Earlier this week marked the 500th anniversary of Erasmus’ Novum Instrumentum Omne. The Novum Instrumentum Omne is Desiderius Erasmus’ Greek New Testament of 1516 along with his personal Latin translation. This was the very first printed edition of the New Testament in Greek and is arguably one of the most influential objects in all of biblical scholarship.
Much is unknown about Desiderius Erasmus’ early life, primarily because it was masked in secrecy and shame. Erasmus was born sometime between 1466-1469 as the illegitimate child of a Roman Catholic priest and his Dutch lover Margaret, who some claim was his father’s maid. His situation in life would plague him to the point of eventually seeking a dispensation from the Pope-the only way he could later hold a benefice in the Roman Catholic Church.
Erasmus’ life is a reminder of God’s sovereignty in using creation for his purposes and his powerful hand in preserving his holy scriptures. A reminder of 1 Corinthians 1:26-27,
“For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise…”
Despite his unfortunate childhood, Erasmus received a privileged education at an Augustinian monastery, was ordained as a priest, pursued further education at the University of Paris, and eventually fell in love with the New Testament and therefore quite necessarily, the Greek language. Having been strongly influenced by Renaissance Humanism at university, Erasmus would become a force to be reckoned with against opulence in the Catholic Church earning him the sobriquet “Prince of the Humanists.”
During the time of his study of the New Testament and Greek the Latin Vulgate had enjoyed a 1,000 year reign as the authorized Bible of the Catholic Church, despite the fact Latin had long been a dead language amongst the masses. It was precisely this conundrum and the many errors present in the Latin Vulgate which further ignited his desire to publish a Greek New Testament.
Over the course of many years, travel across Europe, and the tireless effort of collecting multiple Greek manuscripts to aid his research by the grace of God he eventually completed the Novum Instrumentum Omne in 1516. This great task should not be underestimated, Erasmus worked in a time where transportation was on foot or horseback and the internet wasn’t even an imagination, yet his work was largely good.
Further, and this is the area where it has had the greatest impact, his work would pave the way for the translation of the Bible into vernacular and greatly influence the Reformation. Martin Luther heavily relied on Erasmus’ Greek New Testament when translating the New Testament into German. Similarly, William Tyndale would do the same in his English translation, as would Benedek Komjati for his Hungarian translation and Francisco de Enzina with his Spanish translation. By God’s grace and Erasmus’ passionate diligence, Erasmus was used mightily in making the Holy Word of God available to many across the world. James White notes, “God’s Word, in its original tongue, was again available to all, and the effect was electric.”
Eloquently written, one author states of Erasmus’ work:
“ It [Erasmus’s Greek New Testament] was the fountain and source from which flowed the new translations into the vernaculars which like rivers irrigated the dry lands of the mediaeval Church and made them blossom into a more enlightened and lovely form of religion.”
Christians and surely all citizens of this world owe much to Desiderius Erasmus, for by God’s good pleasure and Erasmus’ efforts the very Word of God has been made available in many tongues. God’s sovereignty is on amazing display through the life, work, and ministry of Erasmus. The word of God, namely the Holy Bible, is the very way we learn more about God and his plan for all humanity. Therefore we should cherish these words being translated into our common tongue. Erasmus knew this well, and in concluding our celebration of the 500th anniversary of his work, here are the words of Erasmus:
“Do we desire to learn, is there then any authority better than Christ? We read and reread the works of a friend, but there are thousands of Christians who have never read the gospels and the epistles in all their lives. 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!” What will you find in Thomas, what in Scotus to compare with his teaching? But as there are school masters who by their severity make boys hate learning, so there are Christians so morose as to instill distaste for the philosophy of Christ, which could not be more agreeable. Happy is he whom death overtakes meditating thereon. Let us then thirst for it, embrace it, steep ourselves in it, die in it, be transformed thereby. If any one shows us the footprints of Christ we Christians fall down and adore. If his robe is placed on exhibition do we not traverse the earth to kiss it? A wooden or a stone image of Christ is bedecked with jewels and should we not place gold gems and whatever may be more precious on the gospels which bring Christ closer to us than any paltry image? In them we have Christ speaking, healing, dying, and rising and more genuinely present than were we to view him with the eyes of the flesh.”
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