337
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
September, 1936
. . . About THE BIBLE
F red : Yes, of course. But tell me, could people buy copies of the complete Bible in the first century ? P astor : N o , Fred. Although all the books of the Bible had been written by the end o f the first; century, they had not all been gathered together under one cover. That did not happen until later, and by that time the entire Bible had been trans lated into Latin. F red : I still don’t fully understand about the languages of the Bible. You said, didn’t you, that the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew ? P astor :. Yes, with the exception of a few sections which were written in Aramaic. F red : And you said that the Old Testament was translated into Greek? P astor : Yes. That translation is known as the Septuagint because that word means “ seventy,’’ and seventy men were engaged in the translation work. F red : Well, if the Hebrew Old Testament was translated into Greek, and the New Testament was originally written in Greek, it was possible for some one acquainted with the Greek language to- translate both Old and New Testaments into some other language, was it not ? P astor : And that is actually what happened. An instance is seen in the work of Jerome, who lived in the fourth century. He translated the entire Bible into Latin. A t first he merely revised a translation which had been made into Old Latin, and which had been in existence for quite a number of years, possibly since a . d . 250. Later, however, he translated the Old Testament directly into Latin from the Hebrew, for he was an accomplished scholar. His work is known as the Vulgate; so whenever you hear references to Jerome’s Latin Vulgate, you will know what is meant. F red : Indeed I shall! Say, this is interesting! I wish you would talk to the Young People’s Society on this sub ject. P astor : What is to prevent your doing that, Fred? I ’ll let you have a book or two which will be helpful in the preparation of the talk. F red : That will be great! But I think you will have to help me put things together. Could you give me a bird’s- eye view of what happened after Jerome wrote the Vul gate ? When did you say that occurred ? P astor : That was in the fourth century. F red : And it was last year that we celebrated the four-hundredth anniversary o f the Coverdale Bible. Does that mean that from the fourth century until four hundred years ago the Bible was written only in Latin ? P astor : Generally, yes. The Bible had been trans lated into other languages, and the New Testament especial ly was translated very early into the languages spoken by the early Christians; but the Roman Catholic Church has used the Latin Vulgate as her official Bible through the centuries. Since the sixth century the Vulgate has occupied first place in the Roman Church. F red : Pastor, what was the date o f the Reformation ?
International News Photo Courtesy, American Bible Society One of the most precious of ancient Biblical manuscripts is the "Codex Sinaiticus," dating back to about A. D. 340. After the payment of approximately $500,000 to the Soviet Russian Government, this manuscript came into the possession of Great Britain. Upon its arrival in .London, it was received by Sir George Hill (at the right of the picture), principal librarian of the British Museum. P astor : About 1517. F red : In round numbers that also was four hundred years ago. Well, if the Reformation began about four hundred years ago, and the Coverdale Bible appeared first four hundred years ago, can we say that one was respon sible for the other? P astor : That is a big question, Fred. Perhaps it would be better to say that each helped the other. F red : But if the Coverdale Bible first appeared in 1535, and the Reformation began in 1517, it would appear that the Reformation might have had something to do with the appearance o f the Bible in English. P astor : O f course, that is possible. But you have overlooked two things: First, while the beginning of the Reformation is usually associated with the year 1517, its roots go back to a much earlier year, possibly back to Wycliffe’s time; second, you must remember that Wycliffe and his associates translated the Bible into English in 1382.. F red : But I thought the first English Bible appeared four hundred years ago, in 1535. P astor : That was the first English Bible which was printed. Wycliffe’s Bible o f 1382 was the first complete translation into English, but it was hand written. The art of printing, at least by means of moveable type, was not known until 1454. F red : Why did Wycliffe translate the Bible into English ? P astor : He felt that the surest way to defeat Rome was to put the Bible into the hands of the common people; and because the Latin Bible was the one chiefly used in [Continued on page 354]
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter