John Wyclif: Priest and Translator of the Bible into English (Died 1384)
- Ken Kalis
- Dec 31, 2025
- 4 min read
The old year is on its way out, and it was a good one for the Gospel, for our blog, and for me personally.
All the good derives from the Word of God, the Bible that John Wyclif began translating in the 14th century.
He built on the work of Alfred the Great and the Venerable Bede.
His life and testimony inspired Jon Hus and Martin Luther and
Led to William Tyndale and the King James Bible.
The kenkalis.com blog is carrying on this noble work of sharing the Gospel of Jesus love and great salvation to the whole world. Praise God!
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“The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.” — Isaiah 40:8
John Wyclif (c. 1320–1384) lived in one of the most turbulent centuries of English and church history.
The Black Death had swept through Europe, kings and popes struggled for power, and the Church was immensely wealthy—yet spiritually weak.
Into this world God raised up a scholar-priest from Oxford whose life’s labor would help place the Word of God into the hands of ordinary people.
A Scholar with a Pastor’s Heart
Wyclif was educated at Oxford, where he became one of the leading theologians of his day. But he was not content simply to debate abstract theology.
He believed that the Church must be re-formed according to Scripture, and that the Bible—not church tradition, not papal decrees—was the final authority for faith and life.
This conviction put him at odds with powerful forces. Wyclif spoke out against corruption in the Church, the sale of indulgences, and the immense wealth of the clergy.
He believed a poor and humble church was truest to Christ.
“The Bible for the Ploughman”
One of Wyclif’s most important beliefs was simple—and revolutionary:
Every Christian should have access to the Bible in his own language.
At the time, the Scriptures in the West were almost exclusively available in Latin. Most lay-people—and even many clergy—could not read it.
Wyclif and his circle of scholars began translating the Latin Vulgate Bible into Middle English, so that shepherds, farmers, mothers, merchants, laborers, and children could hear God’s Word in words they understood.
Hand-copied manuscripts of his translation began to circulate across England. Men and women gathered in homes and barns to hear Scripture read aloud.
These humble believers—later called Lollards—often paid a high price for this privilege. Some faced imprisonment. Others were burned.
But the Word of God continued to spread.
A Dangerous Gospel
Wyclif’s teachings were condemned by church authorities, and after his death in 1384, the Council of Constance went so far as to order his bones to be dug up, burned, and scattered in a river.
Yet even this symbolic act could not undo the seed he had planted.
A Forerunner of the Reformation
Wyclif has often been called “The Morning Star of the Reformation.” More than a century later, Martin Luther would echo many of the same convictions—salvation by grace through faith, the authority of Scripture, the need for reform, and the right of every Christian to read the Bible.
The English Bible that later came through William Tyndale and the King James translators stands, in part, on the shoulders of this Oxford scholar-priest who believed God’s Word belongs to God’s people.
Faithful unto Death
John Wyclif died peacefully on December 31, 1384, in his parish at Lutterworth after suffering a stroke while leading worship. He died—quite literally—in the service of the Church he longed to see purified and renewed.
Why Wyclif Still Matters
Wyclif reminds us that God often begins great renewals through quiet faithfulness: a scholar at his desk, a pastor in his pulpit, a translator laboring late into the night so that others may read the Word of Life.
May we love the Scriptures even a fraction as much as he did. And may the Word of Christ dwell in us richly.
Closing Prayer
Almighty God, we thank You for Your servant John Wyclif,who labored that Your Word might be heard in our own tongue.Give us the grace to read, love, and obey the Scriptures,that we may follow Jesus with faithful hearts,through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Closing Hymn
Break Thou the bread of life, dear Lord, to me,
As Thou didst break the loaves beside the sea;
Beyond the sacred page I seek Thee, Lord;
My spirit pants for Thee, O living Word!
Bless Thou the truth, dear Lord, to me, to me,
As Thou didst bless the bread by Galilee;
Then shall all bondage cease, all fetters fall;
And I shall find my peace, my all in all.
Thou art the bread of life, O Lord, to me,
Thy holy Word the truth that saveth me;
Give me to eat and live with Thee above;
Teach me to love Thy truth, for Thou art love.
O send Thy Spirit, Lord, now unto me,
That He may touch my eyes, and make me see:
Show me the truth concealed within Thy Word,
And in Thy Book revealed I see the Lord.
Words: Mary A. Lathbury, 1877; verses 3-4, Alexander Groves, in the Wesleyan Meth¬od¬ist Mag¬a¬zine (London: Sep¬tem¬ber 1913).
Lathbury wrote this hymn, and Day Is Dying in the West, on the shores of Lake Chautauqua, New York.
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. John 6:35
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