As I noted in my last post, up to this day, millions of people worldwide
honour Tyndale and value his pioneering but dangerous bible translation
work. But one has to ask, why were there
sinister forces working against him and running surveillance on him? That is the question for us here. And, however much we like to think it
otherwise, at the root of it, Tyndale was spied upon, betrayed, arrested,
tried, murdered and discarded because of four words. Granted, the incestuous authorities of Church
and State saw him as seditious and heretical, but these four words – and his
unwillingness to compromise on them – got him killed.
Let’s take a look at the four words
involved. For Tyndale, the Greek agape should not be translated charity
but love; the word episkopos should
not be translated bishop but overseer; the word presbyter should not be translated priest but elder; the word ekklesia should not be translated church
but congregation or assembly.
These were not philosophical preferences on
the part of Tyndale, but deeply held convictions concerning correct and
accurate translation based on much study and research. What Tyndale was saying is basically this:
accurate translation of the Greek words into English for the purpose of putting
the truth into the hands of all Christians demands just that: accuracy. What the conflation of religious institutions
and monarchy wanted was to ensure that when people read or interpreted or
taught the bible, the people heard that the bible justified and supported them
and their institutions, not some alternative arrangement that would take them
out from under church/monarchy control – into what they construed as sedition
and heresy.
Now take a good look at your English bibles. With the exception of the KJV (we’ll come to
that exception a little later), few good English bibles commonly used in the
Protestant stream of life disagree with Tyndale on three of the four words. However, on the fourth, they totally back up
the institutional/monarchical preference.
They translate agape as love, episkopos as overseer (some still prefer
bishop), presbyter as elder. But Tyndale’s translation is still almost the
only one that translates ekklesia as
congregation or assembly instead of church.
Why is that?
Why – because the institutions and
organisations still want to demand allegiance to their systems and structures
on the basis that the scriptures give them legitimacy. Unfortunately, ‘legitimacy’ is gained via
knowingly invoking an incorrect English translation. To me, that is a profound and damning abuse
of fleshly power and control. Have we
ever stopped to think what Jesus – as Head of the ecclesia – thinks about it,
or what the Holy Spirit – as the pre-eminent teacher – thinks about it, or what
the Father – as the original visionary and dreamer – thinks about it?
If we did think about it – humbly and in
submission to the Lord – wouldn’t we stop teaching and living error and speak
and live the truth? If, as Paul teaches,
in ecclesia it is ‘first apostles, second prophets, third teachers’, wouldn’t
we be listening to the long line of apostles prophets and teachers from Paul to
the present (mostly ignored, hated, persecuted and killed) instead of listening
to so-called ‘pastors’ and ‘evangelists’
who want to protect their positions and reputations in the institutions? When are we going to begin to do things
following the pattern of Jesus and Paul instead of the pattern of the
Pharisees?
Tyndale was right! The New Testament does not contain the word
‘church’, so it should not be in our English bibles. So how and why do we come to use this word
for absolutely everything that deals with the idea of the New Covenant people
of God? That's the question for my next post.
Cheers,
Kevin.
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