The Tyndale Society (USA) Welcomes You!
The English-speaking world owes thanks to William Tyndale, more than to anyone else, for the Bible in its own language! For 100 years it had been illegal in England to possess translations of the Bible, much less to read them. The native tongue itself was a confusing mess of Norman-French syntax, mixed with Saxon and Latin vocabulary and confusing rules of grammar. Tyndale single-handedly established modern English by printing his Bible for everyone to read, and it was accepted by the masses.
Coining words like “scapegoat” and “atonement” and writing memorable phrases such as “let there be light,” “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak,” and “my yoke is easy and my burden is light,” he revolutionized common speech.
Born about 1494, he grew up in western England where so-called “Lollard” Bibles (inspired by the former Oxford scholar John Wycliffe) had heavily influenced society. After Tyndale himself studied at Oxford University, he returned to Gloucestershire and became tutor for the children of a wealthy landowner.
At one meal a local priest with more chutzpah than intelligence said, “We had been better off without God’s law than without the pope’s.” In response, Tyndale famously replied, “I defy the pope and all his laws. If God spares my life, before many years I shall cause the common plough boy to know more of the Bible than thou dost!” And so it happened.
After relocating to Cologne, then Worms, then Antwerp, where printing was much more developed than anywhere in England, Tyndale translated much of the Bible into short Saxon words and phrases easily understood, then printed in small pocket-sized books, easy to carry (and conceal when necessary).
These New Testaments were smuggled into England and took the country by storm. For the first time, in villages and towns across the country, English common folk heard the Bible in their own language. It was revolutionary but illegal.
Sadly, he was later tricked into arrest, imprisoned for 18 months, and put to death. Tyndale’s dying words were “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.” Within months King Henry VIII authorized English Bibles and both the Word of God in English and the English language were never the same. God answered Tyndale’s prayer.
Coining words like “scapegoat” and “atonement” and writing memorable phrases such as “let there be light,” “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak,” and “my yoke is easy and my burden is light,” he revolutionized common speech.
Born about 1494, he grew up in western England where so-called “Lollard” Bibles (inspired by the former Oxford scholar John Wycliffe) had heavily influenced society. After Tyndale himself studied at Oxford University, he returned to Gloucestershire and became tutor for the children of a wealthy landowner.
At one meal a local priest with more chutzpah than intelligence said, “We had been better off without God’s law than without the pope’s.” In response, Tyndale famously replied, “I defy the pope and all his laws. If God spares my life, before many years I shall cause the common plough boy to know more of the Bible than thou dost!” And so it happened.
After relocating to Cologne, then Worms, then Antwerp, where printing was much more developed than anywhere in England, Tyndale translated much of the Bible into short Saxon words and phrases easily understood, then printed in small pocket-sized books, easy to carry (and conceal when necessary).
These New Testaments were smuggled into England and took the country by storm. For the first time, in villages and towns across the country, English common folk heard the Bible in their own language. It was revolutionary but illegal.
Sadly, he was later tricked into arrest, imprisoned for 18 months, and put to death. Tyndale’s dying words were “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.” Within months King Henry VIII authorized English Bibles and both the Word of God in English and the English language were never the same. God answered Tyndale’s prayer.
The Tyndale Society USA is a sister chapter of the Tyndale Society, led by Mrs. Mary Clow and based in the United Kingdom. For information relating to the UK Tyndale Society, visit: http://www.tyndale.org/
