Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith… - Colossians 2:6

Eusebius Hieronymus Sophronius is a man every Christian should know a little about, but few actually do. The chances of knowing him increase, however, when he is referenced not by his given name, but by the name his friends and family utilized—Jerome.

This coming Sunday we will talk about what it means to “walk in Christ,” and we will see that part of the answer to this inquiry is that we be men and women who read and understand God’s word. We can do so in large part because of Jerome. He was arguably the greatest scholar in Christianity by the time he was in his mid-thirties. He committed almost thirty years of his life to creating a Latin translation of the Bible that was so well done, so accurate, it became the standard for all other translations for almost one thousand years. We know it today as the Latin Vulgate, or, more literally, the Latin Bible in the "common language.”

Jerome studied in Rome, but rather than follow the decadent pleasures that were available in the capital city of the Empire, he pursued the life of a devout Christian. Eventually he went to the Holy Land and studied Greek in Antioch. It was here that he had a famous dream. In his dream, he was brought before a court presided over by God. The books were opened and Jerome heard the verdict on his life: "Ciceronianus es, non Christianus," (you are a follower of Cicero, not of Christ). Jerome had become a great lover of classic Greek literature, for which Cicero was well known, not a lover of God's word. After receiving the dream, Jerome vowed to make the study of God's word his primary task in life.

In the year 382 Jerome went back to Rome to serve as the secretary to Pope Damasus, but his great learning and sharp tongue got him into trouble with the pleasure-seeking papacy and the Romans. It was said that he "detested most of the Romans and did not apologize for detesting them." He chided the church clerics for their lack of faith and charity, writing about them, "They have not faith nor mercy, but what they do have, silver and gold—well, those they do not give to others either."

Jerome was eventually run out of Rome and back to the Holy Land, this time to Bethlehem, where he lived in a monastery. There, he completed his great work, translating the Scriptures from the original Hebrew and Greek into the common Latin of his day. In his desire for absolute accuracy, he consulted Jewish rabbis and non-Christian Greek scholars, anyone who could reasonably enlighten him as he strove for clarity and readability. As previously mentioned, for the next one thousand years scholars translated the Bible into other languages utilizing Jerome's Latin Vulgate rather than the Hebrew and Greek texts.

Jerome loved God's word, and he wanted everyone to be able to read it. The Scriptures became accessible to the common people, but just as importantly, they transformed the life of Jerome as well. They will transform our lives, as well, if we make it our pleasure and discipline to read them, know them, and live by them. This is a large part of what it means to walk in Christ, and we can be thankful that God has provided for us many great scholars over the centuries to bring to us God’s word in our own heart language.

As you have received Christ, my friends, walk in him. In other words, live as if your faith means something to you. How will you know how to walk in such a way as to point others to Jesus? God’s word, living and active, percolating in your life and saturating your thinking and your subsequent actions will be your primary guide.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Jym

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