HISTORY: THE ENGLISH BIBLE
LESSON 2: THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD
Before the time of King Henry VIII the Word of
God had never been translated into English from the original Hebrew (O.T.) and
Greek (N.T.). Back in 1384 a priest named John Wycliffe had given the world a
handwritten English translation but it was from the flawed Latin Vulgate.
However Wycliffe's writings set the stage for others to study the Bible and see
the false doctrines of the Catholic Church. This is why he is called the "morning
star of the Reformation" and is illustrated by the fact that
44 years after his death the Pope ordered Wycliffe's bones dug up, crushed and
then scattered in the river. Wycliffe's Bible awoke the Pope of the threat to
his power when people could read the Scriptures. Since Latin was the official
language of the Church and very few who were not clergy could read it, the
Roman Church outlawed the translation of the Bible into common languages. By
keeping the Bible in a foreign tongue the people only knew what the Church told
them. But during the Crusades in 1453, when the Moslem Turks destroyed
Constantinople, the Christians fled to Florence Italy and brought with them
their libraries. Among their books were ancient copies of the Greek Septuagint (the
translation of the Old Testament into Greek) as well as scrolls of the Greek
New Testament. These manuscripts had not seen the light of day for over a
thousand years but now in the west they would change the religious world
forever. The other important event during this period was Gutenberg's invention
of the movable type printing press. No invention has had a greater effect on
the world and its history than this. The Gutenberg Bible (1455, in Latin) was
the first book ever printed.
Events such as these show God's providence. His
Word had been protected from those who would have destroyed it, interest in the
study of the original Biblical languages was renewed, the faithful translation
of God's word into the language of the common man was now possible and it would
be the uncorrupted Word of God. We could say that God's hand in the affairs of
men brought about His will. The stage was now set for the greatest revolution
since the Son of God was born and the greatest change to religious faith since
the preaching of the Apostles. This lesson is about the man who appeared at
this pivotal point in history and gave us the English Bible. King James you
say? No, he was not a king, just a simple priest who believed that the Bible
should be given to the people. His name was William Tyndale.
We are not sure when William Tyndale was born
but it was around 1494. While that might not be important what he was doing at
the age of 12 is. We find him already a student in Magdalen College at Oxford
University and reading Wycliffe's English translation to his fellow students.
Nothing can be said about Tyndale that is not summed up in the previous
sentence. Here was a man of unusual intellect who learned to read in six
languages. While history is filled with stories of men who wasted their God
given talents on worldly pursuits Tyndale had only one goal in life: Giving
God's Word to the people in a language they could understand. "If God
spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth the plow to know
more of the Scriptures than thou dost." (Said during a dispute with a
prominent clergyman.) Who could say it is a coincidence that he finished his
master's degree (in 1515) just one year before a Catholic scholar by the name
of Erasmus (no, I'm not joking) published "Novum Instrumentum" his
Greek-Latin N.T. from the ancient manuscripts? Erasmus' book not only proved
that the Latin Vulgate was a corrupted translation but it also made the
original Greek text available to this young man who needed it. Providence again!
With God's Word in the original Greek in hand
Tyndale began his work of translation. Finished in 1526 it was the first
printing ever of the New Testament in English. Of the first 18,000 copies printed
only 2 survive. Why? We will get to that later. He then turned his efforts to
the Hebrew Old Testament. By 1530 he had translated and published the first 5
books of the O.T. into English. The next year it was the book of Jonah. Then
the books of Joshua thru 2 Chronicles were finished. But so was the work of
William Tyndale! The persecution of free thinkers had finally caught up with
this man of faith and courage. Someone said that if Tyndale had remained a
Catholic priest "he would no doubt have been canonized as a saint but he
would not have been able to translate the Bible into English." This study,
however, is not a treatise on the life and beliefs of Tyndale but one to help
us appreciate how we got our Bible. Even more important is how the English
words the translators used effect our understanding of God's Word. But let me
highlight William Tyndale's sacrifices.
When he started his translation work Henry VIII
was king but the English church was still under the authority of the Pope. By
1523 he was already having problems with the clergy and they brought charges of
heresy because of his support of Martin Luther. The next year Tyndale tried,
unsuccessfully, to get help from Bishop Tunstall but he was able to escape to
Germany. When his N.T. translation was finished, just two years later, it had to
be smuggled into England in bales of cotton and boxes of tea. The same Bishop
Tunstall ordered that all of his English Bibles be bought and burned. This is
why only two copies of the first printing survive. New laws against dissenters
were also enacted. Anyone preaching adult baptism would be beaten and have
their property confiscated. Some were executed for having a copy of his English
Bible. Thomas Bilney a respected Cambridge preacher was dragged from the pulpit
in 1528 and imprisoned. It was in 1529 that Parliament separated the English
Church from Rome but as we found in Lesson 1 the Church of England is not
Protestant. So in 1531 Thomas Bilney is burned at the stake for being a
Protestant. In 1533 John Frith is also burned for being a Protestant. Of the
hundreds that suffered for their faith I mention these two because they were
friends of Tyndale.
While William Tyndale was translating the Bible
he was constantly on the run. Agents of Henry as well as those of the Pope were
searching for him. He was able to stay one step ahead of them while his work on
the O.T. continued. As each part was completed his friends would have it
printed and then smuggled into England. He also found the time to make
revisions of the N.T. and these too were sent to the people. But in 1535 his
time ran out. One of Henry's agents, Henry Phillips, found Tyndale in Antwerp
being protected by an English merchant, Thomas Poyntz. Phillips waited until
Poyntz was away on a business trip and then had soldiers from the Vatican arrest
him. (Roman and Anglican Catholics often worked together against the
Protestants.) Taken to Vilvoorde prison near Brussels he was locked in the
dungeon. Here he suffered from cold and loneliness for 15 months till finally
he was led out for his public execution. He was strangled and then burned at
the stake. What was William Tyndale's crime? Giving you and I the Bible in
English so we can read it for ourselves! With his last breath he prayed, "Lord,
open the King of England's eyes." I wonder if the pain would have been
lessened if he had known that God would answer his prayer in less than three
years?
P.S. I believe the following letter
written by William Tyndale from Vilvoorde prison, like those of the Apostle
Paul, tell volumes about the man. It did not fit well into my narrative but I
would be amiss if it were not included.
"I believe, rightful worship, that you are
not ignorant of what has been determined concerning me; therefore I entreat
your Lordship, and that by the Lord Jesus, that if I am to remain here during
the winter, you will request the Procurer to be kind enough to send me from my
goods, which he has in his possession, a warmer cap, for I suffer extremely
from cold in the head, being afflicted with a perpetual catarrh, which is
considerably increased in the cell.
"A warmer coat also, for that which I have
is very thin; also a piece of cloth to patch my leggings: my overcoat has been
worn out; my shirts are also worn out. He has a woolen shirt of mine, if he
will be kind enough to send it. I have also with him leggings of thicker cloth
for the putting on above; he also has warmer caps for wearing at night. I wish
also his permission to have a candle in the evening, for it is wearisome to sit
alone in the dark.
"But above all, I entreat and beseech your Clemency to be urgent
with the Procurer that he may kindly permit me to have my Hebrew Bible, Hebrew
Grammar and Hebrew Dictionary, that I may spend my time with that study. And in
return, may you obtain your dearest wish, provided always it be consistent with
the salvation of your soul. But if any other resolutions have been come
concerning me, before the conclusion of winter, I shall be patient, abiding by
the will of God to the glory of the grace of my Lord Jesus Christ, whose
spirit, I pray, may ever direct your heart. Amen.
HIS
REQUESTS WERE NEVER GRANTED!