The Tyndale Bible

     

Whether you realise it or not, William Tyndale has had an effect upon all our lives. When he was born, c1491, the only version of the Bible allowed in England was in Latin.  It was thus a 'closed book' even to most clergymen.

One day at dinner, Tyndale announced to a visiting clergyman that if God spared him he meant to translate the Bible so that ploughboys should be more educated than the clergyman himself.  He spent the rest of his life devoted to keeping that vow.

Tyndale's life
There was no support for translating the Bible into English at home so he went to Germany in 1524. He never returned to England, but lived a hand-to-mouth existence, dodging the   authorities of the Roman church. The first complete printed New Testament in English appeared in February 1526. Copies began to arrive in England about a month later, sometimes wrapped in bales of wool or cloth, or sacks of flour. Church authorities burned them and of the 18,000 printed only two copies have survived. 

Tyndale became the first man to translate anything from Hebrew into English (the Old Testament), as Hebrew was virtually unknown in England at that time. There was a heavy price to pay for all this.  A fanatical Englishman, Henry Phillips, betrayed him to the Antwerp authorities and had him kidnapped.  On the morning of 6th October 1536, now in the hands of the secular forces, he was taken to his place of execution, tied to the stake, strangled and burned. His last words reportedly were: "Oh Lord, open the King of England's eyes." 

By the time of his early death, he had translated The New Testament and a substantial part of the Old Testament. It is estimated that 83% of the New Testament in the 'King James' version of the Bible is Tyndale's work. 

Tyndale was one of the greatest Christian men this country has produced, a scholar, a martyr and a very brave man.

Phrases from Tyndale
Tyndale’s honesty and skill in rendering the Greek and Hebrew into English is widely recongised today. Many well-known phrases we use today came directly from Tyndale’s translations: 

"let there be light" 

(Genesis 1)

"the powers that be" 

(Romans 13)

"my brother's keeper" 

(Genesis 4)

"the salt of the earth" 

(Matthew 5)

"a law unto themselves" 

(Romans 2)

"filthy lucre"

(1st Timothy 3)

"fight the good fight" 

(1st Timothy 6)