Erasmus - 30 October 2016 – Christ Church St Lawrence.
This week marks the 550th birthday of the renaissance scholar, Desiderius Erasmus. This year
also marks the 500th anniversary of the publication of his Greek New Testament, which – as
we will explore tonight – was a pivotal turning point in New Testament scholarship. Tonight
is an opportunity to thank God for what he has brought about through the work of Erasmus.
Erasmus was born on October 27, 1466 in Rotterdam. After both his parents died of the
plague, Erasmus was raised by monks in a monastery, where he developed a love of books
and learning. In time, he left the monastery to study at the University of Paris, where he
became a leading renaissance scholar, studying ancient Greek and Latin texts.
The catch-cry of the renaissance movement was “ad fontes” – back to the sources. Erasmus’
great contribution was to provide widespread access the original source documents of the
New Testament – that it, in its original Greek. For ten centuries, the only version of the Bible
Christians in Western Europe knew was the Latin Vulgate. The Vulgate was read out in
church, preached from, and formed the basis of Christian Theology.
In 1504, Erasmus discovered a work by Lorenzo Valla which compared various Greek
manuscript versions of Paul's Epistles. Inspired by Valla, Erasmus decided to publish a
critical edition of the Greek New Testament, which synthesises the best available manuscript
evidence into a single text. Erasmus did preparatory work while he served as a professor at
Cambridge from 1510-1515, and then over a period 10 months prepared his first Greek New
Testament, using a number of 12th century Byzantine texts. By modern standards, these texts
are far from ideal in their quality. For example, not text had a complete edition of Revelation,
which forced Erasmus to back-translate the last six verses from Latin into Greek. But for his
day, it was a remarkable achievement.
On March 1, 1516, the first ever printed edition of the Greek New Testament was published.
The fact that it was printed meant that the Greek New Testament was now available to much
wider audience.
Why was Erasmus’ desire to get “back to the sources” this such an important milestone and
turning point in Christian history?
Firstly, back to the sources meant “back to the Christ’s scriptures”
For Erasmus, the Bible was no mere object of scholarly interest. The preface to his Greek
New Testament is entitled “An exhortation to the diligent study of Scripture”, in which
Erasmus reminds his reader that the New Testament is a book without peer; He describes it as
‘The immortal fountain of Christ’s pure philosophy.’ Moreover, it was not just a record of
long-dead wisdom, but rather is the means by which Christ continues to speak to us. Erasmus
stresses that the New Testament is the testament of Jesus. Erasmus writes:
‘In this, his Testament, he speaks, breaths and lives among us in a manner more effectually
than when his body was presently conversant in this world. The Jews neither saw nor heard
so much as you may daily both hear and see in the Scripture.’ End Quote
Erasmus’ exhortation to get back the sources Christ’s teaching awakened a new season in
Biblical scholarship. Thomas Cranmer, later Archbishop Cranmer, was one of many young
scholars of that era who were deeply influenced by Erasmus’ teaching. These young scholars
came to regard the dominant Scholastic theology of the day as tainted, and that it was critical
to get back the authentic voice of the scriptures, in their original Greek (and Hebrew too for
that matter). Erasmus almost singlehandedy revived the study of New Testament Greek that
broke the stranglehold of latin in the theologivcal world and enabled subsequent generations
to learn Greek and translate the bible for themselves.
Secondly, – and somewhat paradoxically – “back to the sources” led to the translation
of the scriptures into vernacular languages.
In the preface, Erasmus wrote
I would desire that all women should read the gospel and Paul's epistles, and I would to God
they were translated in to the tongues of all men, so that they might not only be read, and
known, of the Scots and Irishmen, but also of the Turks and Saracens... I would to God, the
plowman would sing a text of the scripture at his plowbeam, and that the weaver at his
loom…
Because the New Testament where Christ’s scriptures, not only was it important for scholars
to be able to hear that original voice, but it was also essential for all of God’s people to have
access to this, in their own language.
Others took up Erasmus’ challenge to do this. Erasmus prepared five successive editions of
the work, each an improvement on the former (1519, 1522, 1527, 1535). The second (1519)
edition served as the basis for Martin Luther’s translation of the New Testament into German.
Erasmus' third edition New Testament was used to produce the translations of William
Tyndale, and the Geneva Bible.
His four edition was the basis of the GNT produced by Stephaus, which was the basis of the
KJV.
The countless millions who hear and read the scriptures in their own language owe a great
and unacknowledged debt to Erasmus.
Thirdly, “back to the sources” led to rediscovered biblical doctrines that shaped the
reformation.
One famous example is Luther great discovery on the true meaning of “repentance”.
The Latin Vulgate had translated Jesus’ call to “repent” as ‘peontitentiam agite’ – that is, ‘do
penance’, and it was on the that medieval theology of the sacrament of penance was based.
Luther was reading Erasmus’ Greek new Testament, and he saw that the word for repentance
is “metanoia” – a compound meta – change and noia – mind. Luther realised that repentance
is a change of mind, a reorientation of life.
As a result, Luther wrote: “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said ‘Repent’, He meant
that the entire life of believers should be a life of repentance. The word cannot be understood
as referring to the sacrament of repentance – that is, confession and satisfaction – as
administered by the priests’.
Erasmus legacy is a biblical scholarship that continues to go back to the sources, to seek to
understand the scriptures as God inspired them.
Tonight, as we recognise and thank God for Erasmus, it seems that a fitting way to honour
him would be to follow his example, and read, mark, learn and inwardly digest the inspired
words of the New Testament.
Let me leave you with Erasmus’ own exhortation on this subject.
The Mohammadans study the Koran, and Jews peruse Moses. Why do we not the same for
Christ? He is our only doctor. On him the Spirit descended and a voice said, “Hear ye him!”
…Let us then thirst for it, embrace it, steep ourselves in it, die in it, be transformed
thereby…In [the gospels] we have Christ speaking, healing, dying, and rising and more
genuinely present than were we to view him with the eyes of the flesh.”
Sources
The sermon above was drawn from a number of sources. As it was intended for verbal
delivery, these sources have not been referenced in the text. For original material, see
Important Biographies
Roland H. Bainton, Erasmus of Christendom (1969)
Margaret M. Phillips, Erasmus and the Northern Renaissance (1949)
Johan Huizinga, Erasmus and the Age of Reformation (1957)
Online
https://biblicalexegete.wordpress.com/2016/10/06/the-500th-anniversary-year-of-erasmusedition-of-the-greek-new-testament-three-reasons-why-it-matters-today/
https://juicyecumenism.com/2016/03/04/happy-500th-anniversary-to-erasmus-novuminstrumentum-omne/
http://www.bpnews.net/46449/erasmus-greek-nt-changed-history-500-years-ago
http://www.reformation21.org/articles/church-historys-greatest-myths.php