Apologetics, Part 11: How We Got the English Bible

Introduction

We are continuing our apologetics study about how we got the English Bible. Last week we discussed John Wycliffe and the Bible translation he helped bring about. Tonight, we are going to jump ahead in history about 100 years and introduce a man named William Tyndale.

William Tyndale

William Tyndale was born in 1495 in Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, close to the border of Wales.

Lollard sentiment was high where Tyndale lived. Wycliffe had a prebend near there at one point and Purvey had also preached near there. (Purvey was the man who revised Wycliffe’s translation into a more readable format.)

Tyndale was taught at a special grammar school and showed a great aptitude for languages even at an early age. He could read Latin with ease by about age ten. (p. 80)

Tyndale was greatly impressed by a passage he read in the Latin chronicles where a king caused part of the scriptures to be translated into English (possibly Great Deeds of the English Kings).

At age 12, he went to Oxford, where he was “singularly addicted to the study of the scriptures.” He earned his M. A. there in 1515.

Tyndale then went to Cambridge where Erasmus had been teaching, boosting the Greek studies there.

Tyndale also devoured the works of the new Continental Reformers: Luther, Melanchthon, and Zwingli.

By the time Tyndale left Cambridge in 1521, the Reformation had taken hold.

Between the time of Wycliffe and Martin Luther, the Renaissance had taken hold along with the printing press. Classical wisdom and learning were revived.

The Humanism intellectual movement got rolling, which emphasized the unity of truth and the dignity of man. Its human ideal was the “Renaissance Man,” accomplished in all things. It stood in great contrast to the “formalistic pieties” of before. (p. 81)

The printing press

Johann Gutenberg, a Mainz goldsmith, invented the printing press in 1450. Screw type presses had been used earlier for embossing patterns on paper and textiles. It wasn’t until techniques of die-stamping and casting molds got better that letters in relief could be produced, allowing for the printing press.

In medieval times, monasteries and other religious organizations had almost a complete monopoly on book production. Each abbey and monastery had its own scriptorium.

When the printing press was invented, there was already a huge demand for books. Many copyists were employed but they could barely keep up. Printing presses were soon in place in a number of cities (p. 83)

In Cologne, William Caxton, “the father of English printing” learned the craft, then set up his own press at Westminster in 1476. He went on to publish nearly a hundred English books, many of his own translation. He had a very natural style of speaking, which influenced English diction. He had no dictionaries-only his own judgment. This was tricky because English was so in flux that sometimes even neighboring shires couldn’t understand each other.

Caxton told the story of some Northumberland merchants who sailed to the mouth of the Thames and were looking for breakfast at an inn. They asked for some “eggys” but the landlady said she didn’t speak French. They said they didn’t either, but still wanted “eggys.” He was told that instead he wanted “eyren,” which meant eggs in the dialect of Kent. Caxton had to decide which word to use and decided on “eggys,” which is what we now use also. (p. 84)

Rejuvenation of Biblical studies

During the Renaissance, great strides were made in Biblical studies. In the Middle Ages, Greek and Hebrew were seldom studied in universities.

1453: Constantinople fell to the Turks. Greek exiles fleeing to Italy brought Greek manuscripts with them. Pope Nicholas I collected these and had them transcribed. At his death, he left a library of 5000+ works. The exiled scholars started teaching at universities in Europe and their knowledge spread.

1458: Greek reintroduced at University of Paris

1476: New Greek grammar published

1480: New Greek lexicon published

1492 and on: Greek studies re-established at Oxford.

John Colet returned from a tour of Italy in 1497 to deliver a series of lectures on the book of Romans. He made a clean break with medieval interpretations and taught straight from the text,

In order to hear Colet, Erasmus came to England in 1497. Colet inspired Erasmus to make a fresh Latin translation of the NT. This was part of Erasmus’ landmark edition of the NT that came out in 1516.

Hebrew learning had also restarted.

• 1488: Entire text of Old Testament in Hebrew printed
• 1503: First Hebrew grammar
• 1506: First Hebrew lexicon
• 1525: Fully annotated Hebrew OT published. This would be the basis for all future Hebrew-Bibles.

Trilingual universities started popping up (Latin, Hebrew, and Greek) in Germany, England, France, and Spain.

1517: Complutensian Polyglot Bible produced. OT had Vulgate text in the middle, with Hebrew on the left and Greek Septuagint on the right. NT had Greek and Latin Vulgate side by side.

1522: Martin Luther publishes German translation of NT

1523: Lefevre d’ Etaples publishes a French translation of NT

1534: Luther publishes complete German Bible

1535: Pierre-Robert Olivetan publishes a complete French Bible. (p. 86)

Bibles dominated book production in the 16th century and by the end of the century every European nation had a native translation. The form of the vernacular languages was to some degree fixed as the Bibles came out.

The Catholic Church intervenes

The Church initially welcomed the printing press since it was first used to print the Gutenberg Latin Bible. The archbishop called it “a divine art.” But then printing began to spread ideas of reform, and the Church was not a fan.

1491: Papal legate of Venice wrote law preventing printing works on religious subjects without approval of local diocese. (p. 87)

1515: Pope Leo X made the law universal across the Catholic West. Barely anyone cared and they printed what they wanted.

1517: Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the doors of the Wittenberg church. These were quickly translated into multiple languages and printed all over. This was a great surprise to Luther who had intended them only for the academic circle, writing them in Latin in part so that the general masses could not read them. (Great quote from Luther on p. 87.)

Erasmus was an early critic of both the church and biblical studies in universities. (great quote p. 88). He pointed out that the writers of the NT themselves wrote in Greek, making Jesus’ words understandable by the common people.

Tyndale spreads “heresy”

1521: Tyndale ordained to the priesthood. He decided to forego an advanced divinity degree and became chaplain and domestic tutor to the household of Sir John Walsh in Little Sodbury at the edge of the Cotswold Hills.

Tyndale used to preach in a common place called Saint Austin’s Green in front of the church and secretly tutored students in theology. (p. 89)

His reform ideas stirred up some of the local authorities and various men would come to debate. He would routinely win debates, usually by citing scripture. These men would then bear a grudge against him.

Intro to Erasmus’ translation: p. 89. Tyndale took this to heart.

Tyndale converted the Walsh family to his views and stopped having local clergy in their home.

“The clergy were an ignorant lot…” p.90. Many could not even recite the Ten Commandments or knew where they were found.

Tyndale was accused of heresy for his views (i.e., insistence on scriptural authority), called before the church leaders and rebuked.

Tyndale then decided what his life’s work would be: getting the scriptures to the lay people.

“I perceived that it was impossible to establish the lay people in any truth, except the Scripture were plainly laid before their eyes in their mother tongue, that they might see the process, order, and meaning of the text.” – William Tyndale (p.90)

Dangerous time for a new translation

Tyndale left the countryside for London to try to find a patron. Cuthbert Tunstall received him coldly and shot him down.

• Note: Tunstall’s name will come up again later!

Luther’s rebellion had set everyone on edge in 1523 and no one wanted any part of a translation project that might bring more controversy. King Henry VIII hated Luther more than any person on earth. Luther was declared a heretic and Henry sought to eradicate his followers. They bought wrote tracts against each other. But many in the general population tended to side with Luther. seeing him as the underdog. Revolution broke out all over Europe, with many monks and nuns leaving their cloisters (p. 95).

King Henry promised the pope he would burn any “untrue translations.” He sent Cardinal Wolsey to hunt down heretical books that were coming in from overseas.

May 12, 1521: A long line of mules bearing chests of Lutheran writings proceeded to St. Paul’s Cathedral. Bishop Fisher preached a fiery sermon, then the books were burned. (p.96)

Tyndale finds help

Tyndale realized he would need to leave the country to do what he wanted to do. He became a preacher at St. Dunstan’s-in the-West and was given free lodging with Humphrey Monmouth. Tyndale spent his time translating the NT to English. He could speak seven languages fluently: Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, English, and French. (p. 98)

Monmouth belonged to a semisecret society of Merchant Adventurers known as the Christian Brethren. They traded in forbidden religious literature and subsidized printing of religious books in English. They ultimately subsidized Tyndale’s work. The group was so powerful that even the authorities wouldn’t touch them (the group was made up of rich cloth merchants). (p. 97)

May 1524: Tyndale leaves for Germany and meets Luther.

1525: Tyndale’s English NT was completed in 1525. The translation was direct from Greek.

Printing Tyndale’s translation

Tyndale went to Cologne to arrange for publication. Cologne was” something of a haven for reformers.” but Catholic zealots flourished there also. A man named Johann Dobneck (John Cochlaeus) tried to frustrate Tyndale’s plans.

Dobneck had a doctorate in theology and had been dean at St. Mary’s at Frankfurt-on-the-Main until reformers pushed him out. He called himself “the scourge of Luther” but was so belligerent that even some Catholics turned against him.

Dobneck was editing a publication when he overheard some workers at a printing press boasting that all of England would soon be Lutheran. He managed to get the details and found out that Tyndale was trying to get his work printed and secretly shipped to England.

Dobneck tipped off the city authorities and persuaded them to intercept the shipment. Before the raid, Tyndale was also tipped off and managed to grab some printed sheets and head to Worms by boat. There the printing was done in two formats, the larger of which had marginal notes, references, and a prologue. (Paid for by the Christian Brethren,)

1526: Both formats of the NT were concealed in cases of dry goods and sailed for England. Henry VIII and Wolsey were alerted by several people that the shipment was coming and placed a watch at all ports. Henry was terrified that once authority was questioned, he didn’t know where it would end.

In 1524-25, there had been a violent revolt by peasants who had been spurred on by radical evangelists. Roughly 50,000 people died.

The vehemence of Luther’s own writings inflamed the situation. Erasmus complained that he and Luther taught nearly the same thing, “only without sedition and violence.” (p. 100)

Heavy taxes and tithes from the Church had made people upset for a long time. Luther tried to prevent violence but failed.

Tyndale’s New Testament did make it to England and was immediately well received by the common people. Wycliffe manuscripts were still treasured, so Tyndale’s translation was like a feast for them.

Tyndale’s translation was exceptionally well done. He adopted many of the structures of Luther’s translation, including chapter divisions and order of the books. The translation was his, though. He looked at Erasmus’ Greek NT (1516 and 1522 editions), Erasmus’ Latin NT, the Vulgate, and Luther’s German NT. He pulled from the best of each, with the Greek as the primary source. (sample - p. 105)

The local authorities did not like it. It was made a serious crime to own, sell, or distribute the books. Merchant ships were boarded and searched. Another bonfire was held in front of St. Pauls’ cathedral at Tunstall’s decree. (decree of Tunstall - p. 106)

An underground book trade developed to distribute the books. Pirate editions were hurriedly printed in Antwerp. They were shipped back concealed in corn ships and bales of merchandise. (great story about Tunstall buying Bibles to burn - p. 107)

Tunstall had decided to try to buy up all the Bibles he could so he could destroy them. He approached a cloth merchant in Antwerp named Augustus Packington that he thought might know the source of the Bibles. Tunstall promised to pay him for every Bible he could find and Packington agreed to help. It so happened that Packington and Tyndale were friends. Packington went straight to Tyndale and told him the bishop of London wanted to buy all his Bibles. Tunstall got the Bibles, Packington got the thanks, and Tyndale got the money. Through Packington, Tyndale also convinced Tunstall to buy up all the standing type to prevent a reprint. Tunstall did. Tyndale used the money to prepare a new and improved version of the Bible – at the expense of the Catholic church. About a year later, Thomas More was interrogating a man about where they got money to print Bibles. The man told him the money came from the bishop of London.

Sample of the Tyndale Bible

When he sawe the people he went vp into a mountayne and when he was set his disciples came to hym and he opened hys mouthe and taught them sayinge: Blessed are the povre in sprete: for theirs is the kyngdome of heven. Blessed are they that morne: for they shalbe conforted. Blessed are the meke: for they shall inheret the erth. Blessed are they which honger and thurst for rightewesnes: for they shalbe filled. Blessed are ye mercifull: for they shall obteyne mercy. Blessed are the pure in herte: for they shall se God. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shalbe called the chyldren of God. Blessed are they which suffre persecucio for rightwesnes sake: for theirs ys the kyngdome of heuen. Blessed are ye when men reuyle you and persecute you and shall falsly say all manner of yvell saynges agaynst you for my sake. Reioyce and be glad for greate is youre rewarde in heven. + For so persecuted they ye Prophetes which were before youre dayes.

• Matthew 5:1-12, Tyndale Bible, 1534

Source: https://textusreceptusbibles.com/Tyndale

Tunstall goes after Tyndale

Tunstall became obsessed with calling Tyndale to account. He did not think he could use official means to stop Lutheran ideas, so he decided to get Sir Thomas More to debate Tyndale in public. More had “a horror of free speech as we know it, and objected to any interpretation … unless it proceeded under an episcopal license.” (p. 111) (great quote from Erasmus on this idea -p. 111) More published his Dialogue Concerning Heresies in 4 books (170,000 words) to dispute Tyndale. Tyndale quickly responded. More’s principal objection was with Tyndale’s rendering of certain theological terms:

• priest → senior (later, elder)
• Church → congregation
• penance → repentance
• confess → acknowledge
• grace → favor
• charity → love

According to More. Tyndale was trying to persuade people “that such articles of our faith as… be well proved by Holy Scripture, were in Holy Scripture nothing spoken of; but the preachers have, all this 1500 year, misreported the Gospel… to lead the people purposely out of the right way.” (Discussion on ekklesia and presbyter - p. 114) (penance vs. repentance -p. 115)

More argued that although these words did not have significance for special church functions in New Testament times, the writers of the New Testament had invested them with special meanings, thus a different translation that carried that meaning was more appropriate. Who should decide on the proper words to use? More argued it was the Holy Roman Catholic Church, because it cannot err. Thus, he gave tradition the overriding vote over scripture.

Tyndale starts on the Old Testament

Tyndale next began translating the Old Testament, saying that it was easier to translate from the original Hebrew to English than from Latin to English because the grammar between Hebrew and English is more similar. He started with the Pentateuch.

In 1529, Tyndale had the Pentateuch translation done and set sail from Antwerp to Hamburg to have it printed. His ship was caught in a storm and broken against the shore. He lost the manuscript and all his books. (p.118)

He eventually reached Hamburg by another ship and met Miles Coverdale, an English expatriate. Tyndale found lodging with a widow and together with Coverdale, worked night and day to produce a new manuscript. They did and in 1530 it was printed in Antwerp, then smuggled into England. The books of the Pentateuch were formatted in such a way that they could be sold and traded individually.

Sample of Genesis from Tyndale - p.119

Tyndale is responsible for bringing a number of Hebrew turns of phrase into English because he translated them directly.

Some pirate versions of Tyndale’s translation came out that had errors or changes purposely added to them. A miscreant named George Joye was particularly bad about doing this and Tyndale publicly called him out on it, saying that if he was going to do it, to put his own name to it and not use Tyndale’s.

King Henry and Thomas More

In the process of King Henry VIII trying to get his divorce legalized, Wolsey was sacked and More took his place. More now used the government to officially eradicate heresy as he saw it. A number of heretical books (118) were forbidden, with Tyndale’s NT at the top of the list.

More initially got Henry to agree that it was good for the common people to not have the Bible in English, but Henry gradually changed his mind on this, thanks to Anne Boleyn reading Tyndale’s The Obedience of a Christian Man and recommending it to Henry. Henry read it and thought it was “a book for me, and for all kings.” He thought Tyndale and Wycliffe strengthened his case about his divorce.

Henry gradually began reducing the power of the Church in England in each successive parliament.

1532: Anne Boleyn found with child. In January 1533, she and Henry were secretly married in Westminster Abbey.

The Church of England

May 1533: After being elevated to Canterbury see, Thomas Cranmer nullified Henry’s marriage to Catherine and declared Anne to be his lawfully wedded wife. On June 1, Anne was crowned Queen of England. Cranmer and Henry were both excommunicated for this and Henry then severed the church from Rome. In 1534, parliament passed the Act of Supremacy, making the king the “supreme head” of the English Church. After this, the Church of England became effectively a spiritual department under the rule of the king. (p.131)

May 21, 1535: Tyndale captured by Henry Phillips in Antwerp and taken to Vilvorde Castle, north of Brussels. Many tried to free him but were unable to. He stayed in a dungeon there until October 1536.

Tyndale asked for and at some point was granted his study materials. He completed the translation of Joshua to 2 Chronicles before he was arraigned.

Under the Decree of Augsburg (1530), belief in justification by faith was punishable by death. In the preface to his NT, Tyndale wrote, “The NT is an everlasting covenant made unto the children of God through faith in Christ, upon the deservings of Christ. Where eternal life is promised to all that believe and death to all that are unbelieving.” Tyndale argued for salvation by faith alone in several of his works.

• Tyndale had an incomplete understanding of salvation.

James 2:24 (NASB95)

24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.

August 1536: Tyndale found guilty of heresy, degraded from his priestly office and handed over for punishment.

October 6, 1536: Tyndale was tied to a stake, strangled by a hangman, then burned at the stake. Before he lost consciousness, he called out, “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.”

• This prayer would eventually be answered!

Henry Phillips, who had conspired to capture Tyndale, bounced around Europe trying to pass himself off as a true zealot for the church, but was shunned by the church and failed to find work. His letters home pleading for help were all intercepted.

• His end is oddly similar to that of Judas Iscariot, minus the suicide.

Thomas More also ended up martyred. He had resigned his professional duties, but refused to attend the coronation of Anne Boleyn, which upset King Henry. More escaped various attempts to tarnish him with bribery and other crimes, so Henry demanded he take an oath saying his marriage to Anne was “true and perfect.” More refused and was imprisoned in the Tower, then condemned for treason and beheaded on July 7, 1535. In 1935, he was declared a saint by the Roman Catholic Church. (p.136)

The state under King Henry

King Henry now owed a lot to Bible authority on account of his divorce and marriage to Anne Boleyn, mostly from the point of view that the Bible countermanded the pope’s authority. He had argued for his divorce based on a biblical injunction in Leviticus, which his lawyers told him outweighed the opinion of the pope. (He was married to Catherine of Aragon, who was previously married to his brother, Arthur Tudor.)

Leviticus 18:16 (NASB95)

16 ‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness.

Anne Boleyn helped greatly in making the English Bible a more acceptable proposition and she encouraged Henry in this regard.

Thomas Cranmer: head of the church under Henry. Cranmer was already reform-minded and was introduced to two of the king’s advisers in 1529 and they asked him about the king’s divorce. Cranmer suggested they appeal to experts in canon law to see if his marriage to Catherine had been legitimate in the first place. This immediately made him a friend of Henry and he entered royal service. Cranmer wrote a treatise on behalf of the king’s position that quoted scripture, church fathers, and church councils. This work influenced scholarly opinion on the matter.

Cranmer quietly married a niece of a prominent Lutheran, but then was called by Henry to the Canterbury see. This presented a problem because the church officially supported clerical celibacy, but he did not and was already married. He tried to conceal his marriage as best he could. Legend has it that he carried his wife from place to place with him in a steamer trunk pierced with holes. (p. 140)

Thomas Cromwell: head of the state under Henry. Cromwell was reform-minded and a protege of Wolsey. When Wolsey was sacked, he seemed to be in a bad position, but repaired this quickly by setting out a plan to help Henry’s finances by reducing the monasteries and making Henry “Supreme Head of the English Church.”

Cromwell was an expert facilitator in making deals. He “reportedly induced Pope Julias II, who had a craving for “strange delicacies and dainty dishes” to rubber-stamp some pardons for a client in return for the recipe for a type of English jam.” (p.141).

Cromwell also played on Henry’s fears for his own safety and set up a vast network of spies.

Henry had previously said that he would be glad to have an English Bible available in “a more stable time.” That time had finally come. Cranmer approached the king on the subject, having on his side Cromwell and Anne Boleyn, among others. In December 1534, the English bishops officially asked for the king to authorize a new English translation.

Cromwell made this his own personal matter. He wanted an English bible placed by authority in every church in England, to be read as part of every service, and that all would have free access to read it if they wanted. Cromwell memorized the entire Latin NT of Erasmus on a trip between England and Rome, both to improve his Latin and to make himself knowledgeable on the subject. (p.143)