William Tyndale on Extent of the atonement
Definite — for the elect, effectually
but for all men's sins, both for their sins which went before and believed the promises to come, and for ours which have seen them fulfilled, and also for all them which shall afterward believe unto the world's end
THE POSITION
Expounding "not for ours only, but also for all the world's" in 1 John 2:2, he reads "all men" as all who believe, in every age and nation, and reads 1 Timothy 2:4 the same way: "some of all nations and all degrees, and not the Jews only." Later in the exposition Christ made satisfaction "for all the sin of them that had believed or should believe in his name." That is the exegesis the definite stance rests on. It is a lean, not an affirmation, because he never poses the question of extent as such, and the same exposition also says Christ "made full satisfaction for all the sins of the world," to be received through repentance and faith.
2 He Himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
10 OTHERS HOLD THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
English translator of the New Testament from Greek and of the Pentateuch from Hebrew, working in exile in the Low Countries, whose wording runs through the King James Version. He was strangled and burned at Vilvoorde in 1536. He was also the first English Protestant theologian of weight, defending justification by faith, the authority of Scripture over the church, and the obedience owed to kings. This entry rests on the Obedience of a Christian Man, the Answer to Sir Thomas More, the Brief Declaration of the Sacraments, the exposition of 1 John and his biblical prologues, all in the Parker Society edition (1848–1850).
Cite this page
"William Tyndale on Extent of the atonement", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/tyndale/atonement-extent (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/tyndale/atonement-extent).