John Wycliffe (ca. 1324-1384)
“To be ignorant of the Scripture is the same thing as to be ignorant of Christ.” (On the Truth of the Holy Scripture, 1378)
John Wycliffe produced the Bible in English.
John Wycliffe is disgusted with the state of the church both in his native England and in the entire western world. Fat-cat bishops grab multiple livings while the poorer clergy and common people starve. Greedy William of Wykeham, for example, amasses huge riches and considerable power to himself, by holding twelve livings at once. In so doing, he is only following the example of popes and cardinals. Wycliffe stands against this greed, demanding that the government strip the church of excessive property and restore it to the people. He also resists the demand of popes for huge sums of money from England.
Greed is only one of the errors that disgust Wycliffe. Churchmen have little knowledge of God’s Word and fail to teach their people the true Gospel. For gain, authorities maintain a system of altars, sacrifices and priesthood which fails to acknowledge that every true Christian is a priest with direct access to God the Father through Jesus Christ. Wycliffe has studied the Bible long and hard, and prayed the Holy Spirit to give him understanding of it. Because the Bible is God’s own word, he sees it as trumping any word of man; it is the authoritative statement with which all human teaching must agree. He will declare, “Even though there were a hundred popes and though every mendicant monk were a cardinal, they would be entitled to confidence only in so far as they accorded with the Bible.” It is to the Bible he resorts when his enemies counter-attack.
Alarmed at Wycliffe’s threat to their power, wealth, corruption, and false teachings, churchmen—especially those with large holdings or a hunger for power—become his enemies. In answer to them, Wycliffe pens several tracts and books. In a span of just two busy years—1378-1379—he writes books on the place of the Bible, on the true nature of the church, on the office of the king and on the power of the pope. This is the year in which the western church divides between two popes, and Wycliffe will speak of them as anti-Christ and “two heads of the devil.” While the rival popes scream anathemas at each other and joust for power, he issues the New Testament in English.
To awaken the church again to the special place of Scripture, Wycliffe has written a book, On the Truth of the Holy Scripture. He argues that since all Scripture points to Christ, “To be ignorant of the Scripture is the same thing as to be ignorant of Christ. In the Bible is the salvation of men contained.” His teaching makes considerable impact in England. His abode becomes a center for production of Scriptures in the common language (although banned and burned, over 150 manuscripts copies will survive into the 21st century). Despite persecution and cruel deaths, poor preachers called Lollards carry copies of God’s word throughout the land.
As unexpected as it may sound, when the English revolt against their oppressive government, the revolt garners the least support where one would expect it to have the most—in those regions where Wycliffe’s influence is greatest. Presumably this is because of his personal opposition to the revolt; or it may be a tribute to the power of the Scripture which has been disseminated there.
A royal marriage connects Bohemia and England, and Wycliffe’s teachings reach Prague where they will inspire the reforms of John Hus and his associates. And because Wycliffe hits just the same notes which will become most significant in the Reformation a century and a half later, he will become known as “The Morning Star of the Reformation.”
—Dan Graves
Dig a Little Deeper
- Bowie, Walter Russell. Men of Fire. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1961.
- Caughey, Ellen. John Wycliffe: Herald of the Reformation. Uhrichsville, Ohio: Barbour, 2001.
- Innis, George S. Wycliffe: the Morning Star. Cincinnati: Jennings and Graham, 1915.
- “John Wycliffe.” http://www.greatsite.com/timeline-english-bible-history/john-wycliffe.html.
- Kenny, Anthony. Wycliffe. Oxford University Press, 1985.
- Kunitz, Stanley L. British Authors Before 1800; a Biographical Dictionary. New York: H. W. Wilson, 1952.
- Russell, Bertrand. Wisdom of the West. London, 1959. p. 215.
- Vaughn, Robert. The Life and Opinions of John de Wycliffe, D.D. London: B.J. Holdsworth and Hatchard and Son, 1828.
- Wood, Douglas C. The Evangelical Doctor; John Wycliffe and the Lollards. Herts, England: Evangelical Press, 1984.
- “Wycliffe, John.” Dictionary of National Biography. Edited by Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee. London: Oxford University Press, 1921-1996.
