By Gary Ray Branscome

During the time William Tyndale was in Germany he visited Wittenberg. There he spent time with Luther, shared his desire to see the Bible in the language of the people, and embraced the theology being taught by Luther and Melanchthon. However, even though William Tyndale agreed theologically with Luther, unlike Luther Tyndale saw little good in the papal church. In his eyes it was a brutal, heartless machine that crushed the truth of the gospel under its feet. For that reason, he had a distain for much of its pomp and ceremony. Nevertheless, Tyndale’s doctrine was the doctrine of the reformation: the same doctrine published by Phillip Melanchthon (in his, “Loci Communes” 1521 edition) not long before Tyndale arrived in Wittenberg.

The Biblical Hermeneutic

While Lutherans currently rely heavily on the confessions, using statements of faith to define what they believe, the confessions did not exist in 1524 (the time Tyndale was in Wittenberg). At that time the emphasis was on what the Bible clearly and explicitly says. To Luther and Tyndale the statements of Scripture were far clearer than any man made statement of faith. That may seem strange in our age, with all of its theological disagreement, but that is only because many are so intent on reading their own ideas into the text that they fail to see what the words actually say.

The Reformation hermeneutic is summarized in two passages of Scripture. The words, “If you continue in my word, then you are my disciples indeed; And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free,” tell us that the truth (God’s Word) cannot be found by those who depart from God’s Word, looking outside of it for truth or reading ideas from outside of Scripture into what God has written (John 8:31-32). And the words, “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them,” tell us that those who interpret some passages to contradict others, or explain away passages that contradict their own ideas and interpretations have no light (truth) in them.

In order to demonstrate how these rules eliminate false interpretation, let us look at the words, “The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel” (1Thess. 4:16). One cult insists that the words, “voice of the archangel,” prove that Christ is an archangel. However, they first assume that Christ is the archangel whose voice is heard, and then, on the basis of that assumption, rebel against God by explaining away all of the passages that tell us that Christ is God (John 1:1-18, 1 John 5:20, etc.). Their assumption is an addition to God’s Word. Explaining away what the Bible actually says is taking away from God’s Word. And, the fact that they contradict Scripture, tells us that they are in rebellion against God (1Samuel 15:23, Psalm 107:11, Romans 3:4).

THE DOCTRINE GOD HAS GIVEN US

Because we are not to add to God’s Word, the doctrine God has given us is nothing other than what the Bible clearly and explicitly says, “line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little;” (Isaiah 28:10).

I once tried to explain that to a cult member, only to have him say, “If it was that simple no one would have to go to church, they could just stay home and read their Bible.” What he failed to see was that one reason we do need to go to church is because, left to ourselves our carnal imaginations would run wild, and we would read all sort of unscriptural ideas into the text (Jeremiah 17:9). That is exactly what Dr. Francis Pieper was talking about when he said:

The first and foremost duty of the exegete consists in holding the flighty spirit of man to the simple word of Scripture and, where he has departed from it, to lead him back to the simple word of Scripture. Luther says that the sole purpose of all his writings and particularly of his exegetical works is to lead back into Scripture… The whole Christian doctrine is revealed in Scripture passages that need no exegesis, but are an open book alike to the learned and the unlearned and can be so readily translated that the translator cannot go wrong unless he has made up his mind to depart from the original. [“Christian Dogmatics”, Vol. one, pgs 360 and 347.]

In order to bring our theology into accord with the Word of God we must begin by bringing our thinking into accord with the Word of God (Romans 12:2). We do that by eliminating all unscriptural ideas and interpretations that contradict what the Bible says. And those truths so clearly stated in Scripture that they need no interpretation are our standard for eliminating those unscriptural ideas. Since the Bible is primarily historic, we begin with Bible history. Furthermore, because the Bible interprets itself, it is Scripture, not the deceitfulness of the human heart, that determines which portions of the Bible are history and which are not. And, the Bible tells us that the Biblical record of creation is history in dozens of passages (Romans 5:12, Matthew 19:14, Acts 17:24, 2 Peter 3:5, etc.).

I am aware that the forces of Satan are viciously attacking the Biblical record of history. But, the people who reject Bible history are violating both of the rules that I previously stated. They depart from God’s Word, by reading atheistic assumptions into the text, and they rebel against God by contradicting His Word (John 8:31, Isaiah 8:20). Furthermore, Jesus calls them fools, because every opinion that contradicts what the Bible says is a man-made myth or fairy-tale (Luke 24:25, 1Corinthians 1:20 and 3:19).

In saying this, I want to make it perfectly clear that there is no conflict between true science and the Bible. There only appears to be a conflict when the religion of atheism is passed off as science. For example: because one experiment after another has demonstrated that life comes only from preexisting life, whenever someone claims that life came into existence on its own he is teaching atheistic religion not science. Likewise, because about forty percent of all fossil life forms are not extinct (and have not changed since the rocks were formed), whenever someone claims that an extinct life form has evolved into something else he is teaching atheistic religion not science. Atheists have simply conned the public into believing that every explanation of the world around us that leaves out God is science, even when it contradicts actual scientific evidence. That is blind bigotry, not science.

Bible history is important because God has revealed Himself in history. We worship the God who created the world in six days. We worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And, we worship the God who took on the nature of man through the miracle of the virgin birth, lived a sinless life, died for our sins, and rose again the third day. Furthermore, seven of the historical events recorded in Scripture have a deep spiritual significance, and that spiritual significance constitutes the heart and core of the salvation message. This is not an opinion; the Bible explicitly tells us what the spiritual significance of those events is.

For example: The words, “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin,” tell us the spiritual significance of the fall. The words, “His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father,” tell us the spiritual significance of Christ’s virgin birth. And, the words, “He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the whole world,” tell us the spiritual significance of Christ’s death on the cross. Now, the seven historical events I am speaking of, just happen to be the events summarized in the “Apostles’ Creed”, although the fall is not explicitly mentioned.

I believe in God the Father almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.

And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary; Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, died for our sins, and was buried; He descended into hell; The third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven And sits on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From there He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost; The holy Christian Church, the communion of saints; The forgiveness of sins; The resurrection of the body; And the life everlasting. Amen.

In his book, “The Theology of Post Reformation Lutheranism”, Robert Preus provides an in-depth presentation of the Biblical hermeneutic, coupled with a scholarly exposition of the doctrine of Scripture that no true Reformation theologian (including Tyndale) would ever disagree with. The same could be said of its companion volume (on the doctrine of God), and of His book, “Justification and Rome”.

Concerning the Biblical hermeneutic, he said, “The dogmatitians whom we have studied considered themselves and genuine Lutheranism bound not only to a doctrine but to a hermeneutic. To abandon the hermeneutics which they believed was Christ’s hermeneutics and that of the New Testament would result in abandoning the Christian Doctrine as well.” (Vol. 2, page 257)

[Note: Michael Farris’ book, “From Tyndale to Madison”, reveals the role that Tyndale played in the struggle for religious liberty in England and America, and concludes with the words, “The Word of God is the source of our liberty.”]

CONCLUSION

Because the Reformation theology that William Tyndale embraced is clearly and explicitly set forth in God’s Word, the epistles of Paul, and especially his letter to the Romans, constitute the foremost statement of that theology. For that reason, because Paul tells us that, no one “Will ever be justified in God’s sight by the deeds of the law,” that is what Tyndale and Luther believed and taught (Romans 3:20). Because Paul tells us that we are “Justified by faith without the deeds of the law,” that is what Tyndale and Luther believed and taught (Romans 3:28). Because Paul tells us that “God imputes righteousness [to us] without works,” that is what Tyndale and Luther believed and taught (Romans 4:6). Because Paul tells us that, “We were reconciled to God by the death of his Son… by whom we have now received the atonement,” that is what Tyndale and Luther believed and taught (Romans 5:10-11). Because Paul tells us that, “As by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one many will be made righteous,” that is what Tyndale and Luther believed and taught (Romans 5:19). And, because those truths are plainly stated in Scripture, it would be irresponsible for us to sit by allowing the children of darkness to confuse the issues, cause division, and subvert faith by reading unscriptural ideas into the text, contradicting what the Bible says, or denying the truth of what is written.