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September, 1936
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
Young M a n ’s QUESTIONS B y f . j . c a r t e r Los Angeles, California
Septuagint version. That was many years before even the first New Testament book was written. When the New Testament eventually appeared, it was written in Greek. So while it is true that the entire Bible was written in Greek before it appeared in Latin, it must be made clear that only the New Testament was originally written in Greek, and that the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, although it was later translated into Greek. F red : Then the Bible was not written all at one time. I haven’t given the matter much thought, but because I have always believed that God wrote the Bible, I seemed to take it for granted that it was written all at one time. You said a moment ago that the Old Testament was written before
S etting : Fred Smith, the recent ly elected president of the Young People’s Society, knocks on the door of the pastor’s study. P astor : Come in. Why, hello, Fred. Congratulations! How does it feel to be a president ? F red : That’s just what I’ve come to see you about, Pastor. Since be com in g P r e s id e n t o f the Y o u n g People’s Society, I find that I’m supposed to know a lot more than I really do. I didn’t realize how igno
Mr. Carter
the New Testament. The Old Testament was written all at once, was it not ? P astor : By no means. Hun dreds of years elapsed before the Old Testament was finished. And if we take the entire Bible, both Old and New Testaments, we can say that about thirty-six different writers were engaged in the task o f writing it, over a period o f ap proximately sixteen hundred years. God inspired the different authors to write what He wanted written ; so we can say that God is the real Author o f the Bible. F red : I never thought o f it in that way before. I suppose we could fall back upon the fact of its unity and harmony as an indication that the Bible was really given by inspiration o f God. P astor : Yes. It is something like an inventor who planned to make a complicated machine. He knew what he wanted to make. The complete plans were in his mind. But he had a piece made here, and a piece made there, a piece made this year, and a piece made that year, and when all the pieces were finally brought together, they fitted perfectly, and formed the piece o f m a ch in e ry that was o r ig in a lly planned. F red : I see it, Pastor. God took sixteen hundred years to make the Bible. A book was written here, and one there, one in this century, and one in that century, until finally the completed Bible appeared. P astor : That’s it, exactly. But that takes us only to the time in the first century a . d . when the last book o f the New Testament appeared. I suppose you want to know what has been happening since then.
rant I was until some o f the mem bers began asking me questions which I couldn’t answer. P astor : What, for instance ? F red : Well, Jack Spence want ed to know whether the Bible as we have it today was always in that form. P astor : And what did you tell him? F red : Not very much, I can assure you. But I remembered that last year was the four-hundredth anniversary of the Coverdale Bible and I told him that the Bible we have today is a development from it. But he began asking more ques tions, and that is the reason I ’ve come to see you. I want some in formation. Could you spare a few minutes to tell me something o f the origin of the Bible? P astor : C e rta in ly , F red . I have an appointment in half an hour, but I shall be glad to talk with you until then. What, in par ticular, would you like to know ? F red : I told Jack I thought the Bible had been in Latin before it appeared in English. Would I be correct in saying that the Bible was written in Greek before it was written in Latin ? P astor : Yes and no. The Old Testarrient was originally written in Hebrew, but it was translated into Greek in what we know as the [As a member o f the faculty o f the Bible Institute o f Los Angeles, the author o f this article has taught, among other subjects, Biblical Introduction, New Testament Greek, and Greek Exegesis. In this summary o f many young people's problems, Mr. Carter brings a background for the discussion which in recent years has centered around the early English versions o f the Scrip iMrej.—E ditor .]
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B E G IN N IN G O F THE B O O K O F NUMBERS, G U T EN BE RG BIBLE Outstanding among volumes on permanent view at the Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif., is the Guten berg Bible, a page of which is shown here. This edition of the Latin Vulgate is the earliest extant European printed book. It embodies the ideals of bookmaking inherited by the first printers from the manuscript era. Other Bibles in the collections, some of which are con stantly on display to the public, are the Gundulf Bible — a manuscript in Latin, on vellum; Tyndale's English translation of the New Testament (1534 edition); two copies of the rare first edition of the Coverdale Bible; early editions of the "Matthew Bible" and the "Great Bible," and a first edition of the Authorized Version of the Bible in English, printed in 1611. Apart from the visitor's opportunity to see the Bibles on exhibition, accredited scholars are making extensive use of the hundreds of Bible in the Huntington collections for research.
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