The man America forgot to invite to its 250th birthday party

(RNS) — George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams will be some of the names that will rightly dominate the tributes as America turns 250 in the next few days. 

Block parties, fireworks and patriotic speeches will give honor to these men for the leadership, courage and vision that helped birth and shape a nation unlike any the world had seen before. 

Yet standing in London beside a book twice the age of the United States, I find myself wondering whether somebody is missing from America’s 250th birthday party guest list.

This man didn’t set foot in North America. He never signed a founding document. He actually died almost 250 years before the Declaration of Independence. But there is a compelling case that our country’s great story would look very different without him. 

Let me introduce you to William Tyndale, the man who, 500 years ago, translated the New Testament from the original Greek into English for the very first time.

The book I have just been staring at is one of only three surviving copies of Tyndale’s 1526 New Testament. Printed in Germany, it was smuggled into England and was already ancient when America declared independence. Today it sits safely preserved behind glass at London’s iconic St. Paul’s Cathedral. I am here in Britain filming a mini-documentary series, following Tyndale’s footsteps and learning more of his amazing story.

In the early 16th century, only priests had access to the Bible, but Tyndale became convinced that ordinary people should be able to read Scripture in their own languages. Church authorities fiercely opposed English translations, fearing they would undermine established authority and spread heresy.

Tyndale disagreed. His ambition was simple but dangerous. He famously declared that if God spared his life, he would ensure that a plowboy knew more Scripture than the religious leaders opposing him.

Unable to complete his work in England, he fled to Germany. Working in exile, he launched a movement that would change history. Backed by a team of wealthy businessmen and transporters, copies of his New Testament were printed in 1526 and then secretly smuggled into England hidden among cargo shipments.

The pocket Bible we know today was effectively born not from convenience but necessity. Its size made it easier to conceal and smuggle.

Authorities searched for the books, and church leaders publicly burned them. But the demand proved unstoppable. Historians estimate that up to 18,000 English New Testaments made their way into London.

Tyndale’s mission eventually cost him his life. In 1536, he was strangled and burned at the stake in Belgium after a year in jail. 

William Tyndale is burned at the stake in Belgium. (Image from Foxe’s Book of Martyrs/Wikimedia/Creative Commons)

“Lord, open the King of England’s eyes,” were reportedly the famous last words he shouted before his death.

Remarkably, less than a year later, every church in England was required to have a copy of the Bible chained to its pulpit. And not long after that, English Bibles were printed with royal approval and were made accessible — to everyone. Tyndale’s prayer was answered. The man was dead; the mission lived on. 

But that was just the beginning. Tyndale’s masterpiece was on the move and would travel much further than he ever imagined. 

As President of EEM, a ministry that delivers more than 2 million Bibles every year to people who have requested them, I know firsthand how Scripture continues to transform lives. We are just one organization carrying Tyndale’s mission forward across the world today.

Most people know Tyndale as a Bible translator, but he was also one of the architects of the English language itself.

“The powers that be,” “fight the good fight,” “the signs of the times” and “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak,” are just a few phrases that first appeared in his writings. 

He translated Scripture into English that was clear, memorable and beautiful. Five centuries later, these sayings still feel natural because they helped shape the English language itself.

That influence would prove particularly significant across the Atlantic. When the first settlers arrived in North America, they brought more than hopes and dreams — they brought Bibles. And those Bibles carried William Tyndale’s words.

The King James Bible relied heavily on Tyndale’s earlier work. Scholars estimate that roughly 80% to 90% of its New Testament draws directly from his translation.

It’s quite incredible that the book that would shape the moral compass of a nation and become its rock, backbone and manual was translated by a man who remains unknown to most Americans.

George Washington famously said that it is impossible to rightly govern a country without God and the Bible. As I stood before this 500-year-old New Testament, I began to wonder where America would be today without it. How much biblical language and Scripture has formed the fabric of American life? Where would families and communities be without the word of God? 

As America celebrates 250 years of freedom, it will rightly honor the soldiers, statesmen and founders who built our great nation. But perhaps it should also remember the British translator who helped shape the world long before 1776.

William Tyndale never lived to see America. He never knew the founding fathers. Yet five centuries after his New Testament first appeared and 250 years after America’s birth, his words still echo across the nation today.

For a man most Americans have never heard of, that is quite a legacy.

He may just be the most influential figure absent from the celebration.

(Dirk Smith is President of EEM, a Christian ministry that publishes and delivers approximately 2 million Bibles free every year across 35 countries in more than 30 languages. See www.eem.org for more. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)