English is today as close to a universal language as we have in the world. And we owe the popularity of the English language to King James I of England. The name might sound familiar because that is the same King James of the Bible King James. James VI of Scotland ascended to the throne of England in 1604 after the death of Queen Elizabeth I. The now, James I, took the throne reigning for the first time over bot h England and Scotland and passing the throne from the Tudors to the Stuarts. His English coronation took place on 25 July “even though an outbreak of plague restricted the festivities.”
One of the first things done by the new king was the calling of the Hampton Court Conference in January of 1604 "for the hearing, and for the determining, things pretended to be amiss in the church." Here were assembled religious leaders from the Anglicans and the Puritans. Although Bible revision was not on the agenda, the Puritan president of Corpus Christi College, "moved his Majesty, that there might be a new translation of the Bible, because those which were allowed in the reigns of Henry the eighth, and Edward the sixth, were corrupt and not answerable to the truth of the Original." Finally on July 22, 1604, King James announced that a new translation would be produced by a committee of 47 scholars and theologians made up of both Anglicans and Puritans. He hoped the partnership between the two rival groups would help heal England’s great religious division.
Here are a few things you might not have known:
Most people have been led to believe that the King Jame’s Version of the Bible was the first English translation, but that is not true. In 1525 William Tyndale produced the first printed translation of the New Testament in English.
The King James Bible turned out to be an excellent and accurate translation, and it became the most printed book in the history of the world, and the only book with one billion copies in print. In fact, for over 250 years, until the appearance of the English Revised Version in 1881, the King James Version reigned without rival.
For the past 200 years, all King James Bibles published in America are actually the 1769 Baskerville spelling and wording revision of the 1611 edition. The original “1611” preface is deceivingly included by the publishers, and no mention of the fact that it is really the 1769 version is to be found as it was thought that it would hurt sales. The only way to obtain a true, unaltered, 1611 version is to either purchase an original pre-1769 printing of the King James Bible, or a less costly facsimile reproduction of the original 1611 King James Bible.
In 1620, The Pilgrim Fathers set sail to America, taking the English Bible with them. This was an immensely important step in the distribution of the bible world-wide. This was further enhanced by the Bible’s use during the expansion of British influence across the world with the East India Company and the establishment of colonies in Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. The Bible was the primary text used for teaching in schools until the 19th century. All of these events aided by the availability of an accepted English text Bible helped make English the most widely accepted language of the world.
That brings us to Today’s Common English Bible. This is a brand new publication of the Bible released this year in the 400th Anniversary of the King James Bible. Why? So people could understand the Bible. The translation involved 24 denominations, 120 Scholars (35% which were women) A First!
Why would they do this? One simple goal - providing the most current and accurate translation of the Bible that was easy to read and understand.
All of that as preface to our passage today which comes from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is teaching on a number of topics, but most importantly He is trying to help people understand how the Kingdom of God works. Jesus, as a teacher, had a goal of trying to make the things of God easy to understand:
“Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Whoever seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door is opened. Who among you will give your children a stone when they ask for bread? Or give them a snake when they ask for fish? If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him." Matthew 7:7-11 CEB
Back then, people had a similar view of God as people do today – you know the view that God is the Big Guy upstairs looking down and pronouncing judgment on all we do – God is the ultimate kill-joy – "that looks like fun, but I can’t God is watching" kind of kill-joy.
Jesus is trying to help them see God in a different light, but I have to admit he seems to be asking some real silly questions . . . Bread or Stones? Fish or snakes? Which would you want? Which would you give?
In the region where Jesus sat with the disciples there were stones that looked somewhat like loaves of bread and there were snakes that looked somewhat like fish. But even with that, how dumb did you have to be to not understand what Jesus was saying about God. I still picture Peter saying, “I’ll take the fish! Lord, Remember that I said fish before anyone else!”
I believe the reality is that God’s word is not hard to understand – until we make it hard. It is man that determines that God’s word is not understandable. It is man that reads new meaning into words. The message is pretty simple:
God loves you.
God wants to have a relationship with you.
But you have a problem that keeps you from this relationship and it is called sin.
Left to our own device we would die in our sin and left to judgment.
God loves us so much He sent his own son so that we might have a right relationship with God.
How many have prayed or even thought: “Life would be so easy if God would just talk to me!”? God on the other hand says, “You’ve got Mail!”
Today the Bible is the must owned book and the least read. 90% of American homes have at least one Bible in them. 80% of Americans admit to rarely reading the Bible and only 20% have ever read the entire Bible. And yet 65% of the people believe the Bible has answers to today’s problems and 76% believe that reading the Bible brings people closer to God.
400 years ago The King James Bible was introduced. Prior to this The Bible in English had been declared illegal . . . Change came . . . God’s word became available to everyone in their common language.
Today we repeat history. Introduce the Common English Bible – easy to read – easy to understand – Truth is the Bible is not hard to understand. Translations and study bibles are aplenty and make reading and understanding easier than ever. Don’t continue to be a statistic. Don’t continue making excuses.
I challenge you to spend five minutes each day reading the Bible. Don’t have a Bible or don’t have a translation you understand? Need a plan? A commitment is important – a plan is equally important because sometimes the mail doesn’t have much to offer on a given day, but we keep checking our inbox and we keep walking to the mailbox to look and we keep hoping. We hope to find something of value. Your relationship with God should be no different, but you have got to check the mail.
President Woodrow Wilson once said, “The bible is the only book I know that I can read everyday and find something new.”
You want to hear what God has to say about your life? You’ve got Mail! It really is that simple.
If you need a Reading plan, contact me direct and I will connect you with a reading plan and the means to read the new Common English Bible - rodney.frieden@inumc.org
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