2 Timothy 4 – Sermon Extras

I mentioned last night that there was something I wanted to put in the sermon, but it just couldn’t fit. It was the intriguing connection below.

Two weeks ago, I mentioned the English reformer Tyndale, who was killed for his efforts to see the Bible translated into English. Not long before Tyndale died, he wrote a letter – probably his last – while he was imprisoned in Germany (or was it Belgium…?). It is a striking letter by any view, but all the more so, when you remember 2 Timothy 4.

Tyndale’s Letter from Prison

The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments. – 2 Timothy 4.13

Tyndale wrote the following letter in 1535 from his cell in the Vilvorde Prison, presumably to the Governor of Vilvorde, the Marquis of Bergen-op-Zoom. The text (originally written in Latin by Tyndale) is taken from Jacob Isidor Mombert, William Tyndale’s Five Books of Moses Called the Pentateuch: Being a Verbatim Reprint of the Edition of M.CCCCC.XXX. (New York and London, 1884), pp. li-lii.

I believe, most excellent Sir, that you are not unacquainted with the decision reached concerning me. On which account, I beseech your lordship, even by the Lord Jesus, that if I am to pass the winter here, to urge upon the lord commissary, if he will deign, to send me from my goods in his keeping a warmer cap, for I suffer greatly from cold in the head, being troubled with a continual catarrh, which is aggravated in this prison vault. A warmer coat also, for that which I have is very thin. Also cloth for repairing my leggings. My overcoat is worn out; the shirts also are worn out. He has a woolen shirt of mine, if he will please send it. I have also with him leggings of heavier cloth for overwear. He likewise has warmer nightcaps: I also ask for leave to use a lamp in the evening, for it is tiresome to sit alone in the dark.

But above all, I beg and entreat your clemency earnestly to intercede with the lord commissary, that he would deign to allow me the use of my Hebrew Bible, Hebrew Grammar, and Hebrew Lexicon, and that I might employ my time with that study. Thus likewise may you obtain what you most desire, saving that it further the salvation of your soul. But if, before the end of winter, a different decision be reached concerning me, I shall be patient, and submit to the will of God to the glory of the grace of Jesus Christ my Lord, whose spirit may ever direct your heart. Amen.
W. Tyndale

Tyndale and Paul were both men who were desperate to see the work go forward, so that even imprisoned, they sought ways they might be able to continue to labour and serve. We owe them both a great debt for their godly service, the impact of which continues to be felt (albeit indirectly, for Tyndale) through the ages.