By Rev. M. Macsween, M.A.
As indicated in the title, this year marks the three hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the famous Authorised Version of the English Bible.
Two Versions of the Scriptures were in public use during the reign of Queen Elizabeth and at the beginning of the reign of King James VI of Scotland and I of England. These Versions were, the Bishops’ Bible, which was used at Court and in the Churches, and the Geneva Bible, which was in more common use in the homes of the people.
Neither gave universal satisfaction, and it was felt by all parties that an entirely new Version must be prepared sooner or later. This was brought about in a simple way, as most great undertakings are. A Conference was held at Hampton Court, London, on January 16th, 1604. Certain Church differences and questions were discussed, in which the King took a great interest. In the course of these proceedings, the Puritan, Dr. John Reynolds, proposed a new translation of the Bible.
The King disliked the two Versions then in use, and consented to have the Puritan suggestion carried out, thus silencing the opposition of many of the Conformist party. The hand of the Lord was thus to be seen very early in the proceedings, for the King’s hatred of Puritans and Presbyterians is well known.
Background
It will now be necessary, however, to sketch the background a little. Wycliffe’s unprinted Bible, the first ever given to the English people, appeared in 1380.
The first printed English New Testament appeared in 1526 (and the Pentateuch in 1531) from the hands of the godly and learned William Tyndale, who was martyred in 1536.
The first complete printed English Bible—that of Myles Coverdale—appeared in 1535, and a revised edition of it, called Matthew’s Bible, appeared in 1537.
In 1540 the Great or Cranmer Bible appeared. This was simply a careful revision of what had gone before. Then, in 1560, the first complete English Bible, translated throughout from the original tongues, was published at Geneva, and was called the Geneva Bible. It was marked by accurate scholarship and fidelity to the original text of Scripture. It had marginal comments and was the first in which words not found in the original texts were printed in italics. This Bible, because of its superiority in translation, showed up the imperfections of the Great Bible, and in large measure displaced it.
The ecclesiastical leaders in England, however, were displeased with the anti-prelatic sentiments of the marginal comments of the Geneva Bible, and they accordingly ordered a revision of the Great Bible. Into this revision—known as the Bishop’s Bible—some of the Genevan renderings and external features (such as the division of the whole Bible into verses) were introduced.
The Bishop’s Bible first appeared in 1568. A second edition followed in 1572. It did not, however, reach the standard of the Geneva Bible.
In 1602 another edition of the Bishop’s Bible was published, and the Authorised Version of 1611 was formally a revision of this edition. All existing English versions, along with every available foreign version, ancient and recent Latin translations, the Peshito, and the Targums lay before the translators, for whose guidance a list of fifteen rules was issued by the King. The translators embraced most of the leading Classical and Oriental scholars in the country.
Fifty-four translators were named by King James, but this number was reduced to forty-seven through death and other causes. Of this number six Committees were formed, two of which sat at Oxford, two at Cambridge, and two at Westminster. Andrewes, Bishop of Winchester, who presided over the whole body of translators, was a man of vast learning in Hebrew, Syriac and Greek. We are told that he was familiar with sixteen other languages. Then there was Lively, Regius Professor of Hebrew at Cambridge; Hardinge, Regius Professor of Hebrew at Oxford; Downes, Regius Professor of Greek at Cambridge; Perin, Regius Professor Greek at Oxford, and Holland, Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford—to name but a few of this illustrious body of men. The translators of the Authorised Version, however, were eminent for piety as well as for scholarship. They were men who feared the Lord and loved His Word. They were men of prayer, who watered their work with prayers for divine help and guidance in every part of their work. That the Holy Spirit abundantly answered their prayers is seen in His blessing their work to untold numbers since 1611. The King insisted that this new translation from the original Hebrew and Greek should be free from all marginal comments, and the Authorised Version was thus received by all non-Roman Catholic English-speaking people as their own Bible above all other Versions. After about seven years of diligent and prayerful labour, this noble and renowned work appeared to crown the work of Bible translation. As each committee finished the particular part of Scripture assigned to them, their work was subjected to the scrutiny and criticism of all the other Committees, one by one. Thus each part of the Bible came before the whole body of the translators. A final Committee then reviewed the whole work when finished. The Preface, entitled “The Translators to the Reader,” was composed by Dr. Miles Smith, and is not to be confused with the Epistle Dedicatory, which begins with the words, “To the Most High and Mighty Prince James.” The latter appears in all editions of the Authorised Version, but the former has generally been omitted from most editions. In this Preface, the translators justify the general principle of Bible translations in the vernacular, and in particular the work of translation on which they were themselves engaged. They acknowledge the worth of the earlier English translations and say of their predecessors in this work that “they deserve to be had of us and of posterity in everlasting remembrance. Blessed be they, and most honoured be their name, that break the ice, and give the onset upon that which helpeth forward to the saving of souls.” Although printed by His Majesty’s special command, and appointed to be read in churches, the Authorised Version was not forced upon the acceptance of church and people by the civil power. On the whole, the wise measures adopted, and the number and character of the translators engaged in the work inspired general confidence, while the translation itself—so accurate and yet so vigorous and elevated in style and diction—commanded love and respect, and has continued to do so for three hundred and fifty years. We may well say that the Authorised Version has established itself as the English Bible by sheer merit. It is not perfect, but its faults are few and unimportant. In more recent editions the spelling has been a good deal modernised and marginal references have been expanded.
We cull the following from the public press of March 24th, 1961. The letter begins as follows, “Sir, May I, an Armenian, be allowed to express my opinion about the adverse criticism which has again been levelled against the Authorised Version of the Bible since the issue of the latest new translation of The New Testament? We are told that the language of the Authorised Version is incomprehensible. What is incomprehensible to me is how men and women whose mother-tongue is English cannot understand its language, whereas I, a foreigner, understand it perfectly. In fact, I learned most of my English from the Authorised Version.” The writer, a doctor, goes on to say that for twenty-five years he read a chapter of the Bible every morning and evening. He states that not only has this practice deepened his spiritual life but has also greatly enhanced his knowledge of the English language. He says further, “I have no hesitation whatsoever in asserting that the Authorised Version of the Bible is not only the greatest book in English literature, but that it is also the greatest classic in the world.”
Throughout the greater part of the work, and especially in the New Testament, the salutary influence of one man especially is plainly to be seen. That man is William Tyndale, a man of God, whose great resolve was to give the Bible to the common people in their own tongue. Tyndale was highly skilled in seven languages—Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Italian, French, Spanish, English—and his translations themselves bear abundant evidence of his ability to consult the originals. There is no book existent in English comparable to the New Testament in the Authorised Version for overall accuracy, power and sublimity. When we say this, we remember that Tyndale’s 1534 New Testament is—next to the original—the real foundation of the Authorised Version of the New Testament. The Authorised Version is indeed unapproached in all the attempted improvements of more recent scholars, many of whom were quite unsuitable for such work, being men of heterodox views—such as the denial of the plenary inspiration of the Holy Scriptures in the original tongues, and the denial of the Virgin Birth. Among the memorable expressions that have come down from Tyndale into the Authorised Version are the following: Philippians 2: 7—”But made Himself of no reputation”—in that wonderful passage re the Deity, humiliation and exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ: Matthew 6: 28—”Consider the lilies of the field how they grow:”; and Matthew 7: 27—”… and it fell: and great was the fall of it” re the parable of the Two Builders. What a revelation his own words give us of the man who, above all others, has left his mark on the New Testament of the Authorised Version! Tyndale writes as follows in the Preface to his 1534 New Testament Edition: “My part be not in Christ if mine heart be not to follow and live according as I teach, and also if mine heart weep not night and day for mine own sin and other men’s indifferently, beseeching God to convert us all, and to take His wrath from us, and to be merciful as well to all other men as to mine own soul, caring for the wealth of the realm I was born in, for the King and all that are thereof, as a tender-hearted mother would do for her only son.”
We note with pleasure that the Trinitarian Bible Society this year presents a Commemoration Edition of the 1611 Authorised Version. This Society declares in the third law of its constitution that—”This Society shall circulate the Holy Scriptures as comprised in the Canonical Books of the Old and New Testaments without note or comment to the exclusion of the Apocrypha. The copies in the English language shall be those of the Authorised Version.” We are further informed that, “In presenting this Commemoration Edition the Society pays tribute to the excellence of this Version, which is an inestimable part of our Protestant heritage, has been the means of spiritual enrichment to millions of readers for 350 years, and remains peerless among the English translations of the Bible.”
It is for us as a Church to maintain the exclusive use of our noble Authorised Version in our worship in English. “Thy God hath commanded thy strength: strengthen, O God, that which Thou hast wrought for us.” Psalm 68: 28.