According to Beza, this Church was formed about 120 A.D.1 Its Latin Bible (the "Italic" or "Itala") which represents the Received Text (Syrian) was translated from the Greek not later than 157 A.D.2 It is recognized that Jerome's Vulgate is the "Itala" (the "Old Latin") with the readings of the Received Text removed.3 The leadership of the Reformation - German, French and English - was convinced that the Received Text (TR) was the genuine New Testament, "not only because of its own irresistible history and internal evidence, but also because it matched with the Received Text which in Waldensian form had come down from the days of the apostles."4

In producing his translation Luther referred to the Tepl ms which agreed with the "Old Latin" version that was anterior to Jerome. This Tepl ms represented a translation of the Waldensian Bible into the German dialect which was spoken before the time of the Reformation. This undoubtedly was the reason the Roman Church reproved Luther for "following the Waldenses".5 Moreover, the translators of 1611 had before them four Bibles which had come under Waldensian influences: the Dioadati in Italian, the Olivetan in French, the Lutheran in German, and the Genevan in English. Strong evidence exists that they also had access to at least six Waldensian Bibles written in the old Waldensian vernacular.6

Dr. Frederick Nolan, who had already acquired eminence for his Greek and Latin scholarship and research into Egyptian chronology, spent twenty-eight years in tracing the Received Text back to its apostolic origin.7 His investigations showed that the Italic New Testament of the primitive Christians of northern Italy, the lineal descendants of the Waldenses, was in fact the Received Text. He found remains of the primitive Italic version embedded in the early translations made by the Waldenses thereby carrying the Waldensenian text back to the A.D. 157 "Old Latin" version - thus attesting to the antiquity of the Textus Receptus.8

Gilly's studies conducted in the mountains of the Piedmont among the Waldenses led him to pen:

"The method which Allix has pursued, in his History of the Churches of Piedmont, is to show that in the ecclesiastical history of every century, from the fourth century, which he considers a period early enough for the enquirer after apostolical purity of doctrine, there are clear proofs that doctrines, unlike those which the Romish Church holds, and conformable to the belief of the Waldensian and Reformed Churches, were maintained by theologians of the north of Italy down to the period, when the Waldenses first came into notice. Consequently the opinions of the Waldenses were not new to Europe in the eleventh or twelfth centuries, and there is nothing improbable in the tradition, that the Subalpine Church persevered in its integrity in an uninterrupted course from the first preaching of the Gospel in the valleys."9

1 Peter Allix, The Ecclesiastical History of the Churches of Piedmont, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1821; 1st pub. 1690), p. 177.

2 Scrivener, A Plain Introduction, op. cit., Vol. II, p. 43.

3 Kenyon, Our Bible And The Ancient Manuscripts, op. cit., pp. 169-170; cp. pp. 139-44, 238-243.

4 Wilkinson, Our Authorized Bible Vindicated, op. cit., pp. 37-38.

5 Ernesto Comba, History of The Waldenses of Italy, (London: n.p., 1889), pp. 190-192.

6 Wilkinson, Our Authorized Bible Vindicated, op. cit., p. 40.

7 Ibid.

8 Nolan, An Inquiry, op. cit., pp. xvii-xviii. Although Dr. Nolan's study revealed that the old Waldensian Bible was Byzantine in nature and taken from the Old Latin, Dr. Letis informs us (1-21-1989 correspondence to Moorman) that no Byzantine Old Latin is known to be extant. The painstakingly detailed learned work by Nolan chiefly presents evidence to overthrow the critical system of Griesbach and to establish that the Byzantine, not the Alexandrian, codices are the most reliable. He stated that no reliance could be placed on the printed editions of Origen's works, on the accuracy of his quotations or on the MSS from which he quoted "Scripture" (pp. 320-321).

9 W.S. Gilly, Waldensian Researches During a Second Visit to the Vaudois of Piedmont, (London: n.p., 1831), pp. 118-119.

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