An (In)famous Turn-off Line Part I

Where the Line Comes from

It’s Valentine’s Day, I know. So, you think I’m referring to something to do with dating. Semantically, you are correct, but I’m sure you still have a different idea in your mind than what follows.

 

I’m referring to the old saying, “Ye must be born again.” I know, even the ‘ye’ is a turn-off for many. However, for many of us, that is how the line has been burned into our minds. That’s because, if we come from a ‘Christian home’ we were raised in the Authorized (King James) Version of the Bible – which is from 1611! You see, dating does enter the picture here.

 

This translation of the Bible, for that’s what it is, from Greek & Latin into English was not the first. John Wycliffe holds those honours from the 1380s and William Tyndale the first to translate and have printed an English translation from 1525. However, we should know that the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew, so how good could those Old Testament translations be? It was not until ten years later that Myles Coverdale and John Rogers (alias Thomas Matthew – you still had to be careful what you did with the word of God in those days or the religious authorities could even make you into a martyr) published an English translation that did use Hebrew manuscripts from which to work for the Old Testament. The New Testament was written in Aramaic and Greek, so such manuscripts were more readily accessible from which to translate.

 

Then we come to King Henry VIII and The Great Bible of 1540. This was the first ‘legal’ translation in Great Britain, as the king authorized it. However, it was only printed in large volumes (hence ‘Great’, for placing and usage in churches and training institutions. Henry VIII, you will remember, infamously broke away from the Roman Catholic Church so he could obtain a divorce. He then established the Church of England (Anglican in Canada, Episcopalian in the US), with himself as head. This was part of England’s church reformation story, with Anglicans being known as Protestants. Having a Bible in English was another way of thumbing his nose at the Roman Catholics and their Latin versions.

 

Then, religious freedom took a step backwards with thee assumption to the throne of the Catholic Queen Mary. She had John Rogers and Thomas Cranmer (responsible with Myles Coverdale for The Great Bible) burned at the stake in 1511! Myles Coverdale saved his life by fleeing to Switzerland, which was where the church reformation originated, so he was accepted there. 

 

Finally, when non-Catholic King James ascended to the English throne, religious authorities came to him to request a new English translation. This was largely because a Swiss Reformed supported translation from 1560, the Geneva Bible, had become popular everywhere. It, in turn, was based largely on Tyndale’s work, as well as a recent Catholic New Testament translation. The result in 1611 was the so-called King James Version. There is some real irony here. It was based in part on translations done by Catholics. Also, as for its being a Protestant Bible, which is for many of today’s evangelicals the only acceptable version, it was done under the auspices of authorities who were still persecuting the real reforming Protestants. Finally, the version read in homes all over North America and beyond today is not from 1611, but from the Revised Oxford Version of 1769, although you’d never learn that from most editions in print today.

 

So, had enough of dating? Let’s get back to that line with which we started… although there is still more dating to follow – but it’s not quite like what you’ve read so far.

Part II to follow.

For historical details I must give credit to:

https://www.greatsite.com/timeline-english-bible-history/