Erasmus yearned to popularize the New Testament, to make the Bible and the understanding of Scripture available to everyone - to 'the farmer, the tailor, the mason, prostitutes, pimps, and Turks, ' in his words. He therefore composed paraphrases in order to simplify and explain Scripture. The Paraphrases were successful beyond his expectations and were quickly translated into French, German, English and other languages. In them the words...