Who do we owe for having the Bible in a language we can read and understand?

Pastor Steve highlights two brilliant and heroic men in church history: John Wycliffe and William Tyndale.

Against the powerful church of their day, they persevered to give the world a Bible in English. May we not take it for granted!

(1.) The purpose of this episode is to help you to love and read your Bible - (Psalm 119:97, Slam 19:7-8)

(2.) What were things like before? - Low literacy rates (5% in 1300's to 30% in 1600's for males. Too expensive until the printing press - Gutenberg 1440)

(a) You couldn't read

(b) You couldn't afford a Bible

(c) All literature was locked up in Latin

(3.) John Wycliffe - 1320 - 1384

(a) Translated from the Latin Bible

(b) He did it because he believed people needed to be able to study, preach and love the Bible in their own language

(c) Post death, the Roman Church branded him a heretic, his works were burned and his body was dug up and cast into the River Swift

(d) His followers were referred to as the Lollards - a derogatory term for the uneducated

(4.) William Tyndale - 1494 - 1536

(a) Translated directly from the Hebrew and Greek texts

(b) Because of Desiderius Erasmus, the ancient Greek manuscripts were available

(c) His translation was able to take advantage of the invention of the printing press (Gutenberg 1440)

(d) He was strangled and burnt at the age of 42

(e) His translation would be the basis of the King James Bible of 1611

(5.) Review:

So that’s it for today. Dead guys who gave us our English bibles.

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A podcast of Cornerstone Community Church in Joppa, MD [cornerstonejoppa.org](cornerstonejoppa.org)