C.H. Spurgeon

Sinners, let me address you with words of life; Jesus wants nothing from you, nothing whatsoever, nothing done, nothing felt; he gives both work and feeling. Ragged, penniless, just as you are, lost, forsaken, desolate, with no good feelings, and no good hopes, still Jesus comes to you, and in these words of pity he addresses you, "Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out."

Comment Policy: No profanity or blasphemy will be posted. You do not have to agree, but if you would like your comment posted, you will have to adhere to the policy.


Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Three Cheers for William Tyndale

Just a little history, for I really don’t know much at all. Just ask anyone that knows me.

Raise your hand if you have heard the name William Tyndale? Well, if you use a Bible, which I hope you do, you should know the name.

Tyndale is known for his translation of the Bible which was the first in English translation from the Hebrew and Greek Texts. John Wycliffe’s “morning star of the Reformation” translation was from the Latin Vulgate in the 1380s.

Tyndale’s New Testament from the Greek was printed in 1526 and fourteen of the Old Testament books were translated from Hebrew into English by the 1530’s; which assumingly made him the first to translate Hebrew into English.

Myles Coverdale, a close friend of Tyndale, translates the rest of the Old Testament Tyndale was unable to complete, relying mostly on Tyndale’s earlier drafts, and publishes the first complete English Bible, the Coverdale Bible, in 1535. Tyndale was in prison for 15 months, ending in his strangling and burning at the stake on October 6.

John Rogers in 1537 published the Mathew Bible, under the name Thomas Matthew, which was made of Tyndale’s Old Testament and New Testament (1534-1535), Coverdale’s Bible, and a small amount of Rogers’ own translations.

Thomas Cranmer in 1539 commissions Coverdale to publish a large pulpit Bible thus introduced the Great Bible, also based highly on Tyndale’s work, chained to every pulpit in every church.

It is claimed that over 85% (some state 2/3 to 90%) of the 1611 King James Bible’s New Testament and first half of the Old Testament is taken directly or related to Tyndale’s translation work. Claims have been made that the Geneva Bible translated in 1560 (first verse divisions) holds even closer to Tyndale’s work than the King James Bible does.

Some distinctions from Tyndale and the KJV translators are the words:
Tyndale - congregation - elders - love
KJV - church - bishops - charity

To God be all honor, praise, and glory for using a man of His choosing to translate His very Words from the Hebrew and Greek into our English language that we may know Him through the Scriptures.

No comments:

John Bunyan

To be saved is to be preserved in the faith to the end. 'He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.' (Mt. 24:13) Not that perseverance is an accident in Christianity, or a thing performed by human industry; they that are saved 'are kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation.' (1 Pet. 1: 3-6) But perseverance is absolutely necessary to the complete saving of the soul…. He that goeth to sea with a purpose to arrive at Spain, cannot arrive there if he be drowned by the way; wherefore perseverance is absolutely necessary to the saving of the soul.