How We Got Our Bible

Technically, the Canon of Scripture is a collection of many books. The canon was known and immediately recognized as scripture as it developed in each generation. The Word of God is more real than seeing an hearing because "Men of God" were moved by the Holy Spirit to write the scriptures. God used the men that wrote the scriptures without changing any part of the their language, personality or vernacular. All scripture is inspired by God, is the Mind of Christ, is Divine Viewpoint. There is an inhale and an exhale associated with the writing of scripture. The inspiration is the inhale and the written word is the exhale. Scripture is not of human origin; however, God uses human agencies in the creation of scripture.

Ancient Manuscripts -- Codex Sinaiticus

The Codex Sinaiticus was found by Constantin von Tischendorf on his third visit to the Monastery of Saint Catherine, on Mount Sinai in Egypt, in 1859. The first two trips had yielded parts of the Old Testament, some found in a basket of manuscript pieces, which Tischendorf was told by a librarian "were rubbish which was to be destroyed by burning it in the ovens of the monastery".[2] Tischendorf had been sent to search for manuscripts by Russia's Tsar Alexander II, who was convinced there were still manuscripts to be found at the Sinai monastery. In May 1875, during restoration work, the monks of St. Catherine's monastery discovered a room beneath the St. George Chapel which contained many parchment fragments. Among these fragments were twelve missing leaves from the Sinaiticus Old Testament.

St. Catherine's Monastery of Sinai

St. Catherine's Monastery is a monastery on the Sinai peninsula, at the foot of Mount Sinai, in Egypt. It was built at the site where Moses is believed to have seen the Burning Bush, which is alive and on the grounds. Though it is commonly known as Saint Catherine's, the actual name of the monastery is the Monastery of the Transfiguration. It is sometimes also known as the Monastery of the Burning Bush. It is one of the oldest Christian monasteries in the world. St. Catherine's Monastery is a monastery on the Sinai peninsula, at the foot of Mount Sinai, in Egypt. It was built at the site where Moses is believed to have seen the Burning Bush, which is alive and on the grounds. Though it is commonly known as Saint Catherine's, the actual name of the monastery is the Monastery of the Transfiguration. It is sometimes also known as the Monastery of the Burning Bush. It is one of the oldest Christian monasteries in the world.

English Translations Before The Kings James Version

John Wycliffe 1380's

The first hand-written English language Bible manuscripts were produced in the 1380's AD by John Wycliffe, an Oxford professor, scholar, and theologian. Wycliffe, (also spelled “Wycliff” & “Wyclif”), was well-known throughout Europe for his opposition to the teaching of the organized Church, which he believed to be contrary to the Bible. With the help of his followers, called the Lollards, and his assistant Purvey, and many other faithful scribes, Wycliffe produced dozens of English language manuscript copies of the scriptures. They were translated out of the Latin Vulgate, which was the only source text available to Wycliffe. The Pope was so infuriated by his teachings and his translation of the Bible into English, that 44 years after Wycliffe had died, he ordered the bones to be dug-up, crushed, and scattered in the river!

William Tyndale (1494-1536)

William Tyndale was the Captain of the Army of Reformers, and was their spiritual leader. Tyndale holds the distinction of being the first man to ever print the New Testament in the English language. Tyndale was a true scholar and a genius, so fluent in eight languages that it was said one would think any one of them to be his native tongue. He is frequently referred to as the “Architect of the English Language”, (even more so than William Shakespeare) as so many of the phrases Tyndale coined are still in our language today.

Tyndale himself was burned at the stake in 1536, at the instigation of agents of Henry VIII and the Anglican Church.

Martin Luther (1483 -1546)

Martin Luther had a small head-start on Tyndale, as Luther declared his intolerance for the Roman Church’s corruption on Halloween in 1517, by nailing his 95 Theses of Contention to the Wittenberg Church door. Luther, who would be exiled in the months following the Diet of Worms Council in 1521 that was designed to martyr him, would translate the New Testament into German for the first time from the 1516 Greek-Latin New Testament of Erasmus, and publish it in September of 1522. Luther also published a German Pentateuch in 1523, and another edition of the German New Testament in 1529. In the 1530’s he would go on to publish the entire Bible in German.

Luther's work contains a number of statements that modern readers would consider rather crude. For example, Luther was know to advise people that they should literally “Tell the Devil he may kiss my ass.” Martin Luther escaped martyrdom, and died of natural causes.

King James Version

King James was vitally interested in the scriptures and Bible Doctrine. On July 22, 1604 The King appointed 44 men to make the translation into English. There were both Hebrew and Greek experts in the team that would do the King James Translation of the Bible. There were three groups that were involved in the translation.

1) Westminster Group
2) Oxford Group
3) Cambridge

These different groups ended up translating some words differently. The word for spirit (pnuema was translated as ghost or spirit. The sources of the translation were the following manuscripts.

1) Masoretic Text - The Masoretic text was the manuscript that was used for the Old Testament Translation of the King James Version of the Bible.
2) Textus Receptus - Textus Receptus means, "the Text received by all", and was the source of translation of the New Testament for the King James Bible.

The work for the King James Version was completed in 1611 and it took about three years to finish. Since the completion of the King James Version over 5,000 more ancient manuscripts and more accurate manuscripts have been found.