New Testament scholar, one of the pioneers in introducing to English students and the Anglican world the mass of work done by continental scholars in biblical criticism, particularly through his principal writings, Commentary on Romans (1895, with Arthur C. Headlam), and Outlines of the Life of Christ (1905).

Educated at Repton and Balliol College, Oxford, Sanday became a scholar of Corpus Christi in 1863. He was a fellow and lecturer at Trinity in 1866 and was ordained in 1867. In 1876 he was appointed principal of Hatfield Hall, Durham, in 1882, Ireland professor of exegesis at Oxford, and in 1895, Lady Margaret professor of divinity and canon of Christ Church.