Latin never became the language of the ordinary people of the Roman Empire. And when
the empire collapsed, fewer and fewer people, even among the well educated, spoke Latin.
Most people spoke some form of tribal or regional language. In parts of the British Isles,
that regional language was an early form of English. In the mid-seventh century a stable
hand named Caedmon, with a gift for song, composed a musical paraphrase of Genesis, Exodus
and part of Daniel. He also wrote paraphrase songs of the stories of the resurrection,
ascension, second coming of Christ, heaven and hell.
Two bishops of the late seventh century gave us our first true translations of parts of
the Scripture in the Anglo-Saxon language. Aldhelm, bishop of Sherborne, translated the
Psalms, and Egbert, bishop of Lindisfarne, translated the four Gospels. In 735 A.D. Bede,
the venerable monk and historian, translated the Gospel of John. Late in the ninth century
King Alfred translated the Ten Commandments and the other Old Testament laws, which he
placed at the head of all laws for England. He also translated the Psalms and was working
on a translation of the Gospels at his death. Alfred’s desire was "that all the freeborn
youth of the kingdom should employ themselves on nothing till they could first read well
the English Scripture."
In the middle of the tenth century a priest named Aldred made an interlinear Anglo-Saxon
/ Latin paraphrase of the Gospels, writing the Anglo-Saxon words between the lines of an
existing Latin edition. Around 1000 A.D. Aelfric, archbishop of Canterbury, translated the
Gospels, the first seven books of the Old Testament, Esther, Job, and a part of Kings.
When William of Normandy defeated Harold of Essex in the Battle of Hastings in 1066,
the Anglo-Saxon era ended. The Normans imported French scholars and churchmen. Soon there
were three languages in Britain: Norman-French, the language of the ruling class; Latin,
the language of the church; and English, actually Old English or Anglo-Saxon, the language
of the people. Though they could not banish the language from hearth and home, the ruling
Normans prohibited use of English in government, books, school and writing. Two hundred
years passed, and during this time the Anglo-Saxon, or Old English, evolved into Middle
English.
In 1215 a monk named Orm made a paraphrase of parts of the Gospels and Acts in the
developing language of Middle English. A century later William of Shoreham, a talented and
scholarly priest from Kent, made a Middle English translation of the Psalms. Twenty years
later, about 1340, a hermit poet named Richard Rolle revised the translation and added a
verse-by-verse commentary. The Shoreham-Rolle translations enjoyed wide circulation and
set the stage for a new wave of English Bible translation.
Half a dozen years after Rolle’s Psalms appeared, in 1346, a promising youth of sixteen
was admitted to studies in one of the colleges of the famous university of Oxford. His
name was John Wycliffe. The young Yorkshireman eventually earned his doctoral degree and
was ordained a priest. By the middle of the fourteenth century Oxford had eclipsed Paris
as the center of European scholarship, and Oxford’s foremost scholar was the pious and
controversial John Wycliffe.
In the years between 1372 and 1384 Wycliffe was in almost continual conflict with the
church hierarchy both in England and Rome, coming under attack from Pope Gregory IX and
William Courtenay, Bishop of London. Wycliffe was a prolific writer. His writings singed
the church hierarchy, arguing that the Bible was the only authoritative guide for faith
and practice. He attacked the papacy and the wealth of the clergy. He denied transubstantiation.
He filled the countryside with itinerant preachers who taught the people to look to the
Scriptures – not man – for forgiveness of sins and spiritual guidance.
Wycliffe’s teachings cost him his position at Oxford. He retired to Lutterworth as the
rector of the parish church. There he continued his writing and supervised the work for
which he is best known. In the waning years of his life he and his students translated
the Scripture into English, completing the New Testament in 1380 and the Old Testament in
1382. Even before the invention of the printing press, it was widely circulated and
received with joy.
But the leaders of the church were not very joyful. They were angry and afraid. If
ordinary people could read the Bible for themselves, they would depend less and less on
the church and the clergy. Wycliffe’s work looked like an attack on the power and influence
of the church.
Wycliffe suffered a stroke in church and died three days later, December 31, 1384. But,
even after his death, his work lived on. His writings were banned, his students were
banished from Oxford and his books, including the translation of the Scripture, were burned.
But his translation of Scriptures continued to enjoy wide circulation. In response, the
crown enacted laws making owning religious books or copies of the Scripture in English a
criminal offense. Yet small pockets of his followers continued meeting and reading copies
of his sermons. These groups kept Wycliffe’s ideas alive for the next one hundred fifty
years. Eventually the church leadership ordered his body exhumed and burned and his ashes
scattered in a nearby creek.
Since the time of John Wycliffe, Bible translation has grown, at least in part, out of
theological motivations. Wycliffe, the Morning Star of the Reformation, opposed the excesses
of the Pope and Roman Catholic Church. His translation of the New Testament grew directly
out of these disputes. He wanted the common people to know the Bible, knowledge the church
was unwilling to provide. A similar sentiment moved another English scholar and priest
named William Tyndale. One hundred fifty years after Wycliffe’s death, Tyndale took up
where Wycliffe had left off. Tyndale’s writings, especially his sermons, were strikingly
similar to Wycliffe’s, indicating that he probably knew Wycliffe’s work well.
Tyndale knew the Scriptures. He knew the doctrines taught publicly by priests of the
church could not be supported from Scripture. Sadly, serving in a church plagued by
centuries of decline, many of those priests were teaching false doctrine because they,
themselves, knew little or nothing about the Bible and its teachings. Tyndale decided he
would, by God’s grace, ensure that the simplest English plowboy would know more about the
Holy Scriptures than the ignorant priests of the Roman church. At first, Tyndale sought
official sponsorship from the bishop of London to translate the Bible into English. He was
rebuffed.
But Tyndale would not be denied. He took his work to the European continent. From there
he smuggled his new English translation of the Bible, as well as his Old Testament
commentaries and New Testament expositions, back into England. Like Wycliffe, Tyndale was
opposed by church hierarchy and King Henry VIII, who was furious.
Henry VIII appointed Thomas More to refute the teachings of Tyndale and to oppose his
English translation. More called Tyndale a "devilish drunken soul." He was angered by
Tyndale’s translation of some ecclesiastical and doctrinal terms. Instead of "church",
Tyndale used "congregation". He chose "senior" over "priest" and "repentance" over
"penance". And Tyndale included harsh marginal notes which, while often accurate, did
nothing to win him or his translation favor with the king and church. For example, Exodus
36:5-7 records the collection for building the tabernacle. When enough had been collected,
the people were told to stop giving. In the margin Tyndale added, "When will the Pope
say ‘Hoo!’ and forbid an offering for the building of St. Peter’s church? …Never until they
have it all."
The king dispatched spies who tracked the young translator all over Europe, even
offering a reward for his capture. But Tyndale’s work continued undaunted for nearly a
decade. Fleeing from one hiding place to another, Tyndale continued his work, smuggling
the printed sheets back to England. His New Testament, the first ever mechanically printed
in English, was published in 1526. Portions of the Old Testament were released over the
following years – until Tyndale was captured and imprisoned. In 1536 he was tried and
executed.
Tyndale was dead, but Henry could not escape the dead man’s influence. Tyndale’s
translation opened a floodgate. By 1536 no fewer than fifty thousand copies of Tyndale’s
New Testament were in circulation. The people had discovered the Bible in their own language,
and they were not about to be denied access to its message. The king was between a rock
and a hard place. He opposed the Protestant influence of Tyndale, but he did not want to
seem opposed to the Bible – especially when it was gaining such popularity. He was under
growing pressure from Hugh Latimer, his chaplain; Thomas Cranmer, his archbishop; Thomas
Cromwell, the vicar-general of the church and even Queen Anne. So Henry compromised.
Though King Henry hated the Pope and the Roman church for personal and political reasons,
he remained doctrinally Roman Catholic. As might be expected, many of Henry’s bishops
shared the king’s religious ideas. His Archbishop, on the other hand, had become a
thoroughgoing Protestant. Archbishop Cranmer won a license from the king to publish and
circulate the Bible among the people. But the bishops did not share Cranmer’s enthusiasm
for an English Bible. When they dragged their feet, the Protestant Archbishop threw his
support to the work of Myles Coverdale.
Coverdale was not nearly the scholar that Tyndale was, but he shared Tyndale’s theology.
He wanted the English people to have the Bible in their own language. He translated those
parts of the Old Testament not already completed by Tyndale, leaning heavily on Luther’s
German translation. This dependence on the German led to some unusual and unsatisfactory
constructions in English. The Coverdale Bible appeared in 1535. Two of its innovations
are familiar to most Bible readers. Coverdale introduced the translation "Forgive us our
debts," in the Lord’s Prayer. He also segregated the Old Testament Apocrypha from the
canonical books, a move which reflected his Protestant thinking.
The second English Bible to receive royal license was the Matthew’s Bible,
translated by John Rodgers and published in 1539. Rodgers, a colleague of Tyndale, worked
under the pseudonym Thomas Matthew to avoid the persecution that had claimed Tyndale’s
life before his work was finished. Like the Cloverdale Bible, the Matthew’s
Bible was published on the European continent and exported to England.
Thus, by 1539, the English people had two versions of the Scriptures, both licensed by
King Henry VIII but neither one authorized for public reading in churches. To meet this
need Thomas Cromwell, the vicar-general of the English church, asked Myles Coverdale to
make a revision incorporating the best of the two popular versions. The result was the
Great Bible, which won its name because its pages measured 11 by 16-1/2 inches.
The clergy were instructed to place a copy of this Bible in a convenient location in every
church. A second edition, published in 1540, carried Archbishop Cranmer’s instructions
that "This is the Byble apoynted to the use of the churches."
Apparently the people of the realm took the Archbishop’s instructions to heart. Many
came to church when no services were in session just to read the Bible. Others found the
reading of the Scriptures in their own language more interesting and appealing than listening
to the preacher. The king had to issue a decree banning the reading of the English Bible
aloud during church services. Even then, the bishops continued to complain that the people
were reading the Bible instead of listening to the sermon.
During the latter years of his reign, Henry became increasingly reactionary. As
Protestant doctrine grew in influence, the king moved to suppress the influence of Tyndale
and Coverdale. All but the Great Bible were outlawed – even though that edition was,
essentially, the work of Tyndale and Coverdale. Bible burning came back into vogue.
Preaching and the public reading of Scripture were strictly licensed and restricted.
However, with the death of Henry in 1547 and the accession of the boy-king Edward VI,
nearly all such restrictions were lifted. Protestant influence set the religious tone of
the nation for the next six years, and Bible publishing and reading flourished.
All that ended when Mary, the Roman Catholic daughter of King Henry and Catherine of
Aragon, became queen in 1553. A reign of terror swept away some of the most noble
Protestants. John Rodgers was the first to be burned at the stake. He was followed by
Archbishop Cranmer and Bishops Latimer and Ridley. Others, including Coverdale, escaped to
the European continent, where they sought refuge among friendly Protestants. One such
exile was Oxford Scholar William Whittingham, who settled in Geneva. Along with other
scholars, Whittingham set out to revise the entire Bible. His work was published in 1560
and became known as the Geneva Bible. The cost of the translation was borne by the
English colony in Geneva, and the translation itself was dedicated to the new queen,
Elizabeth I.
The Geneva Bible was an immediate success in England. It contained a number of
marginal notes which, while not so harsh as Tyndale’s, were clearly anti-Roman Catholic.
And the English people, still chafing from Mary’s harsh rule, welcomed that sentiment.
The Geneva Bible offered other attractive features. For the first time, the English
Bible was divided into verses, a helpful innovation introduced by Robert Stephanus in his
Greek New Testament in 1551. The text was set in Roman type, which was much easier to read
than the old-fashioned gothic type. English words, which did not appear in the Greek of
Hebrew text, were printed in italics.
The Geneva Bible was never appointed for reading in churches in England, but it
was adopted in Scotland. The Geneva Bible was the Bible of Shakespeare, the Puritans
and the Pilgrims.
So, once again, the English people had two versions of the Scriptures, the Great
Bible and the Geneva Bible. The Great Bible was authorized by the English
church, but the Geneva Bible was embraced by the English people. The Geneva
Bible was clearly the better translation. However, it contained an abundance of
Calvinistic marginal notes that were too hard for many of the English clergy to swallow.
In 1563 Archbishop Matthew Parker initiated a revision to replace the Great Bible.
The resulting edition, which was published in 1568, expunged the controversial notes of
the Geneva Bible and improved on the weak points of the Great Bible. It was
known as the Bishop’s Bible because it had the support of the English church
hierarchy. It won official approval of the church and replaced the Great Bible as
the edition appointed for reading in churches, but it never succeeded in unseating the
Geneva Bible as the popular choice. Throughout the reign of Elizabeth the two
versions existed side by side in the religious culture of England. They were separated,
not so much by the quality of the translation as by the theological leanings of the
translators.
When Elizabeth died in 1603, she was succeeded by her cousin King James VI, who had
already been king of Scotland for thirty-six years. He took the title James I of Great
Britain, France and Ireland. On his way from Scotland to England, the new king was presented
with a petition explaining the grievances of the Puritans within the English church. He
responded by calling for a conference in Hampton Court to review the complaints. The
conference failed to settle any major issues. However, during the course of the
conference Dr. John Reynolds, an Oxford scholar and a leader of the Puritan party, raised
the subject of the deficiencies of both the Geneva and Bishop’s Bibles.
Richard Bancroft, Bishop of London, supported Reynolds. The conference passed the non-binding
resolution:
That a translation be made of the whole Bible, as consonant as can be
to the original Hebrew and Greek; and this to be set out and printed, without any marginal
notes, and only to be used in all churches of England in time of divine service.
Though the resolution lacked the force of law or royal decree, the king saw the project
as a chance to unite the squabbling factions. King James, himself, was just as disturbed as
his bishops over the way some terms were translated in the Geneva Bible. He believed
the inflammatory marginal notes undercut the divine right of kings and the authority of
the Church of England. He wanted a version of the Bible that would be acceptable to all
English Protestants, and he believed Reynold’s suggestion provided the opportunity.
Thus was the stage set for the production of the best known English translation of the
Bible. The theology of Wycliffe, Tyndale and the reformers had thrust the Bible into the
public consciousness. Through no fewer than five revisions, the Scriptures had been a
battleground for men of differing theological persuasions. King James sought to end the
tug of war with a Bible that would satisfy both the Puritans and the English churchmen.
He could not have known that his support would result in a Bible that would serve all
English - speaking people for centuries to come.
Kenneth Barker's personal note:
The story of how I became interested in translating the Bible goes all the way back to a
Youth for Christ rally on October 2, 1948, in the auditorium of the Hazard, Kentucky, high
school. There I made a decision that changed the course of my life forever. At age 17 I
received the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Savior and committed my life fully to Him.
That decision started me on a path that would eventually lead to my being one of the
translators of the NIV.
After completing my education and teaching a few years at other schools, I became a
professor of Old Testament at Dallas Theological Seminary in 1968. I remained there until
1981. In 1971 I received a phone call from Dr. Edwin Palmer. He told me about a project
under way to translate the Bible accurately from the original languages (Hebrew, Aramaic,
and Greek) into clear, contemporary English.
Palmer invited me to join the other scholars chosen from around world to participate
in this historic event. I listened courteously and patiently to his explanation, thanked
him for inviting me - and turned him down. I told him I was extremely busy with teaching,
speaking engagements, and writing and editing commitments.
But Palmer persisted, and called me again almost one year later. He explained that a
translation committee working on the book of Hosea was to meet for two weeks in St. Louis,
and he asked me to help them. If I was not satisfied with the work, he promised never to
bother me again about the NIV. But if I wanted to continue with them, they would be glad
to have me. I agreed, and in those two weeks I was totally sold on the project. After that,
I devoted all the time, labor, and money I could spare to the NIV.
God has blessed our efforts beyond all expectations. For one thing, there are now over
150 million NIV Bibles and New Testaments in print, and thus in worldwide circulation and
use. In the near future, 200 million copies will be in use around the world. I know of no
other English translation of God’s Word that has ever surpassed that record in the same
period of time since its release. It is an exciting thought that long after I am dead and
gone, the NIV will still be here to bring the spiritual blessings of salvation and
Christian living to hundreds of millions of people.
It is a great joy to hear that people everywhere have been "born again" (John 3:3, 7)
through reading the NIV. This, of course, is one of the reasons God’s Word was given in
the first place (John 20:31). Others have understood the Bible for the first time as the
result of using the NIV. I received an encouraging letter from a new Christian in England.
He told me that so much of the old English in the King James Version went over his head
that he lost interest. Then his wife gave him the NIV, and he couldn’t put it down. He
read it for hours at a time. This is what makes all our efforts really worthwhile.
One of my many favorite passages in the NIV is 1 Corinthians 13:4-8: "Love is patient,
love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is
not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not
delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always
hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."
Dr. Kenneth Barker is an author and speaker living in
Lewisville, Texas. Until his retirement from International Bible Society in 1996, he was
Executive Director of their NIV Translation Center. He is one of the original translators
of the New International Version of the Bible and a regular spokesperson for its Committee
on Bible Translation - the governing body that produced the NIV.
Ken Barker has given talks about the translation process of the NIV all over the U.S.
and abroad, and much of his time is spent writing, editing, preaching, and teaching. He
also worked on the New International Reader’s Version (a simplification of the NIV for
those who read at a lower reading level), three books about the NIV, and the tenth -
anniversary edition of the NIV Study Bible as its General Editor.
Dr. Barker and his wife, Isabelle, have four children - Ken, Patricia, Ruth, and David
- and 14 grandchildren. When at home, the Barkers worship and serve at First Baptist
Church of Carrolton, Texas. In his spare time Ken enjoys music, reading, table tennis
(ping-pong), swimming, and walking.
He holds the B.A. degree from Northwestern College, the Th.M. from Dallas Theological
Seminary and the Ph.D. from the Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning. In the
past, he has served as Academic Dean of Capital Bible Seminary, Professor of Old Testament
at three theological seminaries, and Visiting Professor at two others. He is also author
of commentaries on the books of Micah and Zechariah.
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