My dear readers,

We continue from last week - The man God raised (II)

Such was God’s gift of language, given to one man, an exceptional mastery of idiom and rhythm, weighing every phrase and every word, to give posterity a new prose. Some have mistakenly called Tyndale’s language "Elizabethan English." This is a misnomer. Tyndale’s "new prose" was simply "Bible English" flowing from the pen of God’s bondservant, fully given to honour his God with the purity of language befitting the utterance of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Tyndale, more than any other should bear the title "Father of the English language,"not Chaucer (as commonly ascribed). For Tyndale’s contribution to the King James Bible (besides his other writings) reached far more readers than even Shakespeare, and touched more hearts and changed more lives than any other English writer.

But Tyndale achieved his unrivalled results at the cost of his life, cut short at the age of forty-two, following a tormenting period of twelve years in exile. In Tydnale’s life we detect something of the Pauline spirit as expressed in Philippians 1:21: "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." While no man can come anywhere near the Apostle’s catalogue of sufferings detailed in 2 Corinthians 11:23-28, Tyndale’s life nevertheless offers a challenge to any who are committed to repay with their lives the Gospel debt. We see Tyndale, alone in a Belgian prison cell, far from home and country, exposed to the rigors of winter, deprived of warm clothing and other comforts, but driven on and sustained by the unseen hand of the One who called him, and buoyed by an indomitable spirit, so that these things were but "light affliction," if only the Word of God could eventually reach his people.

Tyndale’s part in the English Reformation

Tyndale’s Bible stands out as a landmark in the history of the Reformation in England. In this, he sets the example for all who aspire to serve the Lord in two important aspects.

First, a servant of God must die to self and to the pride of "professionalism." Working in a "9 to 5" job is far from the Tyndale spirit. One must die to such a notion. Study the life of Tyndale, learn from him to surrender "body, soul, and spirit" to the Lord and willingly say, "Lord, take all of my unworthy self, and use it as Thou seest fit for Thy own glory." It must be a total "giving up" of time, talent, treasure in the Master’s service.

The second prerequisite to fruitful service is to "commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass" (Ps 37:5). When we commit our way to the Lord, he answers our prayer, giving us His wisdom to understand His will and His way. Unless He gives, we labour in vain. Remember John 15:5? "Without me ye can do nothing!"

These two prerequisites are embodied in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, a worthy testimony to his own life experience: "But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me" (1 Cor 15:10).

Read Tyndale’s life with prayer; ask the Lord to take your life and fill it with the Spirit of grace and wisdom. These urgent end times call for urgent responses from obedient souls.

Conclusion

What kept Tyndale "on course" in his unswerving desire to translate God’s Word from the original languages into his native English? It was the rock-solid conviction that his fellow Englishmen were in bondage to sin, dead and helpless, destined for eternal hell-fire: only the salvation offered by God in Christ – salvation by grace through faith could liberate them from that bondage. This is Gospel – "Good news" – only found in the Scriptures, but hidden from the masses by the "church system" of works merit and the dead ritual of mass, a vain system which merely continued the bondage of souls.

So Tyndale translated, and the Word in England set the Reformation aflame, even as a spiritual explosion which rocked England and altered the course of history for the nation.

A life surrendered to God was burnt out for His glory. As God used Tyndale’s life, He can use yours too.

Question: Are you willing?

Yours faithfully in the Saviour’s Service,

Dr SH Tow, Sr Pastor