Originally in Latin.
Only the priests could read and decipher it for the masses.
They could change the stories as necessary, to fit their sermons.

King Henry the 8th had it translated.

@KevinAverett It was originally in greek, These were the only copies of many documents since Rome burned the entire area of Judea after the uprising in 66 CE. All people were exiled and every document burned and every building leveled. The Greeks were the chronicallers of knowledge. The Greek was not translated into Latin until around the 4 th century CE. Latin was the language of the Roman empire and the language of commerce even after the fall of the Holy Roman empire (approx 800=1806CE) Since the church was based in Rome and the leaders were primarily Italian, Latin became the language of the Roman church. The Greek church still used the Greek texts.

@glennlab However, the Council of Nicea in 325 actually codified the first bible. A bunch of old bishops brought all the stories from their areas and decided which ones to include and then wrote them down to suit their biases.

Someone knocked on my door once wanting to know if I chose jesus as my lord and savior and I asked him that same question. He couldn't answer and I closed my door.

Maybe I should put "damning" rather.