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For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

We are not speaking of God’s love for man as He made him, but His love for man after sin entered his heart to corrupt and destroy him. In six days, God made heaven and earth and saw that it was good (Genesis 1). Of all creation, man was His crowning glory (Psalms 8:4-8). Satan entered and sin blotched God’s perfect work. If an artist painted a masterpiece and another came along and blotched the painting, consider how that artist would feel. What could he do but destroy the ruined work and start over? But not so with God. He loved His work too much for that. He gave His plan whereby His work could be restored to its original beauty (Genesis 3:15). The restored work became His masterpiece. “Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) God made man perfect, but Satan blotched His work. Thus, we see the terrible state of man, both Jew (Romans 2:1) and Gentile (Romans 1:22-32). In restoring His work rather than destroying it and starting over, we see God’s love for fallen man.

His longsuffering is seen in His promise to Adam and Eve after their fall (Genesis 3:15). It is seen in His delivery of Lot from Sodom (Genesis 19). It is seen in His treatment of Jews. They would sin. He would punish them. They would repent and return to God. God would deliver them. Then the process would be repeated time after time. This is vividly seen in the book of Judges. This has been the history of God‘s people in all the past. His people have not been able to stand prosperity. Let this be a great warning to us. Man sins. Yet, when he turns to God, He forgives. In this is seen His great love for man.

All men sin. (Romans 3:23) Man cannot save himself. Without God’s longsuffering, he is eternally doomed to hell. God loved man enough that He sent Jesus to be a blood sacrifice that was sufficient to forgive sin. When we you view Jesus’ death on the cross, you will get a pretty good picture of God’s great love. H. Leo Boles said: “The death of Christ was born of the womb of the love of God.”

The relation to which He has called the saved shows His great Love. The saved are sons of God (Galatians 3:27). The saved are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). The saved are united as one with other saved. (John 17:21)

We have the hope of eternal life in His presence and the glory of His power. (2 Thessalonians 1:9) We have the hope of eternal separation from all evil. We have the hope of no suffering in hell. What great hope! And it is all provided by God’s great love for fallen man.

Now man can be part of the Master’s restored masterpiece. But man can only be benefited by the love of God as he accepts and appropriates that which God’s love has provided. Example: A father provides house, education and spiritual training for his son. But he can only be befitted as he accepts that which the father’s love has provided. He must live in the house, desire the education, and apply the spiritual training. Even so with great love. Man will not be benefited by God’s great love unless he loves God and accepts His provisions on His terms. God loves all mankind, but He has a special love for His own. Therefore, consider how much He loves His own sons. His sons will make mistakes; the Bible tells us so (1 John 1:8,10). But His sons never change directions, never change Masters. “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, (decision) let him deny himself, (self-denial) and take up his cross daily, (duty) and follow me (direction).” (Luke 9:23). The four Ds for a successful spiritual life:

The man who continually appreciates God’s love for fallen man will make mistakes, but he will never change directions.

God’s sons keep pressing on toward the mark of the prize of His calling (Philippians 3:13-14).

Brethren, let us be sure we accept God’s great love by living His process of salvation.

Jesse Jenkins

Welcome to the final class of our series on apologetics. Tonight, we will conclude with our history of how we got the English Bible. When we concluded last week, the political winds under King Henry VIII had turned and the king had assigned his head of state, Thomas Cromwell, to produce an officially sanctioned English Bible.

Cromwell was a reform-minded man and had already discussed the idea of a new translation with Miles Coverdale, who had already helped Tyndale complete his translation of the Pentateuch. Coverdale was overjoyed with the idea.

Do you know anyone that has no patience to start a new project? Coverdale felt that way about this translation project and got started well before he had official license from the king.

Cromwell officially told him to start in 1535 and Coverdale already had the work done by October of that year.

The sheets were printed at either Zurich or Antwerp, then shipped to England where they were bound up and republished with an amended title page and a dedication to the king.

This was the first complete Bible ever to be published in English. The Old Testament books were ordered according to the Vulgate rather than the Hebrew and the order of the New Testament was according to Luther’s German rather than Erasmus’ Greek edition.

Baruch was placed among the prophets next to Jeremiah “because he was his scribe.” 1 and 2 Samuel were called Kings 1 and 2. Nehemiah was called 2 Esdras. Hebrews and James were placed between 3 John and Jude. This put the text into clear parts:

The chapter headings were removed, and chapter summaries put in instead. Some of the ecclesiastical terms that Tyndale had removed (such as “penance”) were put back. Contentious marginal notes were taken out. Coverdale tried hard not to take shots at any particular sect.

Coverdale knew Latin well, but very little Hebrew and Greek, so much of his translation was based on the work of others, especially Tyndale and St. Jerome, Sanctus Pagninus (a learned Dominican who had published a new Latin translation in 1528), and German translations by Luther, and the Zurich Bible (from Ulrich Zwingli and Leo Juda).

Examples of Coverdale’s turns of phrase: p. 145

Odd renderings from Coverdale:

Faith is a sure confidence of thinges which are hoped for, and a certaynte of thinges which are not sene. By it ye Elders were well reported of. Thorow faith we vnderstonde, that the worlde and all the thinges which are sene, were made of naughte by the worde of God. By faith offered Abell vnto God a more plenteous sacrifice: by the which he optayned wytnesse, that he was righteous: God testifyenge of his giftes, by the which also he beynge deed, yet speaketh. By faith was Enoch take awaye, that he shulde not se death: and was not founde, because God had taken him awaye. For afore he was taken awaye, he had recorde that he pleased God. But without faith it is vnpossible to please God. For he that commeth vnto God, must beleue that God is, & yt he is a rewarder of them that seke him.

Source: https://textusreceptusbibles.com/Coverdale

When the Bible was ready, Cromwell turned it over the Henry for review. Henry sent it to the bishops for review, but they didn’t like the idea of an English Bible and were very slow to give their review. They said the translation had many faults. Henry finally asked if there was any heresy in it and demanded an answer. The bishops reluctantly said no, so Henry put the Bible into limited circulation. Anne Boleyn laid a copy of it on a desk at court for everyone to read.

Afterward, the bishops held a convocation and complained that there were movements in the general public to abolish all church ceremonies that were not found in the Bible. Imagine!

Another officially sanctioned Bible translation was underway by John Rogers, who Tyndale had given his prison translation of part of the Old Testament. Rogers put Tyndale’s NT and OT together, completed by adding Coverdale’s OT and Apocrypha. Rogers made a few changes and corrections (like renumbering the Psalms to match the Hebrew) and included 200 illustrations along with book introductions, chapter summaries, and marginal notes. Tyndale’s initials were inserted in ornamental letters at the end of the OT, but not his full name for political reasons. John Rogers published the work as Thomas Matthew, a pseudonym.

The Matthew Bible was printed and shown to King Henry, who approved it for publication by royal decree.

Within 12 months of Tyndale’s death, the translation that had been “denounced, proscribed, and repeatedly burned at St. Paul’s Cross, had now, under an assumed name, been formally approved by the king, and published under the shelter of a royal license and proclamation.”

The Matthew Bible had all of Tyndale’s notes, which were seen as abrasive by the clergy, so Cromwell had Coverdale make a new version of the Matthew Bible without these marginal notes.

The new Bible was due to be printed in Paris because the printing technology used by Francois Regnault was much better than English printers. But the Inquisition soon intervened, and Inquisitors were breathing down Regnault’s neck. As a precaution, Coverdale took some of the finished sheets to the English ambassador for safekeeping. He had barely gotten this done when the rest of the sheets were seized. A bribe was used to get the sheets back, which were stashed in “four great dry vats” and sold as wastepaper to a haberdasher, who resold them to Cromwell’s agents, who got them out of France. Cromwell then bought up the standing type, printing press, and Regnault’s entire staff of compositors and shipped the entire operation to England.

1539: First edition of the Great Bible (lavish in size and adornment) was printed in London. Each page was 11 x 16.5 inches!

By royal decree, the Lord’s Prayer and Ten Commandments were to be taught on Sunday and on holy days and a sermon on the Gospel was to be preached at least once a quarter. (!!!) Preaching emphasis was to be on works of mercy rather than “pilgrimages, relics, or the saying over of beads.” Every church building England was to have at least one copy of the Bible that was in an accessible place for all to read. Bibles were soon chained to lecterns all over England. Six Bibles were in St. Paul’s church alone.

People were still advised to avoid contention over their discussion of Biblical passages, but they ignored this completely. People showed great joy in being able to read the word for themselves. Everyone that could buy a Bible did so. If they could not read, they had it read to them. Others learned to read on purpose. Even little boys flocked to hear the Bible read out loud.

The stock of Great Bible prints was soon bought up and more editions were published. Seven editions were printed between 1539-1541 and it would be the standard for nearly 30 years. Parts of it (the Prayer Book) are still used in the Church of England.

Cromwell was responsible for establishing the Reformation in England in the king’s name. England was “flooded” with English Bibles.

In the meantime, Anne Boleyn failed to give King Henry a male heir, so she was sent to the block and Henry married Jane Seymour, Anne’s lady-in-waiting. Jane bore a son to Henry but died soon after from complications of the childbirth.

Cromwell urged King Henry to marry the Lutheran princess Anne of Cleves, but Henry detested her. Apparently Henry had requested portraits of both Anne and her sister Amelia before deciding which to marry. He thought Anne was more attractive and decided on her. But when she arrived, she looked nothing like her portrait.

This caused anti-Cromwell feelings to swell, and Henry had him arrested as a heretic and traitor, condemned without a trial, and beheaded on July 28, 1540.

Cromwell’s heraldic arms had originally appeared on the title page of the Great Bible, but they were removed after his death. Instead, words were added to say the Bible was overseen by Cuthbert, Bishop of Durham and Nicolas, Bishop of Rochester. This Cuthbert was Cuthbert Tunstall, formerly bishop of London who had refused hospitality to Tyndale and burned the book on which this translation was based. How the tides had turned! (p.157)

Henry was succeeded by his son Edward (the son of Jane Seymour), who was only nine years old at Henry’s death. Edward was raised Protestant, and his guardian (his uncle, Edward Seymour) was very reform minded. An English Bible was even carried in procession before Edward at his coronation. Great Bibles were legally required in every vestibule in every church building. Henry’s Act of Six Articles was repealed, so priests were now allowed to marry, and images were removed from church buildings. Many new English translations followed.

1552: Cranmer drafted the 42 Articles, which provided the Church of England with its first creed. This made it official that all services were to be done in the vernacular. No more veneration of saints. Some religious paintings in churches were whitewashed and stained-glass windows were smashed.

Unfortunately, Edward was in feeble health and died of tuberculosis at age 15. His elder sister Mary ascended to the throne.

Mary tried to reverse things, reinstating some Catholic bishops (including Tunstall) and imprisoning a number of reformers in the Tower. Printing of Bibles in English was again forbidden.

John Rogers, compiler of Matthew’s Bible was the first to die (and did so bravely).

Cranmer was also tried and burned at the stake.

The inquisition was a catastrophe for Mary because it showed the whole world that English Protestants were willing to die for their cause. The Catholics were also appalled at the methods their own group had been using.

Mary died on November 17, 1558, grief-stricken, sick, and exhausted by a string of false pregnancies. She was succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth, the child of Anne Boleyn.

During Queen Mary’s rule, a number of reformers had gathered in Geneva, Switzerland. They worked to produce a new translation called the Geneva Bible.

The translation was based on the Great Bible for the Old Testament and Tyndale’s New Testament.

It paid meticulous attention to the Greek and Hebrew originals and made use of the best of the most recent translations into Latin and French (p.175).

The Geneva Bible was the most scholarly, well-annotated, and accurate English Bible yet. Words added by the translators were printed in italics and for the first time in English, chapter and verse divisions were included. “There were also maps, woodcuts, elaborate tables, an appendix of metrical psalms, and a running commentary of explanatory notes.” The margins of the NT alone also had 2000 alternate readings and 725 literal renderings.

The Geneva Bible became the household Bible of English Protestants. It was the Bible that Shakespeare was raised on. It went through 140 revisions in the next 85 years.

Turns of phrase from the Geneva Bible:

The Geneva Bible completely overtook the Great Bible, but it was a problem for Church authorities. It had many marginal notes that angered Church authorities in both England and Rome. In the marginal notes, almost anything involving elaborate ritual was dismissed as superstition worthy of the pope and Rome itself was identified as a type of Sodom and Gomorrah where “falsehood and ungodliness” reigned. (p.176)

Because of this, bishops worked together to produce another new translation based on the Great Bible. This became known as the Bishops’ Bible. Unfortunately, it was not particularly well done and never caught on with the general public despite being the official Bible for the Church of England for a number of years.

Archbishop Parker had not done a particularly good job assembling the work of the various translators into a unified whole. Some renderings that stuck:

Others were just bad or wrong:

In 1603, Queen Elizabeth died and selected James VI of Scotland to succeed her.

When King James took power, the religious situation in England was very unsettled. The Church of England was essentially Catholic in organization but was not tied directly to the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope. This angered both the Catholics and the Protestants. There were also the Puritans, who wanted to “purify” the church of “popish” practices. They wanted to remove things like the use of the cross at baptism, the ring in marriage, bowing at the name of Jesus, liturgical vestments like the cap and surplice, and certain procedures in the ecclesiastical courts, which they viewed as despotic. In general, they wanted to move away from ceremony and toward preaching and prayer.

James was not interested in rocking the boat as far as the Church of England was concerned, but he did have the Puritans to deal with. He was presented with the Millenary Petition (so named because it was signed by almost a thousand Puritan ministers), which enumerated a number of grievances against the Church of England.

To address this, James set up a 3-day conference to discuss things.

James’ mother, Mary, Queen of Scots, was a Catholic, but he had been raised a Presbyterian Calvinist. (p.204)

James’ idea of kingship was the divine right of kings. He was repelled by the Puritan idea of self-government based on their congregational form of worship. He also knew the Puritans were a major force and he needed to hear them out.

James was a student of the Bible in almost all its languages. By the age of 8, he was able to translate any chapter of the Bible chosen at random into French, then from French to English.

Despite his great learning, James had a terrible childhood, living under four different regents and had been closely confined for his own safety in Stirling Castle. He had never known his father, Lord Darnley. This had an effect on him. He was left with a “tottering gait” (due to childhood rickets) and sometimes waddled like a duck in thick, stiff pants he wore due to fear of assassins. He also had a kind of speech impediment.

James believed in the power of the devil and sometimes blamed evil spirits for the troubles in his life. After his ship was nearly wrecked in the North Sea, he was convinced that some witches had thrown black cats into the sea to create the storm. He condemned witchcraft above murder as a crime.

By the time he was king of England, he had been King of Scotland for 37 years. Despite his odd thinking on some subjects, he was a shrewd and discerning ruler.

During the first day of the conference, King James came down hard on what he saw as corruption in the Church of England, criticizing it for “five solid hours.” On the second day of the conference, four Puritan ministers were brought in, and James heard their complaints.

On the third day, James and the high churchmen discussed the complaints from the Puritans. James allowed some small changes in the Book of Common Prayer, but otherwise refused their requests.

There was something big that came out of this conference, though. On the second day, John Reynolds (one of the four Puritans brought in) asked for a new translation of the Bible “because those that were allowed in the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI were corrupt and not answerable to the truth of the original.” James liked this idea immediately. (p.214)

It was a good time to consider a new translation because a new one had not been done since the Bishops’ Bible of 1568 and Greek and Hebrew studies had progressed significantly since then. Over 150 Hebrew grammars were now available, as well as the Hebrew scriptures themselves in a number of editions. Knowledge of Aramaic and Syriac was also growing. The Geneva Bible was still by far the favorite, despite the Church of England’s attempts to make the Bishops’ Bible the standard.

Before becoming King of England, James already had ideas about a new translation to address issues he saw in the Geneva Bible. Now that he was king of England, he saw this as something he had real power to do. It also flattered his vanity.

The new translation project was set up quickly. All outstanding biblical scholars in the kingdom were sought out. By July 1604, James had approved a list of 54 translators arranged into 6 companies, two each at Westminster, Oxford, and Cambridge. Both universities were instructed to enlist any other biblical scholars that were capable if needed.

The split across three locations was a wise political move: Oxford was traditionally associated with High Church and royalist sentiments, Cambridge was associated with dissidents, and Westminster represented the clerical and legal aspects of the project (all officials there were appointed by the crown). Oxford and Cambridge were still, strictly speaking, secular institutions.

Most translators were middle-aged men (about age 50), some were married, and all but one were ordained. All were academically distinguished and belonged to the established church. About 1/4 had Puritan leanings. All had tremendous knowledge of languages and biblical scholarship. They were deliberately anonymous as a group, and we know extremely little about exactly what each man contributed.

The OT was given to three panels, NT to one, and Apocrypha to one.

The translators’ directions were:

The translators pored over all known text, commentaries, and translations they could find.

All the translators were given unbound copies of the Bishops’ Bible to work from. They amended each verse as they saw fit. Once a book was complete, it was sent to all other groups for suggestion and review. In this way, every word passed through the hands of the whole group. When the work was done, each of the three translation heads sent an amended copy of the Bishops’ Bible to the General Committee for review. The General Committee (made up of members from each company) then worked to generate one complete copy from the three, which then went to press. The work took about 6 years to complete.

2 Samuel 1:27:

Psalms 23

The translators were very careful to both avoid Catholic latinate terms and the scrupulous languages the Puritans wanted to use.

In the beginning was the Word, & the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darknesse, and the darknesse comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was Iohn. The same came for a witnesse, to beare witnesse of the light, that all men through him might beleeue. Hee was not that light, but was sent to beare witnesse of that light. That was the true light, which lighteth euery man that commeth into the world. Hee was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

In the first edition of the KVJ, there was a typographical error every 10 pages of text. The first version became known as the “He” Bible because of an error in Ruth 3:15 which read, “and he went into the city,” instead of “she.”

The new edition was physically beautiful, though, and included many helps for the reader: almanac, a table of holy days, a guide to the order of Psalms and lessons to be read at morning and evening prayer, and a calendar guide to calculating the date of Easter “forever.” Some copies also contained a map of the Holy Land and a long 38-page genealogy with an illustrated family tree from Adam to Christ. The text itself was in Gothic type in double columns. Verses were numbered and notes and cross references were included in the margins. (p.253)

Much of the Bible’s success was due to James’ enthusiasm for it. But it took time to become popular. The Puritans initially did not like it. They thought the Geneva Bible was just fine and thought the KJV version “smacked too much of the king, the bishops, and the Church establishment.” Many people had come to depend on the notes in the Geneva Bible, saying that without them they could not understand the text. Several attempts were made to bring these notes forward to the KJV, but it never took.

Over time, the KJV became more and more accepted. It became the Vulgate of the English-speaking world.

Because the translators were told to revise an existing translation than create a new one, they kept some expressions that were already a bit archaic in 1611 like “verily” and “it came to pass.” They were kept because they had become familiar, and they seemed to endow the text with a certain “antique rightness.”

The KJV had a tremendous impact on English and American literature. It was called the KJV in America, but the Authorized Version in England. It was never technically “authorized” except that it was appointed to be read in churches and replaced the Bishops’ Bible. It was mostly “authorized” in the sense of general acclaim.

The King James Version went through a number of changes over the years, with large updates in 1796 to modernize the spelling and again in 2016.

The KJV was followed by a number of modern English translations of varying qualities.

God has seen fit to make Himself known through the Bible.

Through various twists and turns, He has worked to make the Bible available to us.

We now have this great resource freely available. Let us use it well!

We are continuing our apologetics study about how we got the English Bible. Last week we discussed John Wycliffe and the Bible translation he helped bring about. Tonight, we are going to jump ahead in history about 100 years and introduce a man named William Tyndale.

William Tyndale was born in 1495 in Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, close to the border of Wales.

Lollard sentiment was high where Tyndale lived. Wycliffe had a prebend near there at one point and Purvey had also preached near there. (Purvey was the man who revised Wycliffe’s translation into a more readable format.)

Tyndale was taught at a special grammar school and showed a great aptitude for languages even at an early age. He could read Latin with ease by about age ten. (p. 80)

Tyndale was greatly impressed by a passage he read in the Latin chronicles where a king caused part of the scriptures to be translated into English (possibly Great Deeds of the English Kings).

At age 12, he went to Oxford, where he was “singularly addicted to the study of the scriptures.” He earned his M. A. there in 1515.

Tyndale then went to Cambridge where Erasmus had been teaching, boosting the Greek studies there.

Tyndale also devoured the works of the new Continental Reformers: Luther, Melanchthon, and Zwingli.

By the time Tyndale left Cambridge in 1521, the Reformation had taken hold.

Between the time of Wycliffe and Martin Luther, the Renaissance had taken hold along with the printing press. Classical wisdom and learning were revived.

The Humanism intellectual movement got rolling, which emphasized the unity of truth and the dignity of man. Its human ideal was the “Renaissance Man,” accomplished in all things. It stood in great contrast to the “formalistic pieties” of before. (p. 81)

Johann Gutenberg, a Mainz goldsmith, invented the printing press in 1450. Screw type presses had been used earlier for embossing patterns on paper and textiles. It wasn’t until techniques of die-stamping and casting molds got better that letters in relief could be produced, allowing for the printing press.

In medieval times, monasteries and other religious organizations had almost a complete monopoly on book production. Each abbey and monastery had its own scriptorium.

When the printing press was invented, there was already a huge demand for books. Many copyists were employed but they could barely keep up. Printing presses were soon in place in a number of cities (p. 83)

In Cologne, William Caxton, “the father of English printing” learned the craft, then set up his own press at Westminster in 1476. He went on to publish nearly a hundred English books, many of his own translation. He had a very natural style of speaking, which influenced English diction. He had no dictionaries-only his own judgment. This was tricky because English was so in flux that sometimes even neighboring shires couldn’t understand each other.

Caxton told the story of some Northumberland merchants who sailed to the mouth of the Thames and were looking for breakfast at an inn. They asked for some “eggys” but the landlady said she didn’t speak French. They said they didn’t either, but still wanted “eggys.” He was told that instead he wanted “eyren,” which meant eggs in the dialect of Kent. Caxton had to decide which word to use and decided on “eggys,” which is what we now use also. (p. 84)

During the Renaissance, great strides were made in Biblical studies. In the Middle Ages, Greek and Hebrew were seldom studied in universities.

1453: Constantinople fell to the Turks. Greek exiles fleeing to Italy brought Greek manuscripts with them. Pope Nicholas I collected these and had them transcribed. At his death, he left a library of 5000+ works. The exiled scholars started teaching at universities in Europe and their knowledge spread.

1458: Greek reintroduced at University of Paris

1476: New Greek grammar published

1480: New Greek lexicon published

1492 and on: Greek studies re-established at Oxford.

John Colet returned from a tour of Italy in 1497 to deliver a series of lectures on the book of Romans. He made a clean break with medieval interpretations and taught straight from the text,

In order to hear Colet, Erasmus came to England in 1497. Colet inspired Erasmus to make a fresh Latin translation of the NT. This was part of Erasmus’ landmark edition of the NT that came out in 1516.

Hebrew learning had also restarted.

Trilingual universities started popping up (Latin, Hebrew, and Greek) in Germany, England, France, and Spain.

1517: Complutensian Polyglot Bible produced. OT had Vulgate text in the middle, with Hebrew on the left and Greek Septuagint on the right. NT had Greek and Latin Vulgate side by side.

1522: Martin Luther publishes German translation of NT

1523: Lefevre d’ Etaples publishes a French translation of NT

1534: Luther publishes complete German Bible

1535: Pierre-Robert Olivetan publishes a complete French Bible. (p. 86)

Bibles dominated book production in the 16th century and by the end of the century every European nation had a native translation. The form of the vernacular languages was to some degree fixed as the Bibles came out.

The Church initially welcomed the printing press since it was first used to print the Gutenberg Latin Bible. The archbishop called it “a divine art.” But then printing began to spread ideas of reform, and the Church was not a fan.

1491: Papal legate of Venice wrote law preventing printing works on religious subjects without approval of local diocese. (p. 87)

1515: Pope Leo X made the law universal across the Catholic West. Barely anyone cared and they printed what they wanted.

1517: Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the doors of the Wittenberg church. These were quickly translated into multiple languages and printed all over. This was a great surprise to Luther who had intended them only for the academic circle, writing them in Latin in part so that the general masses could not read them. (Great quote from Luther on p. 87.)

Erasmus was an early critic of both the church and biblical studies in universities. (great quote p. 88). He pointed out that the writers of the NT themselves wrote in Greek, making Jesus’ words understandable by the common people.

1521: Tyndale ordained to the priesthood. He decided to forego an advanced divinity degree and became chaplain and domestic tutor to the household of Sir John Walsh in Little Sodbury at the edge of the Cotswold Hills.

Tyndale used to preach in a common place called Saint Austin’s Green in front of the church and secretly tutored students in theology. (p. 89)

His reform ideas stirred up some of the local authorities and various men would come to debate. He would routinely win debates, usually by citing scripture. These men would then bear a grudge against him.

Intro to Erasmus’ translation: p. 89. Tyndale took this to heart.

Tyndale converted the Walsh family to his views and stopped having local clergy in their home.

“The clergy were an ignorant lot…” p.90. Many could not even recite the Ten Commandments or knew where they were found.

Tyndale was accused of heresy for his views (i.e., insistence on scriptural authority), called before the church leaders and rebuked.

Tyndale then decided what his life’s work would be: getting the scriptures to the lay people.

“I perceived that it was impossible to establish the lay people in any truth, except the Scripture were plainly laid before their eyes in their mother tongue, that they might see the process, order, and meaning of the text.” – William Tyndale (p.90)

Tyndale left the countryside for London to try to find a patron. Cuthbert Tunstall received him coldly and shot him down.

Luther’s rebellion had set everyone on edge in 1523 and no one wanted any part of a translation project that might bring more controversy. King Henry VIII hated Luther more than any person on earth. Luther was declared a heretic and Henry sought to eradicate his followers. They bought wrote tracts against each other. But many in the general population tended to side with Luther. seeing him as the underdog. Revolution broke out all over Europe, with many monks and nuns leaving their cloisters (p. 95).

King Henry promised the pope he would burn any “untrue translations.” He sent Cardinal Wolsey to hunt down heretical books that were coming in from overseas.

May 12, 1521: A long line of mules bearing chests of Lutheran writings proceeded to St. Paul’s Cathedral. Bishop Fisher preached a fiery sermon, then the books were burned. (p.96)

Tyndale realized he would need to leave the country to do what he wanted to do. He became a preacher at St. Dunstan’s-in the-West and was given free lodging with Humphrey Monmouth. Tyndale spent his time translating the NT to English. He could speak seven languages fluently: Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, English, and French. (p. 98)

Monmouth belonged to a semisecret society of Merchant Adventurers known as the Christian Brethren. They traded in forbidden religious literature and subsidized printing of religious books in English. They ultimately subsidized Tyndale’s work. The group was so powerful that even the authorities wouldn’t touch them (the group was made up of rich cloth merchants). (p. 97)

May 1524: Tyndale leaves for Germany and meets Luther.

1525: Tyndale’s English NT was completed in 1525. The translation was direct from Greek.

Tyndale went to Cologne to arrange for publication. Cologne was” something of a haven for reformers.” but Catholic zealots flourished there also. A man named Johann Dobneck (John Cochlaeus) tried to frustrate Tyndale’s plans.

Dobneck had a doctorate in theology and had been dean at St. Mary’s at Frankfurt-on-the-Main until reformers pushed him out. He called himself “the scourge of Luther” but was so belligerent that even some Catholics turned against him.

Dobneck was editing a publication when he overheard some workers at a printing press boasting that all of England would soon be Lutheran. He managed to get the details and found out that Tyndale was trying to get his work printed and secretly shipped to England.

Dobneck tipped off the city authorities and persuaded them to intercept the shipment. Before the raid, Tyndale was also tipped off and managed to grab some printed sheets and head to Worms by boat. There the printing was done in two formats, the larger of which had marginal notes, references, and a prologue. (Paid for by the Christian Brethren,)

1526: Both formats of the NT were concealed in cases of dry goods and sailed for England. Henry VIII and Wolsey were alerted by several people that the shipment was coming and placed a watch at all ports. Henry was terrified that once authority was questioned, he didn’t know where it would end.

In 1524-25, there had been a violent revolt by peasants who had been spurred on by radical evangelists. Roughly 50,000 people died.

The vehemence of Luther’s own writings inflamed the situation. Erasmus complained that he and Luther taught nearly the same thing, “only without sedition and violence.” (p. 100)

Heavy taxes and tithes from the Church had made people upset for a long time. Luther tried to prevent violence but failed.

Tyndale’s New Testament did make it to England and was immediately well received by the common people. Wycliffe manuscripts were still treasured, so Tyndale’s translation was like a feast for them.

Tyndale’s translation was exceptionally well done. He adopted many of the structures of Luther’s translation, including chapter divisions and order of the books. The translation was his, though. He looked at Erasmus’ Greek NT (1516 and 1522 editions), Erasmus’ Latin NT, the Vulgate, and Luther’s German NT. He pulled from the best of each, with the Greek as the primary source. (sample - p. 105)

The local authorities did not like it. It was made a serious crime to own, sell, or distribute the books. Merchant ships were boarded and searched. Another bonfire was held in front of St. Pauls’ cathedral at Tunstall’s decree. (decree of Tunstall - p. 106)

An underground book trade developed to distribute the books. Pirate editions were hurriedly printed in Antwerp. They were shipped back concealed in corn ships and bales of merchandise. (great story about Tunstall buying Bibles to burn - p. 107)

Tunstall had decided to try to buy up all the Bibles he could so he could destroy them. He approached a cloth merchant in Antwerp named Augustus Packington that he thought might know the source of the Bibles. Tunstall promised to pay him for every Bible he could find and Packington agreed to help. It so happened that Packington and Tyndale were friends. Packington went straight to Tyndale and told him the bishop of London wanted to buy all his Bibles. Tunstall got the Bibles, Packington got the thanks, and Tyndale got the money. Through Packington, Tyndale also convinced Tunstall to buy up all the standing type to prevent a reprint. Tunstall did. Tyndale used the money to prepare a new and improved version of the Bible – at the expense of the Catholic church. About a year later, Thomas More was interrogating a man about where they got money to print Bibles. The man told him the money came from the bishop of London.

When he sawe the people he went vp into a mountayne and when he was set his disciples came to hym and he opened hys mouthe and taught them sayinge: Blessed are the povre in sprete: for theirs is the kyngdome of heven. Blessed are they that morne: for they shalbe conforted. Blessed are the meke: for they shall inheret the erth. Blessed are they which honger and thurst for rightewesnes: for they shalbe filled. Blessed are ye mercifull: for they shall obteyne mercy. Blessed are the pure in herte: for they shall se God. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shalbe called the chyldren of God. Blessed are they which suffre persecucio for rightwesnes sake: for theirs ys the kyngdome of heuen. Blessed are ye when men reuyle you and persecute you and shall falsly say all manner of yvell saynges agaynst you for my sake. Reioyce and be glad for greate is youre rewarde in heven. + For so persecuted they ye Prophetes which were before youre dayes.

Source: https://textusreceptusbibles.com/Tyndale

Tunstall became obsessed with calling Tyndale to account. He did not think he could use official means to stop Lutheran ideas, so he decided to get Sir Thomas More to debate Tyndale in public. More had “a horror of free speech as we know it, and objected to any interpretation … unless it proceeded under an episcopal license.” (p. 111) (great quote from Erasmus on this idea -p. 111) More published his Dialogue Concerning Heresies in 4 books (170,000 words) to dispute Tyndale. Tyndale quickly responded. More’s principal objection was with Tyndale’s rendering of certain theological terms:

According to More. Tyndale was trying to persuade people “that such articles of our faith as… be well proved by Holy Scripture, were in Holy Scripture nothing spoken of; but the preachers have, all this 1500 year, misreported the Gospel… to lead the people purposely out of the right way.” (Discussion on ekklesia and presbyter - p. 114) (penance vs. repentance -p. 115)

More argued that although these words did not have significance for special church functions in New Testament times, the writers of the New Testament had invested them with special meanings, thus a different translation that carried that meaning was more appropriate. Who should decide on the proper words to use? More argued it was the Holy Roman Catholic Church, because it cannot err. Thus, he gave tradition the overriding vote over scripture.

Tyndale next began translating the Old Testament, saying that it was easier to translate from the original Hebrew to English than from Latin to English because the grammar between Hebrew and English is more similar. He started with the Pentateuch.

In 1529, Tyndale had the Pentateuch translation done and set sail from Antwerp to Hamburg to have it printed. His ship was caught in a storm and broken against the shore. He lost the manuscript and all his books. (p.118)

He eventually reached Hamburg by another ship and met Miles Coverdale, an English expatriate. Tyndale found lodging with a widow and together with Coverdale, worked night and day to produce a new manuscript. They did and in 1530 it was printed in Antwerp, then smuggled into England. The books of the Pentateuch were formatted in such a way that they could be sold and traded individually.

Sample of Genesis from Tyndale - p.119

Tyndale is responsible for bringing a number of Hebrew turns of phrase into English because he translated them directly.

Some pirate versions of Tyndale’s translation came out that had errors or changes purposely added to them. A miscreant named George Joye was particularly bad about doing this and Tyndale publicly called him out on it, saying that if he was going to do it, to put his own name to it and not use Tyndale’s.

In the process of King Henry VIII trying to get his divorce legalized, Wolsey was sacked and More took his place. More now used the government to officially eradicate heresy as he saw it. A number of heretical books (118) were forbidden, with Tyndale’s NT at the top of the list.

More initially got Henry to agree that it was good for the common people to not have the Bible in English, but Henry gradually changed his mind on this, thanks to Anne Boleyn reading Tyndale’s The Obedience of a Christian Man and recommending it to Henry. Henry read it and thought it was “a book for me, and for all kings.” He thought Tyndale and Wycliffe strengthened his case about his divorce.

Henry gradually began reducing the power of the Church in England in each successive parliament.

1532: Anne Boleyn found with child. In January 1533, she and Henry were secretly married in Westminster Abbey.

May 1533: After being elevated to Canterbury see, Thomas Cranmer nullified Henry’s marriage to Catherine and declared Anne to be his lawfully wedded wife. On June 1, Anne was crowned Queen of England. Cranmer and Henry were both excommunicated for this and Henry then severed the church from Rome. In 1534, parliament passed the Act of Supremacy, making the king the “supreme head” of the English Church. After this, the Church of England became effectively a spiritual department under the rule of the king. (p.131)

May 21, 1535: Tyndale captured by Henry Phillips in Antwerp and taken to Vilvorde Castle, north of Brussels. Many tried to free him but were unable to. He stayed in a dungeon there until October 1536.

Tyndale asked for and at some point was granted his study materials. He completed the translation of Joshua to 2 Chronicles before he was arraigned.

Under the Decree of Augsburg (1530), belief in justification by faith was punishable by death. In the preface to his NT, Tyndale wrote, “The NT is an everlasting covenant made unto the children of God through faith in Christ, upon the deservings of Christ. Where eternal life is promised to all that believe and death to all that are unbelieving.” Tyndale argued for salvation by faith alone in several of his works.

James 2:24 (NASB95)

24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.

August 1536: Tyndale found guilty of heresy, degraded from his priestly office and handed over for punishment.

October 6, 1536: Tyndale was tied to a stake, strangled by a hangman, then burned at the stake. Before he lost consciousness, he called out, “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.”

Henry Phillips, who had conspired to capture Tyndale, bounced around Europe trying to pass himself off as a true zealot for the church, but was shunned by the church and failed to find work. His letters home pleading for help were all intercepted.

Thomas More also ended up martyred. He had resigned his professional duties, but refused to attend the coronation of Anne Boleyn, which upset King Henry. More escaped various attempts to tarnish him with bribery and other crimes, so Henry demanded he take an oath saying his marriage to Anne was “true and perfect.” More refused and was imprisoned in the Tower, then condemned for treason and beheaded on July 7, 1535. In 1935, he was declared a saint by the Roman Catholic Church. (p.136)

King Henry now owed a lot to Bible authority on account of his divorce and marriage to Anne Boleyn, mostly from the point of view that the Bible countermanded the pope’s authority. He had argued for his divorce based on a biblical injunction in Leviticus, which his lawyers told him outweighed the opinion of the pope. (He was married to Catherine of Aragon, who was previously married to his brother, Arthur Tudor.)

Leviticus 18:16 (NASB95)

16 ‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness.

Anne Boleyn helped greatly in making the English Bible a more acceptable proposition and she encouraged Henry in this regard.

Thomas Cranmer: head of the church under Henry. Cranmer was already reform-minded and was introduced to two of the king’s advisers in 1529 and they asked him about the king’s divorce. Cranmer suggested they appeal to experts in canon law to see if his marriage to Catherine had been legitimate in the first place. This immediately made him a friend of Henry and he entered royal service. Cranmer wrote a treatise on behalf of the king’s position that quoted scripture, church fathers, and church councils. This work influenced scholarly opinion on the matter.

Cranmer quietly married a niece of a prominent Lutheran, but then was called by Henry to the Canterbury see. This presented a problem because the church officially supported clerical celibacy, but he did not and was already married. He tried to conceal his marriage as best he could. Legend has it that he carried his wife from place to place with him in a steamer trunk pierced with holes. (p. 140)

Thomas Cromwell: head of the state under Henry. Cromwell was reform-minded and a protege of Wolsey. When Wolsey was sacked, he seemed to be in a bad position, but repaired this quickly by setting out a plan to help Henry’s finances by reducing the monasteries and making Henry “Supreme Head of the English Church.”

Cromwell was an expert facilitator in making deals. He “reportedly induced Pope Julias II, who had a craving for “strange delicacies and dainty dishes” to rubber-stamp some pardons for a client in return for the recipe for a type of English jam.” (p.141).

Cromwell also played on Henry’s fears for his own safety and set up a vast network of spies.

Henry had previously said that he would be glad to have an English Bible available in “a more stable time.” That time had finally come. Cranmer approached the king on the subject, having on his side Cromwell and Anne Boleyn, among others. In December 1534, the English bishops officially asked for the king to authorize a new English translation.

Cromwell made this his own personal matter. He wanted an English bible placed by authority in every church in England, to be read as part of every service, and that all would have free access to read it if they wanted. Cromwell memorized the entire Latin NT of Erasmus on a trip between England and Rome, both to improve his Latin and to make himself knowledgeable on the subject. (p.143)

Christ built one church.

Some claim that the church was started by John the Baptist. But this cannot be. If started before Christ’s death, it would be a church without a head (Ephesians 1:22). It would be a church that was not blood purchased (Acts 20:28). It would be a church in which Christ could not be preached (Matthew 16:20; Luke 24:49). It would be a church without a foundation (1 Corinthians 3:11).

The time, place and who of religious bodies will lead one to the right church.

Which of the above fits Bible facts?

Was the Benchley church started on Pentecost in Jerusalem? No, but the teaching and practice of this church were. The local Mormon church was not started in 1830 in New York, but its teaching and practice were. In order to be a Mormon church, a local church must conform to the teachings of the Mormon Church. Just so, to be a church of Christ a local church must conform to the teaching that started on Pentecost, in Jerusalem, by Christ.

Jesus saves the church (Ephesians 5:23). It took centuries in the Old Testament times to unfold it. It took the Son of God to build it. It took the apostles to lay the foundation. It takes obedience to their teaching to build on the foundation, i.e. on Christ.

Jesus promised to build His church (Matthew 16:16-18). He purchased His church with His blood (Acts 20:28). He saves the church (Ephesians 5:23). Why would anyone want to be a member of a church that was started at the wrong time, the wrong place and by the wrong man?

Jesse Jenkins