I am greatly honored to speak about William Tyndale who is one of the most distinguished old members of my College. He was born 500 years ago in Gloucestershire near 5lim btidge,juSl where the Cotswolds descend into the valley of the Sevem. At the age of 12 he went to Oxford to study at Magdalen Hall, which is one of the predecessors of Hertford College, and stayed there 11 years until he was 23. He studied languages, literature , philosophy and theology,

In those days if you walUed to

translate the scriptures itwas necessary to obtain a license from a Bishop, and so Tyndale approached the Bisbop of London, Cuthbert Tunstall, but alas tbe latter refused to give him one. Eventually Tyndale realized that tbe only place he was going to be able to

publish an English translation was on thecontinem, where Luther had already paved the way wilh his Gennan Bible.

of Vilvoorde outside Brussels. A year lar.er at the age of 42 on October 6, 1536 hewasmmtyret1: he wasstrang1ed and burnt at the stake in Ii'om of a special audience of church dignitaries. His last words were "Lord, open the King of England 's eyes." And SUfe enough his prayer was answered: a year later King Henry Vlll licensed a newBib1e cal1ed Matthew's Bi.blewhich contained all Tyndale's translations

unaltered. And 75 years later in 1611 Kingjames 1

becoming a great scholar, and eventually talong holy orders. Then hemal' have gone to Camblidge for a while to study under

®It tI1£ 1fiif£ aub ~orlt of

licensed the Authorized Version which was 90% pure Tyndale. The Committee who wTote the Authorized Version,

Erasmus, before returning to Gloucestershire at the age of 27, where he worked at Uttle 50dbUly

~illiatn Wtluba1£ however, refused to acknowledge him because he was still su pposed to be a heretic, and so this

Manor for two years as pliestand tutor. There he found himself clashing with the local clergy: for example one day he was

by Professor Sir Christopher Zeeman Principal ofHertfOl'd College, Oxford

became the greatest piece of plagiarism in histOlY.

Now why is Tyndale's translati.on so good? I would like to draw attention to five qualitieS: arguing with a learned

man who said to him:

"We were better be without God's law than the pope's." Tyndale was appalled and made his famous reply:

"1 defy the Pope and all his laws. If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy that dtiveth the plough shall know more of the sClipture than thou dost".

From then on he knew that his life's vocation was to translate the Bible from the original Greek of the New Testament and the original Hebrew of the Old Testament into everyday English that everyone could understand. Up to that time it had only been translated indirectly through Latin, and consequently was in many places obscure and incomprehensible. Tyndale realized that both Greek and Hebrew are much closer to English than to Latin.

50 at the age oDO he went to Germany. Two years later in 1526 at Worms he published the first edition of his New Testament. He plinted some 6,000 copies which he smuggled back into England in bales of wooL When the Bishop of London heard about it he bought up as many as he could get hold of and ceremoniously burnt the lot outside 51. Paul's CathedraL Today. there SUlvi ves only one complete copy, which the British Library bought recently for a million pounds.

At the time Tyndale was quite shocked, but the profits he had made from successfully selling out the first edition to the Bishop enabled him to bring out a second edition in 1534, and to begin publishing the Old Testament.

Meanwhile the English brandedhim as a heretic, and had him arrested in Antwerp and implisoned in the castle

10 'I' THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon 'I' March, 1995

his creativity, the nobility of his language, his accuracy, his rhythms, and his freshness.

By his creativity I mean he has created phrases that have become household sayings, and part of the velY tapestty of our everyday language. By the nobility of his language I mean that many of these phrases are memorable, and appeal as much to our emotions and our instincts as to our minds - or, as David Daniell says, it is the language that people speak at slightly heightened moments. Tyndale's influence upon the English language has been as profound as Shakespeare's. Indeed Shakespeare was born only 28 years after Tylldale's death, and was himself most likely to have been brought up on the Geneva Bible which contained all of Tyndale's translations unaltered.

To illustrate the creativity and nobility, let me cite you a few familiar

Tyndale phrases. I have picked them at random.

. • And God said, Let. there be ligh~ and there was light.

• And God shall wipe away all tears frOI1l their eyes.

,. III Him we live and 11I0ve and have our being.

,. 'Vhe}'e two or three aJ'e gat:hered together in my name ....

,. Ask, and it. shall be given you; seeh, and. ye shall find; Imod:, and it shall be opened unto you.

,. VItt.il the day dawn, aJId the day­star alue in your hearts ....

• The spirit is willing, but O,e flesh is weak

• The scales fell from his eyes.

• Am I my brother's lleeper?

• The salt of the earth.

• The signs of the times.

• The powers that be.

,. A law unto themselves.

• The patience of Job.

• The burden and heat of a,e day.

• Eat, drink and be meny.

• Let not your hearts be troubled.

$0 much for the navor ofTyndale's creativity and the nobility of his language. Let me now give an example of his accuracy. Take that last phrase, which comes from St. John's Gospel at the beginning of Chapter 14. The context is the last supper: Jesus has just told his disciples that he is going to be betrayed, and will have to go where they cannot follow. They are dumbfounded, and foresee the whole of their world collapsing, and so Jesus seeks to reassure them:

"Let not your hearts be troubled. "

Compare this with a modern translation such as the popular Good News Bible, published in 1976, which says:

"Do 110t be wonied a11d upset."

11)is is what you say to someone who has JUSt split the milk to cheer them up; but the whole spiritual quality has been lost. Worse still is the inaccuracy. Let me illustrate. The original Greek for this phrase is pronounced:

"may tarassestho hoomone hay cardia",

The translation word for word is as follows;

(may) means "not".

(tarassestho) is the third person passive imperative of the verb to disturb or to trouble, and so it means "let be troubled".

may tarassestho thel1:fore means "let not be troubled". I ' ,

(hoomone) mealts "your" (in the plural).

(hay cardia) mean~ "the heart".

hoomone hay cardia therefore means "your hearts" (in the plural).

The complete literal translation is therefore:

"Let not be troubled your healts".

Finally we put the subject before the verb, as is usual in English:

"Let not your heartS be troubled".

Tyndale is not only spiritually moving, but also precisely accurate.

Another example of Tyndale's accuracy is his treatment of that beautiful enigmatic poetic opening of St.John. I am sure you are all familiar with the first verse in the AuthOlized Version.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

TI,e original Greek is pronounced:

"en archay ayn ho logos, ky ho logos ayn pros ton theon, ky theos ayn ho logos."

The translation word for word is as

follows:

(en archay) means "in the beginning".

(ayn) means "was".

(ho), and its accusative fonn (ton), mean "tIle".

(logos) means "word".

(ky) means "and".

(pros) means "with" or "towards" or "fr01n".

(theos), and ils accusative fOlm (theon), mean "god".

However, the translation of logos into "word" is only its most trivial meaning. Logos also means logic. rationality and wisdom. To the ancient Greeks its meaning was even richer: logos meant the natural world, the laws of nature, man's perception of them, and man's expression of them. So to an ancient Greek the verse would have meant:

"In the beginning was the natural world, and the laws of nature came from god, and god was nature."

To the ancient Jews 10 gos meant something different but eqnally important: logos meant the wisdom of God before it was revealed as the word of God in the, books of the Old Testament. Meanwhile to the early Christians logos meant the wisdom of God before it was born.asJesus. That is the meaning of "the word was made flesh". In renaissance paintings of the annunciation you can often see both meanings at once because the virgin generally holds a bible (which is logos in the Jewish sense) while she is being told that she is with child (which is logos in the Cluistian sense).

You am just imagine Tyndalesitting at his desk scratching Ius head and saying to himself how on eanh am I going to translate that word logos? Eventually he settles for "that word" which is not a bad solution:

"In the begynnynge was the worde

March, 1995 l' THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon l' 11

I and that warde was with god: and god was thatt warde".

Having resolved the logos problem he is then very accurate, in fact more accurate than the subsequent Authorized Version. For example the Committee who wrote the Authmized Version reversed the word orderoflhe thiTd phase, introducing a substamial theological chan ge of

because he wants to make "eyes" rhyme wi th "wise". Then he rehnes it to

"lusty untO the eyes"

because he wants it to scan as well as to rhyme. Allast he has achieved the rhythm that he wants:

ti dadaltititi daltiti datidaltittili da

lethal. This gives the serpent the opponunity to ridicule God's word: 'What nonsense, you don't want to believeallthatmbbish", which Tyndale manages to capture in tile single word "LUsh". The serpent says "tush ye shall not die" and goes on to explain God's ulteri or motive.

By contrast the dialogue in the Authorized Version is

meaning. Evidently they th ought it was saClilegious to give God second billing to l ogos. Next, when Tyndale came to the creation in verse 3, he accurately translated the Greek as:

"Allthynges were made byit" (te. by logos) whereas the Au thorized Version corrects this apparent saclilege to:

Silt is clear .tha.t Tyndale wrote his Bible to be

read out aloud~ whether it be in public or

whether it be in private . alone by yourself."

much weaker. Firstly the Committee felt it was sacrcli.gious to say "that god" because there is only one God, and so the word "that" had to be deleted. Secondly they felt it was sacreligious to ridicule God's word, and so "tush" had to be deleted. The serpent is left saying velY unconvincingly "ye shall

"Alllhings were made by him" (te. by God).

I like the way Tynda1e jolts us into going back to the Oliginal Greek.

Let me now give an example of Tyndale's rhythms. In our first lesson Eve saw the tree in the midst of the Garden of Eden as:

"a pleasant tree for to make wise".

The first time you read this it seems a bit of a tongue-twister. But if you ask yourself "what was the tree for?" the answerts '\ 0 make wise'l, so Tyndale is being velY precise: "a tree [or to make wise". You then may ask what sort o[

wisdom? From what follows it clearly includes sexual awareness, and Tyndale cleverly amicipates this by his nse of the word "lusty" (which no other translation uses). Indeed some ripe fLUits can look very lusty, as modem film -makers have noticed. So l)~lda le

describes the me as

"lusty to look at".

But he crosses this out and writes

"lusty to the eyes"

"and lustylumo the eyes! and a pleasant treel for to make wise".

It is clear that Tyndale wrote his Bible to be read out aloud, whether it be in public or whether it be in private alone by yourself.

Finally I want to talk about T yndale's freshness: he is tOday as refreshing and dear, as direct and readable, and as understandable as an y m odern translation. I have been reading the lesson from him in our College Chapel evelY week [or the past five years and I find him continually rewarding.

A nice example is the sell)ent's temptation of Eve, which is much subtler than in other translations. The serpent starts o[fby being deceptively . polite "Ah Sir" , and then immediately und ermines God 's authority by referring to him as "that god", implying that he is JUSt one of many possible gods, and in fact a rather silly god for ha\~ng forbidden the earing of [lUil. Eve innocently falls into the trap and assures the serpent that it is only the tree in the midst of the garden that is

12 l' THE COUNSEL of Cbalccdon l' March, 1995

not surely die?", thus placIn g considerably more of the responsibility fonhe Fall upon Eve. By compatison Tyndale'sserpent is much more cunning, and Tyndale's Eve is tnuch nlQre innocent.

Let me conclude with another exam pie of Tyndale's fn:shness which is his technique for telling stolies with velY ShOll sentences stLUng together with repeated use of the word "and". This comes directly from the original, namely the repeated use of the Hebrew word pronounced vuv in the Old Testament and the Greek word (ky) in the New Testament. I .doubt if any school teachers of tOday would allow their pupils to slling so many "ands" together, but in Tyndale it makes for vivId story-telling and impelling reading.

For example Eve saw that it was a pleasant tree for to make wise.

And LOok of the fruit of it and ate, and gave unto her husband also

with her, and he ate .

continued on page 8

OJ )ubilary Theology in Ole Gospel q[ Lulie. (1977. SdlOlia Press •• Austin. Texas). This book is a dissertation presented to the Faculty uf"n,cology of the University of Basel. Switzerland. [or the Degree o[ Doctor o[ Theology.

'The Greek word. DEKTOS. "favorable. translates the Hebrew word. RASON. which does not occur in Leviticus 25. However t.he related (cognate) verb. RASAJ-l, is used in the context of theJ ubilee legislation. of the land receiving its due pa)~nent of a sabbath year fallow in Lev. 26:34. 43. In the N.T .. except for LIe 4:24. DEKTOS. refers to GOD'S acceptance. n'e Hebrew verb. RASAJ-l means " to

pay a debt" "when referring to the one paying it. or conversely. 'to be favorable' when refentng to God's acceptance of. .and pleasure in the (nOlmally sacrifidal) payment. The Greek word, APJ-lESIS. translated. "release." is rooted in the cancellation of debts. To becominueel.

Zeeman Gontlnued from page 12

And the eyes of both of them were opened.

Similarly when Jesus was on the road to Emmaus.

And he went in to tarry with them.

And it came to pass as he sat at meat with them he took bread

and blessed it

and brake it

and gave it unto them.

And their eyes were opened.

And they knew him.

And he vanished out of their sight

and they said between themselves:

did not our heart5 burn within us? n

8 l' THE COUNSEL of ChaJcedoll l' March . 1995

Mcilhenny continued fr'om pag" 18

ind ude dying on a cross). but of everything He told the disdples to

teach the Church to clo ....

"ALL authori ty has been given to Mein heaven and oneanh. Gotherefore and make di scip les of all the nmions •... lcaching them to observe all that I commanded you; anello. I am witb you always. even to the end of the age." (Matt. 28: 18-20)0

GentlY continued from page 21

byper-pTeterism reduces it furtheTto forty YCilrs! The prophetical expTessions of th e kingdom tend to speak of an enOTmous peTiod of tim e, even employing teTms that aTe frequently used of etemity. Does ChTist' s kingdom paTallel David 's so that it only lasts fOT the same time framel

History and Church Errors

Eleventh, hypeT-pTeteTists eternalize time, by allowing history to continue forever. Th is not only goes against expTess statements of Scripture, but also has Qod dea ling with a univeTse in which sin will dwell fOTever and eveT and ever. TIl ere is no final conclusion to the matter of man 's rebellion; theTe is no final reckoning wilh sin. Christ tells us that the judgment will be againstrcbels in their bodies, not spiritual bodies (Matt. 10:28). The hypeT-preterist system does not reach back faT enough (to the Fall and the curse on the physical wOTld) to be able to understand the Significance of Tedemption as it moves to a final, conclusive consummation, Tidding the cursed world of sin. The full failure of the First Adam must be oveTcome by the full success of the Second Adam.

Twelfth, hypeT-preterism has serious negative implications for ecclesiastical labor. Is the Qrcat Commission delimited to the pTe-A.D. 70 era, due 10 the interpretat ion of "the end' by hypeT-pTeterists (Matt . £8:20)1 Is the Lord's Suppersupernuous today, having bee.n fulfil led in Christ's (alleged) Second Advent in A.D. 70 (1 Cor. 11:26)?Q