As William Tyndale studied the Bible, he became convinced that neither the English laity nor the clergy knew much about its content. On one occasion, a conversation with a priest bolstered that opinion. When the priest declared, “We are better to be without God’s law than the Pope’s,” Tyndale had enough. He retorted that if the Lord let him live long enough, he would cause common children to know more Scripture than the priest.1 That did not take long. For by age 40, he translated much of the Bible into vernacular English, granting common believers the ability to study it for themselves for the first time.

Tyndale was born in England about 1494 into a culture desperately needing correction from God’s Word. In addition to a clergy plagued by biblical illiteracy, churches had obscured some of the Scripture’s most important doctrines, and many religious leaders displayed shocking levels of immorality. Yet Tyndale’s considerable linguistic skills proved a key ingredient to point the nation toward biblical Christianity. Fluent in seven languages—including Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English—he resolved at all costs to translate the New Testament into English.2

Pursuing that aim, he asked the bishop of London, Cuthbert Tunstall, for permission to publish a translation. But Tunstall had no desire to oppose the ban on the English Bible in effect since 1408 and rebuffed him. He sought other avenues of publication yet soon came to realize that neither Tunstall nor King Henry VIII would back down on the ban. Eventually he left for Germany, never to return to his homeland.

When time came to publish his English New Testament, he chose a printer in Cologne. But authorities heard about the project and forbade printing. Having been tipped off, Tyndale grabbed his precious translation, along with an armload of printed pages, and headed up the Rhine River to Martin Luther’s territory of Worms. There another printer produced the first copies.3

By early 1526, copies began to spread throughout England as merchants smuggled them into the country in the containers carrying their goods. In an attempt to deplete the supply, Tyndale’s old nemesis, Bishop Tunstall, bought up every copy he could find and burned them at St. Paul’s Cross Church in London. Tunstall wrote that the Testaments were a “pestiferous and most pernicious poison” that had to be destroyed.4 Despite the expletives, Tyndale rejoiced in Tunstall’s move because the sale brought new funds for the publication of an improved translation—which included an appendix with translations of many Old Testament passages.5

Of course, once his translation hit the streets, Tyndale was a marked man as Henry VIII, Cardinal Wolsey, and Sir Thomas More raged against him.6 Though Tyndale lived with constant danger for 11 years, the Lord protected His servant, even while the English government and Roman Catholic Church diligently sought him out. He was finally taken by his enemies in Antwerp, Belgium. In his early forties, he was first imprisoned, then strangled to death, and finally burned at the stake.7

No one, including Shakespeare, has had greater influence on the English language than William Tyndale. Phrases like “eat, drink, and be merry,” “the powers that be,” “fight the good fight,” “my brother’s keeper,” “the salt of the earth,” and “a man after his own heart” were crafted for his translations and remain part of our regular speech. But more significant than his linguistic impact was his spiritual impact, for almost singlehandedly he brought English-speaking Christians to a new level of biblical literacy. So committed was he to that cause that he sacrificed his life for its realization.
 
Footnotes:
 
1  Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, ed. and abr. G. A. Williamson (London: Secker and Warburg, 1965), 121.
 
2  A. G. Dickens, The English Reformation, 2nd ed. (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1989), 93.
 
3  Paul D. Wegner, The Journey from Texts to Translations: The Origin and Development of the Bible (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1999), 284-285.
 
4  Ibid., 285.
 
5  Ibid., 285-86. Wegner notes that this story is based on true events though it may not be entirely factual.
 
6  See also Kairos Journal article, “John Frith: ‘Content to Suffer for Christ’ — [1532]”.
 
7  Dickens, 95. While English officials were at odds with Tyndale, Charles V, the Holy Roman emperor, was responsible for his capture. Thomas Cromwell and possibly even Henry VIII attempted to intercede and secure his release, but Charles would not relent (Wegner, 286).

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