I accept that Scripture – truly translated, that is – must be our source and arbiter of doctrine, if that is what is understood by ‘sola scriptura’. But if I were to rally around a slogan, it might be ‘Verbum prius’, or ‘the Word first’, by which I mean Him who is the Incarnate Word.
See the difference between Myles Coverdale’s translation approach in the Matthew Bible, and that of the Geneva Puritans who revised his work.
The Geneva Bible did it again: changed the Matthew Bible to remove all reference to the word of God, this time at Psalm 23. They also removed the reference to eternal life.
Tyndale understood 1 Peter 1:13 to teach that Jesus Christ is ‘declared’ or revealed through the preaching of the word. Beginning with the Geneva Bible, this teaching was slowly altered to deal with revelation of Christ at the second coming.
The Reformers – every single one of them – believed that when the Lord returns at the close of this age, he will usher in the end of time and of the world. The earth will burn with a fervent heat (2 Peter), the Great Judgment will follow, and then there will be a
Ascension Day Poem by Worsley: Only by a chosen few was He seen ascending into heaven that day. Their vision encourages us too.
The Creator of all things was nailed by worms of men to planks of wood, where he triumphed over all powers, and over death and hell, on their behalf.
I love Martin Luther. He was an original thinker, fearlessly independent, brilliant in depth and simplicity. He was devout and Christ-centered. And he gave the German people a wonderful bible. So I turned to him when I was wondering about literalism in bible translation. It seemed to me that sometimes the scholars overused it.
Since the 14th century, English Protestant bibles can be divided into four periods: 1380 – c1500 – Lollard bibles (John Wycliffe) During this period, Church leaders were violently opposed to having an English bible. They wanted it in Latin, and people to trust the clergy to tell them what the bible means. Translators worked
The Matthew Bible teaches many doctrines that have been eclipsed or lost. One is amillennialism (as it is called). The Matthew men – William Tyndale, Myles Coverdale, and John Rogers – believed that we are now in the thousand-year reign of Christ, which is a spiritual reign in the hearts and consciences of his people, his nation. The 1,000 years is symbolic of a long period of time, the end whereof is only in the knowledge of God the Father, though certain events are foretold that will be harbingers of the end… [more]
