William Tyndale, The English Reformer
Translator of the English Scriptures, English Edition

William Tyndale (c. 1494–1536) was the English scholar, linguist, and reformer who changed the history of the English-speaking world. At a time when the Scriptures were forbidden to ordinary people, Tyndale resolved that even the plough boy in the field should be able to read the Word of God for himself.

Acknowledgements — First, to Dr. David Daniell, distinguished biographer of William Tyndale; to Charles H. Spurgeon, whose sermons unite pastoral tenderness with unyielding truth; to Dr. John MacArthur, whose exegetical precision has illuminated my path; and to R. C. Sproul, whose vision of the holiness of God awakens reverent awe and love for His majesty.

Educated at Oxford and Cambridge, he mastered Greek and Hebrew and became convinced that the Church’s Latin Bible kept the Scriptures beyond the reach of the common believer. Denied permission to translate the Bible in England, he fled to the Continent, where he undertook the dangerous work of translating the New Testament directly from the original Greek. In 1526 his English New Testament was printed and secretly smuggled into England, where copies were burned and possession of them was treated as a crime.

Hunted across Europe, betrayed by a false friend, and imprisoned near Brussels, Tyndale continued translating the Old Testament until his arrest. In 1536 he was condemned as a heretic, strangled, and burned at the stake. His final prayer was recorded as: “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.”

Tyndale’s translation: Within a few years, English Bibles were authorised, and the King James Version would later draw heavily from his work. In fact, much of the language now familiar to English readers of Scripture, phrases such as “let there be light,” “the powers that be,” and “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak”, echoes Tyndale’s translation.

Though executed, William Tyndale did not fail. His translation formed the foundation of nearly every English Bible that followed and shaped the English language itself. His life stands as a testimony to conviction, courage, and the enduring power of Scripture made accessible to all people.