Articles
The Rest of the Story
Around the year AD 1494 there was a fellow of the old Hutchins family born in western England near Wales. Starting in his early to mid-teens he attended Oxford and possibly Cambridge for his higher education. After finishing college, a wealthy man from near his home town employed him as a tutor for his children. The wealthy man would have the learned class of their day come for meals, and Hutchins would engage them in discussion on current affairs.
He had adopted some radical views while in college, and the visitors weren’t too happy about his successful refutation of their ideas. It was during this period he decided what his life’s work would be and it was very controversial. That, plus his radical opinions did not endear him with the local authorities. He left his employer to go to London in 1523 in hopes of beginning his chosen work.
Finding little support there he left for Cologne, Germany where he was finally able to start his work. In the meantime, his views and his work fell even further out of favor, and subsequently, were ruled unlawful and illegal throughout England and many parts of Europe. Nearly captured as an outlaw in Cologne, he was able to escape to the city of Worms where he secretly completed the first part of his work around 1526.
Any pieces of his work found by the authorities were destroyed; anyone possessing any of his work was severely punished. After a brief sojourn in Hamburg, he was able to settle in Antwerp, Belgium, a relatively safe place for folks like him. There he was able to revise and improve his previous work around 1534. By this time the authorities in England and parts of Europe who had outlawed his views and his work got fed up with him and decided to go all out to capture and punish him. Several attempts were made to find him and bring him to justice, but all failed.
Finally, in 1535, they were able to lure him out of his safe house in Antwerp via a false friend’s betrayal. He was imprisoned in a place called Vilvoorde for a little over a year, then tried and executed in 1536. Now, although this is a tragic story and one that you may find mildly interesting, perhaps you are wondering what it has to do with us.
Well, in true Paul Harvey fashion, here is the rest of the story …
This Hutchins fellow from western England near Wales went by the name, William Tyndale. His crime, his life’s work, was translating the Greek NT and a large portion of the Hebrew OT into English. It is generally accepted that his English NT and OT had not only strong influence on all English translation of the Bible, but also on the English language.
Some sources estimate that over 85% of the King James Bible, first published in 1611, was adopted directly from Tyndale’s NT and OT translations, and all translations since either directly or indirectly reflect Tyndale’s pioneering work. Our English language, as well as our bibles, reflects the rhythm and sentence structure of Tyndale’s English NT.
Even words and phrases that we use today were created by Tyndale because at that time there was no English equivalent for many Greek and Hebrew words and phrases. Some examples: Jehovah; let there be light; eat, drink, and be merry; ye of little faith; fight the good fight; a law unto themselves; a man after his own heart; salt of the earth; God forbid; my brother’s keeper; and, atonement.
So, what’s the moral to this story?
First: The power of our influence, especially that of our good works, has the potential to effect people and events beyond the bounds of our lifetime. Galatians 6:7-10 talks of sowing the “spiritual” seed of our good works that will in due time reap a good harvest.
Second: Ultimately, God and His people are victorious. The religious and civil authorities of Tyndale’s day wanted to suppress the Word of God, and we see many even today who would do the same. Yet, Revelation 17:14 talks of Christ as the Lamb overcoming those that war against Him. And “the called, chosen, and faithful” are with Him. And God’s Word in English became readily available in that time long ago, and remains accessible today all over the world.
Finally: The cost of discipleship can be great. Paul states in Philippians 3:7-11: “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”
Tyndale, who may very well have been a member of the Lord’s Church, undoubtedly would have found comfort in these words. Though we may not be called to die for the cause of Christ, we ARE called to give our lives to Christ, and be “faithful until death.” “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!"
The Rest of the Rest of the Story (by Jim Jonas): Saying Tyndale was executed is like saying Jesus was killed; it omits some graphic detail. “Tyndale was strangled in October 1536, and his dead body then burned at the stake. Tyndale’s fate is an important reminder that bible translation was more than just a scholarly challenge in the early sixteenth century – it was, in Tyndale’s case, illegal, dangerous, and ultimately fatal” (In the Beginning 88).
“His final words were, ‘Lord, open the king of England’s eyes’” (The Origin of the Bible 265). No doubt we take our religious inheritance for granted. Things like the availability of Scripture, freedom to worship, online study aids, etc. are great blessings that others paid a price to secure for their posterity. Makes most of our complaints seem sort of silly, no?!
