William Tyndale, Sir Thomas More, and C. S. Lewis

One of my favorite movies is A Man for All Seasons with the late, great Paul Scofield as Sir Thomas More. The plot revolves around More's opposition to King Henry VIII's marriage to Anne Boleyn. The film is a story about a man who uses all his wits to avoid martyrdom, but in the end loses his life because he remained true to his faith. The movie paints More as the greatest saint whoever lived; however, More's hands have blood on them. He is not as pure a saint as the movie portrays. He is guilty of subverting justice, kidnapping Tyndale and having him murdered. William Tyndale is the translator who translated most of the Bible from the original languages, Hebrew and Greek, into English. From comparing the Tyndale version and the King James Version, it is easy to see how the translators of the King James Version borrowed liberally from Tyndale's translation. He is the first major English Reformer.

Before his death at age forty-two, Tyndale translated most of the Bible into English (he had to learn Hebrew, Greek, Latin and German), combated More's theology through an extensive correspondence, and he wrote several pastoral letters to encourage his fellow English believers. He did all this while he was on the run in a foreign country trying to escape More's agents. The following are a few key quotes on Tyndales' doctrine. The first quote is from Timothy George who quotes Tyndale on predestination.

Predestination is not an easy doctrine, and it can never be grasped by those who try to reduce God to a formula or by those "feel good" Christians who have never struggled for their footing in the awful swellings of the Jordan. Here is how Tyndale put it:

Except thou hast borne the cross of adversity and temptation, and hast felt thyself brought in the the very brim of desperation, yea, and unto hell-gates, thou canst never meddle with the sentence of predestination without thine own harm, and without secret wrath and grudging inwardly against God; for otherwise it shall not be possible for thee to think that God is righteous and just.

(p. 355, Theology of the Reformers )

According to Tyndale, here is what happens when a preacher preaches the Gospel and the seed of the Word lands in good soil.

When a true preacher preacheth, the Spirit entereth the hearts of the elect, and maketh them feel the righteousness of the law of God, and by the law, the poison of their corrupt nature; and thence leadeth them through repentance, under the mercy that is in Christ's blood; and as an anointment healeth the body, even so the Spirit, through confidence and trust in Christ's blood, healeth the soul, and maketh her love the law of God. (p. 357, ibid)

Tyndales comments on how works and faith are related.

The man doth good deeds, and profitable unto his neighbor, he must therefore love God: he loveth God; he must therefore have a true faith and see mercy. Any yet my works make not my love, nor my love my faith, nor my faith God's mercy: but contrary, God's mercy maketh my faith; and my faith, my love, and my love, my works. (p.361, Ibid)

Tyndale is saying my works without faith does not save me because they are done without love. God's mercy gives me faith. Faith produces my love for God and thus my works result from my love of God.

All this is set up for me to quote C. S. Lewis. Lewis, who not only wrote fiction and apologetics, but is considered one of the foremost literary scholars of the 20th century. His book, English Literature in the Sixteenth Century is considered a classic. This quote is about More's and Tyndale's contrasting literary styles.

The sentences that stick to the mind from Tyndale's works are halfway to poetry--"Who taught the eagles to spy out their prey? Even so the children of God spy out their Father"--"that they may see love and love again"--"where the Spirit is, there is always summer"... In More, we feel all the smoke and stir of London; the very plotting of his sentences is like horse traffic in the streets. In Tyndale we breathe mountain air. Amid all More's jokes I feel a melancholy in the background; amid all Tyndale's severities there is something like laughter, that laughter which he speaks of as coming "from the low bottom of the heart." (pp. 357-358, ibid).

The main reason for this blog post is that I enjoy good writing. Tyndale and Lewis provide me with much enjoyment and I want to share that joy. These writers not only provide food for my soul, but music to my ears as I read them aloud to myself.