5-From Transmission to Translation,pt1 (How We Got the Bible)

Over 2 centuries ago John Burton wrote this hymn, "Holy Bible, Book divine, precious treasure, thou art min; mine to tell me whence I came; mine to teach me what I am; Mine to chide me when I rove; mine to show a Saviour's love; mine thou art to guard; mine to punish or reward; Mine to comfort in distress, suffering in this wilderness; mine to show, by living faith, man can triumph over death; Mine to tell of joys to come, and the rebel sinner's doom; O thou holy Bible divine, precious treasure, thou art mine." Did you notice the word repeated so often, that of MINE? Are you personally glad that you have a Bible? You should be. Millions of people throughout the world today cannot sing the truth of this beautiful hymn. They do not own a Bible. They have never seen a copy of the Scriptures. In fact, they probably don't even know that the written Word of God exists. It may even be that the Bible has not been translated into their native tongue. On the Lord's Day each week, Christians gather together to worship God as the body of Christ. During the week, we often come together again for Bible study or midweek worship services. And each time we leave our homes, maybe without thinking much about it, we grab our Bibles on the way out the door. With these Bibles in our hands and on our laps, we follow along in the Scripture as our pastors and Bible study leaders faithfully preach and teach God's Word. But there was a time when it was virtually impossible to have one's own copy of the Bible. For the longest time it was not even available in the language of the people. And during the Middle Ages, though it became available, the copy available was changed to the table in the church. Often throughout Church history to have your own Bible was a rarity, often made illegal by church-controlled governments. As we continue our study of THE DOCTRINE OF SCRIPTURE, today we'll begin looking at "From Transmission to Translation of the Text: How We Got the Bible."