William Tyndale-A Pathway to the Holy Scripture

8/8/2019 William Tyndale-A Pathway to the Holy Scripture

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A Pathway Into the Holy ScriptureBy William Tyndale (c. 1494 1536)

Hearken all ye peoples, and take heed

Contents:

Editors PrefaceIntroductionThe meanings of certain words

- The Old Testament- The New Testament- Evangelion (which we call the gospel)- The law

- PromisesThose who are deceived in their faith

Adam and Christ contrastedDiverse types of righteousness

Fuller discussion- The condition and state of the natural man- The redeeming work of Christ- The law and the gospel- The fruits reveal the tree- Christ is to be credited for all good fruits- The place and purposes of good works and spiritual gifts

- Things to keep in mind and memoryConclusion

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Editors Preface

William Tyndale wrote in the early 1500s, at which time the Roman Catholic Church was a verypowerful religious and political institution that hunted, imprisoned, tortured and executed thosewho disagreed with its practice or teaching, classing them as heretics. The RCC proclaimedbulls (papal decrees) and caused secular laws to be passed forbidding (among other things)the rendering or reading of scripture in native languages, and requiring heretics to be cursed

and burned alive. The Church performed the cursing, and the secular authorities the executions.

If dissenters would not recant, RC Church leaders handed them over to secular authorities to bekilled, very much like the Jewish religious leaders handed Jesus over to be killed by secularauthorities. For it was Church policy that the Church does not shed blood. They got aroundthis by relaxing heretics to the secular arm for blood shedding. As the writer of Ecclesiastessaid, there is nothing new under the sun.


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Mr. Tyndale was hunted down in Antwerp, imprisoned for 18 months, and then strangled andburnt in 1536 when he was about 42 years old. His crimes of heresy included translating theScriptures into English. He was the first person in the world to translate the Scriptures intoEnglish from Greek. His New Testament translation was in fact so good and so accurate that itwas largely adopted by the King James Bible committee; an estimated 83% of the KJV NewTestament is straight Tyndale.

One is hard pressed to find a writer fuller of love and godly meekness, together with biblicalinsight, than Mr. Tyndale. But he did not hesitate to speak plainly when it came to clarifying andexplaining the problems with RCC doctrine, tradition and practice. He gave primacy of place tothe word of God and longed for it to be available to all who genuinely hungered for it.

The writings of Mr. Tyndale have been largely lost, even to the modern Protestant Church. Theycan be found through secular publishing houses. His titles include The Obedience of a ChristianMan, The Parable of the Wicked Mammon, and The Practice of Prelates. To read them is toread fresh expositions of scripture which convict in needful ways, and is also to gain insight intothe terrible times in which William Tyndale lived, worked and died for the word of God.Unfortunately, the English is outdated and sometimes difficult. It would be good to have them

faithfully rendered into more modern English.

Following is his Pathway Into the Scripture, written about 1530, and minimally edited somodern readers can draw from all its wisdom and sweetness. Tyndale wished the word of Godto be plainly available to all, and in that spirit we present this work.

R.M. Davis

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Introduction

I marvel greatly, dearly beloved in Christ, that any man would ever contend or speakagainst having the scripture available in every language, for every man. For I wouldhave thought no one so blind as to ask why light [the light of the word of God] should beshown to those who walk in darknessdarkness where they cannot but stumble, andwhere to stumble is the danger of eternal damnation. Nor would I have thought any manwould be so malicious that he would begrudge another so necessary a thing, or so mad asto assert that good is the natural cause of evil, and that darkness proceeds out of light,and that lying is grounded in truth and verity. I would think he would assert the verycontrary: that light destroys darkness and truth reproves all manner of lying.

Nevertheless, seeing that it has pleased God to send to our English people (as many

as sincerely desire it) the scripture in their mother tongue, but also that there are falseteachers and blind leaders in every place, and in order that you not be deceived by anyman, I believed it very necessary to prepare this Pathway into the scripture for you. I do itso that you might walk surely and always know the true from the false. And above all Iwrite to put you in remembrance of certain points, namely to well understand whatthese words mean: the Old Testament, the New Testament, the law, the gospel, Moses,Christ, nature, grace, working, believing, deeds and faithlest we ascribe to the one thatwhich belongs to the other, and make Christ to be Moses, or the gospel to be the law, or

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despise grace and rob from faith, or fall from meek learning into idle disputes, brawling,and scolding about words.

The meanings of certain words

The Old Testament is a book in which is written the law of God and the deeds ofthose who fulfill it, and, also, of those who do not.

The New Testament is a book wherein are contained the promises of God and thedeeds of those who believe them, and of those who do not believe them.

Evangelion (which we call the gospel) is a Greek word that signifies good, merry,glad and joyful tidingstidings that make a man's heart glad and make him sing,dance, and leap for joy. An example is whenDavid had killed Goliath, the giant, and gladtidings went to the Jews that their fearful and cruel enemy was slain and they were

delivered out of all danger. For the gladness of this they sang, danced, and were joyful.In like manner the Evangelion of God (which we call the gospel, and the New Testament) isjoyful tidings and, as some say, a good message declared by the apostles throughout allthe world of Christ, the right David, who has fought with sin, with death, and the devil,and has overcome them. By this all men who were in bondage to sin, wounded withdeath and overcome of the devil are, without their own merit or deserving, loosed,

justified, restored to life and saved. They are brought to liberty, and reconciled to thefavor of God, and set at one with Him again. And those who believe these tidings laud,praise and thank God, and are glad and sing and dance for joy.

This Evangelion or gospel (that is to say, such joyful tidings) is called the New

Testament because just like a man, when he dies, directs his goods to be dealt anddistributed after his death among his named heirs, so Christ before his death commandedand appointed such Evangelion, gospel, or tidings to be declared throughout all theworld, to thereby give all his goods to those who repent and believe. His goods are hislife, by which he swallowed up and devoured death, his righteousness, by which hebanished sin, and his salvation by which he overcame eternal damnation. Now awretched man (who knows himself to be wrapped in sin and in danger of death and hell)cannot hear anything more joyous than such glad and comforting tidings of Christ, sothat he cannot but be glad, and laugh from the very bottom of his heart if he believesthese tidings are true.

To strengthen such faith, God promised his Evangelion in the Old Testament, by theprophets. As Paul says (Romans 1), he was chosen to preach God's Evangelion, whichGod had promised beforehand by the prophets in the Scriptures that speak of his Sonwho was born of the seed of David. In Genesis 3 God says to the serpent, I will puthatred between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed; that same seedwill tread your head underfoot. Christ is this woman's seed: he it is who has troddenunderfoot the devil's headthat is to say sin, death, hell and all the devils power. Forwithout this seed [Christ] no man can avoid sin, death, hell and everlasting damnation.

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Again (Genesis 22) God promised Abraham, saying, In your seed all the generations ofthe earth shall be blessed. Christ is that seed of Abraham, says the Apostle Paul(Galatians 3). He has blessed the entire world through the gospel. For where Christ isnot, the curse which fell on Adam as soon as he had sinned remains so that all men are

in bondage under damnation of sin, death and hell. Against this curse the gospel nowblesses all the world, inasmuch as it cries openly to all who acknowledge their sins andrepent, saying, Whosoever believes on the seed of Abraham shall beblessedthat is hewill be delivered from sin, death and hell and will from that time continue righteous andsaved forever. As Christ himself says in the eleventh chapter of John: He who believes onme shall never die.

The law (says the gospel of John in the first chapter) was given by Moses. But graceand truth were given by Jesus Christ.

The law, whose minister is Moses, was given to bring us into the knowledge of

ourselvesthat we might thereby feel and perceive who we really are by nature. The lawcondemns us and all our deeds, and is called by Paul (in 2 Corinthians 3) theministration of death. For it kills our consciences and drives us to desperation,inasmuch as it requires of us that which is impossible for our natures to do. It requiresof us the deeds of a whole man. It requires perfect love, from the very bottom and groundof the heart, as much in everything we suffer as well as in the things we do. But, saysJohn in the same place, grace and truth is given to us in Christ so that when the law haspassed upon us and condemned us to death (which is its nature to do), then in Christwe have gracethat is to say, favor and promises of life, mercy and pardon, freely bythe merits of Christ. And in Christ we have verity and truth in that God, for his sake,fulfills all his promises to those who believe. Therefore the Gospel is the ministration of

life. Paul calls it, in the afore-mentioned place in 2 Corinthians, the ministration of theSpirit and of righteousness.

In the gospel, when we believe the promises we receive the spirit of life and arejustified, in the blood of Christ, from all things in which the law condemned us. And wereceive love for the law, and power to fulfill it, and grow therein daily. Of Christ it iswritten, in the afore-mentioned John 1, This is he of whose abundance, or fullness, wehave all received grace for grace or favor for favorthat is to say, for the favor that Godhas to his Son Christ, he gives to us his favor and goodwill, and all gifts of his grace, likea father to his sons. Paul affirms this, saying, He loved us in his beloved [that is, inChrist] before the creation of the world. Thus Christ brings the love of God to us, and notour own holy works.

Christ is made Lord over all and is called in scripture God's mercy-stool [or, mercyseat]: therefore whoever flees to Christ can neither hear nor receive from God anythingother than mercy.

In the Old Testament are many promises, which are nothing other than the Evangelion,or gospel, to save those who believed them from the vengeance of the law. And in the

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New Testament there is frequent mention of the law to condemn those who do notbelieve the promises. Moreover, the law and the gospel may never be consideredas if they are separate the one from the other, because the gospel and promisesserve only for troubled consciences brought to desperation by the lawwhichconsciences feel the pains of hell and death under the law and are in captivity and

bondage to the law. In all my doings I must have the law before me to condemn myimperfectness. For all I do (be I ever so perfect) is yet damnable sin when compared tothe law, which requires the ground and bottom of my heart. I must therefore alwayshave the law in my sight so I may be meek in the spirit and give God all the laud andpraise, ascribing to him all righteousness and to myself all unrighteousness and sin. Imust also have the promises before my eyes so I do not despairin which promises Isee the mercy, favor and good-will of God upon me in the blood of his Son, Christ, who hasmade satisfaction for my imperfectness and has fulfilled for me that which I could not domyself.

Those who are deceived in their faith

Here you may perceive that two types of people are sorely deceived. First, those whojustify themselves with their outward deeds, by abstaining outwardly from that which thelaw forbids and doing outwardly that which the law commands, are deceived. Theycompare themselves to open sinners and, as against them, justify themselves andcondemn the open sinners. They set a veil on Moses' face and do not see how the lawrequires love from the bottom of the heart, and only such love fulfills the law. If they didsee it, they would not condemn their neighbors. Love hides the multitude of sins, saysPeter in his first epistle. For whomever I love from the deep bottom and ground of myheart I do not condemn, nor count his sins, but I suffer his weakness and infirmity like amother suffers the weakness of her son until he grows up into a perfect man.

Second, they are also deceived who, without any fear of God, give themselves over toall manner of vices with full consent and full delectation, having no respect to the law ofGod (under whose vengeance they are locked up in captivity) but saying that God ismerciful and Christ died for themsupposing that such dreaming and imaginationis the faith so greatly commended in holy scripture. Nay, that is not faith but, rather, afoolish and blind opinion springing from their own corrupt nature. It is not given to themby the Spirit of God but, rather, by the spirit of the devilwhose faith, now-a-days, popishbelievers1 compare and make equal to the best trust, confidence and belief that arepenting soul can have in the blood of our Savior Jesus. This is to their own confusionand shame, and it declares what they are within. But true faith (as says the apostle Paul)is the gift of God, and is given to sinners after the law has passed upon them andbrought their consciences to the edge of desperation and the sorrows of hell.

They that have a right faith consent to the lawthat it is righteous and goodandjustify God who made the law. And they have delight in the law (notwithstanding thatthey cannot fulfill it as they desire, because of their weakness). And they abhorwhatever the law forbids, although they cannot always avoid it. And their great sorrowis because they cannot fulfill the will of God in the law, and the Spirit that is in them

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cries to God night and day for strength and help, with tears (as says Paul) that cannot beexpressed with the tongue. Of which things the belief of popish adherents, or of theirfather [the Pope] whom they so magnify for his strong faith, has no experience at all.

The first type of deceived manthat is to say, he who justifies himself with his

outward deeds [works]does not inwardly consent to the law, nor have delight in it;yea, he would rather there be no such law. So he does not justify God but hates him asa tyrant. Nor does he care for the promises but would rather, in his own strength, besavior of himself. In no way does he glorify God, although he seems outwardly to do so.

The secondthat is to say the sensual personlike a voluptuous swine neither fearsGod in his law nor is thankful to him for the promises and mercy set forth in Christ to allwho believe.

The right Christian man consents to the lawthat is, that it is righteousand justifiesGod in the law in that he affirms that God, who is the author of the law, is righteous and

just. He believes the promises of God and justifies God, judging him true, and believingthat he will fulfill his promises. With the law he condemns himself and all his deeds andgives all the praise to God. He believes the promises and ascribes all truth to God.Thus in every way he justifies God and praises God.

Adam and Christ contrasted

By nature, through the fall of Adam, we are the children of wrath and heirs of thevengeance of God by birthyea, and this from our conception. And we have ourfellowship with the damned devils, under the power of darkness and rule of Satan, whilewe are yet in our mother's wombs. And although we do not show forth the fruits of sin as

soon as we are born, yet we are full of the natural poison from which all sinful deedsspring. And we cannot help but sin outwardly (be we ever so young) as soon as we areable to act, if occasion be given. For our nature is to do sin, as it is the nature of aserpent to sting. And like a serpent while still young, or even not yet born, is full of poisonand later (when the time is come and occasion given) cannot help but bring forth the fruitsthereof; and like an adder, a toad or a snake is hated of man, not for the evil that it hasdone but for the poison that is in it and hurt which it cannot help but do, so are we hatedby God for that natural poison which is conceived and born with us before we do anyoutward evil. And like the evil of a venomous worm does not make it a serpent, butbecause it is a venomous worm it produces evil and poisons; and as the fruit does notmake the tree evil, but because it is an evil tree it produces evil fruit when the season is

right; just so our evil deeds do not make us evil. Though ignorance and blindness makeus worse and worse, and evil working in us hardens us in evil, yet it is not by these butby nature that we are evil. Therefore by nature we both think and do evil, and bynature are under vengeance under the law, convicted to eternal damnation by the law.And by nature we are contrary to the will of God in all our will, and in all things weconsent to the will of the fiend.

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By grace (that is to say, by favor) we are plucked out of Adam , who is the ground ofall evil, and grafted into Christ, who is the root of all goodness. In Christ God loved us, hiselect and chosen, before the world began. And he reserved us for the knowledge of hisSon and of his holy gospel. And when the gospel is preached to us he opens ourhearts, and gives us grace to believe, and puts the Spirit of Christ in us. And we then

know him as our Father most merciful, and consent to the law and love it inwardly in ourheart and desire to fulfill it, and sorrow because we cannotwhich desire (sin we of frailtyever so much) is sufficient, until more strength be given us, for the blood of Christ hasmade satisfaction for the rest. The blood of Christ has obtained for us all things that areof God. Christ is our satisfaction, Redeemer, Deliverer and Savior from vengeance andwrath. Observe and mark in Paul's, Peter's and John's epistles and in the gospel whatChrist is unto us.

By faith we are saved only in believing the promises. And though faith is never withoutlove and good works, yet our salvation is not imputed to love or good works, but to faithonly. For love and works are under the law, and the law requires perfection and the

ground and fountain of the heart, and damns any and all imperfectness. But faith is underthe promises, which do not damn us but give pardon, grace, mercy, favor andwhatsoever is contained in the promises.

Diverse types of righteousness

Blind reason imagines many types of righteousness. There is the righteousness ofworks (as I said before), where the heart is absent and does not feel how the law isspiritual and cannot be fulfilled except from the bottom of the heart. We see this in the justadministration of all manner of laws, and the observing of them, for a worldly purpose and forour own profit, and not from love to our neighbor without all other consideration and moral

virtues, wherein philosophers put their felicity and blessedness, all which are nothing in thesight of God in respect of the life to come. There is also the justifying of ceremonies, whichsome dream up themselves and others copy, saying in their blind reason that since holypersons did thus and thus, if I do so likewise, I will please God. But they have no word ofGod that approves. The Jews seek righteousness in their ceremonies, which God gave tothem not to justify but to describe and paint [foreshadow] Christ to themwhich Jews,Paul says, have affection to God, but not after knowledge, for they go about to establishtheir own justice and are not obedient to the justice or righteousness that comes from Godwhich is the forgiveness of sin in Christ's blood to all who repent and believe. It is truly thecase that unless a man casts away his own imagination and reason, he cannot perceiveGod nor understand the virtue and power of the blood of Christ.

There is a full righteousness, when the law is fulfilled from the ground of the heart.This neither Peter nor Paul had perfectly in this life, but sighed after it. They were so farforth blessed in Christ that they hungered and thirsted after it. Paul had this thirst; heconsented to the law of God and that it ought so to be, but he found another lust in hismembers, one contrary to the desire of his mind, which hindered him. Therefore he criedout, saying, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death?thanks be to God through Jesus Christ!

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The righteousness that is of value before God is to believe the promises ofGod, after the law has confounded the conscienceas when the temporal lawcondemns the thief or murderer and brings him to execution, so he sees nothingbefore him but present death, and then come good tidingssuch as a charter from

the king that delivers him. Likewise, when God's law has brought the sinner intoknowledge of himself and has confounded his conscience and opened to him thewrath and vengeance of God, then come good tidings. The Evangelion shows to himthe promises of God in Christ, and how Christ has purchased pardon for him, hassatisfied the law for him and has appeased the wrath of God. And the poor sinnerbelieves, lauds and thanks God through Christ, and breaks out into exceeding inward

joy and gladness in that he has escaped so great a wrath, so heavy a vengeance,and so fearful and so everlasting a death. And from then on he is hungry and thirsty formore righteousness so he might fulfill the law. And he mourns continually,commending his weakness unto God in the blood of our Savior, Christ Jesus.

Fuller discussion

Here shall you see, comprehensively and plainly set out, the order and practice ofeverything said above.

The condition and state of the natural man

The fall of Adam has made us heirs of the vengeance and wrath of God, and heirs ofeternal damnation. And it has brought us into captivity and bondage under the devil,and the devil is our lord and our ruler, our head, our governor, our princeyea, andour god. And our will is locked and knit faster unto the will of the devil than a hundred

thousand chains could bind a man to a post. We consent to the devil's will with allour hearts, with all our minds, with all our might, power, strength, will and desires,such that the law and will of the devil is written in our hearts as well as in ourmembers. And we run headlong after the devil with full zeal and the whole swing ofall the power we have, like a stone cast up into the air comes down naturally by itselfwith all the violence and swing of its own weight.

With what poison and deadly and venomous hate does a man hate his enemy!With how great a malice of mind do we inwardly slay and murder. With whatviolence and rageyea and with what fervent lustdo we commit adultery,fornication and similar uncleanness. With what pleasure and delight, inwardly, does

a glutton serve his belly. With what diligence do we deceive. How busily we seek thethings of this world. Whatever we do, think, or imagine, is abominable in the sight ofGod. For we can refer nothing unto the honor of God; nor are his law or will written inour members or in our hearts; nor is there any more power in us to follow the will of Godthan there is in a stone to ascend upward by itself. And besides that we are, as it were,asleep in such deep blindness that we can nor see nor feel what misery, thralldom andwretchedness we are in until Moses comes and awakens us and declares the law.

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When we hear the law truly preachedhow we ought, from the very bottom of ourhearts, to love and honor God with all our strength and might because he created us andheaven and earth for our sakes, and made us lord thereof; and how we ought to love ourneighbors (yea, our enemies) as ourselves, inwardly, from the ground of the heart,because God has made them after the likeness of his own image and they are his sons

as well as we, and Christ has bought them with his blood and made them heirs ofeverlasting life as well as us; and how we ought to do whatsoever God bids and abstainfrom whatsoever God forbids, with all love and meekness, with a fervent and a burninglust from the center of the heartthen the conscience begins to rage against the law andagainst God. No sea under ever so great a tempest is as unquiet! For it is not possiblefor a natural man to consent to the lawthat it is good, or that God is good, who madethe lawbecause it is contrary to his nature. It damns him and all that he can do, anddoes not show him where to obtain help. Nor does the law preach any mercy, but onlysets man at variance with God (as Paul witnesses in Romans 4) and provokes him andstirs him to rail on God and to call him a cruel tyrant. For it is not possible for a man, untilhe is born again, to think God is righteous to make him of so poisonous a nature either

for his own pleasure or for the sin of another man, or to give him a law that is impossiblefor him to perform or consent to, his mind, reason and will being so fast gluedyea,nailed and chainedto the will of the devil. Nor can any creature loose these bonds, butonly the blood of Christ.

The redeeming work of Christ

This is the captivity and bondage from which Christ delivered us, redeemed us, andloosed us. His blood, his death, his patience in suffering rebukes and wrongs, hisprayers and fasting, his meekness and fulfilling of the uttermost point of the law: all thisappeased the wrath of God. And it brought the favor of God to us again, and obtained for

us the love of God as the love of a Fatherand a merciful Father at that, who willconsider our infirmities and weakness and give us his Spirit again (which was taken awayin the fall of Adam), and who will rule, govern and strengthen us and break the bonds ofSatan in which we were so straitly bound.

When Christ is preached in this way, and the promises rehearsed which arecontained in the psalms, prophets, and divers places in the five books of Moseswhich preaching is called the gospel or glad tidingsthen the hearts of those who areelect and chosen begin to grow soft, and to melt at the bounteous mercy of God andthe kindness shown in Christ. For when the Evangelion is preached the Spirit of Godenters into those whom God has ordained and appointed to eternal life and opens

their inward eyes, and works belief in them. When the woeful consciences feel andtaste how sweet a thing the bitter death of Christ is and how merciful and loving Godis through Christ's purchasing and merits, they begin to love again and to agree thatthe law of God is good and ought so to be, and that the God who made it is righteous.And they desire to fulfill the law, even as a sick man desires to be whole, and hungerand thirst after more righteousness and after more strength to fulfill the law moreperfectly. And in all that they do, or omit and leave undone, they seek God's honor and

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his will with meekness, always condemning the imperfection of their deeds asmeasured against the law.

Now Christ stands us in double stead and serves us in two ways. First, he is ourRedeemer, Deliverer, Reconciler, Mediator, Intercessor, Advocate, Attorney, Solicitor,

our Hope, Comfort, Shield, Protection, Defender, Strength, Health, Satisfactionand Salvation. His blood, his death, and all that he ever did, is ours. And Christhimself, with all that he is or can do, is ours. His blood shedding, and all that he did,does me as good service as if I myself had done it. And God (as great as he is), withall that he has, is mine through Christ and his redeeming work, in the same way that ahusband belongs to his wife.

Secondarily, after we have been overcome with love and kindness and now seek todo the will of God (which is a Christian man's nature), then we have Christ as anexample to copy, as Christ himself says in John: I have given you an example. Andin another gospel book he says: He that will be great among you shall be your servant

and minister, as the Son of man came to minister and not to be ministered unto. AndPaul says, Copy Christ! And Peter says, Christ died for you, and left you an example,to follow in his steps. Therefore, whatever faith has received from God throughChrist's blood and deserving, the same must be given out in loveevery whitandbestowed upon our neighbors for their profityea, even if they are our enemies. By faithwe receive of God, and by love we give out again. And this must we do freely after theexample of Christ, without any other consideration except our neighbor's welfarealone. And we must not look for reward in earth or in heaven based on our merit, ordeserving for our deeds, as friars preach (although we know good deeds arerewarded both in this life and in the life to come). But of pure love we must bestowourselves, all that we have, and all that we are able to do, even on our enemies, to bring

them to Godconsidering nothing but their welfare, as Christ did ours.

Christ did not do his deeds to obtain heaven thereby. That would be madness, forheaven was his already. He was heir thereof and it was his by inheritance. But he did hisdeeds freely for our sakes, considering nothing but our welfare and to bring the favor ofGod to us again, and to bring us to God. No natural son who is his father's heir does hisfather's will because he wants to be heir, for he is already so by birth; his father gavehim heirship when he was born, and is more loathe that the son should be without itthan he himself has mind to be. Rather, it is from pure love that the son does what hedoes. Ask him why he does it and he answers, My father asked me to; it is myfather's will; it pleases my father. Bondservants work for hire, but children for love. Fortheir father, with all he has, is theirs already.

And so a Christian man freely does all that he does, considering only the will of God andhis neighbors well being. If I live chaste, it is not to obtain heaven thereby, for then Iwould do wrong to the blood of Christ. Christ's blood has already obtained that for me:Christ's merits have made me heir of heaven; he is both the door and the way to it. Noris it that I look for a higher room in heaven than they who live in wedlock will have, orthan a whore of the brothel district (if she repents)for such would be the pride of

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Lucifer. But I do so freely to wait on the Evangelion, and to avoid the trouble of theworld and occasions that might pluck me from the gospel, and to serve my brotherwith it as well, even as one hand helps another, or one member another, because onefeels another's grief and the pain of the one is the pain of the other.

Whatever is done to the least of us (whether it be good or bad) is done to Christ, andwhatever is done to my brother (if I be a Christian man) is done to me. Nor does mybrother's pain grieve me less than my own: nor do I rejoice less at his wealth than at myown if I love him as well and as much as myself, as the law commands me. If it were notso, how says Paul? Let him who rejoices, rejoice in the Lordthat is to say, in Christ whois Lord over all creatures. If my merits obtained heaven for me, or a higher place there,then I would have something in which to rejoice besides the Lord.

The law and the gospel

Here you see the nature of the law and the nature of the Evangelion: how

the law is the key that binds and damns all men, and the Evangelion is the key thatlooses them again. The law goes before and the Evangelion follows. When apreacher preaches the law he binds all consciences, and when he preaches thegospel he looses them again. These two salves (I mean the law and the gospel) areused by God and by his preacher to heal and cure sinners.

The law drives out the disease and makes it appear. It is a sharp salve and afretting corrosive, and kills the dead flesh. It looses and draws the sores out by theroots with all corruption. It withdraws from a man the trust and confidence that he hasin himself and in his own works, merits, deservings and ceremonies, and robs himof all his righteousness, and makes him poor. It kills him, sends him down to hell and

brings him to utter desperation, and prepares the way of the Lord, as it is written ofJohn the Baptist. For it is not possible that Christ should come to a man as long as hetrusts in himself or in any worldly thing or has any righteousness of his own, or richesof holy works.

Then comes the Evangelion, a more gentle pastor, which supples and assuages

the wounds of the conscience and brings health. It brings the Spirit of God, whichlooses the bonds of Satan and joins us to God and his will, through strong faith andfervent love, with bonds too strong for the devil, the world or any creature to loose.And the poor and wretched sinner feels such great mercy, love and kindness in Godthat he is sure in himself that it is not possible that God would forsake him, orwithdraw his mercy and love from him. He boldly cries out with Paul, saying, Whoshall separate us from the love whereby God loves us? That is to say, What couldmake me believe that God does not love me? Could tribulation? anguish?persecution? Could hunger? nakedness? Could the sword? Nay, I am sure that notdeath, nor life, nor angel, nor rule nor power, nor present things nor things to come,nor high nor low, nor any creature, is able to separate us from the love of Godwhich is in Christ Jesus our Lord. In all such tribulations a Christian believer

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perceives that God is his Father and loves him or her even as he loved Christ whenhe shed his blood on the cross.

The fruits reveal the tree

Finally, like when I was earlier bound to the devil and his will and wrought all manner ofevil and wickednessnot for hell's sake, which is the reward of sin, but I did evilbecause I was heir of hell by birth and bondage to the devil (for I could not do otherwise:to do sin was my nature)even so now, since I am coupled to God by Christ's blood, Ido goodnot for heaven's sake, although it is the reward of well doing, but freelybecause I am heir of heaven by grace and Christ's purchasing and have the Spirit ofGod (for so is my nature, as a good tree brings forth good fruit and an evil tree brings forthevil fruit). By the fruits you will know what the tree is.

A man's deeds declare what he is within, but make him neither good nor bad (although,after we are created anew by the Spirit and doctrine of Christ, we wax always more

perfect by working and doing according to the doctrine, and not with blind works of ourown imagining). We must first be evil before we do evil, like a serpent is first poisonous,before it poisons. We must also be good before we do good, as the fire must be first hotbefore it heats another thing. Take an example: As the blind and deaf people healed in thegospel accounts could not see or hear until Christ had given them sight and hearing, andthose sick could not do the deeds of a whole man until Christ had given them health, sono man can do good in his soul until Christ has loosed him out of the bonds of Satanand given him what he needs to do goodyea, and has first poured into him that samegood thing which he later sheds forth upon another.

Christ is to be credited for all good fruits

Whatever is our own, is sin. Whatever is above is Christ's gift, purchase, doing andworking. He bought it dearly, with his blood, from his Fatheryea, with his most bitterdeathand gave his life for it. Whatever good thing is in us has been given to us freely,without our deserving or merits, for Christ's blood's sake. That we desire to follow the willof God is the gift of Christ's blood. That we now hate the devil's will (unto which we werelocked so fast and which we could only love) is also the gift of Christ's blood: to himbelong the praise and honor of our good deeds, and not to us.

The place and purposes of good works and spiritual gifts

Our deeds serve us in three ways.

First they assure us that we are heirs of everlasting life and that the Spirit of God, whichis the deposit thereof, is in usin that our hearts consent to the law of God and wehave power in our members to do it, though imperfectly. Secondarily, we tame the fleshtherewith and kill the sin that still remains in us; and thereby we grow daily more andmore perfect in the Spiritensuring lusts do not choke the word of God sown in us, norquench the gifts and working of the Spirit, and that we do not lose the Spirit again. And

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thirdly, we do our duty unto our neighbors therewith and help them in their need, untoour own comfort also, and draw all men to honor and praise God.

Whoever excels in the gifts of grace should consider that they are given to him as muchto do his brother service as for himself, and as much for the love God has for the weak as

for him to whom God has given such gifts. And whoever withdraws anything he hasfrom his neighbors need robs his neighbor and is a thief. And he that is proud of thegifts of God and by reason of them thinks himself better than his feeble neighbor and doesnot rather (as the truth is) acknowledge himself to be, by reason of them, a servant to hispoor neighbor, has Lucifer's spirit in him and not Christ's.

Things to keep in mind and memory

These things are important to know:

First, the law, and that it is natural righteousness and equity.

That we have but one God to put our hope and trust in, and we are to love him with allthe heart, all the soul, and all our might and power.

We are not to move heart nor hand but at his commandment, because he firstcreated us from nothing, and heaven and earth for our sakes. And afterwards, when wehad marred ourselves through sin, he forgave us and created us again in the blood of hisbeloved Son.

That we are to hold the name of our one God in fear and reverence, and that weare not to dishonor his name in swearing by it about light trifles or vanities, or call it to

record for the confirming of wickedness or falsehood or anything that is to the dishonorof Godwhich is the breaking of his laws or doing what tends to hurt our neighbor.

And inasmuch as he is our Lord and God and we are his double possession, bycreation and redemption, and therefore we ought not (as I said) to move heart or handwithout his commandment, it is right to have needful holy days to come together. Thesetimes are to learn his willboth the law which he will have us ruled by and also thepromises of mercy upon which he will have us place our trust; and to give thankstogether to God for his mercy; and to commit our infirmities to him through our SaviorJesus; and to reconcile ourselves to him and to each other, if anything has comebetween brother and brother that requires it. And only for such purposes, and such as

visiting the sick and needy and redressing peace and unity, were the holy daysordained, and to this extent they are to be kept holy from all manner of work that maybe conveniently let go for the time, until these be done and no further; but then lawfullyto work.

And that it is right to obey father and mother, master, lord, prince and king and all theordinances of the world, bodily and spiritual, by which God rules us and ministers freelyhis benefits to us all; and that we love them [father, mother, master, etc.] for the benefits

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we receive by them, and fear them for the power they have over us to punish us if wetrespass against the law and good order. Yet the worldly powers or rulers are to beobeyed only so far as their commandments do not contend against the commandmentof God, and no further. Therefore we must have God's commandments always in ourhearts. And by the higher law we must interpret the inferior, so that we obey nothing

against the belief of one God, or against the faith, hope and trust that is in him only, oragainst the love of God whereby we do or leave undone all things for his sake; andfurther so we do nothing under any man's commandment that is against the reverenceof the name of God, to make it despised or less feared and followed; and that we obeynothing to the hindrance of the knowledge of the blessed doctrine of God, whose servantthe holy day is.

Notwithstanding, even though the rulers which God has set over us command usagainst God or do us open wrong and oppress us with cruel tyranny, yet because theyare in God's room we may not avenge ourselves except by the process and order ofGod's law and laws of man made by the authority of God's lawwhich are also God's

law, ever by an higher powerleaving vengeance to God and, in the meantime,suffering until the hour has come.

And on the other side, to know that a man ought to love his neighbor as equally andfully as he loves himself, because his neighbor (be he ever so simple) is equallycreated by God and as fully redeemed by the blood of our Savior Jesus Christ. Out ofthis commandment of love spring these: kill not thy neighbor; defile not his wife; bear nofalse witness against him; and finally, not only do not do these things in deed, but donot covet in your heart his house, his wife, his man-servant, maid-servant, ox, ass, orwhatsoever is his; so that these laws pertaining unto our neighbor are not fulfilled inthe sight of God, except with love. He who does not love his neighbor does not keep the

commandment not to defile his neighbor 's wife even though he never touches her orsees her or thinks about her; for the commandment is, even though your neighbor 's wifebe ever so beautiful, and you have an exceptional opportunity given to you, and sheconsents or perhaps seduces you (as Potiphar's wife did Joseph), yet see that you loveyour neighbor so well that for very love you cannot find in your heart to do suchwickedness.

And even so, he who trusts in anything except God and his Son Jesus Christ keepsno commandment at all in the sight of God. For he that has trust in any creature, whetherin heaven or in earth, except God and his Son Jesus, can see no reason to love Godwith all his heart &c., nor to abstain from dishonoring his name, nor to keep the holy day

for the love of his doctrine, nor to obey lovingly the rulers of this world; nor any reason tolove his neighbor as himself or abstain from hurting him if and when he may get someprofit by him while keeping himself safe. And likewise, I may obey no worldly poweragainst the law to love my neighbor as myself, if to do anything at any man'scommandment would be to the hurt of my neighbor who has not deserved it, even ifhe is a Turk [of a Muslim tribe, generally fierce and marauding].

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And to know how contrary this law is to our nature, and understand that it isdamnation not to have this law written in our hearts even though we never commit theforbidden deeds; and how there is no other way to be saved from this damnation thanthrough repentance toward the law and faith in Christ's blood, which are the veryinward baptism of our souls. Of these, the washing and the dipping of our bodies in the

water are the outward sign.

The outward plunging of the body under water signifies that we repent inwardly, andthat we profess to fight against sin and lusts and to kill them every day more and morewith the help of God and with our diligence in following the doctrine of Christ and theleading of his Spirit. It also signifies that we believe ourselves to be washed from thenatural damnation in which we are born and from all the wrath of the law and from allthe infirmities and weaknesses that yet remain in us after we have consented to the lawand yielded ourselves to be students thereof. And we believe ourselves to be washed fromall the imperfectness of all our deeds done with cold love, and from all actual sins whichchance upon us while we try to do differently and fight against them, hoping to sin no

more.

Thus repentance and faith begin at our baptism and when we first profess the laws ofGod. They continue unto our lifes end, and grow as we grow in the Spirit: for the moreperfect we are, the greater is our repentance and the stronger our faith. And thus, asthe Spirit and doctrine on God's part and repentance and faith on our part, beget us anewin Christ, they also make us grow ever more perfect and save us unto the end; and neverleave us until all sin be put off and we are clean purified and full formed andfashioned after the similitude and likeness of the perfection of our Savior Jesus,whose gift all is.

And finally, to know that whatsoever good thing is in us, it is the gift of grace andtherefore not a result of our deserving the samealthough many things are given by Godwhich otherwise would not be, through our diligence in working his laws and chastisingour bodies, praying for them and believing his promises; still, our working does not meanwe deserve these gifts any more than the diligence of a merchant in seeking a good shipbrings the goods safely to land, although such diligence does now and then assist. Butwhen we believe in God and then do all we can in our strength, and do not tempt him, thenhe is true to his promise to help us. And he will perform alone when our strength is past.

Conclusion

To know these things, I say, is to have all the scripture unlocked and opened beforeyou, so that if you will go in and read, you cannot but understand. And to be ignorant inthese things is to have all the scripture locked up, so that the more you read it, theblinder you are and the more contrariety you find in it, and the more tangled you becomein it, to be unable to find the way through it. For if you have a gloss in one place, inanother place it will not serve. And therefore because we are never taught theprofession of our baptism we remain always unlearnedas much the spiritual leadersfor all their great clergy and high learning (so-called) as the lay people.

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And now, because the lay and unlearned people are taught these first principles of ourprofession, they read the scripture and understand and delight in it. And our great pillarsof the holy church, who have nailed a veil of false glosses on Moses face to corrupt thetrue understanding of his law, cannot come in. And therefore they bark and say the

scripture makes heretics. And it is not possible for them to understand the scripture inEnglish because they do not understand it in Latin. And from pure malice, because theycannot have their way, they slay their brethren for their faith in our Saviorand therebyshow forth their bloody wolfish tyranny and what they are within, and whose disciplesthey are.

Herewith, reader, be committed unto the grace of our Savior Jesus, to whom, and toGod our Father through him, be praise forever and forever. Amen.

By William Tyndale

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1 The same teachings are widespread today. Many suppose that God is a God of love only, and never a God of wrath. They

are good enough, they say, and God would never require more of them than they are already giving, for that would be too

harsh. They see no serious problem with their lack of love for His commands (and consequent adulteries, fornications anddeceptions), or their lack of love for His word, or their irreverent friends whose company they prefer to that of the saints,

etc. They imagine faith in Gods love to be a righteous faith, without concern for Gods law. They decry those who seek to

be obedient as legalists who do not understand the mercy of God. How deceived they are. Ed.

William Tyndale-A Pathway to the Holy Scripture

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