Tag: William Tyndale

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Lord's Day Liturgy

Drawe One Waye

Be likeminded. That’s Paul’s exhortation in Philippians 2:2, and it’s been the theme of these recent exhortations. Christians, and Christians in a local church, should think the same way.

In Paul’s original letter he used a form of the verb think both at the beginning and end of the verse, and this type of thinking has an emphasis on attitude, disposition, leaning.

There is another word, an adjective, in Philippians 2:20 that means equal-souled, or same-minded. William Tyndale not only translated that word as “lyke mynded,” the Oxford English Dictionary attributes the English word to Tyndale in his 1526 translation of the New Testament.

Though Tyndale invented the word likeminded, and while the KJV did later use likeminded in Philippians 2:2, Tyndale saw a different way to express the exhortation. Here’s his unique, but vivid, image:

fulfyll my love that ye drawe one waye

This wasn’t just his rough draft. He kept it this way through his final revision in 1534.

Drawe one waye. It is the picture of pulling together, of pulling in the same direction. Imagine a team of horses pulling a carriage, or oxen yoked together pulling the plow.

Likeminded is great, though perhaps a static place. Drawe one waye is dynamic, a moving and active pursuit.

Drawe one waye was the theme of our L2L leaders retreat, and it’s going to be a theme for a while in TEC communication.

A stallion running beside the team may be fast and beautiful, but no help. A workhorse harnessed in but always dragging his stiff neck elsewhere makes the whole thing harder.

Beloved, drawe one waye.

Categories
Lord's Day Liturgy

The Vocabulary of Repentance

We owe some of our most cherished vocabulary to the Reformers. This is Reformation Sunday, the Sunday closest to October 31st when Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses against the sale of indulgences. It is good for us to be thankful for God’s use of faithful men.

William Tyndale was the first man to translate the New Testament into English from Greek. John Wycliffe hand-wrote copies from Latin into English, but Tyndale had access to the Greek New Testament thanks to Erasmus, and his printed English copies created a firestorm.

One of his most important word choices came in Acts 2:38. After Peter preached on Pentecost, the men asked what they could do to be saved. The Catholic Church taught that Peter replied, “Do penance.” It’s based on the Latin word, Pœnitentiam. Tyndale translated Peter’s reply, “Repent” (based on Μετανοήσατε).

There’s no need to remember Tyndale every time we repent. However, it is good for our humility and our gratitude to remember that we’ve been delivered from numerous gross errors and heavy religious burdens because of men who loved God and His Word more than their own lives.

Never once have you come to this part of our liturgy on Sunday morning and heard that you must confess your sins to a priest who takes your confession for you to God. You are exhorted to confess, and the heart may resist, but when you confess, it is directly to God through Christ. No man is in the middle, Christ alone is the mediator. And on no occasion have you heard that, due to your sin, you must punish yourself, or pay God money, or travel to see a religious site, or work off your penalty.

When you realize your sin, what should you do? Confess your sin, repent from it, trust in Christ, and your forgiveness is by grace alone.

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Enjoying the Process

Recommended Reformation Resources

I finished preaching through the Reformation solas again and wanted to put together a list of recommended resources for further study, similar to the online Edwards resources list I posted after this past Snow Retreat. Unlike that list, however, I’ve also included some books that are not available to read online.

See more about the Reformation Wall

Books

Reformation general:

Sola specific:

Biography:

Websites

  • Five Solas | This is the place to start for Reformation resources on the internet.

Audio

I also preached on the Pillars and Preachers of the Protestant Reformation at the 05SR.

  1. Post Tenebras Lux: After Darkness, Light
  2. Sola Scriptura: The Ultimate Authority and William Tyndale
  3. Sola Fide: The Ultimate Issue and Martin Luther
  4. Sola Gratia: The Ultimate Cause and Ulrich Zwingli
  5. Solus Christus: The Ultimate Advocate and John Knox
  6. Soli Deo Gloria: The Ultimate End and John Calvin
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The End of Many Books

Buy Biography

Good afternoon blogreaders! I haven’t much time to dilly-dally around writing a blog, but since Mo and I are off to the elders’ retreat tomorrow through Friday, I thought I’d get at least one in before departure.

If you’re reading this, you’ve probably been to the one28 home page. And if you’ve been to the one28 home page, you’ve probably noticed that the 05SR Session 2 mp3 on Sola Scriptura/William Tyndale is uploaded for your downloading pleasure. Of course, if you were in big church this morning you also heard that sermon live and in person – maybe for the second time.

But whether you’ve been to the one28 page or downloaded the mp3 or heard my message in big church today or not, the suggestion I’m about ready to make is still for you.

You should buy the book, God’s Outlaw, by Brian Edwards, a biography of William Tyndale. While I don’t necessarily love history, I had trouble putting this book down. Sure, there were parts that I had to sludge through, but most of it was simply captivating. Here is an excerpt from the back cover:

God’s Outlaw has every ingredient of a thrilling story – a king, a cardinal, secret agents, a betrayer and a fugitive.

William Tyndale lived in the colourful and cruel days of Henry VIII, when men were burned, racked and maimed for lesser crimes than that of smuggling the Bible into England. When Tyndale set out to provide the first printed New Testament in English he was forced to do so in defiance of the king, the pope and almost every person in authority. Compelled to flee from his homeland, he continued with his work of translating the Scriptures whilst slipping from city to city in Germany, Holland and Belgium in an attempt to avoid the agents who were sent from England to arrest him. His story is one of poverty, danger and ceaseless labor.

This fugitive and outlaw gave the English-speaking people their most priceless heritage: the Scriptures in their mother tongue.

And here’s the thing: it’s all true! Tyndale was a stud. By God’s grace, he was the Reformation in England. He has moved up the ladder in my own mind due to his indefatigable effort in the face of ridiculous odds. Get this book, read it, and imitate Tyndale in his love for and submission to the authority of Scripture.