His word are unchanging and can never be snuffed out.
McBride daughter, 15 years old