To mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Walter Isaacson has written a short book honoring what he identifies as The Greatest Sentence Ever Written: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by the Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."
Believers, responding to Isaacson's nomination, might put forward ringing sentences from the Bible as even worthier candidates for his high praise:
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourself, it is the gift of God.
Blessed are the peacemakers.
And we could offer many more.
All of these biblical sentences are 500 years old in the year in which "We hold these truths to be self-evident . . ." is half their age, since all of them trace their heritage to vision-driven, Bible translator and linguistic genius, William Tyndale. In 2026, we celebrate the 500th anniversary of his pioneering and enduring translation of the New Testament from the Greek text into the English language and his printing and dissemination of his translation. This year, we celebrate his 1526 New Testament.
Tyndale's vision was to make the Bible accessible to the "plough boy," to give those whose native language was English, access to the Bible. At the time, the English language was not regarded with respect. It was denigrated as gutter speech, a rough and uncouth language incapable of conveying the truths of Scripture. Tyndale believed differently, arguing that English was especially tuned to convey the Bible's truth. His grand love, though, was people. He believed that they all deserved direct access to the Bible. Those in darkness must see the light! The Word of God for all people!
Slain as a martyr, Tyndale did not live to see the incredible success of his vision. Not only do modern translations of the Bible into English still owe a huge debt to Tyndale, his contributions to the development of the English language and its subsequent success as the central, worldwide language of international communication and commerce are significant and seminal.
Through his translation work and his writing on statecraft, William Tyndale’s impact on the founding of the United States of America and its form of governance are fundamental. So essential, it may be argued, that Isaacson's "Greatest Sentence" would never have been written had Tyndale dismissed his God-given vision and failed to "give God an English voice."
At Gladstone Camp Meeting this year, we will take time to reflect on William Tyndale's story and be inspired by his vision. How might we, 500 years on, be motivated to take up William Tyndale's work and push forward his vision of "The Word for All People"?
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1 Walter Isaacson, The Greatest Sentence that was Ever Written (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2025).
2 “What began in 1526 as a forbidden translation would shape not only England’s religious identity, but the spiritual and cultural foundations of a future nation.” James Finck, “Tyndale’s Works Shaped the Spiritual and Cultural Foundations of a Future Nation,” Southwest Register: Business and Politics, March 3, 2026. URL: https://www.southwestledger.news/opinion/tyndales-works-shaped-spiritual-and-cultural-foundations-future-nation.
3 To borrow David Teems’s title phrase: Tyndale: The Man Who Gave God an English Voice (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson 2012).
