Participants: Pr. Kenneth Cox
Series Code: GMTB
Program Code: GMTB000042
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00:19 Well good evening and welcome to Give Me The Bible
00:22 coming to you from Thompsonville, Illinois, 00:26 from the 3ABN Worship Center. 00:28 And our speaker is Pastor Kenneth Cox. 00:31 Tonight is going to be especially important to me 00:35 because Pastor Cox is going to talk about 00:38 Which Translation Is Best? 00:42 "For God so loved the world 00:44 that He gave His only begotten Son, 00:47 that whosoever believeth in Him 00:49 should not perish 00:51 but have everlasting life. " 00:53 Now that was the first text that I ever memorized 00:57 from the scripture. The next was John 14:1-3. 01:01 And then it goes on and on and on. 01:03 But all of these I memorized in the King James Version. 01:08 It's still my favorite version. 01:10 It's still especially my version. 01:12 If I'm quoting a text, 01:14 I must quote it from the King James Version. 01:17 But tonight Pastor Cox is going to look 01:20 at how we got our translations 01:23 and which of the translations really might be more accurate 01:27 than the others... and this is something 01:31 that I know that you're going to enjoy. 01:33 But before Pastor Cox comes to us, 01:35 Joe Pearles is going to come 01:37 and he's going to sing for us that wonderful song... 01:42 and, Joe, I don't remember the name of the song! 01:47 I don't remember it either. 01:50 One of us needs to remember it! 01:54 What is the song? So Many Reasons. 01:56 So Many Reasons. All right. 01:58 Let's hear Joe as he sings. 02:08 So many reasons 02:12 why I love the Lord. 02:16 So many reasons I can't count them. 02:24 So many reasons 02:28 why I trust His Word. 02:32 So many reasons I can't count them. 02:40 One is how He saved me 02:43 at an old-time altar. 02:47 He placed a joy within my heart I know. 02:55 He changed my life completely; 02:59 gave me hope for tomorrow. 03:03 And that's the reason why I love Him so. 03:11 So many reasons 03:15 why I love the Lord. 03:19 So many reasons I can't count them. 03:26 So many reasons 03:30 why I trust His Word. 03:34 So many reasons I can't count them. 03:57 So many reasons 04:01 why I love the Lord. 04:05 So many reasons I can't count them. 04:13 So many reasons 04:17 why I trust His Word. 04:21 So many reasons I can't count them. 04:29 So many reasons 04:32 I can't count them. 04:41 Thank you, Joe. Appreciate that. 04:44 And good evening to you! 04:46 Very happy to welcome you tonight. 04:49 Appreciate you being here. 04:50 Those of you that are joining us by television, 04:53 we... happy to have you and hope that this will bless you. 04:57 If you're looking at the program 04:59 by television or listening to it 05:01 on radio, we hope that you'll 05:03 follow along as we go through this subject tonight. 05:07 We're talking about Which Translation Is Best? 05:11 Which translation is the best translation? 05:15 This is the second one in this series 05:18 Your Bible and You. 05:20 That's what we're spending this series on is your Bible. 05:24 Helping you get acquainted with it. 05:26 Our last session we talked about where your Bible came from. 05:30 And our next presentation after this one 05:34 will be entitled: 05:38 How can I know that it's true? 05:41 When I pick it up and read it 05:43 is there certain things that will help me know 05:45 that the Word of God is true without question. 05:49 Something I can trust. 05:51 And so we hope you'll continue as we go through this series. 05:55 Tonight: Which Translation Is Best? 05:59 Or right. What you're looking for 06:04 is when it came to the translation of scriptures, 06:08 there were two streams. 06:10 And you need to watch for those two streams 06:15 and we'll see how it worked 06:17 so that you know exactly how they came about, 06:21 what's involved, and where you are today 06:24 and what has been done as far as the translation 06:27 of scripture is concerned. 06:29 So we hope it will help you see and understand 06:32 how God's Word has come down to you today. 06:37 Greek, Hebrew, and different things. So... 06:40 we hope it will give you some direction and some guidance 06:44 as we look at the scripture. 06:46 Hope you're enjoying Joe Pearles. 06:49 I always do. 06:51 He's a great blessing to me. 06:52 He's going to sing for us a song tonight entitled 06:55 I Thirst. 07:16 One day I came to Him... 07:19 I was so thirsty. 07:25 I asked for water, 07:29 my throat was so dry. 07:36 He gave me water 07:39 that I had never dreamed of. 07:45 But for this water 07:48 my Lord had to die. 07:56 He said: "I thirst, " 07:59 yet He made the river. 08:06 He said: "I thirst, " 08:09 yet He made the sea. 08:16 "I thirst, " 08:18 said the King of the Ages. 08:26 In His great thirst 08:29 He brought water to me. 08:36 Now there's a river 08:39 that flows as clear as crystal 08:46 and it comes from 08:49 God's throne above. 08:55 And like a river 08:59 it wells up inside me... 09:06 bringing mercy 09:09 and life-giving love. 09:15 He said: "I thirst, " 09:19 yet He made the river. 09:26 He said: "I thirst, " 09:29 yet He made the sea. 09:36 "I thirst, " 09:39 said the King of the Ages. 09:46 In His great thirst 09:49 He brought water to me. 09:56 He said: "I thirst, " 09:59 yet He made the rivers. 10:06 He said: "I thirst, " 10:09 yet He made the sea. 10:16 "I thirst, " 10:19 said the King of the Ages. 10:26 In His great thirst 10:29 He brought water to me. 10:36 In His great thirst 10:39 He brought water 10:42 to me. 11:08 Father in heaven, tonight 11:11 we come to You asking that we might 11:17 understand. We might see Your hand 11:23 in caring... protecting Your Word. 11:29 We pray Lord that we will see and understand 11:33 that in that book is life. 11:39 And that we might reach out, accept 11:43 the marvelous promises that You have given to each one of us. 11:47 And that we can all have hope 11:51 in what Jesus Christ has done for us. 11:53 Bless us this evening; give us Your Spirit. 11:57 We pray in Christ's name, Amen. 12:06 I grew up on the King James Version. 12:10 My mother would make me - 12:15 on Sabbath afternoons - 12:17 read to her out loud 12:20 out of the King James Version. 12:22 And I really didn't like doing that. 12:25 I mean I really... as a young person 12:28 didn't like that at all. 12:30 But she would make me read on Sabbath afternoons 12:33 out loud to her out of the King James Version. 12:35 So it became very much - how should I say? - 12:39 something that I was used to. 12:43 But as I got older and realized 12:45 that the language used and the wording had become obsolete 12:50 and out of date, I... I switched to the New King James Version. 12:56 And that's what I use and I read 12:59 simply because I like the flavor of it. 13:05 It still has the flavor of the King James Version and all. 13:08 But something that I have enjoyed... So that 13:13 is the translation that I use. 13:16 OK. But we're going to talk about what happened 13:19 and how these translations came about. 13:22 To begin with, when Christ came 13:26 and with His life and death 13:30 the whole picture - as far as religion is concerned 13:36 and the spread of the gospel - changed. 13:39 Because Christ had told those disciples 13:42 that they were to preach in Judea, 13:44 Samaria, and to all the world. 13:47 And so He gave them that commission. 13:49 And whereas before the scripture was contained 13:54 with the Jewish people, 13:56 but now all of a sudden it was made available to everybody. 14:01 It didn't make any difference who you were. 14:03 It didn't make any difference what language you spoke. 14:05 It didn't make any difference what class you were. 14:08 The gospel went to everybody, 14:10 and they went out preaching the Word. 14:13 And because of the spread of the gospel 14:17 persecution broke out. 14:20 And we read here in the book of Acts... And it says: 14:35 Places that Christ had told them to go and preach the gospel. 14:39 And it says they were spread in all those places. 14:47 And I mean they went out and they preached the Word 14:51 and it was scattered everywhere. And in ten years 14:55 Asia Minor had heard the gospel. 14:59 I mean, they went out and preached it. 15:02 And by 300 AD, half the Roman Empire 15:07 has actually become Christian in belief. 15:11 So the gospel spread with great, great rapidity 15:15 many, many different places in the world. 15:18 And so by the time you reach 500 AD, 15:23 the Bible... the Bible has been translated 15:28 into over 500 different languages. 15:34 Now you think about that. 15:36 Five hundred years... 15:37 it's been translated into 500 different languages. 15:42 It has spread all across the world. 15:45 Men and women have accepted it and are believing it. 15:48 At this same time - right during this period of time - 15:52 there's a man by the name of Jerome. 15:56 Jerome is a monk. 16:01 He lives in a cave in Jerusalem, 16:06 and he translated the Bible. 16:21 OK? You need to remember that. 16:23 This became known as the Vulgate translation. 16:28 First time being translated into Latin. 16:34 Also at this time, the Jewish Old Testament 16:39 was translated from Hebrew into Greek, 16:43 and it was called the Septuagint. 16:45 And so you have certain trans- lations that are taking place. 16:49 And so now it's put into Greek 16:51 and which many of those people spoke Greek. 16:55 Greek was the language of the world at that time, 16:59 and so it was put into something that the people could have. 17:02 The Latin Bible, the Vulgate, was accepted. 17:09 And by the time you reach 600 AD, 17:14 the only Bible that's available is the Vulgate. 17:22 What has happened here? 17:23 What has happened is the church 17:26 has now been recognized by the state... 17:31 and they have decided the only Bible the people can use 17:36 is Latin. 17:38 In fact, they were told if you had a Bible different 17:43 than a Latin Bible, you were in trouble. 17:46 Different from the Vulgate. 17:48 And of course, most of the people, folks, 17:51 didn't speak Latin. 17:54 They spoke Greek or they spoke a different language. 17:59 And so all of a sudden, the people's knowledge of scripture 18:03 diminished greatly because it was just not available. 18:09 And unfortunately, that was the way it was 18:13 for a thousand years. 18:17 400 BC to 14... excuse me. 18:21 From 400 AD to 1400 AD 18:25 the only Bible that was there for them to use 18:28 was the Latin Vulgate version. That was it. 18:32 OK? So this is the situation. 18:35 Now I told you, there are two streams of translation. 18:41 And we need to look at those two streams 18:44 and so you know where they came from. 18:45 The Vulgate - or I should say, the Douay version - 18:51 or the Rheims version... those are the two versions 18:57 that came from this stream. 18:59 And as you can see on the screen 19:01 they came out of the old Latin. These are old manuscripts. 19:05 Old Latin, second century. The Vulgate 19:09 which we just talked about was the 4th century. 19:12 Codex D... 5th & 6th century. 19:16 This is where these translations came from. 19:21 With me? 19:22 That's where they came from. 19:24 And these are portions of scripture 19:28 or parts of the books of the Bible 19:31 or even different books of the Bible. 19:33 And they also came from what is known as the Codex Vaticanus. 19:39 This was discovered in the Vatican in 1481 AD. 19:45 We know practically nothing 19:49 about where this came from. 19:53 It just showed up at the Vatican 19:56 in 1481 AD. 20:00 And this was used also as one of the bases 20:04 for translation. 20:06 So you find that Jerome has taken these things 20:12 and has translated it, and this becomes known as the Vulgate 20:16 and recognized as the translation to be used. 20:27 This is the origin... this is the origin 20:33 of modern translations. 20:36 OK? This is the order... where they came from 20:41 as far as modern translations are concerned. 20:43 They were taken from two sources. 20:47 They were taken from Codex Vaticanus 20:52 and these manuscripts that I mentioned to you. 20:58 They were also taken from some other manuscripts 21:02 such as these that are mentioned here: 21:04 Papyrus 75... 200 AD. 21:08 Papyrus 66 and so forth. 21:11 This is where these came. 21:13 And also at this time they have used the manuscript 21:19 or the Codex that came from Alexandria. 21:22 And by the way, that one from Alexandria 21:27 was... and Alexandria was in Egypt... 21:32 that's where it came from... 21:33 So this is the source in which you have the Latin Bible 21:39 was taken. And basically, folks, the 21:42 Catholic church said that the Latin Bible 21:46 was the only one that could be used. 21:48 And finally at the Council of Trent 21:51 said that it was infallible, and they voted it that way. 21:57 And they fought... they fought the translation 22:01 of the Bible into any other language... 22:05 until finally about 1680 AD. 22:09 And at that time they saw they were not going to win. 22:14 And they translated into the Douay Version 22:18 and the Rheims Version. 22:20 That's where those translations come from. 22:23 I'll say more about these as we go along. 22:27 As you look at the map, 22:29 as Christianity spread across the country, 22:33 there were three centers that became strong 22:37 as far as Christianity was concerned. 22:40 One of them was Rome. 22:42 It became a very, very strong center of Christianity. 22:48 OK? The other was Constantinople. 22:52 It became another place that was a strong... and heavy, 22:56 heavy Greek is Constantinople. 22:59 The other was Alexandria, Egypt. 23:03 Alexandria, Egypt, had some very definite problems. 23:07 Problems... because the church in Alexandria, Egypt, 23:12 and all that area was riddled full of Gnosticism 23:16 and mysticism and all these type of things. 23:19 And we found that they took the scripture 23:23 and tried to move it that way: towards Gnosticism and so forth. 23:28 Those were the things that were happening. 23:31 So as these places developed, 23:34 then we have the Word of God beginning to take place. 23:38 Now, let me explain what happened. 23:40 Back in the 1800s, there were two men: 23:44 one by the name of Fenton John Anthony Hort. 23:47 This man is a tremendous Greek scholar. 23:55 He... outstanding as far as a scholar is concerned. 23:59 Another man was Brooke Foss Westcott. 24:04 Both of these... two Greek scholars 24:08 that lived in the 1800s. And they were approached 24:12 by the theologians to take and to make 24:17 a Greek text. To make a Greek text 24:21 that they could translate the Bible from. 24:23 Unfortunately, these two men 24:29 decided to use the 24:34 translation or where the scripture came from 24:37 that I have just described to you. 24:40 And they also were convinced - 24:45 you have to understand this - 24:48 they were convinced that older was better. 24:53 Get that clear. 24:56 That older was better. 24:58 Older is not always better. 25:02 OK? 25:04 But they said: "if it's older, it must be better. " 25:08 OK. 25:10 Uh, these two men - as I mentioned - 25:13 made the Greek text. 25:14 I'm going to read you several statements. 25:17 This is from Dean Burgon. 25:21 Dean Burgon is one of the great 25:24 Biblical language scholars. 25:27 And he tells you what happened here. 25:30 And you need to understand this, because this affects 25:33 all the new modern translations. 25:38 OK. This is what it says: 25:47 See, these were the ones that were putting out the Greek text. 25:56 You understand what that is? 25:58 They replaced the King James Version. 26:12 In other words, they took this stream 26:14 of scripture 26:17 and they took it away from the Authorized Version 26:23 and put things in that stream. 26:26 And so your modern translations now begin to come out of 26:30 this stream rather than the stream that was over here. 26:34 And I'll talk about that other stream. 26:46 They both resented it. 27:03 See? And so they took those 27:07 and they built the Greek text around it... 27:11 which people translate from. 27:14 So your modern translations came from that. 27:18 The problem with that, folks, is 27:22 in the manuscripts from that part of the world 27:27 there were portions of scripture that were missing. 27:29 So you face some problems. 27:33 Constantine Tischendorf... the German scholar as I mentioned 27:37 in our last presentation... 27:40 over at Mt. Sinai 27:45 in a monastery there, St. Catherine's Monastery, 27:49 digging around in it, found an old manuscript 27:53 in the garbage can. 27:56 Took it out and began to go through it 27:59 and found out it was an old, old manuscript. 28:04 But also, many, many places throughout that manuscript 28:09 had been crossed out, written over and that kind of thing. 28:13 But he took it back, and they began to use it 28:18 as a means of translation. 28:23 From that, we have today the Codex Sinaiticus. 28:29 And that he discovered in 1844 AD. 28:34 I'm trying to give you a line of truth. 28:37 This is where these came from. 28:40 And this also pretty much had its origin in Egypt. 28:45 Then, as I mentioned, down in Egypt they found 28:50 Codex Alexandrinus in 1621 AD. 28:56 From these... these manuscripts 29:00 and the other fragments and manuscripts that they found 29:05 you have the Latin Bible, the Vulgate. 29:09 And all that comes from that line. 29:11 Are you with me? 29:13 OK. 29:17 Dean Burgon... this is what he goes on and says: 29:39 In other words, what he's saying 29:41 is they took these which were inferior manuscripts 29:46 which has portions of scripture missing 29:49 and from that they built 29:51 that... translations that many of us have today. 29:56 And he said they've poisoned it at the very, very foundation. 30:32 So there's not a lot of these, 30:37 and yet they've built the whole concept of translation on that. 30:44 That is one line of translation that we face. 30:49 The thing that bothers me 30:50 is the scripture is very, very clear that you and I 30:54 and people that do translations 30:56 have to be very, very careful because it says: 31:23 So we have to be careful as to what the Word of God says 31:28 and to make sure that we're understanding it. 31:32 OK. That was one line of translation. 31:36 I want to go back to the original text. 31:39 The original text, folks, in Greek was called 31:44 the Textus Receptus... 31:47 or referred to as the Received Text. 31:52 Where did it come from? 31:54 Well as I mentioned, as the Word of God was translated 31:57 into other languages and it spread across the whole country, 32:01 by 500 AD there were 500 different translations 32:07 in different languages. 32:10 When the Reformation hit and began to take place, 32:16 these manuscripts and these fragments of scripture that 32:22 had been given there, all of a sudden they become... 32:25 begin to come to the surface. 32:28 And they begin to find lots and lots of them. 32:31 I'm not talking about a little bit. 32:33 And these are some of them: 32:35 the Gothic version from the 4th century. 32:37 The Peshitta Syriac... 2nd century. 32:40 The Codex W... the 4th and 5th century. 32:43 And at the present time... 32:46 At the present time we have found - or people have found - 32:51 archaeologists have found - 32:53 4500 manuscripts. 32:59 OK? 4500 manuscripts 33:03 that they can compare. OK? 33:07 Do you understand? Let me... let me clarify something 33:10 because I think people... 33:12 Do you know what I'm talking about when I talk about 33:14 the telephone game? Do you know what I'm talking about? 33:17 When you have somebody call somebody and tell them something 33:22 and then have them call somebody and repeat the same thing 33:25 and call somebody and repeat the same thing. 33:27 After about 5 or 6 times you see what the story is, 33:32 and it's not very much like the original. 33:34 You understand that? 33:35 Well, that's not the way this took place. 33:40 You need to understand that. 33:41 That's not what we're looking at. 33:43 We're looking at things that were written down. 33:47 Actually written down. 33:49 So if I have a manuscript over here 33:53 where the scripture is written down 33:56 and I have another one here where it's written down 33:59 and here... and I have a whole bunch and I can compare them, 34:04 I can begin to see what the original was. 34:08 You understand what I'm saying? 34:11 Because you can look at them and you can see. 34:13 There may be some differences, 34:15 but you can begin to pull it together so that you know 34:17 exactly what the original was. 34:20 This is what we have happening with the original text. 34:24 When we've got all these manuscripts, 34:27 we can take them, put them together, 34:29 and we can come up with exactly what the original was. 34:34 And so the original text came through all these. 34:38 And then we have different men like I'm going to mention: 34:42 Wyclif and, oh, Tyndale, Coverdale. 34:50 The Geneva Bible... King James Bible. 34:53 This is the path which that translation came from. 34:57 OK, you with me? Those are the two different streams 35:02 that are out there today. Those are two different streams. 35:06 You and I have to look at them and decide which is the best. 35:10 Which should I use and all? 35:13 So let's talk about how this took place and what happened. 35:21 Back in 400 AD 35:26 there... this is the time when all of a sudden 35:30 the Bible is being taken from people and it's only in Latin. 35:34 OK. But a Scotsman 35:39 by the name of Columba - 35:42 not Columbus but Columba - 35:46 established a Bible college off the coast of Ireland 35:52 on an island called lona. 35:55 That became the center... that became the center 36:00 for spreading the gospel to the people across Europe. 36:05 For 700 years they took the Word of God 36:12 and they kept it in the original text. 36:15 And they went out and they translated it... 36:19 or I should say they copied it. 36:21 Made manuscripts and they preached the Word of God 36:24 and it went across all of Europe. 36:27 That was during that period of time. 36:29 At the same time this was going on 36:32 over in the Piedmont Valley 36:36 and so forth, you have the Waldensian people 36:40 who have refused to go along with that. 36:43 And the Waldensian people are also taking the Word of God 36:48 in the original text, writing it down, 36:51 and sharing it with people. 36:53 And thus you have another place that it's being preserved. 36:57 In fact, when the Reformation finally broke 37:01 and got far enough along, 37:04 the Waldensian people had a copy of the traditional text 37:10 translated and given - they paid for it, 37:13 1600 crowns they paid for it - 37:17 and gave it to the Reformers. 37:19 So this is some... where your Bible's coming from 37:23 on this other track. 37:25 And this is... this is some of their houses 37:29 way back then up in the Piedmont Valley and so forth. 37:33 This is a room where they hand copied the scripture. 37:38 I'm talking about sitting down and writing it. 37:41 Hand copied the scripture. 37:43 There was no printing press. 37:46 This is how this took place. 37:48 So we have the Word of God being given. 37:52 Let me show you a quote from the book entitled 37:55 Truth Triumphant by Benjamin Wilkerson. 37:59 This is what he says. 38:01 Listen carefully because he gives you an insight 38:03 exactly what took place: 38:31 Now this is in Alexandria, 38:33 and this is where the Gnosticism 38:35 and all this is coming into play. 39:05 OK? 39:18 The Greek church was over where? 39:21 Constantinople, that area. OK? 39:37 Now I told you... as we hit the 1500s 39:43 and the Reformation is developing, 39:48 Erasmus - who has told them over and over 39:52 the Latin text is flawed, 39:55 it's got mistakes in it and needs to be changed - 39:58 and so he sat down and he translated it into Greek 40:04 and to Latin from manuscripts of the Received Text. 40:09 This is what he wrote it in. 40:11 And this became a basis for getting the Word of God 40:16 back into the original text 40:18 is what Erasmus did. 40:20 Great contribution to the Word of God. 40:24 After that... or before that, actually, 40:28 before Erasmus, John Wyclif. 40:32 John Wyclif is the first one to take the text... 40:38 and by the way, he took the Vaticanus - 40:42 the Latin Vulgate Version... 40:45 and translated it into English. 40:48 And the reason he did that 40:50 is because it was the only thing that was available. 40:53 There was nothing else available, 40:56 so he translated it into English 40:59 in 1380 AD. 41:02 Was known as the Morning Star of the Reformation. 41:05 Was extremely opposed. 41:09 I mean not a little bit but terribly opposed 41:12 for what he was doing. But the followers 41:15 of Wyclif were called Lollards. 41:18 And they helped him, and they made many manuscripts... 41:22 hand-written and circulated around the country. 41:26 As I mentioned I think the last presentation 41:30 they finally sent a delegation, arrested him. 41:34 But he died before they 41:36 could burn him at the stake. 41:39 So 44 years after his death 41:42 they had his body exhumed... 41:45 his bones... And they crushed them 41:47 and had them thrown on the river. 41:49 Dislike for Wyclif and for what he had done. 41:56 One of his followers was a man by the name of John Huss. 42:01 John Huss preached and he believed 42:05 that what Wyclif had done was right. 42:07 He believed that the Bible should be made available 42:10 to all the people, and therefore he did that. 42:13 And because he did this they burned him at the stake. 42:17 And they took one of the manuscripts of Wyclif 42:24 and used it to light the fire that burned him at the stake. 42:28 So folks, I hope you're getting an idea 42:32 that there's real opposition to this coming to the forefront 42:37 and being used. 42:39 By the time we reach 1500, 42:42 then Johann Gutenberg, 1450 AD, 42:48 is the one who invented the press. OK? 42:53 And this... for the first time we're going to have 42:57 a book made by a press that can be printed 43:01 and copies of it made to other people. 43:04 He did that, and the first thing that he printed 43:08 was the Latin Bible. 43:10 That was the first thing that was printed 43:13 here... on the Gutenberg press. 43:17 By the way, do you know what... just a trivia. 43:20 Do you know what Gutenberg meant? 43:24 The word? Huh? 43:26 It meant goose flesh. 43:30 That's what it meant: goose flesh. 43:32 And so he changed it. That's what his name really meant. 43:36 And he had it changed to Gutenberg - which actually meant 43:39 beautiful mountain. 43:41 So it wasn't that any more. 43:44 But he was the one who had the scripture put in print. 43:49 And from that, it began to spread 43:51 and it began to circulate many different places. 43:55 Erasmus, as I mentioned to you, 43:57 1516 AD, translates the New Testament from Greek into Latin. 44:03 Folks, he not only did that, 44:05 he took it and put it in parallel columns. 44:09 You follow me what I'm saying? 44:11 He took it and put the Vulgate version here 44:15 and what he had translated here 44:17 so the people could see the flaws in it and everything. 44:20 He wanted that done so the people could see what was there. 44:26 Well, from his copy then you have Martin Luther. 44:32 Martin Luther has nailed his 95 Theses to the door 44:36 of the church of Wittenberg. And by the way, 44:38 when they were burning... when they were burning 44:43 John Huss at the stake... 44:47 he told them as he was burning 44:50 He said: "100 years from now 44:52 there will be a man who will preach that you cannot suppress 44:57 his reform. " 44:59 And as you can see, they did that, I think, to John Huss 45:04 in 1415 AD or something like that. 45:07 And in 1517 AD Martin Luther showed up right at that time 45:12 and began to preach it. 45:16 Because of that he was tried in Worms 45:20 and scurried away by Frederick and hid in a castle... 45:26 where he translated the Bible into German 45:32 for the German people. And he used the translation 45:36 of Erasmus to do that. 45:38 And so you have the Bible going from the Received Text 45:43 into German and made available to the people. 45:48 Well, from the work of Martin Luther then we come to 45:52 William Tyndale, 1525 AD. 45:57 Tyndale printed the first Bible into English. 46:03 Printed the first Bible into English. 46:07 Folks, Tyndale was a marvelous scholar. 46:11 Tyndale spoke eight languages 46:16 and spoke them all so fluently 46:19 that you could not tell which was his original language. 46:23 I mean was absolutely a brilliant, brilliant man. 46:28 And he had a great burden to put the Bible 46:31 into the language of the people or into English at that time. 46:36 Lived in England but persecuted greatly. 46:40 Now we've read a lot and talked about a lot 46:43 about the Catholic church and their persecution. 46:46 But they're not the only ones that persecuted. 46:49 You see, the Church of England also did 46:53 very very much so. And they persecuted William Tyndale. 46:57 I mean, terrible. 47:00 And he fled and went to Germany 47:04 and went to Martin Luther. And stayed there with Martin Luther 47:08 and translated the New Testament into English at this time. 47:13 When they got word that he had done this, 47:16 they sent out a delegation hunting him to arrest him. 47:22 He kind of eluded them for years, 47:26 and they circulated Bibles all across England. 47:31 It's amazing what took place there. 47:33 But finally he was arrested and he was strangled 47:37 and burned at the stake for what he had done. 47:42 So you find here these people giving their lives 47:47 so that you and I can have the Word of God. 47:51 Well, now we come to Henry VIII. 47:57 Henry VIII, folks, wasn't particularly trying 48:03 to do something because he favored it. 48:07 What he was doing is just being kind or ornery 48:11 because he wanted to marry his mistress. 48:15 And he asked the Pope to give him the right 48:19 to divorce his wife, and they wouldn't do it. 48:21 And so he said: "OK, good enough for you. " 48:24 And so he left the Catholic church, 48:29 set up his own church in the Church of England 48:32 or known as the Anglican church. 48:34 And folks, the Anglican church 48:37 is neither Catholic nor Protestant. 48:40 Neither one. 48:42 And he set that up, and he gave out of spite 48:47 the permission for the first printing, or authorized printing 48:52 of the Bible. 48:53 This is something he gave, 48:56 and so it was under Henry VllI that this took place. 48:59 The first authorized printing of the Word of God. 49:03 By the time we reach 1560 AD 49:08 John Knox, the great Scotsman, 49:11 is there and preaching. 49:14 And with him over in Geneva is John Calvin. 49:19 Two great, great Biblical scholars. 49:24 And these two men felt there was a great, great need 49:29 to get the Bible into the language of the people 49:34 that they could read and understand. 49:36 And so, John Knox and John Calvin 49:41 gave what was known as the Geneva Bible. 49:46 Put it down! 49:48 This is the Bible of the Reformation. 49:55 Say that again. 49:56 This is the Bible of the Reformation. 49:59 This is the Bible that the reformers used. 50:03 Marvelous translation. 50:06 It's the first time the Bible was divided into verses. 50:11 That was done with the Geneva Bible, 50:14 and it divided the scripture up into verses. 50:17 Not only did they divide it into verses 50:20 but they had tremendous amount of notes and helps in it. 50:27 It also became known as a study Bible. 50:30 This Bible was extremely popular. 50:35 I mean, for 200... 300 years, it was the Bible 50:40 that was used. In fact, it is the first Bible 50:45 that came to the United States. 50:47 That's what the Puritans used was the Geneva Bible. 50:52 Great, great translation. 50:55 OK? 1560 AD. 50:59 Well, what happened 51:03 is the footnotes in this Bible 51:06 just gave a lot of things 51:09 that were condemning of the Catholic church. 51:12 And some of the higher monarchs and so forth didn't like that. 51:18 And they talked King James I 51:21 into doing a different version 51:24 to take out all those notes... which they did. 51:29 And this became known as the King James Version. 51:35 1611 AD. 51:36 And a lot of people don't know that, but this version - 51:40 King James Version - was really done 51:43 to get rid of the Geneva Bible. 51:45 That was the purpose of it. 51:47 And it... about 50 scholars worked on it. 51:50 And folks, basically, it's a very good translation. 51:55 Let me put it that way. 51:57 But it is not completely 52:01 as good a translation 52:03 as the Geneva Bible. 52:05 Without question, the Geneva Bible is probably the best 52:09 translation out there. 52:11 But... it's in Old English 52:14 and it's not very readable. 52:16 And I wish it was 52:19 because I have one. I read it; I use it. 52:23 But it's just not in modern-day English 52:26 and in what we speak; it's in Old English. 52:30 Apocryphal books. 52:33 The Apocryphal books were in all 52:39 translations until 1880 AD. 52:44 The King James Version had the Apocryphal books in it. 52:49 The Geneva Bible had it. 52:52 They all had the Apocrypha in it up until 1880 AD. 52:57 So this is the streams that came down through there. 53:02 And as far as I am concerned, 53:05 I think we're much much better 53:09 with the Received Text and the background that's there 53:13 for the Word of God. 53:15 And so use different translations, folks. 53:18 Don't just get stuck on one. 53:21 Look at them. They're, like I said, 53:24 there's things that need to be done in many of them. 53:27 But if you want to go back and get the Geneva Bible 53:30 and look at it, you'll find it's probably the best one. 53:34 The thing that we need to do is spend time with it. 53:37 As it says: 53:45 We want the Bible. Give me the Bible! 53:52 Give me the Bible, 53:56 all my steps enlighten. 54:01 Teach me the danger 54:05 of these realms below. 54:10 That lamp of safety 54:14 o'er the gloom shall brighten. 54:18 That light alone 54:22 the path of peace can show. 54:28 Give me the Bible, 54:33 holy message shining. 54:37 Thy light shall guide me 54:42 in the narrow way. 54:47 Precept and promise, 54:52 law and love combining. 54:57 Till night shall vanish 55:02 in eternal day. 55:12 Let us pray. 55:13 Heavenly Father, we thank you for Your Word. 55:17 May we prize it; may we love it. 55:23 Lord, may we take the time 55:26 to hide it into our hearts. 55:29 That we might day by day walk with You and follow You 55:33 in all that we do. Bless each one here tonight. 55:36 We pray in Christ's name, Amen. 55:40 Remember out next presentation will be 55:44 How Can I Know My Bible Is True? 55:47 How can I rest assured what it says is true? 55:51 Think that will help all of us as we study God's Word together. 55:55 Thank you for being here 55:56 and those of you watching by television. 55:58 Good night. God bless all of you. 56:02 Water can be both inspiring and awesome. 56:07 As it flows from the hills and the mountains 56:09 water changes the destiny of every living creature 56:14 it comes in contact with. 56:16 Not a single living thing 56:18 can survive without water for long. 56:21 But despite its beauty 56:22 the power of water can cut channels through rocks 56:26 and change the landscape forever. 56:29 In John chapter 7 56:31 Jesus stood and cried out saying: 56:34 "If anyone thirst, let him come to Me and drink. 56:37 He who believes in Me, as the scripture has said, 56:41 out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. " 56:45 As He did so many times, 56:47 Jesus explained the spiritual things of God 56:51 through nature... like flowing water. 56:54 This living water is a life-changing source. 56:58 It can change the landscape of our lives 57:00 and flow through us to change the lives of others. 57:05 Folks, we all need water to live... 57:10 but we also need living water. 57:13 Jesus is that living water, 57:16 and through His Spirit we can bring life to those around us. 57:20 The only goal we have at this ministry 57:23 is to offer living water to all mankind. 57:27 There are thousands - no millions - 57:31 who still long for this water: the living water of life. 57:35 Won't you help us quench their thirst? 57:38 Please consider what you can do 57:40 for those who still don't know about Jesus. 57:43 As the Holy Spirit impresses, 57:44 please send your tax-deductible gifts to: 57:58 Thank you for helping us spread the light of God's Word 58:01 through television and radio. 58:03 Your gifts help bring the blessed hope of salvation 58:05 to millions around the world. |
Revised 2014-12-17