Do you love the Bible? Are you thankful to read the Word of God? Do you appreciate the beauty of the King James Version?

Those who cherish God’s Word should know William Tyndale, a man who did more to give us the Bible in the English language than any other.

William Tyndale was a priest with a disciplined life and tremendous intellectual gifts. He spoke seven languages and was proficient in ancient Hebrew and Greek. Biblical scholars have estimated that three-fourths of the King James Version of the Bible came from the translation of William Tyndale.

After reading Erasmus’ Greek Edition of the New Testament, Tyndale had one compulsion: to teach the English people the good news of justification by faith. What better way to teach this doctrine of salvation than to translate the New Testament into English and put it in the hands of the people? Translating the Bible became Tyndale’s life passion.

Tyndale was born in 1494 in Gloucester and began his studies at Oxford in 1510. In 1523 he sought permission from the Bishop of London to translate the New Testament. He soon learned his project would not be welcomed anywhere in England.

Tyndale then moved to the free cities of Europe. In 1525 he published the first English translation of the Greek New Testament. Authorities quickly bought up all copies in order to keep them out of the hands of the people (unwittingly helping Tyndale finance his translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew into English). Tyndale moved to Antwerp and for nine years evaded authorities while revising his New Testament and translating the Old.

In May 1535 Tyndale was captured and accused of heresy. In August 1536, he was condemned as a heretic, degraded from the priesthood, and delivered to the secular authorities. On Friday, October 6, authorities brought this great man of God to the town square and gave him a chance to recant. He refused to recant but cried out, “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes!”

William Tyndale was strangled with an iron and rope noose. After his death, his body was burned at the stake.

Soon thereafter, the English people started reading the Bible in their own heart language as numerous translations appeared. Within 100 years of Tyndale’s prayer and martyrdom, the king of England’s eyes were opened as he commissioned the Authorized Version (King James Version) of the Bible (1611). As scholars debated the King James Version translation, eight out of ten times they preferred the translation of Tyndale.

Thank God for William Tyndale. And thank God for knowing the truth of justification by faith. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through Christ Jesus the Lord!

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