Two Treasures in the British Library

We were in London this past week for a conference and, arriving a couple of hours early, decided to visit the British Library (I had never been there before). By the Lord’s providence, we wandered into an exhibition hall, and as a result unexpectedly had an opportunity to see two very special treasures which happened to be on display: Codex Sinaiticus, and a 1526 Tyndale New Testament.

Codex Sinaiticus

Codex Sinaiticus is a handwritten Greek New Testament manuscript, dated around A.D. 350. It received its name from where it was found: St. Catherine’s Monastery, located below what is allegedly, according to tradition, Mount Sinai.¹ According to the British Library:

“Codex Sinaiticus… is a priceless treasure. Copied around the middle of the fourth century, in the south-eastern Mediterranean, it is the earliest extant manuscript to contain the complete New Testament and the oldest and best witness for some of the books of the ancient Greek version of the Old Testament, the Septuagint. The manuscript originally contained the entire Bible, both Old and New Testaments, in one huge volume.”²

I had the privilege of working with Sinaiticus a few years ago, or rather, with high-resolution images of it. So it was wonderful to finally see the real thing. One of the great blessings of working with these New Testament manuscripts is to see that Scripture has been preserved. Many false teachers claim that the Bible has been changed and corrupted. But they can provide no evidence for this, because there is no evidence for this. It is a lie of the devil, who has been seeking to sow doubt about God’s Word from the very beginning: “Did God really say?” (Genesis 3:1).

Yes, there are textual variants in the manuscripts, which is to be expected as they were all written by hand; copies of copies. Mostly these variants are differences in spelling, and very minor things. But these aside – and we know where these textual variants are – the text in all the manuscripts is the exact same text as we have in our Bibles today. As an example, John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

Here is John 1:1 in the Greek Majuscule of Codex Sinaiticus³:

And here it is in the NA28 Greek New Testament (basically the text behind most modern translations):

Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος.⁴

As you can see, apart from the difference in script, the text is identical. In fact, there is no textual variant at all in any of the manuscripts of this verse: Every one reads identically. God has preserved His Word, and by His providence has handed it down to us today.

What is more, God has, in His goodness, given it to us today in our own language. But do we actually stop and think about how this happened? The English Bible didn’t just drop down from heaven. God gave it to us, through human means. He gave it to us through the blood of the martyrs.

1526 Tyndale New Testament

This year, 2026, marks the 500th anniversary of the printing of this, the first edition of William Tyndale’s English New Testament, translated from the original Greek. This first edition was printed, by an irony of the Lord’s providence, in the German city of Worms (Tyndale having been exiled from England). It was just 5 years earlier, in this same city, that Martin Luther had proclaimed before the Imperial Diet: “My heart is captive to the Word of God”. The same convictions drove Tyndale in his mission to give the English people the Bible in their own language, that they might see and know the truth of the Gospel, after centuries of walking in darkness and superstition.

To own or read from an English Bible, or even parts of it, at this time – let alone to be the translator of it! – was strictly forbidden, and carried the harshest of penalties. John Foxe records, for example, that on 4^th April 1519, six men and one woman were burned at the stake for “teaching their children and family the Lord’s Prayer and ten commandments in English”.⁵ Such is the hatred of the devil and his slaves for the Word of God, and for the people whom they seek always to keep locked in darkness and misery. As it is written: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10).

According to the British Library, this is one of only three surviving copies of this first edition, many of the rest having been deliberately destroyed by the religious and civil authorities. Tyndale gave his life as a living sacrifice – alone, in exile, hunted by his enemies – to give us the Bible in our own language. For this, and for upholding and proclaiming without compromise the truth of the Biblical Gospel, Tyndale was ultimately martyred: Strangled, and burned at the stake.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy”. But, says our Lord, “I came that they [the sheep] may have life and have it abundantly”. No power of demons or of evil men can ever prevent Christ’s sheep hearing the voice of the Good Shepherd. He will accomplish all His purposes, and save all those He came to save. The attempt of the wicked to keep the Scriptures from the people was futile. Tyndale never lived to see the extent of the fruit of his life’s work and sacrifice. But through him, God brought the light of the Word of God and the true Gospel of Christ to England, and tore asunder the veil of darkness which lay across this land.

Do we live in continual thanksgiving to God for the sacrifice of Tyndale and the other English Reformers? Do we rejoice and give thanks to God that we have such abundant access to His Word? We have copies of the English Bible so freely available to us. If we are lazy and unwilling to read and study and meditate upon the Word of God, we show complacency, ingratitude, and contempt, not just for the sacrifice of men like Tyndale, but for God Himself. There is much we need to repent of in these dark and evil days.

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1 I am convinced, from the Biblical text, that the real Mount Sinai is located somewhere in the north-west portion of the Arabian Peninsula.

2 The British Library (2022), “Codex Sinaiticus”. Available at: https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/codex-sinaiticus, accessed 26^th July 2022.

3 Image from: Institute for New Testament Textual Research (2026), Codex Sinaiticus. Available at: https://ntvmr.uni-muenster.de/manuscript-workspace?docID=20001, accessed 22^nd May 2026. The whole manuscript, with transcription, can be viewed online at this link.

4 Kurt Aland et al., Novum Testamentum Graece, 28^th Edition (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2012), John 1:1.

5 John Foxe, The Acts and Monuments of the Church, Containing the History and Sufferings of the Martyrs (M. Hobart Seymour (Ed.) (London: Scott, Webster, and Geary, 1838), p.500.

First and third images: Taken by us in the British Library, 18th May 2026.