HOW DID WE GET IT? SOME SIMPLE FACTS
‘BIBLE’ means ‘book / writings’
- it was written by around 40 authors, over a period of approximately 1500-1600 years.
- it contains the revealed mind and will of God – it is complete and perfect.
- there have been 3 stages involved in bringing it to us:
- revelation
- inspiration
- translation
- all Scripture is the work of the Holy Spirit
- John chapter 14 verse 26 – ‘But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I have said to you’. (THE GOSPELS)
- JOHN chapter 16 verses 13-14 – ‘However, when He, the Spirit of truth, hath come, He will guide you into all truth’. (THE EPISTLES)
- JOHN chapter 16 verse 13 – ‘He will tell you things to come’ (REVELATION)
- All writers in Scripture consistently affirm that GOD IS THE SOURCE of their writings.
IMPORTANT MILESTONES
- 406AD – Jerome produced a Latin version of the Scriptures known as the VULGATE.
- 900AD – Alfred the Great translated Psalms and Acts.
- 1380AD – John Wycliffe translated the first complete Bible in English.
- 1476AD – Caxton introduces printing in England.
- 1516AD – Erasmus produced the New Testament from ancient manuscripts.
- 1525AD – William Tyndale produced the revised edition of Erasmus’ translation.
- 1535AD – Miles Coverdale produced the first complete printed Bible in English.
- 1538AD – Henry V111 ordered that English Bibles should be made available in every parish church.
- A law passed to give copyright to the Crown. No author’s royalties to be paid & no exploitation for the Bible for purely commercial gain.
- 1560AD – the Geneva Bible produced.
- 1661AD – The Kings James Authorised version printed.
- 1881AD – American and English Revision using previously unavailable manuscripts.