Before William Tyndale, if you were fortunate you may have had access to John Wycliffe's outlawed version of the Holy Scriptures. Which was written in Latin Vulgate and would have read like this:
In principio creavit Deus caelum et terram. Terra autem erat inanis et vacua et tenebrae errant super faciem abyssi, et spiritus Dei ferebatur super aquas. Dixitque Deus: Fiat lux. Et facta est lux.Translated:
Latin was the only language the Bible was written in legally, and all that any Englishman knew about. It was the church father Jerome who translated the scriptures over a millennium ago. That was until William Tyndale would start translating the Hebrew, which would lead to a great reform in both England and the English language.
The Hazards of Translating into English
In today's world it is hard to grasp how the English Christian church of the time could possibly disapprove of any translation of God's Holy word. But in the 1500s English church authorities began banning and burning what they thought of as heretical books. This included early versions of Tyndale's New Testament in English.
The English Language is an Irrelevant Language
Thought of as a silly and ridiculous idea, “was a poor thing, spoken only by a few in an island off the shelf of Europe. . . . In 1500 it was as irrelevant to life in Europe as today’s Scots Gaelic is to the city of London” says Daniell (The Bible in English, 248).
For the rich and powerful of the land Latin was the chosen language and used for literary prose and learning.
A Brief Account of William Tyndale's Life
Tyndale grew up wearily listening to the Latin translation of the Bible, but hungered for an English version for every man. But it was through Tyndale's defiance of the Catholic church that he said, “We were better be without God’s law than the pope’s,” he answered, “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, shall know more of the scripture than thou dost” (William Tyndale, 79).
Tyndale went on to say that the gospel of the Scriptures “maketh a man’s heart glad, and maketh him sing, dance, and leap for joy” (123).
And so Tyndale's journey would start, first he would seek out help and support in London.
The Power of the English Language
It's thanks to William Tyndale that the English language holds the power it has today. Tyndale would translate the Holy Scriptures with such subtlety and profundity that, as one man said, ‘Without Tyndale, no Shakespeare’” (William Tyndale, 158).
The Bible into English
Tyndale was driven by precision and accuracy, giving the new translation a freshness, but yet stayed faithful to the Middle Eastern roots.
Tyndalisms (new words) were created, words like Intercession, atonement, Passover, mercy seat, scapegoat. Alistair McGrath would comment, “It can be seen immediately that biblical translation thus provided a major stimulus to the development of the English language, not least by creating new English words to accommodate biblical ideas” (The Word of God in English, 61).
Tyndale did something no other translation of the Bible did at that time, that was to create a Hebraic version of English, in the pattern of his native tongue. Assembling simple phrasing and sentences like“the+noun+of+the+noun” — “the beasts of the field,” “the birds of the air”.
The Holy Scriptures Written in Simple Tyndalian Language
You won't find in Tyndale's translation any complex syntax or Latin. Such was Tyndale's commitment to clarity.
It was thanks to Tyndale's New Testament being smuggled into England that the English Bible emerged. Capturing the hearts and minds of English Speaking believers. The King James version that was translated three centuries later, 84 per cent of the New Testament comes from the Tyndale translation. Along with 76 per cent of the Old Testament. C.S. Lewis would say of the King James Bible, “Our Bible is substantially Tyndale” (Word of God in English, 60).
Thank You William Tyndale
It's thanks to William Tyndale that he reformed the language and the theology, and even though he lost his life through fire, God's word would stay strong and true in men's hearts to this day.
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