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History of the English Bible by Dr. Wallace
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John Wycliff (1330-1384)
(presented by Tim Anderberg)
John Wycliffe was an English theologian, philosopher, and early reformer who played a significant role in the history of the Christian Church. Here are some key points about him:
- Early Life and Education: Wycliffe was born in the 1320s in Yorkshire, England. He studied at Oxford University, where he eventually became a prominent scholar.
- Theology and Philosophy: Wycliffe was known for his strong views on church reform and theology. He criticized what he saw as corruption within the Catholic Church, advocating for a simpler form of Christianity based on the Bible. He emphasized the authority of Scripture over the authority of the Pope and church traditions.
- Translation of the Bible: Wycliffe believed that everyone should have access to the Bible in their own language, so he worked on translating the Latin Vulgate Bible into English. This translation was a significant achievement, as it made the Scriptures more accessible to the English-speaking population.
- Lollardy: Wycliffe’s teachings attracted followers known as Lollards. They shared his views on church reform and social justice. However, their movement was seen as heretical by the Catholic Church, and Lollards faced persecution.
- Later Influence: Wycliffe’s ideas had a lasting impact, influencing later reformers such as John Hus in Bohemia and the leaders of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. His translation of the Bible also laid the groundwork for later English translations, including the King James Version.
- Posthumous Condemnation: After his death, Wycliffe was condemned as a heretic by the Catholic Church. In 1415, the Council of Constance declared him a heretic, and his remains were exhumed, burned, and scattered. (See below)
Forerunner of the Reformation
Wycliffe died on New Year’s Eve, 1384. Three decades later, he was condemned as a heretic.
In 1415, the Council of Constance condemned the Bohemian reformer John Hus (c. 1370-1415) and burned him at the stake, and it condemned Wycliffe on 260 counts of heresy.
The council ordered that Wycliffe’s bones be exhumed, removed from the honored burial grounds of the church, and burned, and his ashes scattered.
Although the pope could condemn Wycliffe’s teachings and scatter his bones, he was unable to stamp out his influence. Wycliffe’s ashes were scattered into the River Swift in England’s Midlands, and as one journalist later observed:
They burnt his bones to ashes and cast them into the Swift, a neighboring brook running hard by. Thus the brook hath conveyed his ashes into Avon; Avon into Severn; Severn into the narrow seas; and they into the main ocean. And thus the ashes of Wycliffe are the emblem of his doctrine which now is dispersed the world over.
–anonymous journalist
Despite his condemnation by the Catholic Church, Wycliffe’s ideas continued to spread and inspire reform movements within Christianity. He is often remembered as one of the early champions of church reform and as a key figure in the history of the English Bible.
Morningstar of the Reformation
John Wycliffe has often been called “the Morning Star of the Reformation.”
Jan Hus, another pre-Reformation reformer, felt obliged to express his supreme debt to Wycliffe. And though he lived long after Wycliffe’s death, Martin Luther, too, felt an obligation to recognize the pioneering reforms of John Wycliffe.
Luther stood on the shoulders of Hus, who stood on the shoulders of Wycliffe. Hus, Luther, and the other Reformers were indebted to him. So are we.
Wycliffe was indeed “the Morning Star of the Reformation.”
-Stephen Nichols
Jan Hus (1370-1415)
(presented by Tim Anderberg)
Jan Hus was a Czech theologian, philosopher, and early church reformer whose teachings and ideas anticipated the Protestant Reformation. Here are some key points about him:
- Early Life and Education: Jan Hus was born in Husinec, Bohemia (in present-day Czech Republic), around 1369. He studied at the University of Prague, where he became influenced by the writings of John Wycliffe and adopted some of his ideas.
- Reformist Views: Hus criticized the corruption and worldliness of the Catholic Church, particularly its clergy. He advocated for reforms such as allowing the laity to receive communion in both kinds (bread and wine), preaching in the vernacular (the common language of the people), and eliminating the sale of indulgences.
- Preaching and Influence: As a popular preacher, Hus attracted a large following among both the nobility and the common people in Bohemia. He used his pulpit to spread his reformist ideas and challenge the authority of the church hierarchy.
- Condemnation and Excommunication: Hus’s teachings and growing influence led to opposition from the Catholic Church. He was summoned to the Council of Constance in 1414 to defend his beliefs but was ultimately condemned as a heretic and excommunicated.
- Martyrdom: Despite promises of safe conduct, Hus was arrested and imprisoned by the Council of Constance. In July 1415, he was tried for heresy, found guilty, and sentenced to death by burning at the stake. His martyrdom sparked outrage in Bohemia and contributed to the Hussite Wars, a series of conflicts between Hussites and the Catholic Church.
- Legacy: Jan Hus is remembered as a national hero in the Czech Republic and Slovakia for his stand against ecclesiastical corruption and his defense of Czech national identity and language. His teachings laid the groundwork for the Hussite movement, which continued to advocate for church reform in Bohemia.
Hus’s ideas also had a significant impact on the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, particularly in the Lutheran and Hussite traditions.
5 Minutes in Church History: A Most Intriguing Figure
Today you burn a goose, but in one hundred years a swan will arise which you will prove unable to boil or roast.
Jan Hus
Why might Hus have identified himself as “a goose”? And why might later commentators—not least, Luther himself—have believed that Hus’ legendary prophecy referred to the German monk whose protest against indulgences launched the Reformation a century later?
– Aaron Denlinger
William Tyndale (1494-1536)
(the following is an excerpt from ‘From Wycliffe to King James (The Period of Challenge)‘ by Dr. Daniel B. Wallace on Bible.org)
Background
No new English translations occurred between Wycliffe’s and Tyndale’s. One hundred and thirty years passed without progress. A part of the reason was no doubt that the 1408 British law against any Bible in English was still in effect. It would be risky enough just to make a copy of Wycliffe’s Bible!
Meanwhile, there were encouraging signs in the rest of Europe. Italian, French, Spanish, and Dutch Bibles appeared in the 1400s, most likely inspired by Wycliffe’s pioneering efforts. The stage was becoming set for the single most influential Bible translator of all time.
Several major events took place between the time of Wycliffe and Tyndale.
- For nearly forty years—1378-1417—the “Great Schism” was tearing apart the very fabric of religious authority in Europe: during this time there were two rival Popes—one in Avignon and one in Rome!15 No one knew who the vicar of Christ on earth was!
- Invention of the movable-type printing press (c. 1454). Gutenberg’s first full-length book: Latin Vulgate Bible.
- 1453: Turks invade Byzantium, where Emperor Constantine had 1100 years earlier moved his capital to. In those 1100 years, Greek learning had disappeared from western Europe. But with the invasion of Byzantium, Greek scholars took their manuscripts and fled into Europe. Five years later, Greek is offered for the first time at a European university. The Reformation and Renaissance would be born as a result of the rediscovery of classical Greek and of the Greek New Testament.
- The spirit of adventure took off. The new world was discovered in 1492. Men became risk-takers like never before.
- The near-simultaneous events of the Turkish invasion of Byzantium and the invention of the printing press were the catalyst for the production of the first published Greek New Testament on March 1, 1516.
- October 31, 1517: the Reformation is born when Luther challenges the Roman Catholic Church in Wittenberg.
Thus, challenges to the religious status quo, courage of convictions, knowledge of the ancient sources, and dissemination of information to the masses joined hands at a decisive time in European history. Tyndale’s Bible would be born in this milieu.
Early Years
William Tyndale was trained in Greek and Hebrew. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Oxford in 1512 (at the ripe old age 16 or 17!), and his master’s degree in 1515. He later studied at Cambridge, to round out his education.
In due time, he became fluent in six or seven languages. In short, Tyndale was no dummy! Further, his sense of English style was unparalleled.
As he was contemplating a fresh translation of the Bible in the 1520s, he came to the realization that it was impossible to do this work in England. The 1408 edict against Bible translation was still in effect. Besides, Tyndale could find no one in England who knew Hebrew. So he traveled to Germany—and there he was introduced to rabbis from whom he learned the language of the Old Testament. While on the Continent, he translated much of the Bible into English. He could not return to England for fear of his life.
He had a passion for getting the Word of God to lay folks. He wanted the boy behind the plough to know more of the Word of God than the literati of his day.
His prayer would come true.
New Testament Translations
By 1525 he had completed his first translation of the NT, but it would not get printed until 1526. Three copies of this first edition exist today, only one of which—discovered just a few years ago—is completely intact.
Tyndale later revised the NT substantially, and the revision was a bona fide masterpiece. He even coined some new words that found their way into the English vocabulary for the next five centuries—words such as ‘Passover,’ ‘peacemaker,’ ‘scapegoat,’ and even the adjective ‘beautiful’ were coined by Tyndale.
Altogether, he produced five editions of the NT, but the third edition of 1534 is the one most remembered.
The Text
The 1534 edition was a major departure from 1526. It was wonderful English and a lucid translation for its day. Tyndale knew the biblical languages better than any Englishman at the time, and he knew English better than most. He turned good Greek into good English.
Although Tyndale consulted Luther’s German translation and the Latin Vulgate to help him over the hard places, his translation of the NT was based on the Greek text. He used primarily Erasmus’ third edition.
Old Testament Translations
Tyndale also did substantial work on the OT, but he did not complete the task. As far as we know, he translated through 2 Chronicles.
Martyr – Not Heretic
He was kidnapped in 1535 in Antwerp, and burned at the stake the next year for heresy.
His charge? A corrupt translation of the Bible. The reality? A superb translation of the Bible. But the clergy were ostensibly afraid that common folk could not understand the Bible; they needed the clergy and tradition to interpret it for them.
Tyndale’s dying words were “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes!” But Tyndale did not know that just a few months before his death a version of the Bible in English—based largely on his own work—had already been printed in England with King Henry VIII’s blessing.
Significance
It is impossible to overestimate the significance of Tyndale’s translation.
- The first English NT after the age of printing (Gutenberg).
- The first English NT translated directly from the Greek.
- The first translation to use italics for words that were not in the text.
- (This practice has curiously continued to the present day in the NASB, in spite of the fact that italics are now universally used in other writing for emphasis, not for absence.)
- Heavily influenced the KJV
- In 1940, Prof. J. Isaacs wrote of Tyndale’s accomplishment: “His simple directness, his magical simplicity of phrase, his modest music, have given an authority to his wording that has imposed itself on all later versions.… Nine-tenths of the Authorized New Testament is still Tindale, and the best is still his.”
- The introduction to a reprint of Tyndale’s New Testament makes the quip: “Astonishment is still voiced that the dignitaries who prepared the 1611 Authorized Version for King James spoke so often with one voice—apparently miraculously. Of course they did: the voice (never acknowledged by them) was Tyndale’s.”
In rapid succession came three translations, all inferior to Tyndale’s, but nevertheless important landmarks in the history of the Bible in English.
– source: Daniel B. Wallace, https://bible.org/seriespage/1-wycliffe-king-james-period-challenge
William Tyndale’s final words before the chain around his neck strangled him to death were,
“Lord, open the king of England’s eyes.”
-William Tyndale
That dying prayer was answered two years after Tyndale’s death, when King Henry VIII ordered that the Bible of Miles Coverdale was to be used in every parish in the land. The Coverdale Bible was largely based on Tyndale’s work.
Then, in 1539, Tyndale’s own edition of the Bible became officially approved for printing.
Tyndale’s translation inspired the great translations that followed, including the Great Bible (1539, also compiled by Coverdale), the Geneva Bible (1560), the Bishops’ Bible (1568), the Douay-Rheims Bible (1582-1609), and the Authorized or King James Version (1611).
A complete analysis of the King James shows that Tyndale’s words account for eighty-four percent of the New Testament and more than seventy-five percent of the Old Testament.
Stephen lawson
Many of the great modern English versions stand in the King James tradition and thus also draw inspiration from Tyndale, including the Revised Standard Version, the New American Standard Bible, and the English Standard Version.
– source: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/william-tyndales-final-words
Tyndale’s Bibles
Coverdale Bible (1535)
Myles Coverdale published the first complete English Bible since the publication of the Wycliffe Bible in 1382. The entire New Testament, the first five books of the Old Testament, and probably Jonah were William Tyndale’s work. The remainder, Coverdale translated from a variety of sources.
Matthew’s Version (1537)
John Rogers brought together Tyndale’s published and unpublished translations with Coverdale’s translation of the Old Testament Prophets (as well as the Apocrypha). This Bible was published under the pseudonym “Thomas Matthew.”
Great Bible (1539)
Myles Coverdale based this Bible on the Matthew’s Version. A copy of the Great Bible was placed in every church in England.
Geneva Bible (1560)
The Geneva Bible was used by William Shakespeare and John Bunyan. It was translated by Protestant refugees from England during the reign of Queen Mary I (“Bloody Mary”). Their translation was influenced by the Great Bible and Tyndale’s New Testament.
Comparison of Translations
– source: Jones, Timothy Paul. How We Got the Bible . Rose Publishing. Kindle Edition.