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“When & Why were the Tyndale New Testament, the Coverdale & Geneva Bibles Replaced?”

by R.P. McLellan

I have wondered for a while now just why the Tyndale New Testament and the Coverdale and Geneva Bibles were replaced by the
King James Version. Please keep in mind that I love my King James Bible and believe it to be the Holy Scriptures translated into the
English language.

When I posed my questions regarding this matter to others, I was advised various things by several individuals.

The first thing I was told was that Christian people preferred the King James over the Geneva Bible. After learning that the notes in
the Geneva Bible were by and large straight on the Doctrines of Grace, I had my doubts this was true.

Next I was advised it was because that both King James and the religious leaders in England (note I said religious, not Christian)
wanted a translation of the Bible without the “Grace notes.”

I tended to believe the latter and highly suspected that the reason the Geneva Bible was abandoned was because it ceased being
printed and being of a highly suspicious sort in matters like this, I sensed a conspiracy of sorts behind the matter entire.

The Evidence

From: 'House of Lords Journal Volume 17: 8 January 1703', Journal of the House of Lords: volume 17: 1701-1705, pp. 205-31

“Bills containing Penalties, Precedents of their Beginning in this House; or altered here, when brought from H. C.”

The Lord Steward reported from the Lords Committees (appointed to inspect the Records for Precedents where Bills with Penalties
have begun in the House of Peers; as also where Penalties in Bills begun in the House of Commons, which Penalties have been altered
in the House of Peers;) the several Precedents found by them.

Which were read by the Clerk, and are as follow:

"The Committee, appointed to inspect the Records for Precedents where Bills with Penalties have begun in the House of Peers, as
also where Penalties in Bills begun in the House of Commons have been altered in the House of Peers, have begun their Search as
high as the 12th Year of King Henry the Seventh (there being no Records before that Time remaining in the Parliament Office). They
find many Acts with Penalties begun in the House of Lords; and also many Acts for the reviving and repealing of Acts with Penalties
begun there: They find many Instances of Acts with Penalties, begun in the House of Commons, where the Lords have increased,
lessened, and altered the Penalties, and have distributed them otherwise than was done by the House of Commons.

"The Particulars follow:

34 H. VIII. C. 1. N. 1. An Act for the Advancement of true Religion.

"Buyer of Books, brought from beyond Sea to sell again, forfeits 6 s. 8 d.

"Buyer of Books of any Stranger, to forfeit 6 s. 8 d.

"Printer or Bookbinder, printing or selling prohibited Books, to forfeit for every Book £. 10.; for every other Offence, to forfeit all his
Goods.

"Person having in his Custody any Book condemned, to forfeit £. 5. for every Book; or having in his Custody any Bible with Annotations
or Preambles, to forfeit 40 s.

Let’s back up and take a look at this a bit more closely. There was a committee appointed to inspect records of legal precedents
dating as early as the 12th year of King Henry the 7th’s reign. Basically, these men were cleaning house, if you will. (There IS a first
time for everything.) The legal precedents had to be gathered from both the House of Commons and the House of Peers. They
found legal acts with penalties affixed to them in the House of Lords. There were even Acts of Law they found that had been
repealed. This committee set about altering some of the legal precedents and acts; the entire list of which is amazingly long and
tedious.

The above referenced Acts of Law originated in the Reign of King Henry the 8th who was King of England from 1509 – 1547, and the
man who was responsible for severing ties between the English state church and Roman Catholicism. As a result, Henry became the
head of the Church of England and of course saw to it that certain laws were enacted “for the advancement of true Religion.”

It’s interesting to note that during Henry’s reign the first Scriptures were translated into the English language; the first of which was
Tyndale’s New Testament which was completed between the years 1525-35. Since Tyndale was put to death for this “offence,” he
was unable to finish the English translation of the Old Testament; a job which Myles Coverdale completed in his stead in the year 1535.

John Rogers was next to translate the Scriptures into English called the Matthew’s Bible in the year 1537 and in 1560, the Geneva
Bible was completed, the last official printing of which was done in Amsterdam in 1644. (There have been private company printings of
the Geneva Bible and it can be purchased today, albeit, at a very high price.)

All of these English translations which I have listed had annotations and preambles. Therefore from the beginning of Tyndale’s New
Testament in 1525 through the year 1705, the penalties for possessing any of these translations were very high indeed.

For the act of being a "Buyer of Books, brought from beyond Sea to sell again,” the fine was 6 shillings and 8 pence.

For being a “Buyer of Books of any Stranger,” the fine was 6 shillings, 9 pence.

For being engaged as a “Printer or Bookbinder, printing or selling prohibited Books,” the penalty was 10 pence per book (and no,
they didn’t get to keep the books after paying the fine) and if that Printer or Bookbinder repeated the offence, he lost all his
worldly possessions.

Lastly, to be a "Person having in his Custody any Book condemned,” the fine was 50 pence per book and to be guilty of the heinous
crime of “having in his Custody any Bible with Annotations or Preambles,” the fine was 40 shillings.

To fully appreciate the magnitude of these fines today, I quote from “Currency, Coinage & the Cost of Living
Pounds, Shillings & Pence: Purchasing Power 1674-1834”

“a parish pauper could hope for a weekly pension between a few pence and a few shillings. For a young boy chopping wood the
going rate was 1 ½ pence per hour, while a porter could expect a penny for shifting a bushel of coal. A waterman would expect six
pence to take you from Westminster to London Bridge, while a barber asked the same to dress your wig and give you a shave.”

It is no longer any mystery to me why the King James Version became the most accepted and widely used English Translation of
Scripture. The price of using anything apart from it meant a fine so very high that the average worker could not pay and thus would
be cast into a debtor’s prison for which there was no set time frame and even if they could pay for the initial fine, any subsequent
offence meant the loss of all they owned, which according to the laws of that day, would have meant being imprisoned also as they
were persons without means of subsistence.

May we ever be truly thankful for the blessings and freedoms the Lord has given us in our time!

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness
That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17

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