The Word of God ~ It is by Faith that We are Saved!

Me ~ Many Christians may have heard of William Tyndale but rather many have not. He was a Catholic priest who wanted the average person to read the Word of God; given that, he translated the Bible directly from Greek and Hebrew texts into English while in hiding and had them shipped to England. Sadly, he was considered a heretic by the Catholic Church and burned at the stake in 1536. How could that be when Tyndale was obviously a man of God? He could speak seven languages and he was proficient in ancient Hebrew and Greek. As a priest and a man of God, his only desire was to teach English men and women the good news of justification by faith. Why do you think that the Catholic considered him a heretic, was it because of his view of salvation by faith and not works?

John ~ Firstly, let me say that Tyndale was an excellent Biblical scholar. He was Oxford trained in Greek and Hebrew. His desire was to bring the Word of God to the people. He never refuted what he was doing because what he was doing was what Jesus had done and that was to rebuke the institutionalization of salvation that had crystallized and ultimately caged the very people that Christ came to set free. Tyndale's criticism of the Catholic Church was that it kept the Word of God away from the common man. Tyndale had justifiable criticism against the power and wealth of Catholic priests and bishops and this threatened to disrupt their monopoly and control over people and their own positions in the church. In a sense, Tyndale was much like Martin Luther who too as a Catholic priest saw that people were not served by the 'church' but rather they were enslaved by it.

Me ~ Some people today, especially Catholics think that works are part of salvation. What are they getting wrong? 

John ~ Works do not save you but are evidence of your salvation. Paul stated that the works we do are the fruit of the Spirit therefore evidence to the world that you/we are Christs... It is by faith and faith alone that you are saved. Hence, works are the evidence of faith. Which means that salvation comes only by faith in Christ's finished works not by anything that we can do so that no one can boast ... by their own merit.  Essentially, Tyndale was inline with Paul who stressed that salvation is a gift - God's grace. For if it were not a gift, then grace would be meaningless... if grace could be earned, it would not be grace but a work.

Read Hebrews 8, 9 and 10 ~ Jesus is our high priest, his ministry is far superior to the old priesthood...