The Bible Is for Everyone: John Wycliffe

READ: PSALMS 19:1-14; 119:11-16

How many times have you been told to read the Bible? Imagine sitting down in church and hearing the pastor say, “Don’t you dare read the Bible! Unless you’re a church leader, you are unworthy to study God’s Word.” And what if, on top of that, the only copies of the Bible you could find were written in a language you didn’t understand?

That was the world John Wycliffe was born into in the early 1300s in England. He loved Jesus, and he knew that, in the Bible, Jesus spoke to people in their own languages. Jesus didn’t force His disciples to learn a foreign language in order to get to know Him. He wanted everybody to have free access to Himself, so much so that He died on the cross and rose from the dead to make it possible for people to have a relationship with Him. Does that sound like somebody who would want to keep people away?

John Wycliffe, fueled by this love for Jesus and the gospel, fought with some corrupt church leaders (literally and metaphorically) and assembled a team to start translating the Latin Bible into English. Since the printing press hadn’t been invented yet, they had to write everything out by hand. Sadly, Wycliffe died before the translation was complete, but his team finished the job and published their English Bible after his death.

Wycliffe’s translation planted the seeds of the Reformation, and it was so influential that, after Wycliffe had been dead for decades, corrupt church leaders had his body dug up and burned at the stake for heresy.

John Wycliffe knew that it was wrong to keep the truth of God’s Word hidden. God wants us to know His Word so we can experience His love—and then share it with others. What a wonderful God we serve! • Taylor Eising

• Why is it important for us to be able to read the Bible for ourselves, in our own language?

• Jesus is the point of the whole Bible. By coming to live among us, dying on the cross for our sins, and rising from the grave, Jesus reveals God’s unwavering love for us (Romans 5:8). In what ways might God be inviting you to help give other people the chance to hear and respond to the good news of Jesus? (If you want to know more about this good news, check out our "Know Jesus" page.)

From infancy, you have known the holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. 2 Timothy 3:15-16 (WEB)