America’s Founding and Its Ties to The English Reformation

Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ROTGU2dWfc 

Not too long ago, the bones of the English King Richard III were found and dug up under a Walmart in Leicestershire, England. That they should be found under a Walmart—an American superstore—is ironically prophetic as it ties into a historical shift that eventually brought the coming forth of a new nation called America.

It was Richard the III’s demise and defeat at Leicestershire that led to the rise of the Tudors and Henry VII taking the throne. In turn, he would father the notorious King Henry VIII, who would usher in radical changes that would alter the course of history. All this, over time, would eventually lead to the birth of America.

To understand all of this in context, it is necessary to first understand a little of the English Reformation:

The stark reality was that King Henry VIII wanted out of his marriage, as he had been betrothed at only 13 years of age to his dead brother's widow. When his older brother died, tradition had required him to take Catherine of Aragon, his older brother’s bride, as his own.

 

King Henry VIII

However, Henry had been studying to be a priest, and he became convinced while reading the Book of Leviticus, that his marriage to Catherine was improper according to the Scriptures.

 

Henry demanded a divorce but was refused by the Pope. Charles the V, King of Spain and ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, was related to Catherine of Aragon, and the Pope didn’t want to upset him.

 

When he did not get his way, Henry chose to break away from the Catholic Church. He used the Reformation as his basis to do so, but Henry actually had no real interest himself in reform at all. While Henry's act may have brought a break from Rome to the forefront of the scene, this is hardly the whole picture of what was taking place under the radar. 

There was actually an undercurrent of reform that was already moving through England. 

 

Cambridge University, in fact, had so much Reformation discussion and thought going through it that it was being called “Little Wittenberg” as well as “little Germany.” These reform-minded ideas, which were coming across the Channel from Martin Luther, Germany, were being heavily adopted there in Cambridge as well as beginning to spread in many other places around the British Isles and throughout Europe.

 

While Henry may have used the idea of Reform and the Reformation for his own ends, the winds were already blowing in that direction. When he opened the door, he found out that it couldn't be so easily shut.

 The Rise of the Puritan Movement

Reform was in the air and new movements like the Puritans eventually began to arise. The name Puritan was a pejorative that originally had sprung from a desire to purify the church from unbiblical ideas adopted in Medieval Catholicism. The Puritans wanted a full Reformation, so the milder Anglican reforms that were put in place over time were falling short of what they had hoped for. As time passed, the Puritans continued to increase in numbers as well as prominence, even garnering seats in Parliament. 

 

Cambridge University

Things went back and forth in England with cataclysmic swings: Edward, who was Henry’s only male heir and was raised by Protestant tutors, took things in a more Protestant direction once he became king, but had a short reign because of his ill health and early death.

 

Bloody Mary, Henry's daughter with Catherine of Aragon, had ascended to the throne when Edward died. Full of bitterness and rage, Mary killed somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 Protestant Christians, imprisoning and persecuting countless more during her reign as she sought to purge England of Reformation influences. This included the execution of Thomas Cramner, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who had embraced the Bible and salvation by grace, and was taking reforms in that direction until he was deposed and later killed.

 

Then came Elizabeth, Henry VIII’s daughter with second wife Anne Boleyn, who was raised by Protestant tutors that taught her the New Testament, causing her to embrace reform once she took the throne. 

 

Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth’s mother was a Protestant and known to keep a contraband copy of the Tyndale Bible that she faithfully read, secretly hiding it from the King. Some have speculated that this could have been the actual reason behind her demise when she was set up by Catholic spies and was subsequently executed.

 

After Bloody Mary’s short chaotic reign, Queen Elizabeth’s forty-year reign brought forth in England a time of prosperity, general stability, growth, and expansion like never before.

 

During her reign, the Spanish Armada, which was on its way to invade England and force it back into Catholicism, was miraculously defeated at sea by a sudden and miraculous shift in the direction of the wind at one of the most crucial points in the battle. This thrusted England into the forefront as a major world power.

 

Elizabeth, however, never married and thus had no heir to carry on her legacy. A new king was sought and found in James VI of Scotland, who was crowned King James I of England. 

 

Many Puritans hoped King James would embrace full reform, the kind the Puritans idealized. The fact that he was from Scotland and raised Protestant, and that Scotland had had its own Reformation with John Knox as one of its principal leaders, gave some hope to that idea.

 

King James, however, was quite the unusual fellow: he sputtered and slobbered when he spoke, had his own theological ideas, and didn't have much tolerance for Puritans. He was a bit paranoid of his kingship being threatened and viewed the Puritans with suspicion, fearful of their increasing numbers and power.

 

Some time after taking the throne, the Puritans presented King James with a “Millenary Petition,” meaning one thousand Puritan leaders had signed it, requesting more reforms. 

 

All the requests presented by the Puritans were flatly denied by the king, and instead many suffered persecution. But there was one request King James would “authorize,” and one only: an official translation of the Bible.

 

William Tyndale had made a translation of the entire New Testament as well as a  substantial portion of the Old Testament, when he was hunted down and killed for his effort. His Bibles had been smuggled into England for some time and were embraced and read by many throughout the land. Coverdale had made a few revisions later resulting in what was called the Geneva Bible. These illegal Bibles were hugely popular but remained as contraband. 

 

Tower of London

The Puritans now wanted an Authorized Version of the Bible that would be fully legal. The scholars assembled by King James used Tyndale’s version as their basis and thus, according to David Daniell, scholar from Oxford, nine-tenths of the New Testament and much of the Old Testament in the King James Bible was actually Tyndale’s work. In reality, according to David Daniell, “It was Tyndale who gave us our English Bible.”

 

With the exception of a new Authorized Version of the Bible, things were not getting better for the Puritans in jolly ole England. Eventually, some chose to leave as the persecution and difficulties continued for Puritans in England. After an unsuccessful attempt to settle in Holland, a group of Puritans, including Puritans of a more radical bent called Separatists, made a go for the New World. They would venture to cross the raging sea seeking a free place to worship as they saw fit.

 

They were taking a huge risk as they sailed across the Atlantic upon the Mayflower and founded Plymouth, the first colony to endure and sustain in North America. Other colonies, like Jamestown, had been attempted before them but had failed as most everyone had died of starvation or exposure to the freezing weather. 

 

The pilgrims made a Compact upon the Mayflower before coming ashore that their endeavor should be: “For the glory of God and the Advancement of the Christian faith...” The centrality of spreading the Gospel was rooted in the very foundation of the nation as it all began.

 

Furthermore, contrary to popular revisionism and according to numerous sources, including the History Museum in Plymouth, Massachusetts, the first settlers had good relations with the Native Peoples for several decades. In fact, it was the Native Peoples who actually helped them survive that first grueling winter.

 

More English Puritans would continue to come across the ocean in their wake as well, and with them came their trusted copies of the King James Bible. The Puritan preachers in England were inspiring their followers to come across the sea in obedience to the Great Commission and plant the Gospel in the New World. They thus laid a foundation of faith and promise in the New World.

 

In fact, historian Sydney Ahlstrom points out that it is quite the anomaly that the early North American colonies should be made up of so many English Puritans, when the New World had been first discovered by the Spanish. Furthermore, the French, the Dutch, and many others were here before, but it was the English Puritans inspired by the Great Commission, who comprised the majority of the early North American colonies, giving them a specific foundation of Reformation-influenced faith.

 

Direct link: https://youtu.be/1ZeIrIfW1QI

Furthermore, by the time independence came around, seventy-five percent of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were of Puritan stock. In fact, Benjamin Franklin himself was baptized in a Puritan church in the city of Boston.

 

The strong foundation of faith was absolutely part of the beginnings of this country's origins, as God shed His grace upon the land. As the old hymn declares: “His Grace has led us safe thus far and Grace will lead us on.”

 

Luther first experienced that grace via the Word of God and the revelation of the Holy Spirit. Let the Holy Spirit fill you today and fill your heart with Thanksgiving to God for the awesome blessing of giving us grace through His Son Jesus Christ!

 

Postscript:           

We encourage you to “like” and “share” this blog and the following videos with others, helping spread the important history of our roots, especially in the light of recent statements like this by a Christian Education group:  “Misinformation about our America’s founding is spreading across our country like wildfire. Unfortunately, that is true in the public education system as well. But America is an exceptional nation and every citizen should know about its unique history…which is steeped in, and influenced by, the Christian Faith…”

Videos:

·      The Reformation Revelation

·      Thanksgiving and Its Ties to The Reformation and Revival

·      Plymouths Pilgrims and Their Christian faith

·      The Great Awakening

Connect to Grace World Mission: https://linktr.ee/graceworldmission

The Reformation Revelation: Foundation for Revival

New YouTube video on the Reformation

https://youtu.be/1ZeIrIfW1QI

Martin Luther experienced a revelation from the Holy Spirit about the grace of God that sent forth far reaching waves of reform, renewal, and revival, creating a ripple effect that would have great impact through the nations and history. In fact, the Reformation became the foundation for the revivals that followed in its wake.

 

From Law Student to Monk 

 

Luther had originally been studying to become a lawyer. However, he had a near-death experience on the way to law school one day: He got caught in a thunderstorm and a bolt of lightning struck the ground right next to him knocking him down, and in terror he cried out to Saint Anne, the patron saint of the miners (as his father was a miner) vowing that he would become a monk if he survived.

 

Having survived the storm, he entered the monastery and became a Catholic monk seeking to find peace with God. However, he was soon bogged down and struggling with all the rituals imposed upon him within the Catholic structure. These rituals didn’t bring forth the peace with God he sought but rather served only to drive him further away from God,

 

He sought to earnestly follow the Catholic teaching that says: Each and every sin ever committed must be remembered and confessed to a priest in order to be forgiven. In obedience to these teachings, Luther would rack his memory and confess his sins hours and hours a day. After leaving the confessional, he would often remember something he’d done as a child and return for more confessing.

 

The leader of the monastery grew so tired of his coming so often to the confessional he finally blew up at him, “Why don’t you go out and commit some real sins and come back when you actually have something worth confessing.”

 

Seeking to find a way to distract him and redirect his attention, and frankly get him out of the monastery for being such a bother, the leader of the monastery decided to have Luther go and study the Bible at Wittenberg. 

 

This, however, was not the norm for monks, priests, nor any of the clergy, except some of the highest Catholic theologians who were permitted to read the Bible and interpret it. In fact, the Catholic Church had forbidden common people from even possessing a Bible at the Synod of Toulouse in 1229. Furthermore, the Catholic Church only allowed the Bible to be in Latin—a long dead language even then that very few could understand.  

 

As pointed out by David Daniell: The Bible might have well been in Chinese for all the good it did forcing it to be kept only in Latin. Very, very few could read Latin, and this included the vast majority of the clergy. Instead of the Scriptures the church substituted a book called “The Little Hours of Mary” promoting the cult of the Virgin and her worship.

 

Because Luther had studied law, he wouldn’t have to begin by learning Latin first. He was moved from Eisleben to Wittenberg, Germany and began to read the Bible and study Paul’s Epistles in the New Testament. 

 

He subsequently began wrestling with Paul’s words about justification especially in the book of Romans. After some time wrestling and contemplating it, he finally had the light break forth and received revelation from the Holy Spirit as he gained understanding of Jesus’ full payment for sin on the cross.

 

He understood after a long period of struggle that Jesus had paid the price for our sin on the cross, and simply through faith in Christ we are justified and put right with God through His grace, the grace that comes through faith in Christ’s atonement. 

 

Indeed, Paul communicates about: A Righteousness that comes from God and is by faith and through God’s grace we are justified. (Romans 1:16-17, 3:21-23)

 

Luther finally understood that all his sin was paid for “once for all” by Christ when he took our sins on the cross. Once one repents and receives Christ there is no need to remember each and every sin and confess it to a priest, just believe upon Jesus. Luther spoke of how he was born again when he finally understood this.

 

A Revelation That Reverberated 

 

This rediscovery of this central truth of the New Testament and teaching of Jesus and the Apostles (John: 1:12, 3:16, 6:29, Romans 3:21, Ephesians 2:8-10) had far reaching implications and brought forth waves of renewal, reform, and revival, causing a ripple effect throughout the nations and history. 

 

This revelation caused Luther to challenge some of the teachings and practices that the Catholic Church was engaging in, especially when indulgences began to be sold in his region—basically the selling of forgiveness to reduce time in purgatory—by a priest named Tetzel.

 

Luther drew up some Theses, his intention however was only to debate with some of the other theologians.

 

Before he knew it though he was in the middle of a conflagration, as unbeknownst to him some students had taken Luther’s Theses that he’d nailed to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg on October 31^st  1517—which marks the beginning of the Reformation—and reprinted and distributed them widely. As they went out it caused a widespread “Ja wohl” by many who had grown tired of the errors and abuses in Catholicism. 

 

This reverberation spread to where even the Pope down in Italy eventually got wind of it and reacted: “Who is this drunken German?! I’ll have this heretic burned at the stake within two weeks!” An onslaught of reaction by the powers that be sought to silence Luther who, having been touched in the heart by the grace of God, was of no mind to back down now.

 

The accusations against someone who would dare challenge the established religious system—especially against a system that was producing large amounts of money —flew fast and furious at Luther.

 

Didier Erasmus, a well-known reform-minded professor, jested that Luther’s “sin”was to dare touch the money-making system of the church and dare challenge the authority of the pope who saw himself as some type of king now.

 

As Luther was railed against, he actually grew bolder and spoke and wrote out more, which was touching many and causing him quite a following.

 

The religious system was not tolerant of any dissent and sought ways to silence him—as they had done to all those who had sought reform and a return to Biblical principles in the past—usually with a formal condemnation labeling them a heretic and then burning them at the stake. 

 

Jan Hus had sought a similar return to Biblical teaching a century earlier and was condemned and burned at the stake for it.  However, right before his death, he prophesied of another reformer being raised up in 100 years who they would not be able to burn: It was one hundred years later when Luther experienced his revelation of the grace of Jesus Christ while reading Romans, which set the Reformation in motion.

 

Attempts to Silence Luther 

 

As Luther had already garnered a following, with some even in higher positions agreeing with him, there was a cautionary approach in dealing with him lest the public revolt. 

 

Thus, a debate with one of their staunch theologians was proffered. Luther would debate Johan Eck, who the Catholic leaders thought would make quick work of Luther and then begin the process afterwards of condemning him as a notorious heretic.

 

However, Luther stood up to Eck in the debate and proved to be an equal match. Eck thus resorted to calling Luther a Wycliffite and a Hussite, two men who had earlier attempted to bring reform and a return to Biblical foundations and were condemned for it. 

 

During a break in the debate, Luther went to the library to make a quick study of Hus and Wycliff and came back declaring: I am a Wycliffite and a Hussite for they were not wrong and were wrongly condemned. Quite the bold statement for someone who would not want to be condemned and burned himself.

 

By and large the debate backfired, and Luther only grew more renowned. He displayed a fluency in the Scriptures and a boldness that was clearly coming from on high; it wasn't his natural inclination.

 

In time Luther was called to answer before a Diet—a type of trial—in the city of Worms. Luther was called before a panel that included even the emperor himself, who was the most powerful person in the world at that time, to be examined regarding his teachings. Having been assured he would be able to discuss his views, he came willingly. Yet when he was called before the Diet, he was only given the option to recant all his teaching or face the consequences, which would mean being labeled a heretic and executed.

 

Luther was sweating profusely while being examined, but in the end refused to recant and took his stand saying: “My conscience is captive to the word of God, to go against conscience and the word is neither right nor safe, I cannot and will not recant anything. Here I stand, so help me God.” The room erupted, some with outrage, others cheering Luther on with bravos, as he walked out. Some of those on the panel dropped out and refused to condemn Luther, saying he was only returning to the Bible. However, a rump of the panel decided to condemn him and have him arrested the next day.

 

During the night however, divine intervention took place and the peasants’ Bundschuh was placarded on the building. This was the sign of the Peasants’ Revolt and signaled that if Luther was arrested there would be riots by the peasants throughout the region. The Diet was thrown into a panic and decided it would be better to arrest him quietly after he returned home. He'd surely never make it home, however, since Catholic fanatics—keepers of the Inquisition—would be waiting to assassinate him on the way.

 

Divine Intervention Again 

 

The Elector Prince of Saxony, Frederick the Wise, had been persuaded Luther was doing nothing wrong and was only seeking to return to the church's original Biblical foundations. Frederick set up a ruse and had his knights secretly kidnap Luther as soon as he began his journey back. They surrounded him and with much screaming, yelling, and cussing, made a big show of grabbing him while secretly whisking him away, having riders all take off in different directions, as he was snuck off to be hidden at an old, abandoned castle in Eisenach called the Wartburg.

 

For nearly a year Luther was hidden away at the Wartburg, where while stuck hiding out, he worked on a translation of the New Testament into the common German tongue. Luther’s German Translation of the Bible became one of the biggest boons and blessings spreading the Gospel and the Reformation throughout Germany and into other nations. 

 

The word had spread about how Luther had taken a stance for the truth at the Diet of Worms, and he had become a hero to many Germans as time had passed and he was only more popular. There was no chance now of being able to apprehend him without widespread uprisings after this. This one they were not able to burn, fulfilling Jan Hus’s prophecy he had made as he was about to be executed for trying to bring about reform as well a hundred years earlier.

 

The Reformation Spreads to England

 

One of the places to eventually get impacted, amongst many others, was England and the British Isles.

 

Luther’s teaching began to cross the channel from Germany into England and began to be regularly discussed and debated, especially at the University in Cambridge.

 

The White Horse Inn, a pub on campus, became a central location for discussions about the teachings of the New Testament and about Christ’s payment for sin being received by faith versus the Catholic Church’s teachings on rituals, masses, holy water, confession, the papacy, etc.

 

Amongst some of the early adopters of a return to the roots of New Testament Christianity influenced by Luther were Thomas Cramner, who would become a reforming Archbishop of Canterbury, as well as William Tyndale.

 

Tyndale transferred from Oxford to Cambridge because Oxford was resistant to reform and held a prohibition against the Bible being translated into the English language—this became a stain on Oxford’s historical legacy—standing against one of the greatest contributions to the English language and culture in history.

 

Tyndale had in mind to do just that and translate the Bible into common English. He was a Catholic priest who had also a l experienced a personal conversion to Christ like Luther. He’d also come to understand that it was faith in Christ alone through His grace that salvation is received. Tyndale knew that if people could read the New Testament for themselves, they could see that simple faith in Christ alone is all that was necessary for salvation.

 

Tyndale writes: “Repent and Believe the gospel...and begin life anew! And his Spirit shall dwell in thee and be strong in thee and his promises shall be given thee at the last…and all things forgiven for Christ’s blood’s sake…Commit yourself to Him without respect either of thy good deeds or thy bad, repentance and belief is all! Works count for nothing in Christ’s blood!”

 

He thus saw the need for the Bible to be made accessible to the common person. This required it to be translated into the English language. The Catholic Church opposed translations into vernacular languages and only allowed the Bible to be in Latin—a language that had been long dead even then. Against persecution, oppression, and misunderstanding, Tyndale set out to make a translation from the original Greek into English. Erasmus had recently assembled and published the original Greek version of the New Testament into a whole manuscript, making it available and taking the control out of the hands of the Catholic Church.

 

Tyndale, like Luther, used Erasmus’s Greek manuscript to begin translating the New Testament into English. Soon persecution ramped up and he eventually left England and met with Luther in Germany. Luther’s German translation was another blessing and helped Tyndale finish his New Testament translation. Tyndale printed the first editions of his New Testament in Germany, at Cologne, and had them smuggled as pocket Bibles into England. They were popular amongst the people but opposed by the Catholic clergy and his Bibles were even rounded up and burned by the Bishop in London.

 

Tyndale’s Bible and the Spread of the Gospel

 

The Bible being accessible eventually spread movements of faith and reform through the land and eventually gave rise to further spread of the Gospel and the rise of renewal and revival movements.

 

Amongst them were the Puritans in England which, according to historian Sydney Alhstrom were a revival movement that sought a return to the Christianity found in the New Testament. They also taught that believers need to experience Christ in their lives and should receive His grace in their hearts, as head knowledge by itself alone is insufficient.

 

They were increasingly marginalized in England. A group of Separatist Puritans eventually left seeking freedom to worship as they desired. Sailing across the sea on the Mayflower and arrived on the shores of  America in 1620. They started the first colony that would sustain and last and grow into a continued movement of Puritans coming across the sea, in the process creating the early Christian fabric of America.

 

That first colony that landed in Plymouth was dedicated to the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith. In time, many revivals that were connected to that still-reverberating revelation from Luther and the Reformation, would be spawned in the New World. Though there may be some differences in theology and ideas with different individual groups over time, that core remained the same: It is by grace you are saved through faith, it is the gift of God, not by works, lest any man should boast. And God freely gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask and believe and will fill to overflowing those who call upon him.

 

Some of the Movements and Revivals that followed in the wake of the Reformation: 

• The Great Awakening: https://youtu.be/QcV3_H1DM9M 
• William Tyndale: https://youtu.be/ZEAl5iOyY6c
• The Pilgrims: https://youtu.be/xRM3-jqexe0
• George Whitfield and the 18th century revivals: https://youtu.be/sq1B2qNX-Ks
• John Wesley and the Methodist revivals: Wesley was converted during a reading of Luther’s Preface to his Commentary on Romans: https://youtu.be/Hh4m6oSKvyM
• The Finney Revivals: https://on.soundcloud.com/HEgZi
• The Cane Ridge Revivals

 

And even into modern times :  

 

• Harald Bredesen and the Charismatic renewal: A Lutheran who becomes Spirit-filled and shares his experience with other Lutherans and other mainline denominational believers: https://youtu.be/K7Xciiw2ebI
• Lonnie Frisbee  and the Jesus people Revival:  It was a Reformational type of return to the priesthood of all believers and the simplicity of the New Testament and God's grace to save whosoever calls upon him, even Hippies (!) that brought forth one of the biggest modern revivals: https://youtu.be/0OgfmU13sPI

Connect to Grace World Mission: https://linktr.ee/graceworldmission

William Tyndale and the English Bible

William Tyndale, Persecuted Bible Translator

"The most important printed book in the English language" is what the British Library called one of the last remaining original William Tyndale New Testaments when they bought it!

They purchased it for a little over a million British Pounds a couple decades ago, and thus Tyndale’s New Testament was added to the British Library's already illustrious collection, which included such notable works like the Gutenberg Bible.

William Tyndale made the first translation of the New Testament into the English language from the original Greek in the early 1500’s. He also translated major parts of the Old Testament.

However, as the saying goes, “No good deed goes unpunished,” and Tyndale paid dearly, giving his own life for his effort to bring English speakers access to the Word of God in their own language.

The Reformation

This week on October 31st will be the 501st anniversary of the Reformation.

At this time last year, we had the blessing of not only being in Wittenberg, Germany for the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation, but also preached on the Reformation two days before in a church in Mandal, Norway.

We flew out a day later to Germany, where a quarter million people descended on the small town of Wittenberg, a little German town whose normal population in the city center—which everyone descended on—is only 2,100 people. We had a unique moment when we saw the country’s political leader coming in with a motorcade of cars, helicopters, and flashing lights, as we rode bicycles into the small downtown, one that boasts four Unesco World Heritage Sights on a single street, the only town in the world to have that. We figured the parking situation would be just impossible—it was—and we thanked the Lord for giving us a bit of insight and wisdom to rig up some rental bikes beforehand. Even though we had to ride twenty miles each way, it was well worth it!

501-Year Anniversary

This is a good time to reflect on the far-reaching impact of that Reformation that spread out from Wittenberg after the shaking that followed Luther’s posting his Ninety-Five Theses on the Castle Church door on October 31st.

The Reformation Spreads

For years, Germany was the engine fueling the Reformation, as Scholar David Daniell describes about the early period of the Reformation: “Germany was the powerhouse while England had nothing going.”

Over time, Martin Luther went from being labeled the “scourge of Christendom” to later having something akin to celebrity-like status. As time rolled forward, other scholars and leaders joined arms in returning to, and promoting more of a New Testament-based Christianity.

Although England lagged far behind, undercurrents of reform began to make their way across the channel and into the country.

Erasmus of Rotterdam had been promoting New Testament-based ideas at Cambridge University. Meanwhile, Luther’s influence began to make its way across the channel and sparked interest there as well. In time, Cambridge became known as a “little Wittenberg” and “little Germany” because of the growing influence of reform, and Lutheran, and New Testament, based ideas and influences being discussed and promoted there.

William Tyndale and The English Bible

As a Catholic priest, William Tyndale, like Luther, had experienced a conversion to Christ, which caused him to truly understand Christ’s grace and turn from just practicing religion to a true relationship with Christ. His thought and preaching subsequently moved into a reformed and evangelical direction.

He also was very influenced by Martin Luther, eventually leaving Oxford where he had been studying, as he found it was by and large resistant to the reformed waves moving through the land. As it happened, the Constitutions of Oxford held a decree—enforced throughout the land of England—that the Bible must only be in Latin, and forbade the Bible from being translated into the common, vernacular, English language of the people, on pain of being punished as a heretic: death by being burned at the stake!

As was the case in those days, few knew Latin, it was already a long dead language and the clergy were as ignorant of it and the New Testaments contents as was any commoner: William Warham, who was Archbishop of Canterbury in that day, complained that the monks were wholly ignorant of what the Bible, and especially of what the New Testament, contained. Most did not even know how many commandments Moses came down the mountain with—10 in case you are wondering, nor who was the author of the Lord’s Prayer—Jesus, of course—or where it might be found in the Bible, or if it was even in the Bible. A noted case had a monk ignorantly defending his dalliances, saying he thought that the Word commanded adultery when he was caught doing just so. Scholar David Daniell points out that the Bible might as well have been in Chinese for all the sense it made keeping it in Latin.

This position at Oxford University was one that would not be appreciated by a future Bible translator like Tyndale. Oxford’s unbending hold on this position, influenced by medieval Catholicism, would put Oxford on the wrong side of history, leaving it in the very lame historical position of having been a firm resistor of one of Britain’s greatest contributions in history to the English-speaking world.

Tyndale moved on from Oxford to Cambridge which, as stated earlier, was becoming known as a “Little Wittenberg” for its embrace and discussion of Martin Luther's reformed New Testament-based ideas. The White Horse Inn at Cambridge was a hotbed of Reformation discussions. Reform was in the air and spreading throughout parts of Europe, and even though England was a bit late to the game, many were beginning to embrace it.

Tyndale saw the need for a Bible in English, especially the New Testament, as translated from the original Greek. It should be noted that, roughly a century prior, John Wycliffe had made a valiant attempt to translate the Bible into English, but had only the use of the Latin Vulgate as his basis, as he had no access in those days to the fully assembled Greek manuscripts. Besides being inaccessible due to being in Latin, another problem, according to Erasmus, was that the Vulgate was full of errors.

Moreover, another huge technological advance had come forth in the interim: Gutenberg invented the printing press around the mid 1400’s. Wycliffe’s Bibles, in contrast, had to be copied individually by hand, a very slow and painstakingly long process.

Much of Wycliffe’s translated Bibles, and followers too, who were known as the Lollards, were rounded up and burned. Bibles, as well as men and women and children, were burned at the stake for desiring to know God’s Word. In fact, there is a noted case of a woman and her children all being burned at the stake for just having a copy of The Lord’s Prayer in her home, not really what you would call a concern to promote the Kingdom of God. This was an activity that was all too common for the Catholic institution!

Erasmus of Rotterdam, Dutch scholar, pre-Reformer, and Christian humanist, had been disgusted by the errors of the Catholic Latin Vulgate. In his own opinion, the Catholic Latin Vulgate was so riddled with errors and mistranslations that it was laughable. Furthermore, few knew or could read Latin, as it had been a dead language for a long time and only the highly educated learned how to read it. All of this, along with Catholic prohibitions against common people reading or possessing the Scriptures, kept the truth of God’s Word in the dark.

Erasmus set out to correct this and make a new Latin translation. But in order to be able to do this, he had to also assemble a complete Greek text, publishing this groundbreaking work in 1516. It was his Greek text, however, that much like Luther's Ninety-Five Theses, that turned out to be an accidental revolution. Erasmus’ assembly of the Greek New Testament into a comprehensive, accessible whole, gave reformers like Martin Luther and William Tyndale the ability to make a fresh translation of the New Testament into their respective native, vernacular tongues.

Luther’s translation made the Bible accessible to all Germans, whether educated or uneducated, rich or poor, noble or peasant, as did Tyndale for the English-speaking world.

In fact, Tyndale stated on one occasion to an educated man who held the laws of the pope and the Catholic Church higher than God’s Word: “…I defy the pope and all his laws…If God spare my life many years, I will cause a boy that driveth the plough, shall know more of the Scriptures than thou.”

Both Luther and Tyndale set out to make the Word of God to be available as never before and changing history in its wake. In fact, many of the advancements in the western world can be tied back to these very roots!

Tyndale Rearranges His Life to Fulfill His Purpose

Like Luther, Tyndale had seen the need for the word of God to be put into the common tongue of the people. He set out to do just so, rearranging his life to that effort. He moved out from Cambridge to Little Sodbury, out in the country in Gloucestershire. There, staying with a benefactor, he could have time set aside to work on a translation of the New Testament into English.

He had attempted to get approval from higher-ups in the Church Institution but that turned out to be a fool’s errand and only brought him opposition and persecution. He engaged in many debates with Catholic priests and leaders regarding the Catholic errors, but this led to more persecution and he eventually left the area. Though he had been warned by others, he seemed to be a bit naïve to the serious anger and opposition he was rousing in the Catholic camp. (This naïveté could be seen as a blessing for who knows how strongly one will proceed if all the obstacles are understood from the beginning.)

He had a stint in London where he reached out to Tunstall, the Catholic Bishop of London, but was given the cold shoulder instead. Tunstall’s cold rejection would later turn to white hot anger. There was a serious resistance to the Bible being put into the English language and Catholic leaders like Thomas More and Tunstall strongly opposed it. The Bible in the English language would undercut the man-centered penitential system of Catholicism and it was a threat to the hordes of money made off the relic, indulgence, penitential, and purgatory-based racket of the Catholic Church. As the persecution worsened, Tyndale departed England for the European continent after he connected with a man named Monmouth who helped him to fund some of his efforts.

Tyndale knew that if people could read the New Testament for themselves, they could see that simple faith in Christ alone is what was necessary for salvation. Tyndale writes: “Repent and Believe the gospel...and begin life anew! And his Spirit shall dwell in thee and be strong in thee and his promises shall be given thee at the last…and all things forgiven for Christ’s blood sake…Commit yourself to Him without respect either of thy good deeds or thy bad, repentance and belief is all! Works count for nothing in Christ blood!”

David Daniell points out that the Catholic Church, however, would never permit a New Testament in English from the Greek because neither the seven sacraments, purgatory, relics, indulgences, holy water, nor all their lofty ceremonies, could be found there, which were chief supports of the church’s financial system.

Tyndale Crosses the Channel

Tyndale eventually went to Wittenberg, Germany, and there he spent some time with Martin Luther. After meeting with Luther, whose German translation was a great aid in Tyndale’s efforts, he persevered in completing his New Testament translation while on the European continent, the first copies being printed in Cologne, Germany.

Tyndale had his pocket-sized New Testaments smuggled into his homeland of Great Britain. The small size made them easier to hide, and they became a huge hit and were widely popular.

Tyndale’s Bible was having a huge impact, and as scholar David Daniell points out, there was a new energy hitting Northern Europe:

"This energy which affected every human life in northern Europe…was not the result of political imposition. It came from the discovery of the Word of God as originally written...in the language of the people! Moreover it could be read and understood without censorship by the church, or mediation through the church, as it was written to be read, as a coherent cross-referencing whole. Such reading produced a totally different view of everyday Christianity. The ceremonies... of Catholicism are not there, purgatory is not there, there is no aural confession, no penance. The Catholic church’s support of its wealth and power collapses. Instead there is simply individual faith in Christ as Savior, as found in Scripture, that, and only that, justifies the sinner."

Fury Rises Against God’s Word

Bishop Tunstall, incensed by the New Testaments invading the land, sought to buy up the Bibles to burn them. But the man he had paid secretly gave the money to Tyndale, who ended up printing three times as many with the money. Thus, three times as many came into the land.

When Thomas More, outraged that Bibles were flooding the country, enquired as to how Tyndale was funding his effort to bring in so many, was told that it was by the Bishop because the money he was paying to buy up and burn the Bibles was getting to Tyndale to print more.

Tunstall proceeded with his public burning of the Bibles he had bought, which resulted in much outrage by the public. The thought that a Bishop, an alleged spiritual leader, would burn Bibles, burn God’s very Word, was abhorrent to many.

The word of God continued to come in and change lives in spite of many attempts to stop it, to even burn it!

The Word Spreads but Tyndale Pays the Price

God’s Word was spreading as were sentiments towards reform, but the powers that be still railed against it.

Unfortunately, Tyndale himself was betrayed, hunted down and apprehended, and subsequently jailed and later strangled and burned at the stake in Belgium.

He gave his life for his effort to bring the Bible to the English-speaking population. He might be pleased to know that one of his last remaining Bibles has been called "The most important printed book in the English language” by the British Library. That is quite an honor really, and one deserved by having sacrificed so much to give the English-speaking world the Word of God.

David Daniell points out that 90% of the King James Version’s New Testament is Tyndale’s work. It was the basis used by the scholars assembled by King James and what they worked from and then revised in places. The vast majority was left exactly as Tyndale worded it, with phrases we still use today in the English language; to many scholars his huge impact on the English language outweighs that of Shakespeare.

Such a high price was paid by many a reformer for seeking to return the people to the Word of God. Tyndale’s dying words were a prayer: “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.” Three years later, the King of England ordered the Bible (with Tyndale’s New Testament and the Old Testament that had been translated by Tyndale and Coverdale) to be placed in all English churches that all people may read it!

It behooves us to notice the price paid by those who went before us to give us the Scriptures in our own language, and take time to read and study its pages, remembering there are still places in the world even today where the Bible is forbidden.