Five hundred years after Tyndale’s English New Testament, we still have reason to give thanks.
November is a month when we often reflect on what we are grateful for. Yet it is easy to move through life without pausing to give thanks. Over the next few weeks, I want to slow down and reflect on the gifts the Lord has given me.
Today, I am grateful that I can read the Bible in my own language.
This year marks the 500th anniversary of William Tyndale’s English New Testament. To say that his translation work changed the world would be an understatement. His desire was simple: to make God’s Word accessible to ordinary people. He once told a priest:
“If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy who drives a plough to know more of the scriptures than you do.”
William Tyndale
It is easy to take for granted what a gift this is. We can open our Bibles and read God’s promises, hear the good news of Jesus, and come to know the God who has made himself known to us.
This 18 minute documentary about Tyndale and his translation work is well worth your time:
Dear friends, let’s rejoice that we have God’s Word in our hands. And let’s do more than give thanks for it. Let’s open it.
Take up and read.
For Christ’s Kingdom,
Pastor Billy