November 2011 Update
Dear Friends and Family, The start of the reformation began when John Wycliffe translated the Bible for the very first time in English in the 1380s. Historians have noted John Wycliffe’s work by calling him the “Daystar of the Reformation”. Ever since this time, the English speaking world has had the Bible in a language they can understand. In fact, today there are over 500 versions of the English Bible! We are indeed a blessed people with such access to God’s Word, plus what we have available in Bible commentaries and exegetical helps, Christian colleges and universities, Bible colleges and seminaries in the USA. However, at the same time there still exist over 2,000 language communities around the world with NO Scripture! In 1990 we reported that there were 3,000 such groups, but in the past decade almost 1,000 Bible translation projects have been started. God is indeed building His Church! We are happy to report that the speed in reaching the remaining languages with new Bible translation starts is increasing as more people from around the world are joining in this important work. We are equally happy to report that since we started recruiting in 2000 for Wycliffe over 2,000 new missionaries from the USA have joined our organization!!! Many of these new missionaries are Bible translators, but for every Bible translation team we send out we need three support workers. Because the work of Bible translation is unfinished we continue in our recruitment work and ask you to pray for our continued success.
John Wycliffe 1328 - 1384
Chuck now heads up the recruitment of missionary managers and administrators for Wycliffe and Barb continues her work in planning the Get Global mission trips for high school and college students. Chuck is already seeing fruit in his work as he had four people apply to Wycliffe this past month. Barb’s efforts over the years have produced a dozen students studying to become Bible translators. This coming January we begin our 27th year as missionaries with Wycliffe. Over these years you have stood faithfully with us in finances and prayers for which we say thanks! We value each gift and prayer and prayerfully ask for your continued support.
FOR PRAYER SUPPORT / OUR HOME ADDRESS Chuck & Barb Micheals 5167 Poinsetta Ave Winter Park, Florida 32792 Tel: (407) 671-2817 (home) Email: Chuck_Micheals@wycliffe.org Barb_Micheals@wycliffe.org
FOR SUPPORTING US FINANCIALLY Wycliffe Bible Translators P. O. Box 628200 Orlando, FL 32862-8200 On a separate sheet mark “For Chuck & Barb Micheals”
VISIT OUR WEB SITES/FACEBOOK: Web: www.cbmicheals.com www.cbmicheals.ning.com FACEBOOK: Chuck Micheals or Barb Micheals
The History Of The Reformation and Bible Translation Martin Luther Martin Luther came to Wittenberg in 1508 because he was chosen by the Secret Society of Lollards to come there and chair the professorship of philosophy. As he developed and matured in his studies, in the thirteen years that lead up to the Diet of Worms in 1521, that event being preceded by Erasmus’ Greek-Latin Bible printed in 1516 and the combination of events that happened in this city on Reformation Day in 1517 at which time Luther nailed his 95 thesis to the Wittenberg door of the Castle Church. Martin Luther’s conversion came from the study of the book of Habakkuk in an indirect way from the second chapter in the fourth verse. He remembered a passage that the ‘just shall live by his faith’. In his subsequent study of the book of Romans 1:17 he read “the righteous just shall live by faith”. These words profoundly affected him and altered his life and his work. On April 18, 1521, Martin Luther stood against the Emperor and against his critics and against those who would have him burned at the stake. As he stood in front of the court, he made one of the most remarkable speeches in history. It was a speech that would take only ten seconds to deliver, but would last for generations. “Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. May God help me. Amen.”
Luther was convinced that he would be burned at the stake but his friends kidnapped him and took him to Prince Frederick’s Castle in Wartburg. There in the Wartburg Castle with the aide of Erasmus’ Greek New Testament he translated the New Testament into the German language in just a few months. Luther’s goal was to equip every Christian in Germany with the ability to hear the Word. Thus, by 1534 he completed his translation of the Old and New Testaments from Hebrew and Greek into the German vernacular, one of the most significant acts of the Reformation. In his translations Luther sought to get as close to the original text as possible, but at the same time his translation was guided by how people spoke in the home, on the street and in the marketplace. Luther combined his faithfulness to the language spoken by the common people to produce a work which the common man could relate to. This effort continues with the work of Wycliffe Bible Translators, so that every person has access to God’s Word in a language they understand best.
The Geneva Bible The Forgotten Translation By Gary DeMar
Reformer John Knox, the Church of Geneva determined to produce an English Bible without the need for the imprimatur of either England or Rome - the Geneva Bible. Translation Work Begins In 1557 The Geneva translators produced a revised New Testament in English in 1557 that was essentially a revision of Tyndale's revised and corrected 1534 edition. Much of the work was done by William Whittingham, the brother-inlaw of John Calvin.
When Mary Tudor (Bloody Mary) became queen of England in 1553, she was determined to roll back the Reformation and reinstate Roman Catholicism. Mary had strong ties to Catholic Spain. She married Philip II of Spain and induced the English Parliament to recognize the authority of papal Rome. Mary met with a great deal of resistance from Protestant reformers in her own country. Mary showed no signs of compromise. The persecution of Protestants followed. The era known as the Marian Exile drove hundreds of English scholars to the Continent with little hope of ever seeing their home and friends again. God used this exodus experience to advance the Reformation. A number of English Protestant divines settled in Calvin's Geneva: Miles Coverdale, John Foxe, Thomas Sampson, and William Whittingham. With the protection of the Genevan civil authorities and the support of John Calvin and the Scottish
The Geneva New Testament was barely off the press when work began on a revision of the entire Bible, a process that took more than two years. The new translation was checked with Theodore Beza's earlier work and the Greek text. In 1560 a complete revised Bible was published, translated according to the Hebrew and Greek, and conferred with the best translations in divers languages, and dedicated to Queen Elizabeth I. After the death of Mary, Elizabeth was crowned queen in 1558, once again moving England toward Protestantism. The Geneva Bible was finally printed in England in 1575 only after the death of Archbishop Matthew Parker, editor of the Bishop's Bible. England's Most Popular Bible While other English translations failed to capture the hearts of the reading public, the Geneva Bible was instantly popular. Between 1560 and 1644 at least 144 editions appeared. For forty years after the publication of the King James Bible, the Geneva Bible continued to be the Bible of the home. Oliver Cromwell used extracts from the Geneva Bible for his Soldier's Pocket Bible which he issued to the army. A Threat To King James In 1620 the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth with their Bibles and a conviction derived from those Bibles of establishing a new nation. The Bible was not the King James Version. When James I became king of England in 1603, there were
two translations of the Bible in use; the Geneva Bible was the most popular, and the Bishops' Bible was used for reading in churches. King James disapproved of the Geneva Bible because of its Calvinistic leanings. He also frowned on what he considered to be seditious marginal notes on key political texts. A marginal note for Exodus 1:9 indicated that the Hebrew midwives were correct in disobeying the Egyptian king's orders, and a note for 2 Chronicles 15:16 said that King Asa should have had his mother executed and not merely deposed for the crime of worshipping an idol. The King James Version of the Bible grew out of the king's distaste for these brief but potent doctrinal commentaries. He considered the marginal notes to be a political threat to his kingdom. At a conference at Hampton Court in 1604 with bishops and theologians, the king listened to a suggestion by the Puritan scholar John Reynolds that a new translation of the Bible was needed. Because of his distaste for the Geneva Bible, James was eager for a new translation. "I profess," he said, "I could never yet see a Bible well translated in English; but I think that, of all, that of Geneva is the worst." A Threat To Rome In addition to being a threat to the king of England, the Geneva Bible was outspokenly anti-Roman Catholic, as one might expect. Rome was still persecuting Protestants in the sixteenth century. Keep in mind that the English translators were exiles from a nation that was returning to the Catholic faith under a queen who was burning Protestants at the stake. The anti-Roman Catholic sentiment is most evident in the Book of Revelation: "The beast that cometh out of the bottomless pit (Rev. 11:7) is the Pope, which hath his power out of hell and cometh thence." In the end, the Geneva Bible was replaced by the King James Version, but not before it helped to settle America.
Back In Geneva Calvin knew that the job of reforming a city seemingly bent on destruction would not be easy. "There is no place in the world that I fear more," he confessed. Immorality was at an alltime high, with gambling, street brawls, drunkenness, adultery, and public indecency common everywhere. But not all was dark.
When he arrived on September 13, 1541, a change had come over the city. The people actually wanted him to return. The city officials bestowed honors on him and apologized for the way he had been treated. The Council members assured Calvin that they would cooperate with him to restore the Gospel and moral order. The businessmen were equally relieved to learn that Calvin might return. Calvin was overwhelmed by the outward display of affection and decided to return to Geneva. On September 16th he wrote to Farel: "Your wish is granted. I am held fast here. May God give His blessing." Calvin's Contributions Calvin continued his work of reformation, not by a heavy-handed use of the civil magistrate, but with the preaching of God's Word and the building of the Church. Church government was lacking, not only in Geneva, but all over
Protestant Europe. Calvin understood that only the Church, not the State, could define orthodox theology and bring about true longterm reform. According to the Bible, the State and the Church were jurisdictionally separate. Each had its God-ordained area of jurisdiction and authority - one civil (the State) and one ecclesiastical (the Church). Even so, Calvin insisted, both Church and State were ordained by God and obligated to follow His laws as they applied to their specific appointed jurisdictions.
William Tyndale - Father Of The English Language Bible Imagine an English speaking world without Shakespeare, Tennyson, T.S. Elliot and C.S. Lewis. They all had one common influence. A man whose prose and creativity in designing the English language is one of the greatest contributions to western civilization in the annuals of modern history.
Calvin's view that God reigns everywhere and over all things led him to develop the biblical idea that man can serve God in every area of life - church, civil government, education, art, music, business, law, journalism. There was no need to be a priest, a monk, or a nun to get closer to God. God is glorified in everyday work and family life. Calvin's teaching led directly to what has become known as the "Protestant work ethic." Individual initiative leads to economic productivity as Christians work out their faith in their callings before God. Stricken with tuberculosis, Calvin preached his last sermon on February 6, 1564. Although bedridden until his death on May 27, 1564, Calvin continued to work, extending his legacy in the lives of those who sat under his teaching. Thanks to the Institutes of the Christian Religion, his printed sermons, the Academy, his commentaries on nearly every book of the Bible (except the Song of Solomon and the Book of Revelation), and his pattern of Church and Civil government, Calvin shaped the thought and motivated the ideals of Protestantism in France, the Netherlands, Poland, Hungry, Scotland, and the English Puritans; many of whom settled in America. The great American historian George Bancroft stated, "He that will not honor the memory, and respect the influence of Calvin, knows but little of the origin of American liberty." The famous German historian, Leopold von Ranke, wrote, "John Calvin was the virtual founder of America."
The ‘Father of the English Language’ and the soul translator of the Bible into modern English must certainly be revered by every Christian and every English speaking man or woman wherever English is taught. Surely such a man would have died in honor and wealth and was respected by all. In fact, his life and work are scarcely known to the intellectual community much less to the common masses and he died in poverty and in exile from his native country England. To the establishment, William Tyndale was an outlaw. He had a price on his head and was hunted relentlessly for eleven years by his King and by his church. His only crime was obedience to God and thus resistance to tyranny.
William Tyndale was born in 1494 in Gloucester, England. He enrolled in Oxford in 1512 and literally grew up at the university, receiving his master’s degree in 1515 at age 21. He spoke eight different languages fluently (French, Greek, Hebrew, German, Italian, Latin, Spanish and English) that one associate described him as ‘so skilled in eight tongues that whichever he speaks you might think it is his native tongue’. He eventually moved to the University of Cambridge and formed the White Horse Inn Society. The society was composed of about 25 young men who kindled the fires of the reformation. All of them with the exception of Miles Coverdale, would be beheaded or burned at the stake. Thousands of others were martyred as well. In 1517, five men and two women were tried for heresy with their only ‘crime’ being the teaching of the Lord’s Prayer to their children in English. There were found guilty and burned at the stake.
In 1524 with assistance from the secret society, and with a strategy and a carefully laid plan, Tyndale would go to Wittenberg, visit with Martin Luther and then at a given point in time, show up in Cologne on the Rhine River to print the Bible in English or at least the New Testament for the first time. However, word had been leaked to the Inquisition and to their bounty hunters to track down Tyndale and others who wanted to ‘violate’ laws regarding the translation of the Bible. The bounty hunters head to Wittenberg to capture Tyndale However, by God’s Providence, Tyndale is tipped off and gets to the print shop before the bounty hunters arrived. Tyndale seizes his manuscripts and escapes literally within minutes from the bounty hunters coming through the front door.
William Tyndale came under suspicion for his orthodox views on the authority of Scripture and his views on the translation of the Bible. In fact, in one of those heated discussions one day around the table, one of the local bishops, a very powerful man said that we should revered the pope’s laws more than Scripture to which Tyndale could not constrain himself. He looked the bishop in the eye and said, “I defy the Pope and all his laws and if God would spare my life, these many years I will make it possible for the boy that drives the plow to know as much Scripture as you do.” He was called before the most powerful bishop in Bristol and warned that if he continued to teach in English the things of God that he was going to have to suffer the consequences and those consequences were not going to be easy. It became clear he had to leave and devote himself to the translation of the Bible into English.
Tyndale escaped to the city of Worms, where Peter Schaeffer Jr. was living. Peter had been converted to the Lutheran doctrine and it was to this man, the son of the printer of the first Bible, the Gutenberg Bible that Tyndale goes to and 6,000 copies of that New Testament are printed in Worms, loaded on the ships and bound for England.
In October 1526 Bishop Tunstall preached a sermon denouncing Tyndale’s translation of the New Testament into the English language and so and copies were to be publicly burned. However, the edict backfired and created a public interest in the New Testament. The mystery of the forbidden book in English created a demand that no amount of advertising could have accomplished. The bishop then decided to disburse large sums of money for the purchase of as many of the New Testament as he could get his hands on. He stated; “I will gladly pay whatever they cost for the books are naughty and I intend surely to destroy them all and to burn them at Paul’s cross.”
here through the winter, you’ll be kind enough to send me from my goods a warmer cap for I suffer greatly from cold in the head and am afflicted by inflammation and congestion. A warmer coat also for that which I have is very thin and above all I beg and beseech your clemency to kindly permit me to have my Hebrew Bible, Hebrew grammar and Hebrew dictionary that I may spend my time with that study. I shall be patient abiding the will of God to the glory of the grace of my Lord Jesus Christ whose spirit I pray may ever direct your heart. Amen.”
Tyndale’s life was that of a nomad, traveling from place to place to avoid detection, translating and revising as he could. Finally, in exhaustion in 1533, he chose a house in Antwerp to stay in. For nine years he had managed, with the help of friends, to evade authorities as he revised his New Testament and began translating the Old Testament. In the meantime, church officials were financing a bounty hunter by the name of Henry Phillips to track down Tyndale. Philips went to Antwerp and managed to worm his way into Tyndale’s life. Soon Philips became a guest of Tyndale’s at meals and was one of the few privileged to look at his books and papers. In May 1535 Philips devised a plan that would lure Tyndale away from the safety of his quarters. While slipping through a narrow alley Tyndale walked into the arms of a band of soldiers whom Philips had posted. He was immediately arrested and taken to the State prison at the castle of Vilvoorde where he was accused of heresy and condemned to death. He spend the last 500 days of his life in a cold, dark and lonely cell deep inside the castle. The only record of this time is contained in a letter he wrote to the Governor of the castle in the winter months of 1535; “I beg your lordship and that by the Lord Jesus that if I am to remain
Was Tyndale’s request allowed? We do not know. On October 6th 1536, William Tyndale was lead to the public square near a large beam. He was given one last chance to recant. When he refused he was given a moment to pray. He then cried out, “Lord open the King of England’s eyes!” He was then chained to the beam and a rope was put around his neck. At the signal of the local official the executioner tightened the noose and strangled him. The executioner then set the wood ablaze.
The King Of England’s Eyes Are Opened The year preceding Tyndale’s death, after his incarceration, Myles Coverdale finished Tyndale’s work on the first English Bible from the original tongues. However, it remained an unauthorized version until 1538 when God did answer William Tyndale’s last prayer. That year John Rogers printed the first Bible in England with a license granted by Henry VIII who authorized the printing by a royal injunction of 20,000 Bibles, called the Great Bible and were distributed to every church in England. A second authorized version of the English Bible, called the Bishop’s Bible was printed in 1568.
English Bibles, including Tyndale’s Bible, the Geneva Bible, the Bishop’s Bible as well as the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts. Over a seven year period they worked and translated one of the most endearing and well used versions of the English Bibles. It is also for many people one of the most easy-to-memorize translations of the Bible. Remarkably, when they finished in 1611 scholars determined that the King James Bible used 90% of the translation of William Tyndale. The King James Bible has served the Church well for 400 years. To God be the glory!
King James Bible Modern Bible Translation In 1604 the Puritan’s approached King James I with the idea of a new translation of the Bible. King James agreed and selected forty seven scholars that were well acquainted with Hebrew and Greek.
May each version of the translations done by Bible translators today be as well-done, wellaccepted and well-read as those from the history of the Church. While today we have over 500 versions of the English Bible, may there be a great influx of new Bible translators to finish the work of translating the Bible for the last 2,078 languages on earth.
Archbishop Richard Bancroft was the "chief overseer" of the production of the King James Bible
The text was divided among groups of men groups and each group member was required to work on the whole of its’ portion. In practice, the translators made extensive use of the great