No Bible, No Reformation

(Message delivered by Rev Dr Jeffrey Khoo at True Life BPC on Reformation Sunday, Oct 28, 07)

 

No Bible, no Reformation is my restatement of Acts 6:7, “And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.”

Christianity is a religion of the Book—the Holy Bible—which tells us of the only way to heaven—the Lord Jesus Christ—who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one can get into heaven but by Him (John 14:6). Faith in Christ gets us to heaven, and this “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Rom 10:17).

There was a time when the Apostles of Jesus Christ were distracted from their spiritual duty because of the increasing responsibilities to meet the physical needs of the members in the church. It was not possible with their human  limitations to do both tasks well. The Lord granted the Apostles the wisdom to see that this cannot go on, for “It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables” (v 2). For the church to prosper physically and spiritually, it was vital for the Apostles to give themselves “continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word” (v 4). Deacons (“servants”) were then appointed to ensure that the physical needs of the people were taken care of so that the Apostles could concentrate on meeting their spiritual needs. When this was put in place, the Lord blessed the Church, for when there was an intensive, systematic teaching and learning of God’s Word, the Church grew numerically and in maturity, and many of the priests who had once opposed the faith, now became disciples of Jesus Christ, having been convicted and corrected of their theological errors by the faithful preaching and teaching of God’s Word. We see then that when the Bible is promoted, the Church prospers.

Satan knows this very well—that without the Bible—the people would be blind and lost. Without the light of God’s Word, people can only grope in darkness and lead a superstitious life that will bring only misery and ruin. That was the condition of the world and of the church before the Reformation. The people living in the dark ages, in Pre-Reformation days, were living in idolatrous superstition because the Bible was kept away from them. The Pope and the priests told the people that the Bible belonged only to them, and only they were permitted to read and interpret the Bible. The people were not allowed to read, study, or search the Scriptures for themselves. The Bible was a closed book, and not an open book. And the interpretations or misinterpretations of the Scriptures by the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) only sought to bind and blind the people in their superstitions and line the pockets of the clergy “whose god is their belly” (Phil 3:19), and “whose religion is their kitchen” (Calvin). Someone has rightly observed “The church, before the Reformation, was a church without the Bible. And a church without a Bible is as useless as a lighthouse without light, a candlestick without a candle, or a motorcar without an engine.” How true!

Praise the Lord for the 16th Century Protestant Reformation, without which we would still be in Roman Catholic  ondage and idolatry, without which we would not have the Bible in our very own hands today. The Bible was a crucial and vital factor for the success of the Protestant Reformation. In the fullness of time, God put the Bible back into the hands of His people which led to the Reformation of His Church. The Word of God must be promoted for the Church to revive and reform.

Preaching the Word

The Lord in the 12th century raised up the Waldenses to distribute Bibles and Gospel tracts to the common folk. The Waldenses were named after Peter Waldo, a rich businessman, who employed a priest to translate the Bible from Latin to French so that he could read it for himself. He got saved, and became very zealous to share with others the good news of salvation which is by grace through faith in Christ alone. Waldo organized a society called the “Poor Men of Lyons” (aka “Waldenses”). Waldo, following the example of Jesus, sent his evangelists out two by two. They worked as peddlers or hawkers selling knick knacks, but at the same time gave away Bible portions and gospel leaflets. Many found salvation. The RCC would have none of this, and in the Council of Valencia (1229) placed the Bible among the “Forbidden Books.” No one was allowed to read the Bible except the priests. The Waldenses were hunted down and many of them tortured and executed for their faith.

Besides the Waldenses, God also used a group of pastors known as the Lollards to spread the gospel truth in the 14th century. The Lollards used Wycliffe’s translation to read and preach the Word to the common folk. For reading the Bible and preaching the gospel to the people, many of these Lollards were burned to death by the RCC.

Although the RCC tried to exterminate the Waldenses and the Lollards, and burn the Bible, they did not succeed to destroy the pure and true Christian Faith as founded on God’s forever infallible and inerrant words, for the Lord had promised that His Church which is founded upon Himself and the Holy Scriptures cannot be destroyed (Matt 16:18). The existence of True Life BPC and many other Bible-believing churches all over the world testify to this truth.

Translating the Word

In the 14th century, the Lord raised up John Wycliffe to translate the Word. Wycliffe realised that the best way to free the people from the shackles of Rome was to let the people read the Bible for themselves. Wycliffe was the first to translate the whole Bible into English. The translation was done not from the Hebrew and Greek (Wycliffe knew no Hebrew nor Greek) but from the Latin Bible—the Vulgate. Although the translation was not as accurate as could be since it was not from the original languages, yet it was accurate enough for God’s purpose to be fulfilled. At long last, the people could read the Bible for themselves and find the way of salvation which is in Christ alone.

Wycliffe’s Bible spearheaded the Reformation movement which led many to reject the falsehoods of the RCC. It goes without saying that the RCC hated Wycliffe immensely. Their hatred for him was so great that they did all they could to dishonour him at the 40th anniversary of his demise. Seeking to wipe out all memory of Wycliffe, the RCC dug up his bones, burned them, and cast the ashes into the River Swift. God would see to it that such a disgraceful act of wicked men would serve only to hasten the Reformation instead of deterring it. The more the Truth is opposed and oppressed, the more it will flourish and progress. The Truth cannot be snuffed out. As Luther later wrote, “The body they may kill, His truth abideth still; His kingdom is forever.”

William Tyndale (1494-1536) was a scholar of the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures having studied at Oxford and Cambridge. Seeing how the priests were so ignorant of the Scriptures, and how the people were so lost without God’s Word, he decided to translate the Scriptures into English from the original languages. He completed translating the NT in 1525. 15,000 copies were printed and distributed in England. The Church of England then under the RCC refused to allow the people to read the English NT. The Church burned every copy of Tyndale’s Bible they could find. For translating the Scriptures, the Church branded Tyndale a criminal. He was arrested and put in prison.

Tyndale was finally condemned to death. He was strangled and burned at the stake. Tyndale was ready to die for His Lord and His Truth: “That light o’er all thy darkness, Rome, in triumph might arise; an exile freely I become, freely a sacrifice.” His dying words were: “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.” The Lord heard Tyndale’s prayer. The eyes of the king were finally opened a decade later when England broke away from Rome. This led to the translation of the greatest English Bible ever produced—the Authorised Version or King James Bible of 1611 which has stood the test of time and blessed many millions all over the world for nearly 400 years, and is still well-loved and well-used today by Bible-believing Christians who are faithful to the good old paths of the Protestant Reformation, and reject the new and worldly paths of the modern versions which are based on corrupt and heretical texts.

Printing the Word

By the providence of God, the printing press was invented in the 15th century. The printing press was a catalyst for the Protestant Reformation, and the age of Biblical enlightenment. Johann Gutenberg in 1440 invented the movable-type printing press. This meant that multiple copies of the Bible and gospel tracts could be printed easily and quickly, and put into the hands of the common folk. It is no surprise then that the first book to be published had to be the most important Book in the world—the Holy Bible. The Gutenberg Bible (in Latin) was the first book ever printed in Europe. 180 copies were printed and 50 have survived to this day.

Before the printing press, the Bible could only be reproduced painstakingly by handwriting, word by word, line by line, paragraph by paragraph, page by page. It was a most time consuming, labour intensive and financially expensive affair to produce a copy of the Bible manually. It would take about 10 months to produce just a copy. One copy would cost about 5000 chickens. Since it was so costly, the Bible was sold in parts or in pages. Some could only pay a few cents just to have the New Testament to read for just a day. But it was the Lord’s good will and purpose to have the Bible produced plentifully and cheaply so that not just the rich, but also the poor might possess and own a copy of it to read and to find salvation in Christ Jesus, the only Saviour of the world.

To date, over six billion copies of the Bible, and many more gospel tracts and pamphlets containing the words of God, have since been printed and distributed. And Jesus said, “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Matt 24:14).

There is no question that the Bible in the hands of the people was one important cause of the Reformation. The true light of God by the illumination of the Spirit shone into the hearts of His elect and saints, and they saw and understood the truth and the truth has made them free from the bondage of superstitious darkness and abominable idolatry of the RCC (John 8:32). The Church was reborn and reformed. No information, no reformation! No Bible, no revival!