We reject all shameful deeds and underhanded methods.
2 Corinthians 4:2, New Living Translation
We don’t try to trick anyone or distort the word of God.
We tell the truth before God, and all who are honest know this.
The Church of England decreed it to be illegal to translate the Bible into English.
The Church also made it illegal to teach the Bible in English.
I defy the Pope, and all his laws; and if God spares my life, I will cause the boy that drives the plow in England to know more of the Scriptures than the Pope himself!
William Tyndale
William Tyndale’s translation was the first English bible from the Hebrew and Greek.
Tyndale’s translation was seen as a direct threat to the Roman Catholic Church*.
Henry VIII removed the church in England from the Roman Catholic Church.
| Word of God (Greek) | Catholic * | Tyndale (Translation) |
| epískopos | Bishop | overseer |
| presbýteros | Priest | elder |
| ekklēsía | Church | congregation |
| agápē | charity | love |
| metánoia | penance | repentance |
| pascha (Heb.pesach) | Easter | passover |
For his ‘crime’ Tyndale was strangled and his body burned at the stake by the church.
His last words were, “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.”
Prayer answered, Henry VIII authorized Tyndale’s bible as the Church of England.
Make every effort to present yourself approved to God,
2 Timothy 2:15
an unashamed workman who accurately handles the word of truth.
Tyndale accurately handled the words of truth and did not distort the word of God.
The Catholic Church and the Church of England both use the word “church” and its meaning to hold people in subjection to their control. It is a word used to represent the authority of the structure, not the assembly of people, the body of Christ.
The English word “church” is neither a translation nor a transliteration of the original word ekklēsía, it has replaced the word of God.
When Luther translated the New Testament into vernacular German, he did not use the word “kirche” to translate ἐκκλησία (ekklēsia), he used the German word “Gemeinde”, which means something similar to the English word “community”.
Old English cir(i)ce, cyr(i)ce, related to Dutch kerk and German Kirche, based on medieval Greek kurikon, from Greek kuriakon ‘the Lord’s’, from kurios ‘master or lord’.
Etymology of church
The word church comes from the Greek word kyriakos (from Greek kuriakon ‘the Lord’s’, from kurios ‘master or lord’). This Greek word is used twice in scripture but it does not refer to the congregation, rather the Lord’s supper (1 Cor 11:20), and the Lord’s day (Rev 1:10). Thus it is clear the word “church” does not translate ekklēsía. Church, the word, the meaning, the authority, is used to replace ekklesia, subverting the body of Christ with Christ as spiritual head with the structure of a hierarchical earthly organization.
Ekklesiastes, the book of the bible, means “one who convenes or addresses an assembly”. The terms “ecclesiology” and “ecclesiastical” also come from ekklēsía.
For more information, read The Origin of the Word “church” by Andy Zoppelt (PDF)