Luther’s famous 95 Theses mark, in many people’s minds, the beginning of the Reformation in Europe. But his most fundamental work for the Reformation is probably his work of 17 years later…
Luther loved the Bible, but lived at a time when even theological scholars rarely approached the Bible. One of his fellow professors gained his doctorate in theology years before he ever owned a Bible! Luther knew that part of the problem was that the Bible was not accessible. So he concluded that a new translation, in the common language of the German people was necessary.
But his focus in his translation was not to make the Bible accessible to the scholars and theologians; rather, he wanted the ‘tailors and shoemakers, yea, even women and ignorant persons’* to be able to read God’s word.
He dedicated his time in exile to translating the Bible into the common language of the German people for the first time. So committed was he to the ordinariness of the language in the translation, he would take trips into local towns and villages to listen to the way people spoke.
Luther’s translation marked a shift in the church’s approach to the Bible, as Philip Schaff notes:
“The Bible ceased to be a foreign book in a foreign tongue, and became far more clear and dear to the common people. Hereafter the Reformation depended no longer on the works of the Reformers, but on the book of God, which everybody could read for himself as his daily guide in spiritual life.”
It spured on Bible translation in Europe, especially in French, Dutch and English.
But around the world over 500 years later, over 300 million people do not have the Bible in the language they speak and understand best. Find out how you can be part of Bible translation.
*The fact that these people could read and understand the Bible was part of the criticism (from Cochlaeus) of Luther’s translation.
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Tags: Bible translation, German, Martin Luther
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Wycliffe UK and Drew Maust, and pray. and pray said: Martin Luther: 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1586: Luther’s famous 95 Theses mark, in many people’s minds, the … http://bit.ly/fxDdLU [...]
There is a mistake in the title about the date of Luter’s death.
Martin Luter died on 18 February 1546.
Luther, Tyndale and others who translated The New Testament into their languages, were encouraged to do it by Erasmus. Actually, the Bible Translation movement in Europe was started by Erasmus who in 1516 published the New Testament in its original Greek.
“In his preface, Erasmus reveals some of the startling reasons behind his work: I could wish that every woman might read the Gospel and the Epistles of St. Paul. Would that these were translated into each and every language so that they might be read and understood not only by the Scots and Irishmen, but also by Turks and Saracens … Would that the farmer might sing snatches of Scripture at his plow and that the weaver might hum phrases of Scripture to the tune of his shuttle, that the traveler might lighten with stories from Scripture the weariness of his journey.”
Source: http://www.christianhistorytimeline.com/GLIMPSEF/Glimpses/glmps080.shtml
Thank you so much for catching this!
[...] As well as sparking new attitudes about the church, Luther prompted new thinking about the Bible, by translating the Bible into every-day German: His focus in his translation was not to make the Bible accessible to the scholars and theologians; rather, he wanted the ‘tailors and shoemakers, yea, even women and ignorant persons’ to be able to read God’s word. Read more from this earlier post. [...]