(d) Jeremiah
(i) Jeremiah 1:4 - The Word of the Lord came unto me.
(ii) Jeremiah 1:9 - I have put my words in thy mouth.
(e) Ezekiel - Ezekiel 1:3 - The Word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel.
(f) Amos - Amos 1:1 - The words that he saw concerning Israel.
(g) John - Revelation 1:1 - The Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave me.
2. The writers often did not understand what they wrote. God gave the words but not necessarily the thoughts. “The prophets have enquired . . . They were not ministering unto themselves but unto us” (I Peter 1:10-12). “Daniel did not understand all he wrote” (Daniel 12:8-9). “Did David understand about the parting of the garments and the piercing of the hands and feet?” (Psalms 22:18 and 22:16).
3. The Bible would be incorrect if it were not verbally inspired.
(a) Importance is placed upon simple words. e.g. Hebrews 12:27 quoting from Haggai 2:6: “Yet once more.”
(b) Importance is placed upon the tense of a verb. e.g. Luke 20:37: “I am.”
(c) Importance is placed upon a mere letter. e.g. Galatians 3:16 - “S” – seed not seeds.
4. Science of the Bible is absolutely correct although many of the popular ideas of that day were incorrect. e.g. Earth flat, etc.
5. The testimony of Christ proves that the bible was verbally inspired. Matthew 5:18 - “jot or tittle” - crossing of a “t” or dotting of an “i.” Luke 24:44 - All things must be fulfilled which were written.
6. If part of the Bible is divine and part human, who can tell which is which?
HOW WE GOT OUR BIBLE
A. MANUSCRIPTS: The Bible was originally written on long sheets of parchment and then rolled on wooden rollers. These were called manuscripts, meaning “written by the hand.” The men who copied the Word of God on these manuscripts were called scribes. These manuscripts were very expensive and had to be read to the congregation. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew and the New Testament was written in Greek.
B. SEPTUAGINT: About 227 B.C. a Greek translation of the Old Testament was made by seventy scholars at Alexandria. This translation was widely circulated and was used in following translations.
C. VULGATE: This was a Latin translation of the Septuagint version of the Old Testament and the original Greek of the New Testament. It means, “to make common or public” (vulgar). It was made in North Africa and was revised in the fourth century by Jerome. For a thousand years this was the standard Bible in the Catholic church. The common people could not read Latin. The leader read to the people. During the dark ages God’s Word was locked up in the Latin language.
D. FIRST ANGLO-SAXON TRANSLATIONS: Venerable Bede translated the Psalms and Gospels into Anglo-Saxon. Alfred the Great ordered the whole Bible trans- lated but did not live to see it done.
E. CHAPTERS: In 1250 Cardinal Hugo divided the Bible into chapters for the pur- poses of a Latin concordance. Some divisions are unfortunate but this has been retained in all following translations.
F. FIRST ENGLISH TRANSLATION: John Wycliffe was the first to translate the Bible into English from the Latin Vulgate. It took him 22 years. One copy cost forty pounds and took ten months to write. He was opposed by Roman Catholics. In 1384 he died of paralysis. Forty years later Roman Catholics dug up his bones and burned them, scattering the ashes on River Swift.
G. INVENTION OF PRINTING: Printing was invented in Europe by Gutenburg around the year 1450. It was introduced into England by Caxton in 1476.
H. WILLIAM TYNDALE: In 1525 Tyndale, one of the Protestant reformers, made another English translation and was the first to publish an English New Testament in print. He had to do this partly at Cologne and partly at Worms. The Testaments were smuggled into England in bales of cotton, sacks of flour, etc. Catholics made every effort to prevent it and burned thousands of copies. He translated from Greek and his translation was accurate. He also translated the Pentateuch and Jonah into English. In 1535 he issued a revised version of the New Testament from original Greek. In 1536 Tyndale was strangled and burnt at the stake.
I. ENGLISH BIBLE IN PRINT: The whole Bible was first printed in English in 1535 by Miles Coverdale.
J. FIRST AUTHORIZED VERSION OF THE BIBLE: Thomas Cromwell induced Henry VIII to grant a license for the issue of the Bible in English. This was done by John Rogers and was known as “Matthew’s Bible.” It was unpopular be- cause of comments in the margin against the Roman Catholic Church. In 1539 Coverdale and others brought out a reprint without marginal comments. The King gave his approval and this became the first Authorized Version. This was known as the Great Bible because of its size. It was ordered to be in every parish church and chained to the pulpit where the people flocked to hear the Word of God read.
K. GENEVA BIBLE: In 1560 the Geneva Bible appeared prepared by reformers at Geneva. It was translated from original Greek and Hebrew. It was smaller in size and became popular. It was the Bible used by Shakespeare, Cromwell, and John Bunyan and was brought to America by the Pilgrims. It was important for the following reasons:
1. It divided the text into verses.
2. It used the more easily read Roman type.
3. It was the first to use italics for those words the translators added for the sake of English idiom.
L. DOUAY BIBLE: In 1582 Roman Catholics translated the New Testament at Rheims.
In 1610 they translated the Old Testament at Douay. It includes the Apocrypha. It was translated from the Latin Vulgate and contains gross errors. What is the Apocrypha? It is fourteen books included in the Roman Catholic Bible and are not in the Protestant Bible because:
1. Scriptures are self-contained and absolutely complete with nothing lacking.
2. There is no reference to the Apocrypha in the New Testament.
3. There are three solemn warnings against adding to the Bible:
(a) Moses - Deuteronomy 4:2.
(b) Solomon - Proverbs 30:6.
(c) John - Revelation 22:18-19.
4. The Apocrypha is not acknowledged by orthodox Jews or the Christian Church as being inspired.
5. The Apocrypha contains a great deal of legendary nonsense and some gross historical errors.
M. KING JAMES VERSION: In 1611 appeared the King James Version. This is the translation now used by most English speaking people. Forty-seven scholars, authorized by King James made an exhaustive study of earlier versions. Ancient Hebrew and Greek texts were studied in order to obtain the best results. It has held first place for three hundred and seventy five years.
N. REVISED VERSION: In 1881, one hundred scholars from different denominations from England and America worked for over ten years. The King James Version was used with the most ancient copies of the Scripture.
O. AMERICAN STANDARD VERSION: 1905. This took fifteen years to do and it divided the Bible into paragraphs.
P. REVISED STANDARD VERSION: In 1929 the copyright of the American Standard Version was transferred to the International Council of Religious Education, a body related to 40 major Protestant denominations. This council appointed a commit- tee of scholars from twenty seminaries and universities to revise the Standard Version. The Revised Standard Version of the New Testament was published in 1946, and the complete Bible was issued in 1952. This version reflects a liberal Theology. We see this in the translation of the word “virgin,” etc.
There are other translations into modern English that one may use: Moffat, Weymouth, Amplified, etc. These help in the study of the Bible and may be used as a source of reference. However, it is wise to keep to the King James Version as the main text of the Word of God as this is the version that God