An imaginary letter, from Tyndale written sometime in 1534 whilst resident in the English House at Antwerp. The spirit is entirely Tyndale's, but his actual words are indicated us quotations and the footnotes will direct the reader to their source.
Dear Reader,
You have asked me to write on that good word 'evangelical' and how I understand it. I would have replied sooner but was afraid of being distracted from my task of revising the New Testament, besides which I have not yet completed the Old Testament, and that I must do if God spares my life which, if I am not mistaken, he will not do much longer. The net is tightening. Many of my dear friends have died the martyr's death. A year gone John Frith was burnt at Smithfield along with young Andrew Hewet. I wrote to John whilst he lay in Newgate gaol, but I fear my letter did not reach him in time.
I seem to see the King's agents everywhere, and whilst I have a little more leisure amongst the English merchants here I feel the end cannot be far distant. My freedom is like that of a bird in a cage. Yet I have a freedom in the gospel that no man can take from me.
My dear Friend, the word 'evangelical' is our word. The great Dr Erasmus, without whose work on the Greek text of the New Testament I could never have completed my translation, used the word some fifteen years ago when writing to a young Flemish priest, to distinguish between the teaching of Dr Luther and the Church of Rome. I am told also that in correspondence with Luther's assistant, Philip Melancthon, Erasmus wrote: 'I do not object generally to evangelical doctrines, but there is much in Luther's teaching which I dislike[1]. I Even Sir Thomas More, whom I hear has fallen from the king's favour and is like to precede me from this world, understood the word 'evangelical' to belong to those who protest at the doctrines of the Church of Rome.[2] So, what is this 'evangelical truth' that both Erasmus and More have laboured so hard to extinguish? 'Evangelion (or what we call the gospel) is a Greek word, and signifies good, glad, and joyful tidings, that make a man's heart glad, and make him sing, dance, and leap for joy. It is the joyful tidings and, as some would say, a good hearing, published by the apostles throughout all the world, of Christ the right David, how he fought with sin, with death, and the devil, and overcame them. Whereby all men that were in bondage to sin, wounded with death, overcome of the devil, are, without their own merits or deservings, loosed, justified, restored to life, and saved, brought to liberty and reconciled unto the favour of God, and set at one with him again. Now, the wretched man, that knows himself to be wrapped in sin, and in danger of death and hell, can hear nothing more joyous than such glad and comfortable tidings of Christ'.[3] You ask me the difference between the Law and this Gospel? It is this: 'The one asks and requires, the other pardons and forgives. The one threatens, and the other promises all good things to them that set their trust in Christ only'.[4] But how confident can you he in
Christ without the ceremonies of the Church'? 'Repent and believe the gospel. Apply the promises unto the deserving of Christ, and to the mercy of God and his truth, and so you will not despair. But shall feel God as a kind and merciful father. And his Spirit will dwell in you and will he strong in you,![5]
We are accused of denying the importance of good works. This is a lie, but 'note the order. First, God give, me light to see the goodness and righteousness of the law, and my own sin and unrighteousness. Out of this knowledge springs repentance. Then the same Spirit works in my heart trust and confidence to believe the mercy of God and his truth, that he will do as he has promised, which belief saves me. And immediately out of that trust springs love toward the law of God again. Now love does not receive this mercy, but faith only; out of which faith love springs, by which love I pour out again upon my neighbour that goodness which I have received of God by faith. Therefore you can see that I cannot bejustified without repentance, and yet it is not repentance that justifies me. You can also see that I cannot have a faith to be justified and saved unless love springs from it immediately, and yet even love does not justify me before God. So, you can see what faith it is that justifies us. It is the faith in Christ's blood that comes from a repenting heart toward the law'.[6] There is a faith that believes the whole of the Bible, and a faith that does great miracles: there is the devil's faith and the Pope's faith, but none of these 'is like the faith of those who hate evil, and repent of their misdeeds, and acknowledge their sins, and have fled with full hope and trust of mercy to the blood of Christ'[7]. So you can see 'that faith only. before all works and without all merits but Christ's only, justifies and sets us at peace with God'.[8]
'This is therefore a plain, and a sure conclusion not to be doubted of. that there must he first in the heart of a man before he does any good works, a greater and a more precious thing than all the good works in the world, to reconcile him to God, to bring the love and favour of God to him, to make him love God again, to make him righteous and good in the sight of God. That precious thing which must be in the heart is the word of God, which in the gospel preaches, offers, and brings to all that repent and believe, the favour of God in Christ'.[9]
This, dear friend, is the meaning of that word 'evangelical'. And if you or anyone, in any age or place. 'would see eternal life and all good things. and if you obtain heaven, then you must trust that Christ's blood has purchased life for us, and has made us the heirs of God'[10]
I will write again if I have leisure.
W. Tindal
- December 10th 1524. Quoted from The Life and Letters of Erasmus, Froude 1895.
- In 1530 Thomas Hilton was arrested and, according to More, letters were found on him, 'Written from evangelical brethren here unto evangelical heretics beyond the sea'. Hilton was burnt in March at Maidstone in Kent.
- A Pathway into the Holy Scripture.
- Epistle to the Reader 1526 New Testament.
- Ibid.
- Tyndale's description of justification from An answer unto Sir Thomas More's Dialogue.
- Ibid.
- The Parable of the Wicked Mammon.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.