William Tyndale – Bible Translator Killed by Roman Catholic Church!

William Tyndale – Bible Translator Killed by Roman Catholic Church: When we read the Holy Bible in the more 756 languages it has been translated into, we may not understand or appreciate the sacrifice of those who made this possible. One of them is William Tyndale, an English Bible scholar and linguist. He was a leading figure in the Protestant Reformation that confronted the Roman Catholic Church after God used Martin Luther to shed light on the inerrancy of Scripture. The Catholic Church executed Tyndale for translating the Bible from Latin into English.

He was born in 1494 in Wales and was educated at Oxford as well as Cambridge. His long drawn  out battle with the Roman Catholic Church started when Master Welch, a knight of Gloucestershire, England, hired him as a private tutor to his children. Welch served outstanding dinners, and was often visited by high-ranking members of the Church.

Tyndale, who often ate with the family, had occasion to argue about Christian doctrines with the Catholics, espousing his views based on Scripture. Soon, the Church officials convinced Welch that Tyndale was in error. After a while, he knew that it was just a matter of time before the papists dragged the entire family into their dispute with him, so he took his leave from Welch and returned to London.

Several months after he arrived in the city, he felt an increasing urge to translate the New Testament from Latin into English. However, as he saw how the papists boasted about themselves and claimed total authority in spiritual matters, he realized that he could not do the translation in London or any other place in England. Soon God provided him with sufficient funds through other Reformers and he relocated to Germany where Martin Luther had just translated the New Testament into German in 1521.

 After meeting with Luther and his team, Tyndale decided that the only way the word of God could reach the simple people was to have it translated in a way they could read and understand it themselves. He was certain that the chief cause of trouble in the church was because the word of God was kept hidden from the people.

He completed the translation in 1525 and immediately printed copies in Cologne, Germany. The project was interrupted by a legal injunction against him in the city. Consequently, he moved to Worms and commenced the printing in 1526.

When Cuthbert Tonstal, Bishop of London, and Sir Thomas More, Speaker of the House of Commons, saw the translation, they were much offended and began to devise ways to destroy what they called “that false, erroneous, translation.” An attempt by Bishop Tonstal to frustrate the circulation of the translated New Testament was aborted by a textile merchant, Augustine Packington.

He persuaded the Bishop to give him enough money to buy up all the copies printed by Tyndale, which the papist did. Tyndale used the Bishop’s money to revise and correct his translated Bible before putting it into circulation.

 Soon after, he also translated the Old Testament into English, and wrote introductions to each chapter. These books were smuggled into England by various means. Tyndale’s adversaries in London eventually persuaded the king of England to ban both books through a proclamation prohibiting their sale in the country.

Eventually, they used some of their friends in Antwerp, Germany to have him arrested. After his arrest, the Procurator-General and some officers went to his room and took away his belongings, including all his writings and books. They then escorted him to the castle of Vilvorde, 18 miles from Antwerp.

             In prison, Tyndale was offered the services of a Procurator to represent him, and an advocator to speak for him, both of which he refused, saying he would speak for himself. During his imprisonment, Tyndale preached so well to his jailers and those who came to know him, that some of them testified that he was a good Christian. So powerful was Tyndale’s doctrine and godliness of his life that during the year and half he was incarcerated, he reportedly converted the jailer and several people in his house, including his daughter.

Although Tyndale answered the questions of his inquisitors truthfully and with good use of reason, they were determined to have him killed. Thus, he was sentenced to death vide a decree promulgated by the Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Augsburg in 1530. He was burnt at the stake on October 6, 1536 in the town of Vilvorde, Netherlands for doing God’s work.

The Roman Catholic Church is indeed the most virulent opposition to the true Gospel in all ages. It will surely account for the blood of martyrs of Jesus Christ it shed in its quest to replace the Gospel with Roman fables. Sadly, billions of people across the world have refused to walk away from this evil entity.

***** Culled from The New Foxes Book of Martyrs 2001, Bridge-Logos Publishers, Gainesville, Florida 32614 USA; William Tyndale, https://en.m.wikipedia.org.