September 30, 2026 - Good Morning! It’s Wednesday, September 30.
In the early fall of the year 1537, the very first English Bible was published. It was called the “Matthew Bible”. That wasn’t because of the Gospel of Matthew, but because the translator’s name was Thomas Matthew. Except, there was no translator named Thomas Matthew. In fact, Thomas Matthew didn’t even exist. So why the fake name? The answer to that question makes this Bible a very special book indeed.
William Tyndale was the actual translator of the Matthew Bible. And Tyndale was also a leader in the movement called the Protestant Reformation. One of the aims of this movement was to give the common man access to the Word of God. Martin Luther had translated the Bible into German in 1522, and Tyndale followed his lead. But he never saw his Bible published. In 1536 William Tyndale was arrested for heresy and burned at the stake.
And so, the publishers of his Bible, to protect themselves, used the pseudonym Thomas Matthew. In 1611 a British monarch commanded that a new translation should be created. And much of that Bible was lifted from the work that Tyndale had done 75 years before. We call that Bible the King James Version. And William Tyndale gave his life for it.
Meet you back here tomorrow,
David
cindertex50@yahoo.com
