The Bible
– Its Origin, History
and Place in the
World
The Bible contains
proof in itself of its divine origin.
No other book can answer the
questionings of the mind or satisfy
the longings of the heart, as does
the Bible. It is adapted to every age
and condition of life, and is full of
knowledge that enlightens the mind
and sanctifies the soul.
In the Bible we have a
revelation of the living God.
Received by faith, it has power to
transform the life. During all its
history a divine Hand has been over
it, and preserved it for the world.
How, When, and Why
Written
Centuries after the
Flood, as men became numerous and
darkness was again settling over the
world, holy men wrote as they were
moved by the Spirit of God. Thus God
spoke to His people and through them
to the world that knowledge of God
and of His will might not perish from
the earth.
For centuries this
work went on, until Christ, the
promised Seed came. With Him, and the
blessed message of light and
salvation proclaimed by Him and by
His apostles, the Scripture record
closed, and the Word of God was
complete.
Original Writing and
Translations
For the most part the
Old Testament Scriptures were first
written in Hebrew, upon scrolls, or
rolls of parchment, linen, or
papyrus. These were later translated
into Greek, the oldest translation
being known as the Septuagint, or
“Version of the Seventy,”
which was made at Alexandria for the
Alexandrian Library. The work of
translation was begun under the
patronage of Ptolemy Philadelphus,
about 285 B.C. The original order for
the translation is said to have been
given by Alexander the Great, who
previously, upon visiting Jerusalem
in 332 B.C. had learned from the
prophecy of Daniel that Grecia was to
overthrow the Persian kingdom. See
Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews,
Book 11, chap. 8, par. 5. This
was the version in common use in the
time of Christ.
The New Testament is
accepted by scholars as being
originally written in Greek (although
Matthew is thought by some to have
been first written in Hebrew, later
translated to Greek).
At an early date Latin
translations, both of the Septuagint
and of the Greek New Testament, were
made by different individuals. A more
carefully prepared Latin version of
the whole Bible, the Vulgate of
Jerome, was made A.D. 383-405. It was
called the Vulgate, or
“common” version, because
it was that in common use among Latin
speaking people.
Printing and the Bible
Printing, however,
being yet unknown, copies of the
Bible could be produced only by a
slow, laborious, and expensive
process of handwriting. This
necessarily greatly limited its
circulation. Worse still, its
illuminating and saving truths were
largely hidden for centuries by the
errors, superstitions, and apostasy
of the Dark Ages. During This time
the common people knew little of its
contents.
But with the invention
of the art of printing about the
middle of the fifteenth century, and
with the dawn of the great
Reformation in the century following,
the Bible entered upon a new era,
preparatory to the final proclamation
of the gospel throughout the world.
Not a little
significant is the fact that the
first important book printed in
Europe from moveable type was in
Latin, printed by Johann Gutenburg,
issued at Maintz, Germany, about
1456. The copy of the Gutenburg Bible
owned by the Library of Congress is
perhaps the most valuable book in the
world.
The Bible in Native
Tongues
Thus far, however, the
Bible had been printed only in an
ancient tongue, not understood by the
common people, and without the Word
of God in their hands, the good seed
sown among them was easily destroyed.
“Oh,” said the advocates of
its pure teachings, “if the
people only had the Word of God in
their own language, this would not
happen! Without this it will be
impossible to establish the laity in
the truth.”
And why should they
not have it in their own tongue? They
reasoned. Moses wrote in the language
of the people of his time; the
prophet’s spoke in the tongue
familiar to the men they addressed;
and the New Testament was written in
the language then current throughout
the Roman world.
The translation of the
Bible into English by John Wycliffe
and his associates, about 1380, was
one of the chief events leading to
the Reformation. It also prepared the
way for the revival of Christianity
in England, and the multiplying there
of the Word by the millions, for all
the world, that has followed.
To make such a
translation at that time, says
Neader, “required a bold spirit
which no danger could appall.”
For making it Wycliffe was attacked
from various quarters, because it
claimed, “he was introducing
among the multitude a book reserved
exclusively for the use of the
priests.” In the general
denunciation it was declared that
“thus was the gospel by him laid
more open to the laity, and to women
who could read, than it had formerly
been to the most learned of the
clergy; and in this way the gospel
pearl is cast abroad. And trodden
underfoot of swine.” In the
preface to his translation, Wycliffe
exhorted all the people to read the
Scriptures.
A sense of awe and a
thrill of joy filled the heart of the
great German Reformer when, at the
age of twenty, while examining the
volumes in the library of the
University of Urfurt, he held in his
hands, for the first time in his
life, a complete copy of the Bible.
“O God,” he murmured,
“could I but have one of these
books, I would ask no other
treasure.” A little later he
found in a convent a chained Bible.
To this he had constant recourse.
But all these Bibles
here, as elsewhere, save in England,
were in the ancient tongue, and could
be read only by the educated. Why,
thought Luther, should the Living
Word be confined to the dead
languages? Like Wycliffe, therefore,
he resolved to give his countrymen
the Bible in their own tongue. This
he did, the New Testament in 1522,
and the Bible complete, the crowning
work of his life, in 1534.
Impressed with the
idea that the people should read the
Scriptures in their mother tongue,
William Tyndale, likewise, in 1525,
gave to the English people his
translation of the New Testament, and
later, of portions of the Old
Testament Scriptures. His ardent
desire that they should know the
Bible was well expressed in the
statement that if God spared his life
he would cause the boy that drives
the plow to know more of the
Scriptures than was commonly known by
the divines of his day.
The first complete
printed English Bible was that of
Miles Coverdale, printed at Zurich,
Switzerland, in 1535. Matthew’s
Bible, Taverner’s Bible, and the
Great Bible prepared at the
suggestion of Thomas Cromwell, Earl
of Essex, appeared soon after. Thus
the light began to shine forth once
more, but not without opposition.
Burning of Bibles
As Jehoiakim, king of
Judah, and the princes under King
Zedekiah showed their contempt for
God by burning the writings of
Jeremiah and confining the prophet in
a dungeon (Jeremiah 36: 20-23;
38:1-6), so now men sought to stem
the rising tide of reform by burning
the Bible and its translators.
Bible burning was
inaugurated in England by the
destruction of copies of the Antwerp
edition of Tyndale’s New
Testament, at St. Paul’s Cross,
London, in 1527, followed by the
burning of a second edition in 1530.
A little later the writings and
translations of Wycliffe, Tyndale,
Basil, Barnes, Coverdale, and others,
were banned and in some cases burned.
Forty-three years
after the death of Wycliffe, or in
A.D. 1428, by order of the Council of
Constance his bones were dug up and
burned. October 6, 1536, by order of
Charles V of Germany, Tyndale was
strangled and burned at the stake at
Vilvorde, near Brussels. “If
Luther will not retract,” wrote
Henry VIII of England, “let
himself and his writings be committed
to the flames.” Such, under the
spiritual tyranny that ruled in those
times, was the fate of many who stood
for God and His Word.
The Word Not Bound
But the Word of God
could not be forever bound. In
attempting to prevent its circulation
men soon discovered that they were
undertaking a work beyond their
strength.
The Bible had taken
deep root in the hearts of the
people. What kings and prelates had
sought to suppress and destroy, kings
and prelates now began to foster and
supply.
In his Stories From
English History, pages 196, 197,
Henry P. Warren says: “Henry, by
Cromwell’s advice, ordered a
translation of the Bible to be made
in English, and a copy to be placed
in every church. There had been
English translations before, but they
had not been in the hands of the
people generally, and had only been
read secretly and in fear….
Cromwell then appointed Cranmer and
the Bishops to revise the Bible, and
publish it without note or comment;
and in the year 1539 a copy of the
English Bible was chained to the
reading desk of every parish church.
From that time the Bible has never
ceased to be printed and sold
freely.”
Says Charles C.
Coffin, in his Story of Liberty,
chapter 2, page 44: “The people
listen to the reading with wonder and
delight. They begin to think; and
when men begin to think, they take a
step toward freedom. They see that
the Bible gives them rights that
hitherto have been denied them –
the right to read, to acquire
knowledge. Schools are started. Men
and women, who till now have not
known a letter of the alphabet, learn
to read; children teach their
parents. It is the beginning of a new
life – a new order of things in
the community – the beginning of
liberty.”
The Bible to all the
World
Finally, great Bible
societies were organized in England,
America, and many of the countries of
Europe, for the purpose of giving the
Bible to the world – to every
nation, kindred, tongue, and people
in its own language. Chief among
these are the British and Foreign
Bible Society, founded in 1804, and
the American Bible Society, founded
in 1816. These and like
organizations have circulated
literally millions of copies of the
bible in a vast number of languages.
Thus is the world being provided with
the Word of God, preparatory to the
giving of the closing gospel message
to all mankind, the ending of the
reign of sin, and the Second Coming
of the Lord in glory. “And this
gospel of the kingdom shall be
preached in all the world for a
witness unto all nations; and then
shall the end come.” Matthew
24:14.
