William Tyndale: Protestant Reformer Who Gave us the English Bible
Summer 2021
In sixteenth century Britain and Europe, Protestant reformers stood against the Roman Catholic Church’s false teaching. Their testimony for Christ brought about the famous Protestant Reformation. William Tyndale, a remarkable reformer, translated the Bible from Greek and Hebrew into English. Translators used much of Tyndale’s Bible to translate our King James Bible in 1611.
William Tyndale was born in the 1490s in Gloucestershire, England. He was educated at Oxford and Cambridge Universities and spoke seven languages. He was most skilled in Greek and Hebrew, which helped him greatly when translating the Bible into English. Even though he loved academic subjects, he mostly loved learning the Bible. He had come to understand justification by faith through Christ alone while reading a Greek version of the New Testament by an important Dutch scholar, Erasmus.
At eighteen, Tyndale became a priest in the Roman Catholic Church, but he soon realized most fellow priests did not even read the Bible. They only knew readings from Latin Mass books, but they didn’t study the Bible nor did they teach salvation through Christ alone. Tyndale also began to understand their dishonesty and greed when he saw them telling people that their family members would go to heaven if they gave money to the church. These payments were called indulgences.
William loved “the truth as it is in Jesus” and really wanted others to find true saving faith in Christ and reject the church’s false teaching. He often argued with other priests about their false doctrine. He told one priest: “If God spare my life... the ploughboys will know more of the Bible than many... priests do.” So, he set about translating the New Testament into English so ordinary people could read Scripture in their own language rather than not understanding what they heard in Latin during weekly Mass.
Translating the Bible was illegal in England, but Tyndale began anyway. Shortly after, Tyndale was found out and fled to Europe. He began translating again in a town called Worms (pronounced Vorms) in Germany. Here, he published the entire New Testament in English. The printing press had been invented by Johannes Gutenberg in 1440, just 86 years before Tyndale published his New Testament. Isn’t God’s timing amazing?
Since Tyndale was forbidden to go home, how was he going to distribute Bibles there? He and some friends formed a plan. They smuggled Bibles by ship, hidden in boxes of wheat and other goods. Friends of Tyndale secretly handed out Bibles to as many people as they could all across England.
At the time, England’s Roman Catholic king, Henry VIII, found out about Tyndale’s Bible and made a law forbidding anyone to have a copy. London’s bishop was so determined to destroy Tyndale’s Bibles that he gave money to a business friend of Tyndale’s to buy all of his Bibles. Then, he burned them. He thought he had stopped Tyndale’s work. But Tyndale’s friend gave the bishop’s money to Tyndale who used the funds to print an even better edition of the English Bible and even more copies! Many more people in England were now reading the Scripture in their own language. The bishop’s plan had been defeated!
Soon after, Tyndale was betrayed by a man he thought was a friend. He was arrested in Europe and was sent to prison in Brussels, Belgium for a year and a half. Then, sadly, in 1536, he was tied to a wooden stake, strangled, and his body was burned. He was fifty-two. What hatred these men had for God’s Word! Tyndale’s last words rang out for all around to hear: “Oh Lord, open the king of England’s eyes.” Knowing he was going to die at the hands of evil men, he still wanted them to come to Christ. A year after Tyndale’s death, his prayer was answered. Henry VIII decreed that a copy of Tyndale’s Bible be placed in every church in England.
So often, we neglect our Bibles without giving thought to people, like Tyndale, who risked their lives to bring us God’s Word in our language. Never take your Bible for granted. Spend time reading it daily, and ask the Lord to help you understand it and live out what it teaches.
Rachel Hamilton