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Church Growth - III
For the Word of God is living and powerful -
Hebrews 4:11
In our last article we mentioned the importance of having the Bible, or Word of God, as the foundation of the local church. We also mentioned two Bibles that were very popular at one time, the Geneva Bible, and the King James Version. Some people believe both of these translations had their roots in the Waldensians, (Christians living in the Vaudois valley in northern Italy). I am not sure how accurate that information is.
The Geneva Bible was translated under complete freedom with no interference from authorities. From 1560-1644, at least 144 editions were published. The Geneva Bible was the Bible of William Shakespeare, John Milton, John Bunyan, the Puritans, and the pilgrims who sailed to America. It was the Bible that John Rolfe likely used to convert Pocahontas at Jamestown in 1611.
The production of the Geneva Bible helped to bring about the Authorized King James Version of 1611. The Calvinistic marginal notes in the Geneva Bible infuriated King James I. He especially hated the comments on Exodus 1:19, which indicated that the Hebrew midwives were correct to disobey the Egyptian rulers. King James called such interpretations seditious. Reference, The Geneva Bible of 1599.
This prompted the king to authorize a group of scholars to produce a version of the Bible without the annotations (marginal notes). Eventually, the King James Bible became the popular choice of the people. These two versions of the Bible have proven themselves over time. We now have many good, accurate, easy-to-read Bibles today. Many of these versions are very accurate to the original text because of the vast number of manuscripts we have to compare.
Instead of a few, we now have 5-6000 older, more reliable manuscripts to consider. The use of these older manuscripts to create a Bible is often referred to as the Eclectic Text. All the manuscripts found in the Qumran caves in 1947 are a part of this text. These manuscripts were not available to the early translators of the Geneva or the King James Bible. Some of them are 1000 years older than the ones used to translate the Geneva Bible and the Authorized King James Version of 1611. Here are a few things to remember.
1 - The Geneva Bible was translated in freedom with the blessing of John Calvin, without pressure to conform to someone's ideas, desires, or agenda.
2 - The King James Version was brought about because King James hated the Geneva Bible which caused the readers to think, study, and have diversity of thought. He did not want a version that would cause anyone to question him or his authority.
3 - Because of the vast number of older manuscripts that have been found, we now have the Eclectic Text from which many new accurate Bibles are being produced.
So here is my closing question; do you love the Word of God? Do you study to show yourself approved? The more we learn from God's Word, the better we can get to know the Author of the inspired Word of God. Contact the author at: (thoughtsonword@gmail.com) if you have any comments or questions.
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Lyndon Stimeling, of Richfield, has been writing about faith and family for many years. He has self-published three books, Common Thoughts on The Word in 2016 and Eye of a Needle in 2017 and Common Thoughts on The Word II in 2019. He has also had articles published in The Coming Home Journal and local newspapers and has written a children's book.