Life Story
Full name: William Tyndale
Birthplace: Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, England
Born: about 1495
Died: October 6, 1536
Spiritual awakening: at age 21
Life outcome: Despite many hardships, he translated the Bible into English and gave his life for that work.
Early life and calling
Exact details about Tyndale’s parents and his precise birth date are not well documented, but he is believed to have been born in Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, around 1495. From his youth he loved reading the Scriptures. He studied well at Oxford University and later continued his studies in Europe, learning Greek so he could read the New Testament in its original language. Reading the text deeply changed him — not just his mind but his heart — and he became convinced that ordinary people needed to read God’s Word in their own language, English. He decided to translate the New Testament into English and to teach its truths to others.
Dangerous times
In Tyndale’s day it was illegal for ordinary people to read the Bible in English. The religious authorities forbade it, and some who resisted were punished severely. Despite this danger — and after learning that seven people had been executed for similar acts — Tyndale committed himself to translate the New Testament into English so that common people could understand the Scriptures.
Translation work and exile
Because he could not do this work safely in England, Tyndale fled to the European continent and continued his translation there. He moved from place to place as printing presses and local authorities forced him to find new hiding places. After much struggle he completed the first two printed editions of his English New Testament by 1525. Later he helped secretly ship many copies to England, often hiding them in bales and sending them by ship.
Opposition and persistence
Church leaders tried to find and burn these books, and they paid agents to seize them. But the money raised to buy and destroy the copies only helped finance more printings. Tyndale even dedicated one of his New Testament editions to Queen Anne Boleyn; a copy of that edition is now found in British collections. The clergy hated his work and plotted against him. Eventually Tyndale was betrayed, arrested, and imprisoned.
Imprisonment and death
Tyndale spent about fifteen months in prison, yet he continued translating while jailed. Finally, on Friday, October 6, 1536, he was taken out, strangled, and then burned. Reported to have spoken near the end, he exclaimed words praying for the king and for the people to have the Scriptures in their own language. He had once said that even if they burned his books he would be grateful that his work would not be lost — and indeed, only ten years after his death ordinary English people were able to possess Bibles in their mother tongue.
Legacy
Much of the language Tyndale chose shaped later English translations. About ninety percent of the words he used can be found in the King James Version published a century later. William Tyndale is remembered as a Christian martyr: someone who chose to give his life rather than abandon the cause of making God’s Word available to all. He bore great hardships and remained faithful to the end.