Psalms 119:89 (ESV): "Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens."
We have seen throughout the ages how God through his word continued to reveal himself unto us. That word that he kept speaking is firmly fixed in heavens as it is written in the words that we have read. This also means that in spite of all the attempts to destroy God's word, God faithfully brought this into our hands. Until few years back, even having a glimpse of God's word was so rare; to procure few pages of God's word was so costly a fire. It's not only costly in terms of the money but also in terms of lives together.
As we have attempted to understand the progressive revelation of God's word, as the second part, we will try to understand how God's word is brought into our hands, or the logistics that were used to bring this into our hands.
If we try to understand the logistics of God's word, two things are most important for us to understand: first, materials used and secondly, languages that were used. If we have a Bible in our hands, it is in the form of a book which is a material. And the words that are written in it are in a language that we can understand. That is why we try to understand these two things: materials and languages. In both these things, sweat and blood of saints of God was much involved. That is why dear ones, God's word in our hands is very, very precious. Let us not be so careless in handling it.
Section 1: The Materials Used to Preserve the Word
We can see the various materials used to write God's word mentioned throughout Scripture.
- Stone Tablets: In the days of Moses, stone tablets were used to write God's word, as books like those we have today were not available. This is evidenced in Exodus 34:1 (ESV): "The Lord said to Moses, 'Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first. And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke.'" Even archaeology confirms that in those days, many legal and historical things were engraved on stone tablets.
- Clay Tablets: The second type of material used were clay tablets, as mentioned in Ezekiel 4:1 (ESV): "And you, son of man, take a brick and lay it before you and engrave a city even Jerusalem.", When the clay tablet was still wet, they would write on it with something like a pencil, and when it dried, the words were engraved.
- Leather Scrolls: The third type were leather scrolls, made out of animal skins which required the animals to be killed, making this a costly endeavor.
- Papyrus and Codex: Almost toward the end of the Old Testament time, papyrus material came into existence, similar to our paper today. Initially, these were scrolls, with each scroll containing one book of the Bible, sometimes measuring 30 to 40 feet long for a single New Testament book. By the end of the 1st century AD, this papyrus material was developed into a book form called the papyrus codex.
These materials were all prone to decay very soon. To pass the writings from one generation to the other, copies were meticulously made by hand by people called scribes. Scribes would work in halls called scriptoriums, where one chief scribe would dictate, and the rest would write down the text.
This was hard work, requiring extreme care not to miss even one letter or stroke. These copies are called manuscripts, which is why our Bibles often have footnotes referencing old manuscripts. Over time, the originals were lost, and only the manuscripts and their subsequent copies continued to be passed down through generations.
Section 2: The Languages of the Word
The Bible was originally written in three main languages:
- Hebrew: Most of the Old Testament was written in Hebrew.
- Aramaic: A few portions of the Old Testament were written in Aramaic, a dialect of the Jews toward the end of Old Testament times, which should not be confused with modern Arabic.
- Greek: The complete New Testament was written in Greek language.
Within Greek, two types existed: Official Greek (used in royal courts and legal documents) and Koine Greek (the language used by common people). God's word, the New Testament, was completely written in Koine Greek so that it was accessible to common people.
Section 3: Key Figures in Translation and Preservation
By the end of the 1st century AD, the Old Testament was available in Hebrew, Aramaic, and the Greek Septuagint. The Septuagint was the translation of the entire Old Testament into Greek, completed in Alexandria, Egypt, by 70 scholars (six from each of the 12 tribes) in the 3rd century BC.
We must remember three pivotal people who ensured God's word came into the hands of the common man:
1. Jerome (4th Century AD)
In the 4th century AD, Jerome desired to bring the full Bible into the common man's hands, as Latin had become the common language across the world. Jerome dedicated 25 years of his life, traveling to Jerusalem to learn the original Bible languages (Hebrew and Greek) and translated both the Old and New Testaments into common people's Latin language., This version was called the Latin Vulgate. For the next thousand years, the Bible remained primarily in Latin, which became the official language of the church, even in places like England where people spoke English. If anyone wanted to understand the Bible, they were required to learn Latin.
2. John Wycliffe (14th Century AD)
In the 14th century AD, John Wycliffe, a scholar from Oxford University, had a great desire to bring God's word back to the common people in England in their own language., He dedicated his life to translating the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English, creating the first English version of the Bible. However, since the printing machine was not yet invented, each copy was still made by hand, making the material costly and rare. Wycliffe sent his followers to streets, corners, fields, and churches to stand and read God's word aloud, which people flocked around to hear. Despite the hunger for the word—with people working hard at night just to buy a few pages—the official church banned the English Bible, leading to persecution and martyrdom.
3. William Tyndale (16th Century AD)
In the 15th century, the great miracle of the invention of the printing machine by Johann Gutenberg took place in Germany, with the Latin Vulgate Bible being the first book printed. This stopped the need for costly handwritten copies.
Following this, William Tyndale had a great desire not only to make the Bible accessible but to bring its depth to the common people. He was not satisfied with the Latin translation and sought to translate God's word directly from the original Hebrew and Greek so that people could understand its true meaning.,
Facing opposition from the church, Tyndale famously told one elder, "if God spares me few more years, I will make a farmer's son know God's word better than you do." Tyndale fled to Germany, learned Greek, and translated the whole New Testament into English, which he printed. Despite the official ban in England, he smuggled the English New Testaments into the country and began working on the Old Testament by learning Hebrew and Aramaic.
Tragically, he was betrayed, imprisoned, condemned of treason, and sentenced to be burnt alive at the stake. Before his execution, it is recorded that he prayed, "Lord, open the eyes of the king of England.",
God's word in our hands came at the cost of lives of God's people. Let us not play with it and interpret it as we want.
Conclusion: The Triumph of the Word
Tyndale's work was completed by Miles Coverdale, who produced the complete English Bible in 1535. Later, King James I commissioned the printing of the complete English Bible to be kept in churches, leading to the King James Version (KJV) in 1611. Though the KJV was translated using Hebrew and Greek manuscripts available from the 10th century AD, later discoveries of earlier manuscripts led to the creation of new English versions.
We must remember that God's word came at the cost, the sweat, and the blood of God's people. We must honor His word.
Short Summary (5–7 bullet points)
- The transmission of the Bible involved immense cost, both in terms of money and the lives of saints, emphasizing that the word is precious and should not be handled carelessly.
- The materials used evolved from stone tablets (Exodus 34:1) and clay tablets (Ezekiel 4:1) to leather scrolls and, finally, papyrus material, which by the 1st century AD was formed into the book-like codex.,
- The original languages were mostly Hebrew and Aramaic (Old Testament) and Koine Greek (common people's language for the New Testament)., The Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, was completed in the 3rd century BC.
- Jerome dedicated 25 years to translating the entire Bible from original languages into Latin Vulgate (common Latin) in the 4th century AD, making it accessible for a time.,
- John Wycliffe produced the first English Bible in the 14th century, translating from Latin, and his followers risked their lives reading it aloud to the people, despite the official church ban.,
- The invention of the printing press by Johann Gutenberg in the 15th century began the mass production of the Bible, with the Latin Vulgate being the first book printed.
- William Tyndale fled to Germany to translate the New Testament directly from the original Greek and Hebrew into English, believing that "a farmer's son" should know God's word better than the religious leaders; he was ultimately martyred, praying that the King of England's eyes would be opened.,
