From Greek to Latin

This major change — when belief in Jesus became enforced by law and shaped by empire — didn’t just affect doctrine and tradition. It affected access to the Bible itself.

What started as a message passed freely from one follower of Jesus to another…

Slowly became a book controlled by a religious system that formed around it.

A book that was only read by a select few, behind stone walls, in a language most people couldn’t understand.

The Rise of the Roman Catholic Church

As Christianity became tied to the Roman Empire, especially after the Edict of Thessalonica in 380 AD (when it became the official state religion), a new religious system began to take shape — one that was no longer just a community of believers, but an institution with growing power, hierarchy, and influence.

Over time, this institutional structure became what we now recognize as the Roman Catholic Church.

The Roman Catholic Church was not formed in one moment, like the founding of a new organization. Instead, it developed over centuries as the simple faith in Jesus became institutionalized and merged with Roman power.

Here are the key milestones that led to what we now call the Roman Catholic Church:

Foundations Laid: 313–380 AD

• 313 AD – Edict of Milan: Christianity was legalized by Emperor Constantine.

• 325 AD – Council of Nicaea: The first major council, called by Constantine, begins defining doctrine with imperial support.

• 380 AD – Edict of Thessalonica: Emperor Theodosius I made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, declaring that all Roman citizens must follow the faith defined by Church leaders in Rome.

• 382 AD – Pope Damasus I commissioned Jerome, a scholar and priest, to translate the Bible from Greek and Hebrew into Latin.

  • Around 405 AD — translation was completed and it became known as the Latin Vulgate “common/popular Latin.”

At this point, the Church and Empire were fully merged. This created a centralized system of power that laid the foundation for what would become the Roman Catholic Church.

Institutional Power Solidified: 400s–600s AD

• The bishop of Rome (eventually called the Pope) began to claim spiritual authority over all churches.

• By the 6th century, with Pope Gregory I (r. 590–604 AD), the Roman Church had a strong hierarchy, formal priesthood, and growing control over doctrine, land, and politics.

This is when the term "Catholic" began to mean not just “universal,” but “the one true Church under Rome.”

Dominance in the Middle Ages: 800s–1500s

• The Roman Catholic Church became the dominant political and spiritual authority in Western Europe.

• It had its own laws, armies, taxes, courts, and claimed power over kings and empires.

• During this time, it also restricted access to scripture, taught salvation through sacraments, and blended faith with fear, tradition, and control.

• 1229 AD — Council of Toulouse, the Roman Catholic Church formally banned laypeople from owning or reading the Bible in their own language

  • Only clergy, trained in Latin, were permitted to read and interpret Scripture.

  • Any unauthorized translation into a local language was considered heretical.

  • Copies of non-Latin Bibles were often burned, and those who possessed them could be imprisoned or executed.

    • By the 13th century, Latin was no longer just a preference — it was mandatory.

    • And the Bible was no longer a shared message — it was controlled by a religious system.

What God Intended All Along

The message of Jesus was never meant to be hidden behind rituals, locked in a language, or controlled by religious systems. From the beginning, God's Word was meant to be heard, understood, and lived out by everyday people — in their own language, in every place.

“Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path.”
— Psalm 119:105

“The unfolding of Your words gives light;
It gives understanding to the simple.”
— Psalm 119:130

Even when access to the Bible was restricted, God was still moving. His Word could not be silenced. And in time, He would raise up men and women to bring it back into the hands of the people.

The Catholic Bible: A Different Canon

As the Roman Catholic Church gained more control over religious life and Scripture, it didn’t just influence how the Bible was read — it also shaped what was considered part of the Bible.

In addition to the 66 books recognized and preserved since the early centuries of Jesus’ followers, the Roman Church began to embrace additional writings in their Old Testament — books that were never part of the Hebrew Scriptures.

What Was Added?

These books, now called the Deuterocanonical books, were written between 200 BC and 100 AD, mostly in Greek, not Hebrew.

They include:

• Tobit

• Judith

• Wisdom of Solomon

• Sirach (Ecclesiasticus)

• Baruch

• 1 Maccabees

• 2 Maccabees (+ added portions in Esther and Daniel)

They were never part of the Hebrew Bible, and were not quoted by Jesus or the apostles as Scripture.

How They Became Part of the Catholic Bible

• 382 AD – Jerome is commissioned by Pope Damasus I to translate the Bible into Latin (the Latin Vulgate).

  • Jerome includes the Deuterocanonical books, but notes that they are not equal to the Hebrew Scriptures.

• 405 AD – Jerome completes most of the Vulgate translation.

• By the 1200s – The Latin Vulgate is treated as the only authorized version of the Bible in Western Europe.

• 1546 AD – At the Council of Trent, the Catholic Church officially declares these additional books as equal to the rest of Scripture.

  • This decision comes over 1,500 years after Jesus and is part of a broader effort to defend Church tradition and teachings.

Why This Matters

From the 4th to the 16th century, Church leadership didn’t just guard the Bible — it defined it.

Ordinary people had no access to Scripture, and no ability to question what was being taught or what belonged in the Bible.

Understanding when and how these changes happened is essential to seeing the difference between the Bible that Jesus’ followers used, and the one that was eventually shaped by Church authority.

For over 1,000 years, access to Scripture was restricted, shaped, and controlled.

But by the late Middle Ages, a growing hunger for truth was rising — and some dared to seek it at great cost.