John Wycliffe and the Lollards Essay Sample
The Lollards were a pre Reformation group who followed John Wycliffe. John Wycliffe ( 1320-1384 ) was a theologian and early advocate of reform in the Roman Catholic Church during the fourteenth century. He initiated the first interlingual rendition of the Bible into the English linguistic communication and is considered the chief precursor of the Protestant Reformation. The Lollards urged the development of Bible surveies. taught trust on the Holy Spirit as a usher. and encouraged their members to make their ain determinations on affairs of religion instead than accepting ecclesiastical sentiments and tenet. Due to immense wealth and power of the Church during the Middle Ages. John Wycliffe taught that the province had the right to take the belongings of any reverends who had become corrupt. He sent out followings called “poor preachers” . who went around the state distributing his positions. His overall concern was to see the church copy the life of Christ more clearly. with a life of a poorness and simpleness. Subsequently he besides taught that God’s true Church consists of God’s chosen people and that there was no demand of a priest for mediation between them and God.
In an article that I late read. it was noted that Wycliffe and his followings believed the Church to be the entirety of those who are predestined to blessedness. including the Church triumphant in Eden and the Church activist or work forces on Earth. The article besides noted that No 1 who is everlastingly lost can hold any portion in the Church and that the Church. whose caput is Jesus Christ ( non a Catholic Pope ) . is one cosmopolitan church with no redemption outside of it. After Wycliffe’s decease. the Lollards increased in figure and in the sixteenth century they merged with the Protestants. ( World Wide Web. anabaptistnetwork. com/book/export/html/28. The Lollards. Stuart MurrayWilliams. ) . This group rejected superstitious notion. philosophies such as transubstantiation. ( transubstantiation was regarded as a recent and perverted development reverse to the instructions of the Orthodox credos ) . purgatory and patterns such as praying for the dead. They viewed pilgrim’s journeies as money-making strategies for the priests and simple rational accounts were accepted by them. instead than elements of enigma and symbolism. Lollards rejected the differentiation between clergy and temporalty. this same differentiation was important in the constituted churches of their clip.
They rejected the authorization of the Pope and the Church as an establishment and replaced it with the authorization of the Bible. interpreted within their communities. They valued matrimony but some taught that no priestly engagement was needed to witness a matrimony. They called for penitence. discipleship. simpleness of life and concern for the hapless. On some issues there was diverseness of sentiment such as the issue of tithes. where as some taught that tithing was non supported in the New Testament and hence ; should non be practiced ; others held that tithing was voluntary and should non be paid to unworthy priests. Some were against cursing curses. claiming that they were contrary to the instruction of Jesus ; others believed that cursing an curse was to be avoided. merely acceptable in the instance of salvaging lives. Unlike the instructions of the priests. the Lollard leaders traveled topographic point to topographic point to portion the Gospel and get down new groups. Their mission-mindedness was non merely for sermonizers but was the responsibility of all the group members.
This every-member evangelism was what the Lollard motion relied upon to increase its Numberss. There are three rules that we can larn from this group that carry over to missions today. 1. Populate a life of penitence. which is to populate out the head of Christ. The subject of penitence in our day-to-day lives is a sum-up of the Gospel’s impact and regeneration upon us so we make a life alteration in Christ. This life alteration is what others see. and we must daily inquire ourselves if others see the love of Christ in us. Our true penitence will in bend. demo the manifestation and fruit of His Truth and Salvation. This is the intent of every Christian and a must when ministering to the lost universe. 2. Keeping the discipleship of others as the focal point of missions. Making adherents of others. as Jesus commanded in Matthew 28:18-20. is what missions is all about. Jesus trained a smattering of ordinary people to populate out his illustration in being a discipler. as he established God’s land. He trained those who followed him by affecting himself in confidant conversations and by befriending the doomed.
He taught them practical rules of the land by including them in his day-to-day life. He commissioned those who followed him to travel and do adherents of all states by learning others in the same manner they had been taught. This group used the same tactics in increasing their members ( The Holy Bible. New King James Version ) . 3. Populating a life of simpleness is another rule that we can larn from this group. Simplicity is a religious subject that helps us to maintain our focal point on Jesus Christ and our mission. Simplicity of life combined with a concern for the hapless. was no uncertainty one of this groups’ most successful tools. To life a life of simpleness requires the truster to alter how he uses his clip and how he looks at all God has blessed him with. The simple life is non merely about altering how we live with our ownerships but besides how we form and put to utilize. our relationships. our organic structures. heads. emotions and our liquors. in order to laud our low Savior. to the universe we are seeking to make. Simplifying our lives makes room for God to travel.
Mentions
World Wide Web. anabaptistnetwork. com/book/export/html/28. Stuart Murray Williams. The Lollards. The Holy Bible. New King James Version. Copyright © 1982. Thomas Nelson. Inc.
