Tag: Bible

Chapter 2: Loss of Authority and Revelation

Part 1: Apostles to Apostates

Peter, James and John were called as the first presidency of Christ’s church in the meridian of time. Evidence of them receiving the keys for such is recorded in Matt 16: 19. Following this event, we have several accounts of these same brethren accompanying Christ on His various special moments and miraculous events (Mark 5: 37-42, Matt 26: 37–39, John 20: 1-10). How did it happen that within a few short centuries the Church of Jesus Christ, laid with a foundation of Apostles, 70’s , Bishops, Elders, Teachers and Priests, had all but disappeared? While persecution from without was a ever deadly and constant danger, it was not the determining factor. The real threat was discord and contention and came from within.

As the center core of priesthood leaders began their solemn mandate to bring Christ’s message to the world, they immediately drew the attention of the political authorities, both Jewish and Roman. 

The Romans generally were tolerant of diverse religions, but Palestinian Jews were in constant rebellion. Nero is rumored to have been responsible for the burning of Rome. He found it was convenient for his own future to blame the Christians. This started a new round of serious Christian persecution. The brutal attacks on these newly converted Jews brought imprisonment and execution of some of their leaders. James, brother of John, (both sons of Zebedee), was slain by the sword of Herod. Peter was imprisoned and later disappeared under the decree of Nero. He is believed to have been crucified in Rome, nailed to the cross, upside down. The first James was replaced by James the Brother of Jesus. It is his book (Epistle of James) we have in the New Testament. This James was brought up on the walls of the City by the Jews and commanded to deny Christ in front of the congregation. Instead he bore his testimony of Christ’s Messiahship. He was cast down off the walls and stoned to death. John the Beloved (the same John also known as the son of Zebedee) was promised to remain on Earth until the second coming of Christ, but we lose track of him for almost half a century. In his later years, John was banished to the Isle of Patmos where he received a vision which now forms the basis of the Book of Revelation. Meanwhile he wrote three other letters that we are aware of (1st, 2nd and 3rd John), then disappeared after 98 A.D. By that time, tradition records the deaths of the other Apostles as follows:

Judas Iscariot, Suicide 33. A D 
Jude (Judas, brother of James), Martyred in Egypt
Simon the Zealot, Killed by sword in Persia
Thomas, Speared in India
Matthew, Martyred in Ethiopia
Bartholomew, Flayed and beheaded in Arabia for refusing to honour Pagan God
Phillip, Died in Phrygia by a Roman Proconsul
Andrew, Crucified in Greece
Paul, Beheaded by Nero in Rome

With no Prophets or Apostles to guide them,the Church lost its Priesthood channel to Christ, the source of revelation. The most senior Priesthood authority was that of a Bishop. But which one should lead and by what authority? There had been many called and set apart through-out the Middle East. However, it was not in the mandate of any Bishop to receive revelation and speak for the entire Church.

When Paul (formerly Saul) was converted and commenced his major missionary efforts,they extended far beyond the boundaries of Jerusalem, Syria or Palestine. His success resulted in a sudden wave of untrained members, most without any in-depth knowledge of their newly found religion. Many spoke foreign languages. Even more still clung to old beliefs and practices. As fast as they established branches and appointed local Bishops, the Jewish, the Gnostics, the Pagans and the Romans pressured the new converts to abandon their faith. Paul spent most of his time and energies correcting and decrying the false doctrines of the rebellious and floundering factions within the Church. Paul’s warnings were numerous, but in general they were ineffective as the swarms of opponents overwhelm the capabilities and resources of the new members. Paul specifically warns of the impending disintegration:

Acts 20:28 -29
“Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own Blood. For I know this that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them.”

Paul’s words to Timothy were accurate and ominous:
2 Timothy 4: 3
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine: but after their own lusts shall they heap themselves teachers having itching ears.”

After the death of Paul, his influence all but ceased and the hearts of the disbelievers and total membership began to shrivel. The Old Testament Prophet, Amos had cautioned this would happen.

Amos 8: 11-12
“Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread nor of the thirst for water, but of hearing the word of God. And they shall wander from sea to sea and from the North even to the East they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord and shall not find it”. 

Among the Bishops who wrote letters of concern were, Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, and Polycarp of Smyrna. These men however recognized they did not have the authority to receive revelation regarding the affairs of the overall Church as did the Apostles or Paul. They recorded their concerns regarding the apostate affairs of the various branches but could not do anything more to change them. 

It was a period of extreme confusion of which we have the least amount of documentation in all of church history. Charismatic and popular members in some branches were appointed as Bishops, while other already appointed were dismissed. Where no authority existed, members contested for Priesthood positions. This led to competitions within branches for authority over other branches whose geographical boundaries and membership was smaller. Writings from other concerned Bishops indicate the level of chaos that existed from the early second to the early fourth centuries A.D. 

Author, Location, Date, Concerns 

Herman: Rome 150 AD
– Stresses righteousness in the face of apostasy.
– Emphasizes baptism for living and dead.

Justin Martyr: Rome 150 AD
– Presents Christ as second to God. It was He(Christ) who revealed early Christian doctrines and worship.

Irenaeus: Lyons 200 AD
– Against heresies.
– Opposes Gnostic views and the Rationalization of the teachings of Christ.

Clement: Alexandria 190- 215 AD
– Opposes paganism but is personally influenced Greek philosophers.

Tertullian: Carthage 195-220 AD
– Left Church to support a growing movement away from floundering Saints to the primitive purity thought only to exist in the breakaway sects in the Dessert

Origen: Alexandria 203-253 AD
– Most influential theologian of his day.
– Author of first systematic attempt in Christian theology.
– Heavily influenced by Greek philosophers

Cyprian: Carthage 249 AD
– Wrote 65 letters regarding doctrinal and administrative concerns.
– Insisted on his Bishopric being independent of Rome.
– Held strict views regarding lapsing Christians.

Eusebius: Caesarea 325 AD
– Attempted to show apostolic continuity, thereby  preserving valuable quotations from early writings from the Pre-Nicene Christian beliefs.

As the Church spiraled downward, none of them could have imagined that they and their entire squabbling, disorganized, Church would be saved by a brutal, savage Warlord. He had already had his wife and son executed .His bloodied hands held the only power strong enough to force the contentious Church leaders together. He was to become the longest ruling Emperor of Rome. His titles would include, Augustus Constantine, Emperor Constantine, Constantine the Great and finally, Saint Constantine. All titles, he bestowed upon himself because there was no other that he, with power to do so.

The Head of the Church moves from being “Christ Directed” to “Roman Emperor Directed”

This is the defining moment in time when the Church, established by Christ Himself, lost all recognition and pretense of being “From God”. The Head of the Church, while clothed in the Bishop’s religious finery and augmented by scriptures, now was no more than a puppet, a tool under the of control of the firm hand of the most powerful, undisputed ruler of the Western Empire. 

After securing this grip and bringing a brief, rare degree of stability to the Roman Empire, Constantine focused on halting the practice of persecuting Christians and the almost impossible task of bringing peace and order among the Bishops. Until then, these two problems had been the major threats both to the Church and to the Emperor.

Through the Edict of Milan, Constantine dealt with the first threat from the outside. Under the leadership of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, the fiercest persecution ever launched against the Christians was resulting in the deaths of thousands. Constantine ordered that Christianity be legalized, their scriptures deemed sacrosanct and that their property returned. In 305 A.D. Constantine was victorious. Christianity was proclaimed as the State Religion.

The second threat was much more difficult. Not only was there major geographic, political and language differences between the Bishops, but the misunderstandings and the quarreling had now threatened to split the West and Eastern Empires. Their reasoning and differences, which had formerly been somewhat modified by the influence of the Holy Ghost, had produced a degree of moderation and cooperation. But with the power of the Holy Ghost long departed, everything of a spiritual nature was now resolved by theologians or philosophers over whom the Emperor exercised total and complete control. In contrast to the former Bishops and other spiritually minded Church leaders who still possessed a degree of conviction of the Gospel truths. Now in control of the Church were educators, philosophers, who required only that they were adequately and formally educated in he traditional schools of Rhetorical principles, available in Troy and Alexandria

Constantine’s main concern was to quell the religious dissent and turmoil that threatened the unity of his Empire. He already had total control of his subjects while they were alive. What more could he ask for than to gain complete power over men’s lives even after they were dead? Was not the Church, with its promise to grant men their salvation, just the means whereby he could achieve such a goal? 

Constantine’s resolve to save the Church and grant himself the supreme and ultimate power that it alone held, could do just that. He did just that. Such a bold move gave him what previous Emperors could not even have dreamed of. He succeeded but the price to the Church of Jesus Christ was the total spiritual bankruptcy of Christianity. The Church was now effectively hijacked by the State through a merger of the two most powerful bodies in the Empire., the Church and the State.

In a first attempt to consolidate, Constantine convened a conference to be held in Nicaea in 325.A.D. Between 250 to 318 Bishops from all of the Christian world attended. Constantine presided over the council. His presence, while certainly intimidating, did not necessarily influence the outcome of the theological conclusions reached. But with the specific goals which he was determined to have resolved, he was resolute. 

Here are some of the goals and topics on the agenda:

1/ To establish a common uniform doctrine and creed, acceptable to everyone and which would become compulsory for all citizens.

2/ To agree upon which books would be included as cannon (accepted scriptures and writings.)

3/ No council had been held since the one in Jerusalem (which had convened to set conditions so Gentiles could join the Church). This Council was to be recognize as the precedent for all future councils.

4/ The Council would resolve disagreements regarding the understanding of the nature of God, his Son and the Holy Ghost.

5/ To establish when holy celebrations, such as Easter and Christmas, would be held. 

6/ To establish a system whereby consensus would be reached on issues, now and in the future.

7/ To find a solution to the Arian Controversy. (Arius led a group, deemed to be heretical, that believed the nature of Christ was different from that accepted by the other Bishops).

8/ To establish procedure to ordain future clergy.

9/ To agree upon a system for the construction of Church buildings.

10/ To establishing norms for public repentance and punishments.

11/ To agree upon how to admit repentant heretics.

12/ Find clarification for the role of Deacons.

Two of these agreements drastically reduced the authority previously held by the Church:

1/ The Bishop’s role became inferior to the Emperor’s and in some cases, no power existent beyond the Bishop’s own parish. 

2/ It opened the door wide for the academics, (appointed by Rome), to tinker, revise, replace or otherwise transform the basic core doctrines of the Church as they pleased

Upon the death of Constantine in 337 A.D. the civilized Christian Church of the world waited to see how all that Constantine had wrought would work out. Waiting in the wings was the perfect candidate to take advantage of this transformation. His name was Aurelius Augustine.

St. Augustine.

Augustine was born 354 A D in Tagaste, North Africa. Not for better, but for worse, he took the lead to further complicate what Constantine had started.

He is a window to everything that was wrong with the Greek society of his day. Having spent his early youth in a wild orgy of living, Augustine reasoned that man had not the power by himself to change his own behavior from sinful to righteous. His father was a pagan and his mother a Christian. She deterred him from being baptized until, as she put it, “The irregularities and excesses of youth were passed”. Augustine expressed his attitude in his own words: “Give me chastity, but give it not yet.” 

He rejected the religion of his mother (Christian) because he thought the Bible was “barbarous and incomprehensible”. He practiced the Manichean lifestyle, a Persian religion popular in his day that proposed that there were two opposing powers in the world: good and evil. Unfortunately, they were out of balance and nothing but living an ascetic lifestyle of complete self-discipline and denial would bring the two into a balanced position again. All these experiences and influences early in his life reflected themselves in Augustine’s prolific writings later. Naturally, these strong-held personal beliefs surfaced thereafter as the foundational principles of the dogma of the Roman Catholic Church. 

The victory of the philosophical conclusions of the purpose of man’s existence over the recorded scriptures of Christ and the inspired Apostolic teachings, was completed by the hand and mind of Augustine. Tutored in the sciences, rhetoric, mathematics and philosophy, the antithesis of the simple soul-teachings of Christ, he was perfectly positioned to become the greatest influence on the thinking and doctrine of the Catholic Church since Paul. 

Chapter 9: Discovery of Lost Scriptures

Part 2 From Apostates to Apostles 

1. Enoch

Enoch was the seventh of the Great Patriarchs who lived prior to the great Flood. While his name is mentioned several times in the Bible, we have all but noting regarding who he was and what he did. (See Genesis 5: 18-24, Luke 3: 37, Hebrews 11: 5 and Jude 1: 14-15) While it appeared the life and times of Enoch had been lost to the centuries, still rumors persisted that a Book of Enoch remained somewhere on earth.

The Book of Enoch

In 1773, while attempting to discover the source of the Blue and White Nile Rivers in Egypt, James Bruce of Scotland found himself in Ethiopia rummaging about in their archives, a permission he had not anticipated but had been granted by the generous hospitality of the King of Ethiopia.

It was there Bruce discovered some Abyssinian Manuscripts which also happened to include three copies of the Book of Enoch. On the pretense of borrowing them for study, he was allowed to take them from the monastery in which they had been stored for centuries.

Instead, Bruce hastily made his way to a waiting ship with Monastery guards hot on his heels. He managed to slip away and set sail for Europe. Knowing he had made the discovery of the century, he headed straight for Paris where one copy of the book was deposited in the Royal Library. Next he presented a copy to the Bodleian Library at Oxford in England. He kept the third for himself.

Instead of receiving fame and glory, Bruce earned only contempt and silence from his peers. The books were held by the Libraries in silence and all went on as if nothing had happened. It wasn’t until later that they received some of the attention they surely deserved. 

As for Bruce, the skeptical world accepted neither his claims of discovered the source of the Nile’s famous rivers or the discovery of the Book of Enoch. The world was no more interested in knowing anything about the mysteries or the contents of the Book of Enoch than they had been when they were sealed about 1700 years earlier.

The Book of Enoch: Richard Laurence Translation

In 1821, 48 years after the Bruce claims, Richard Laurence, a Bishop of Cashel, Ireland had heard about the Enoch copy at the Oxford Library. He was able to convince the authorities to allow him to read the Book. However, they were not interested to have him reveal anything about Enoch. They did allow him to read it but would not allow him to remove it from the room in which it was kept. Neither was a candle provided by which to read the old dusty manuscripts. In spite of all this opposition, Lawrence was able to laboriously copy the book by hand in the light of a drafty window. He worked years alone in the dampness. All his hard work and sacrificing finally bore fruit when his first edition proved so popular, it sold out quickly.

Translations of this version of the Book of Enoch are referred to as the Ethiopic Book of Enoch or 1 Enoch.

Enoch – as mentioned in The Book of Moses

About nine years later (between June 1830 and February 1831), Joseph Smith, living in the small rural town of Palmyra, New York, also recorded an account of the life of Enoch found in the Book of Moses, Chapter 6: 26 to Chapter 7: 69 —  a total of 111 verses. It consists of the experiences of Enoch when he was caught up in the Heavens with God. The account is very detailed and riveting.

According to this record, the Lord promised Enoch that if he would have the faith to obey, then God would protect him, and if he opened his mouth God would give him utterance. Enoch records his experiences in Moses 7: 3-69 and gives a complete description of being able to see the creations of God throughout the heavens. God further shows Enoch the souls that will reside on this earth and their future. From that humble start, Enoch goes through a transformation of character and begins to preach. He is so successful that he converts all the people of his city and it becomes a Holy City or Zion. Eventually they are translated as a group, removed to another realm where they are to prepare for the coming of Christ.

While the account in the Book of Moses is similar to the Ethiopian version, it is not identical. It is much more detailed and contains more dialogue between Enoch and God.

This fact that the Ethiopian copy and the Joseph Smith extract differ, did little to convince the enemies of Joseph Smith that he had not written the Book of Moses and The Book of Mormon himself. The ministers, preachers and clergy of his day simply assumed Joseph Smith was lying or engaged in a game of one-upmanship.

Given the difficulties Richard Laurence had obtaining access to the original Book of Enoch and the distances from Ireland to New York, coupled with the fact that the two never met or corresponded and that copies of Laurence’s book didn’t reach the vicinity of Palmyra until 1838-39, long after Joseph’s Enoch had been completed, it should be evident to anyone who bothered to check that Joseph’s claim to revelation should at least be considered.

Other Copies of the Book of Enoch

Later, more copies of the Book of Enoch surfaced. In 1857, manuscripts were discovered in St Petersburg, but the fact that there was an account of Enoch among them was not immediately noticed. This copy is considered the oldest and best account and is called “The Slavonic Enoch”. (It is also sometimes referred to as the Second Book of Enoch or 2 Enoch.) Only one translation was made of this manuscript and that was in 1896. (Click here for more information about the Ethiopic and Slavonic Books of Enoch.)

In 1927 Hugo Odeburg published a copy of the Book of Enoch, now called Third Enoch, which was originally in Hebrew.

In 1949 a Book of Enoch was discovered in the caves near the Dead Sea. It was given to Father J. T. Milik, but he kept the book hidden for twenty-seven years not allowing anyone access to it. Dated as written in the third century A.D., it includes the names of Mahijah  and Mahujah  – names recounted only in one other place, in the book produced by Joseph Smith. (See Moses 6:40 and Moses 7:2)

Why Might the Book of Enoch Have Become “Lost”?

It is understandable why Enoch’s writings were removed from canonized scripture when we consider the teachings of the early Christian Church Fathers. Having come to the false conclusion that Earth was the centre of God’s creations, they simply could not endure the constant references by Enoch to a Physical God who came and went and dwelt somewhere in the Cosmos. Every attempt to reconcile the Heavens and everything that in them were, ended up in contention amid the council members. To end this conflict his detractors determined to exclude his records from the Bible and even expunged his name altogether. From about the time of Origen and Hilary, Enoch had disappeared from all Christian and Jewish scriptures except where necessary for the continuity of genealogy and the begats. 

Along with Enoch went all references to the premortal life experience, the grand councils in Heaven, the war between Satan and God, the war in Heaven which resulted in Satan’s rejecting God’s plan for the salvation of his children. The knowledge that Christ accepted the plan and volunteered to become our saviour. That which was lost included the necessity for a saviour, the understanding of the atonement, the special mission of Christ and the Holy Ghost, the plurality of other worlds, the great plan laid down for the progress of the sons and daughters of God our Father, and reference of the life after mortal death. All gone. All made to disappear.

At this point in history the discovery has little to no effect on mainstream Christian Churches who are still struggling after 70 years, with the problem of how to approach the discrepancy of information contained in the materials recovered from the Dead Sea Caves and how to reconcile that with what is being taught as doctrine in their own Churches. Meanwhile millions of copies of the Book of Moses, which contains the story of Enoch, have been printed and distributed freely to the world since its first formal publication in 1851.

2. Noah

The only record actually claiming to be part of the “Book of Noah” is a fragment of a record written as a chapter in the Book of Enoch which contains details about Noah’s birth. A translation of this fragment reports that his father, Lamech, was afraid of Noah because of his appearance. He ran to his Father, Methuselah saying…

“I have begotten a strange son, diverse from and unlike men, resembling the sons of God in Heaven. The hair of his head and his long locks were as white as wool and his eyes beautiful. The colour of his body is whiter than snow and redder than the bloom of a rose, and his eyes like the rays of the sun and he opened his eyes and lighted up the whole house.”

Methuselah called upon his father, Enoch, “from the ends of the earth” to calm Lamech. Enoch convinced Lamech that the babe he had begotten was mortal. None the less he commanded Lamech to call the boy, “Noah, for he shall be left to you and he and his sons shall be saved from the destruction that shall come upon the earth in his days.” 

This account is not in our scriptures. The physical description of Noah does lead one to believe he was Albino or in any other way physically extraordinary (Genesis 5: 29).

3/ Abraham

The first mention of Abraham (known at first as Abram) in the Bible is found in Genesis 11: 27. The genealogy that proceeds the narrative is very accurate but also very short of details. It is obvious that something is missing. Abraham is considered to be the father of the three great religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam). But the information recorded in the Old Testament leaves many unanswered questions:

1/ How did Abraham’s brother die before his Father? (Genesis 11: 28)
2/ Where had Abraham spend the first 75 years of his life? (Genesis 12: 4)
3/ Did Abraham lie when he told the Pharaoh that Sarah was his Sister? (Genesis 12: 11-13)
4/ Why did God command Abram to “Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy Father’s house, into a Land that I shall shew thee”. (Genesis 12: 1)
5/ Why was Abram’s name changed to Abraham? (Genesis 17: 5)
6/ How did Abraham come to be favored of the Lord? (Genesis 12: 2-3)

This story, as told by the Essenes and later passed to the Gnostics, is also found in various Midrashim (ancient commentaries) of the Jewish Talmud.

Abraham was born about 50 years before the death of Noah, in the days of the world’s worst and bloodiest tyrant, Nimrod. The society over whom he ruled had become a cesspool of immorality. Paranoid that the appearance of a new start in the sky indicated foreboding disastrous news, all Nimrod’s court soothsayers informed the King that this rare phenomenon was a sign that a new king had been born that would overthrow him. Hence the narcissistic Nimrod decreed that all children under the age of 2 were to be slaughtered. Abram/Abraham’s parents, Terah and his wife, had been notified by God before the birth of their child that he was special. He, like Jesus, had a specific role to play in God’s large scheme of human affairs. It was known in the community that Terah’s wife had just given birth to a baby boy, and so he was on the King’s list of parents who were expected to deliver the child up to be executed as per the decree of Nimrod. Terah was well known in the courts of Nimrod because his craft as a builder of idols had brought him to the attention of the King. Now, in a desperate decision between serving Nimrod or saving his son, Terah conceived of a desperate plan. One of Terah’s household female servants had also recently given birth to a son. Terah substituted that child for Abram/Abraham. That child was therefore brought before Nimrod and it was brutally murdered before Terah’s very eyes. Meanwhile the real Abram/Abraham was secreted away by his mother, to be raised by Seth, one of the sons of Noah.  (See: Abraham, Abraham’s Early Life and Nimrod and Abraham.) The story goes on to record the re-appearance of Abram/Abraham some 50 years later at the home of his Father in Ur – about the time when the Bible begins its telling of Abraham’s life story.

Other account have been discovered in more modern day, including The Apocalypse of Abraham and the Book of Abraham.

These accounts seem to provide plausible answers to questions and confirm parts of Abraham’s story, such as how he received the Priesthood of God. (It was passed from Adam until the flood, and via Noah and his son Shem to Abraham.)

Recently, scholars John A. Tvedtnes, Brian M. Hauglid and John Gee have compiled information gleaned from Christian, Jewish and Muslim sources and published their comparisons in a collection of books called “Studies in the Book of Abraham”. 

The common stories they relate tell of the struggles and adventures of Abraham and his wife Sarah who emerge from the sins and carnage of their times to become the leaders of their tribes, and prophetically are appointed and anointed to become the rulers of all nations in the future because of their righteousness and obedience. It also contains the accounts of the Earth’s spiritual and physical creation, the dramatic and life-changing events in the Garden of Eden, and the necessity for the fall of Adam and Eve, all of which were lost to the world. 

4/ Moses

The Biblical record of Moses does not stand alone. His life and writings are also recorded in the Torah and the Quran. Moses was a great political leader, a military commander, scholar, writer, historian, shepherd, emancipator, prophet of Gods, revelator, miracle worker, legislator, judge, and pioneer. In the Pearl of Great Price, the Book of Moses starts with a resounding confirmation of the willingness of God to speak to man.  Moses finds himself on an exceedingly high mountain when God appears, not as a spirit of an incomprehensible nature. Instead, “…he saw God face to face, and he talked with him, and the glory of God was upon Moses; therefore Moses could endure his presence.” (Moses 1: 2)

What We Gain From This Additional Information

We learn a lot about God and his prophets from the pages of these ancient writings. Yet this additional information is not unique in teaching us about the true nature of God.

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness… So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”
Genesis 1: 26-27:

We have to wonder how the Christian churches failed so badly in their understanding of God when the very unaltered books they were referencing for the information, and that they recognized and canonized as scripture, had already spelled out in words impossible to misunderstand. We are created in God’s image. In no way does this demean or take away anything of the sacred nature and personality of God. What it does do is clarify our relationship to him and our potential as human offspring of noble, Godly parents.

We are Children of our God and have as our origin nothing short or less than we come from the courts where Gods dwell. We literally are children of our Heavenly Parents.

For as many as are led by the spirit of God, are the sons of God… Ye have not received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry” Abba, Father. The spirit itself beareth witness that we are the children of God: And if Children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ…
Romans 8: 14-17

Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence, shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of our spirits and live?
Hebrews 12: 9

The Lord instructed us to pray: Our Father, which art in Heaven…
Matthew 6: 9

Jesus saith unto her” Touch me not for I am not yet ascended to my Father. But go to my brethren, and say unto them,  I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God.”
John 20: 17

How much confusion and bloodshed could have been avoided if the early church fathers had stayed true to the teachings of Christ? Would man have been so willing to compete with such volatile indignation against his brother? Would he have so been as willingly to despise and kill knowing each person’s blood he spilled was that of his spiritual brother or his spiritual sister? All this critical knowledge removed and lost. No wonder man stumbled and became as brutish as the savage animals in the wilds. As predicted, the Children of God, not knowing their origins or destinies, became natural men and women, enemies to God. (Mosiah 3: 19-20)

Chapter 10: Revisiting the Word of God

Part 2: Apostates to Apostles

Vulgate to the King James Bible

During the subsequent 300 years following the life, death and resurrection of Christ, and after the persecutions of the Christians had ceased, many scrolls, parchments and other records were in circulation. They were written in Hebrew, Coptic, Greek and Latin. Many were authentic and verifiable, while others were of suspicious origin and even fraudulent. As the language of the people changed from Greek to Roman, a great need arose for scripture based in the language of the people.

In 382 A.D., under the direction of Pope Damascus, Jerome reluctantly accepted the daunting commission to produce a New Latin Version of the scriptures. Daunting because he recognized he would be judging ancient books by various authors scattered all over the known world and attempting to edit, correct, approve or disapprove them. Challenging because he knew he would be antagonizing almost everyone by assuming a position of ultimate authority of not only these sacred writings and their meanings, but of correctly translating them from their original languages. On the positive side, he saw his work as a means of making the scriptures available to the common people in their own tongue. Hence the name “Vulgate” which means language of the common people. Secondly, he felt a clearer and more accurate edition would enhance the preaching of the priests. And thirdly, he hoped it would give the ascetics or hermits a common reference record for their serious study of the words of God. 

Jerome went to Bethlehem for the Hebrew texts for his translation of the Old testament and to the Greek for his translation of the New Testament. Nonetheless he counselled with many experts, scholar and rabbis to gain their opinions before he began his translations. This work of Jerome served as the standard scriptures for the Catholic Church until its revision, called Sixto-Clement Project in 1592, under Pope Clement VIII.

Books included in the original Vulgate are those found in many translations of the Bible today, plus the following:
Tobias (or Tobit)
Judith
Wisdom (or Wisdom of Solomon)
Ecclesiasticus (or Sirach)
Baruch
Letter of Jeremiah
Additions to Daniel: Song of the Three Children, Story of Susanna and Bel and the Dragon
1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees
Apocrypha: Prayer of Manasseh, 1 Esdras and 2 Esdras

Apocrypha

The word Apocrypha means “doubtful authorship”. Jerome was of course faced with the huge and difficult problem of what to accept as authentic Holy Scripture and what to reject as Apocrypha, or not authentic. Even some of the texts which he accepted into his New Latin Scriptures Edition, were cut out by scholars when it was revisited 1200 years later at the Council of Trent in 1563 

Alcuin Bible

When Charlemagne came to power in the late 8th Century, he appointed Alcuin, the greatest teacher England had produced to that date, to revise the Vulgate. Over the years soppy copying and other “gross blunders” had crept into the many wide-spread copies resulting in non- uniformity. The corrections were mostly minor and Alcuin’s Bible, as it became known, was a genuine attempt to bring the texts back to the purity of the works of Jerome.

Paris Bible

Before the 13th century, Bibles were typically produced in multiple volumes. It simply could not be written in a single tome due to its size and the materials used. However, with the rise of universities and the demand for copies of the Bible, a system was developed by Stephen Langton who taught at the Paris University. It allowed the entire Bible to be produce in a carriable-size single book. This was accomplished by organizing the individual books of the Bible into chapters, while showing them in double columns on each page. The heading on the top of the pages indicated which book was being viewed. This volume became known as the Paris Pocket Bible and became the standard format for manuscripts throughout Europe. Mass-produced, this single volume version ranks as one of the most important developments in the history of the Bible. It introduced many of the format elements of the Bible that are still in use today.

Wycliffe Bible 

There was great opposition to the Bible being printed in the language of the common people. The Church had total power over the lives of the people. First by the military authority of the Emperor and secondly through threats of eternal damnation through the Ecclesiastical Authority of the Pope.

The reasoning was founded on the belief that it was the Church, through the Pope or Priest, who determined a man’s salvation. But if the people possessed the power and knowledge which comes from the truth in the Bible, and sufficient literacy to read it for themselves, they could look to salvation through Christ and bypass the clergy altogether.

The motivation of the translators was not a struggle for power. Rather they wished that every man could have the knowledge to find his own salvation through the reading of the words of Christ in his own language

A group of men banded together under the direction of John Wycliffe between 1382 – 1395. Known as the Lollards, this group of pre-reformation protesters rejected many of the Catholic teachings. At the time most people could not read and therefore had only a minimal knowledge of the Bible. Even that was gleaned through what was orally read to them from the pulpit by Priests. Wycliffe worked from the Latin Vulgate to make an English translation. Though not authorized, this Bible became very popular. But Wycliffe paid for its creation with his life. Burned at the stake, his remains were later exhumed and thrown into the river.

There were two versions of Wycliffe’s translations. The first was made while he was alive. The second is a revision of the first made ten to twelve years later by John Purvey, another member of the Lollard’s group. These translated versions did not have much effect upon the efforts of the later translators, because of the fact he had used the Vulgate from which to translate instead of going back to the Hebrew and Greek texts. But the efforts of Wycliffe and Purvey did help ignite the flames of the reformation and set the stage for the later King James translation of the Bible.

Gutenberg Bible

The Gutenberg Bible was the first bible to be produced using the newly-invented Gutenberg printing press.The printing of the first Bible in the 1450’s was a big event. While it was not the first book printed, it was the first major printing of any book in Europe. Whereas books had taken years to laboriously write or copy by hand, Gutenberg was able to produce 180 copies in 3 years. That is 60 a year or 5 per month, which is more than 1 per week. Each double sheet had 42 lines per page. To do this production, he used movable metal type. This set off an explosion of printed material which could be cheaply, mass produced and quickly distributed to an audience of hungry, eager and waiting people.

Erasmus Bible

Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) was a scholar and contemporary of Martin Luther. Instead of taking sides with either the Catholic Church or the reformer Martin Luther, he condemned them both with equal intensity. Erasmus’ intention was to make a collation between the Greek and Latin texts and in the process translated the first Greek translation of the New Testament.
– His first edition unified the Greek and Latin traditions.
– His second edition was used by Martin Luther for his translation of the Bible in the German language.
– His third edition was used by William Tyndale in his first translation of the Bible into English.
– His Fourth edition included a translation of Revelations.

– His fifth, published in Latin was quickly translated into many other languages.

In 1550 Robert Stephanus (also known as Robert Estienne) printed a version of the  Erasmus text with a critical apparatus (showing variant readings in various manuscripts) which proved invaluable to scholars and future translators alike.

Luther Bible (1522-1534)

It was Martin Luther’s goal to enable every German speaking Christian to read the Bible in his own language. Using the translation of Erasmus, second Edition, Luther translated directly into German without reference to the Latin Vulgate.

To Romans 3: 28, Luther added the word “alone”. This rendered the thought as follows: “Man is justified without the help of the works of the law, alone by faith.” It actually reflected what most translators of his time believed. 

He was contemptuous of the Books of Esther, Hebrews, James, Jude and the Revelations of John. But these influences of his translation were perhaps unintentional.

Most of the Germanic tribes spoke their own dialect and could not communicate with each other. The German language that he employed raised the level of language German people spoke and was a unifying force upon them as a German people nationally. He not only broke the dominance of the Catholic Church but influenced the translations of Tyndale and Coverdale.

Tyndale Translations 1530-35

While Tyndale did not produce a Bible as such, he did translate the entire New Testament and 50% of the Old Testament from Greek and Hebrew texts and had them mass produced and distributed before he was executed. As a result, these translations were used by John Rogers and Myles Coverdale. to publish the book under the pseudonym Matthew Bible. In addition, it was Tyndale’s translations that influenced every English translation that occurred thereafter.

Tyndale’s last words were in a prayer that God “Would open the King of England’s eyes” which was of course, what happened, evidenced by the printing of the Matthew Bible shortly thereafter.

Coverdale Bible

Printed by Myles Coverdale in 1535, it became the first complete English translation of the Bible. Using translations of Tyndale, Martin Luther, and his original translations from the Vulgate, the publication received official Royal consent making it also the first translation of the Bible in English to receive such distinction.

Matthew Bible 

Printed in 1537 by John Rogers under the pseudonym “ Thomas Matthew”, it contained the New Testament as translated into English by William Tyndale and as much of the Old Testament as he had been able to translate before he was burned at the stake, and the translations of Myles Coverdale from German and Latin. It also contained the Apocrypha, except the Prayer of Manasseh. 

Thus, the Matthew Bible forms a vital link in the history of the Bible’s translation into English. It was the work of three individuals, working from different sources and in different languages. Both John Rogers and William Tyndale were burned at the Stake while Myles Coverdale was employed by Thomas Cromwell to work on the Great Bible of 1539 and was thus spared.

Much of this work was used for the compiling of the King James Version and it was William Tyndale’s beautiful and masterful use of the English language that we treasure as we quote his epic phrases from our current King James Bible. 

The Great Bible

So called, because of its size. King Henry the VII ordered such a copy of The Great Bible to be set up in each English Church in 1539, to be read in services and to be accessed and read by its parishioners. It was chained so that it could not be carried away. The first authorized English version of the Bible, it contained the words of Tyndale so far as he had able to complete his translations into English (The same Tyndale who had been burned at the stake for his translations which were now to bring him fame.) The untranslated balance, including the Apocrypha, was translated by Myles Coverdale from the Latin Vulgate and German sources. It is also sometimes referred to as Cromwell’s Bible or Cranmer’s Bible (after Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury) because of Cranmer’s notation in the preface in the book.

Geneva Bible 

Under the reign of Queen Mary I, a group of Protestant scholars fled to Geneva to avoid persecution. Led by William Wittingham, the group consisted of such men as  Myles Coverdale, Christopher Goodman, Thomas Sampson, William Coby and Anthony Gilby, began another English translation that would become known as the Geneva Bible. Wittingham focused on the New Testament and Gilby on the Old Testament.

The tone of the translation was much more assertive and forceful. In the margins was an elaborate system of commentary and notes. There were study aids: Maps, illustrations, indexes of names and topics, tables and an introduction before each chapter. It was also more affordable and of convenient size.

One of the illustrations of Adam and Eve showed Adam with an Elizabethan mustache and goatee. When Adam and Eve discovered their nakedness, it reported they made “breeches” to cloth themselves. This of course was later corrected by changing the word to “aprons”. Despite these humorous anachronisms the book’s popularity soon swept away the Great Bible when it was finally allowed into England in 1579.

Bishop’s Bible

Citing excuses such as the notes and comments of the Geneva Bible, which they detested, the Bishops complained it was too Pro-Calvinistic. In addition, they objected because the Great Bible had been partially translated from the Vulgate rather than the original Hebrew and Greek, which rendered it “severely deficient”.

As a result, the High Church Bishops of the Church of England began a move to make and circulate their own version of the Bible. In 1568 the Church of England gave its authority for them to do so. The version became known as the Bishop’s Bible. After a great deal of kerfuffle, tinkering and jiggering, their finished product still resembled The Great Bible. Their arguments didn’t achieve their aims and the end product was equally unconvincing. 

The Bishop’s Bible failed to replace the Geneva Bible with all its aids, notes, comments, illustrations and chapter introductions. These were the very things that appealed to the many faithful who were becoming familiar with the Bible for the first time. The Bishop’s Bible was not reprinted and was replaced by the new King James Version in a few short years.

Douay-Rheims Bible 

In the face of mounting pressure from the Protestant reformation, an attempt was made by English exiles to a college in Douai, France, to fortify English Catholics in upholding their own faith. A translation of the Vulgate into English was published 1592. Called the Rheims-Douay Bible it underwent a correlation with the Bishop’s Bible. Then in 1610, because of the heavy Latin context, a New Version was made by Bishop Richard Challoner taking the King James Version as its base. Further Revision was done by Bernard McMahon between 1783- 1810 in Dublin. 

McMahon’s version is the source of the modern generation of translations such as: 
The Jerusalem Bible
New American Bible Revised Edition
Revised Standard Edition
Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

The Douay-Rheims Bible is still the Bible of choice of most traditional, English-speaking Catholics today.

King James Bible 1611

When James the VI of Scotland, became James I of England, upon the death of Queen Elizabeth, he inherited a Kingdom that resembled a spent battlefield of religious wars between Protestants and Catholics. Competitors and dissidents, even their favored versions of scriptures, meant to be the source of guidance to peace and understanding, were contested or rejected, flaunted or slandered. There seemed to be no common ground. James instinctively recognized that if he was to rule at all he would have to first untie this Gordian Knot. The Puritans were threatening to form a new country, the Protestants were in favour of exterminating all Catholics, the Royalists decreed Kings were meant to rule by Biblical sanction and would not accept any concession of their position The Catholics smouldered with bitter hatred since their demise under Queen Elizabeth I and longed for their repatriation. The scriptures they favoured were symbolic icons of their differences, so when it was suggested at the first council of religious leaders in 1603 that a new Bible should be created which united them all, James seized upon the idea as the solution.

Brilliantly, King James commissioned 54 or so of the top religious scholars, drawn from the ranks of all the contesting groups, except the Catholics. They had been pushed from their favored position thanks to Queen Elizabeth’s rival to the throne,  Mary Queen of Scots, and because of the carnage “Bloody Mary” had inflicted on England in the name of the Catholic faith, they would not be granted an opportunity to repeat it again.

The selected scholars were divided into 6 groups and each was given a section of the Bible to focus on. Drawing on all the resources and previous translations now in their possession, the task took eight years before the restrictions in their mandate had been met. 
1/ No bothersome notes were in the margins.
2/ A clearly understood, common-use language was employed. 
3/ The text was accurate.
4/ It embodied the responsibilities inherent in the calling of mortal kings, making them answerable to God.
5/ It had appeal to all ranks of society from the highest to the lowest.
6/ It would stand as THE word of God unto Man. 

In all it was possessed of only one gross error, it was shot through with spelling and clerical mistakes. The most glaring of all caused it to be given the nickname of “The Wicked Bible” because a reference in Exodus 20; 14 omitted the word “not“  from the seventh commandment. It read as follows: “Thou shalt commit adultery.”

While it amused most readers, the printers were heavily fined. 

The King James Version did not become the most popular Bible overnight. Many continued to read the Geneva Bible because of it aids, maps and commentary. The Bishop’s Bible, while favoured by the Bishops, had far too many Latin words for the common man to understand, so it presented no competition at all. Yet by the late 1600’s the King James Version had just about replaced all other versions. Most of the translations used were from William Tyndale – he who was so tragically and cruelly put to death for his never-failing determination to make the Bible available to everyone. The King James Version has been edited and revised several times, including in 1769, 1881, 1901and 1952.

After these many years, it still remains the most published book in the English language and has become embedded in the English language. It has been termed “the greatest monument to English prose” and praised for its simplicity, its dignity, its power, its happy turns of expression, the music of its cadences and the felicities of its rhythms.”

It was complicit in the uniting of all English-speaking nations including the Americas. We owe its compilers and translators an immense debt of gratitude and appreciation. It must be a great sense of satisfaction for each of them to know that through their work, words and sacrifices God spoke to their fellow men — in their day and continuing still even today.