Honouring William Tyndale: The Great Bible Translator and Martyr for Christ — Marking the 500th Anniversary of the Tyndale English N.T. Publication

On October 6, 1536, one of the greatest Bible translators the world has ever known was martyred for his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word, and for distributing the Scriptures. After his betrayal by a false Judas-like friend in Belgium where he was a fugitive from the Catholic tyrants in England who wanted him dead, and then spending a very uncomfortable year imprisoned in Vilvorde Castle near Antwerp, Belgium, Tyndale was escorted to his fiery death, witnessed by his wife and children.

From his prison cell Tyndale wrote to his friend, John Frith (himself awaiting martyrdom in England), concerning his fervent trust in the Lord and his reverence for His Word:

"For I call God to record against the day we shall appear before our Lord Jesus, to give a reckoning of our doings, that I never altered one syllable of God’s Word against my conscience, nor would this day, if all that is in the earth, whether it be pleasure, honour or riches might be given me. Moreover I take God to record to my conscience that I desire of God to myself, in this world, no more than that without which I cannot keep His laws." (Robert Demaus, William Tyndale, A Biography: A Contribution to the Early History of the English Bible, Richard Lovett, ed., 1886, p. 336)

The last words Tyndale spoke while burning at the stake were,

“Lord, open the kind of Englands eyes.”

God would providentially answer Tyndale's last petition, first King Henry VIII, and then later King James I in approving an authorized English translation by the works of the greatest translating team ever put together. In the same year that Tyndale was martyred, King Henry VIII issued the Royal Warrant for placing one Bible in every parish church throughout the land. Tyndale’s prayer was answered, and nearly five hundred years later all who consider themselves English believers still benefit from his life and work. In spite of Roman Catholicism's hatred for William Tyndale and the Word of God, the Scriptures would be vastly distributed at the command of the king, through the providence of God who's merciful desire is that all have the ability to read His Word in their tongue.

You see, years prior to this, when a high-ranking and learned Roman Catholic priest uttered the blasphemous words, "We were better to be without God’s laws than the Pope’s" while visiting the home where Tyndale tutored the children of Sir John Walsh, Tyndale responded with these memorable words,

"I defy the pope and all his laws . . . If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth the plough to know more of the Scriptures than thou dost." (John Foxe, Book of Martyrs, p. 225)

William appears to not be the only one in the family to have been martyred for the faith. His niece Margaret Tyndale was married to Protestant martyr Rowland Taylor, who was burnt during the Marian Persecutions, referring to the blood-thirst of Queen Mary I, who slaughtered hundreds of professing Christians during her short reign of 3 years snd 10 months 1556-1558 (and attempted to completely eradicate all English translations, namely the works of Tyndale) which we briefly write about here: All Things Work Out For Good to Them that Love God — The Remarkable Testimony of the Last Christian on Queen “Bloody” Mary’s Execution Roll.

But Tyndale's voice was not silenced by his death. In the wonderful providence of our Lord, roughly 90% of our great and majestic Authorized Version King James Bible NT comes from the very pen of William Tyndale--a fact many are unaware of--the great and mighty Bible translator for God. Furthermore, few people acknowledge Tyndale’s scholarship and contribution to the English OT. By the time of his death, he had translated large parts of the OT. The KJV is the only English version available today which is not copyrighted outside England. Everyone can freely use it and reproduce it, and so it should be. Many other professing believers have suffered hardships, persecuted and even burned at the stake for trying to translate or distribute the Scriptures, such as John Wycliffe and John Huss, but nowadays, a person could be taken to court and held liable for reproducing a modern version without the written permission of the copyright owner! You know when a "Bible" is copyrighted, something is dreadfully wrong. We write further on the subject of Bible versions in our report: Why Modern Bible Versions are Corrupt, and the King James Version is Not.

Tyndale was a man of one Book. He gave his life because of his love for the Word of God, and love for the Lord Jesus Christ. He was a great true scholar, but a humble scholar with a warm, saved and sanctified heart, and a concern for the ordinary people and their conversion. He was a genius as well, so fluent in eight languages that it was said one would think any one of them to be his native tongue. He is frequently referred to as the “Architect of the English Language,” (even more so than William Shakespeare) as so many of the phrases Tyndale coined are still in our language today. Tyndale additionally holds the distinction of being the first man to ever actually print the NT in the English language. For the glorious work of Tyndale, England and the entire English speaking world owes him an eternal debt of gratitude.

The following excellent documentary on Tyndale was produced by the Trinitarian Bible Society out of England, an excellent God-honouring organization, which all Bible-believing Christians should be well acquainted with.

“The Trinitarian Bible Society is pleased to share this documentary on the life and work of William Tyndale commemorating the 500th anniversary of the publication of the English New Testament. We hope this account of Tyndale’s life may stir you to treasure the Scriptures and to cherish the legacy of faithful Bible translation. Share this documentary with others that they too may be encouraged."