diff --git a/src/Markdown.js b/src/Markdown.js
index 35ae42f770..80d1aa4335 100644
--- a/src/Markdown.js
+++ b/src/Markdown.js
@@ -23,7 +23,9 @@ import commonmark from 'commonmark';
  */
 export default class Markdown {
     constructor(input) {
-        this.input = input
+        this.input = input;
+        this.parser = new commonmark.Parser();
+        this.renderer = new commonmark.HtmlRenderer({safe: false});
     }
 
     isPlainText() {
@@ -57,54 +59,66 @@ export default class Markdown {
         return is_plain;
     }
 
-    render(html) {
-        const parser = new commonmark.Parser();
+    toHTML(html) {
+        const real_paragraph = this.renderer.paragraph;
 
-        const renderer = new commonmark.HtmlRenderer({safe: true});
-        const real_paragraph = renderer.paragraph;
-        if (html) {
-            renderer.paragraph = function(node, entering) {
-                // If there is only one top level node, just return the
-                // bare text: it's a single line of text and so should be
-                // 'inline', rather than unnecessarily wrapped in its own
-                // p tag. If, however, we have multiple nodes, each gets
-                // its own p tag to keep them as separate paragraphs.
-                var par = node;
-                while (par.parent) {
-                    par = par.parent
-                }
-                if (par.firstChild != par.lastChild) {
-                    real_paragraph.call(this, node, entering);
-                }
+        this.renderer.paragraph = function(node, entering) {
+            // If there is only one top level node, just return the
+            // bare text: it's a single line of text and so should be
+            // 'inline', rather than unnecessarily wrapped in its own
+            // p tag. If, however, we have multiple nodes, each gets
+            // its own p tag to keep them as separate paragraphs.
+            var par = node;
+            while (par.parent) {
+                par = par.parent
             }
-        } else {
-            // The default `out` function only sends the input through an XML
-            // escaping function, which causes messages to be entity encoded,
-            // which we don't want in this case.
-            renderer.out = function(s) {
-                this.lit(s);
+            if (par.firstChild != par.lastChild) {
+                real_paragraph.call(this, node, entering);
             }
+        }
 
-            renderer.paragraph = function(node, entering) {
-                // If there is only one top level node, just return the
-                // bare text: it's a single line of text and so should be
-                // 'inline', rather than unnecessarily wrapped in its own
-                // p tag. If, however, we have multiple nodes, each gets
-                // its own p tag to keep them as separate paragraphs.
-                var par = node;
-                while (par.parent) {
-                    node = par;
-                    par = par.parent;
-                }
-                if (node != par.lastChild) {
-                    if (!entering) {
-                        this.lit('\n\n');
-                    }
+        var parsed = this.parser.parse(this.input);
+        var rendered = this.renderer.render(parsed);
+
+        this.renderer.paragraph = real_paragraph;
+
+        return rendered;
+    }
+
+    toPlaintext() {
+        const real_paragraph = this.renderer.paragraph;
+
+        // The default `out` function only sends the input through an XML
+        // escaping function, which causes messages to be entity encoded,
+        // which we don't want in this case.
+        this.renderer.out = function(s) {
+            // The `lit` function adds a string literal to the output buffer.
+            this.lit(s);
+        }
+
+        this.renderer.paragraph = function(node, entering) {
+            // If there is only one top level node, just return the
+            // bare text: it's a single line of text and so should be
+            // 'inline', rather than unnecessarily wrapped in its own
+            // p tag. If, however, we have multiple nodes, each gets
+            // its own p tag to keep them as separate paragraphs.
+            var par = node;
+            while (par.parent) {
+                node = par;
+                par = par.parent;
+            }
+            if (node != par.lastChild) {
+                if (!entering) {
+                    this.lit('\n\n');
                 }
             }
         }
 
-        var parsed = parser.parse(this.input);
-        return renderer.render(parsed);
+        var parsed = this.parser.parse(this.input);
+        var rendered = this.renderer.render(parsed);
+
+        this.renderer.paragraph = real_paragraph;
+
+        return rendered;
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/components/views/rooms/MessageComposerInput.js b/src/components/views/rooms/MessageComposerInput.js
index 5e8df592da..41b27c1394 100644
--- a/src/components/views/rooms/MessageComposerInput.js
+++ b/src/components/views/rooms/MessageComposerInput.js
@@ -401,7 +401,7 @@ export default class MessageComposerInput extends React.Component {
         let contentState = null;
         if (enabled) {
             const md = new Markdown(this.state.editorState.getCurrentContent().getPlainText());
-            contentState = RichText.HTMLtoContentState(md.render(true));
+            contentState = RichText.HTMLtoContentState(md.toHTML());
         } else {
             let markdown = stateToMarkdown(this.state.editorState.getCurrentContent());
             if (markdown[markdown.length - 1] === '\n') {
@@ -524,9 +524,9 @@ export default class MessageComposerInput extends React.Component {
         } else {
             const md = new Markdown(contentText);
             if (md.isPlainText()) {
-                contentText = md.render(false);
+                contentText = md.toPlaintext();
             } else {
-                contentHTML = md.render(true);
+                contentHTML = md.toHTML(true);
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/src/components/views/rooms/MessageComposerInputOld.js b/src/components/views/rooms/MessageComposerInputOld.js
index 3b0100278b..91abd5a2a8 100644
--- a/src/components/views/rooms/MessageComposerInputOld.js
+++ b/src/components/views/rooms/MessageComposerInputOld.js
@@ -325,13 +325,13 @@ module.exports = React.createClass({
         }
 
         if (send_markdown) {
-            const htmlText = mdown.render(true);
+            const htmlText = mdown.toHTML();
             sendMessagePromise = isEmote ?
                 MatrixClientPeg.get().sendHtmlEmote(this.props.room.roomId, contentText, htmlText) :
                 MatrixClientPeg.get().sendHtmlMessage(this.props.room.roomId, contentText, htmlText);
         }
         else {
-            const contentText = mdown.render(false);
+            const contentText = mdown.toPlaintext(false);
             sendMessagePromise = isEmote ?
                 MatrixClientPeg.get().sendEmoteMessage(this.props.room.roomId, contentText) :
                 MatrixClientPeg.get().sendTextMessage(this.props.room.roomId, contentText);