The Bible Returns to the People

John Wycliffe

By the late 1300s, the Bible had been locked behind Latin for nearly a thousand years. Ordinary people couldn’t read it. Most priests couldn’t explain it. Only the elite, trained in Church tradition, had access to the Word of God.

But in England, a man named John Wycliffe (born c. 1320s - died 1384), a theologian and scholar at Oxford University, believed this was never God’s plan. Wycliffe began to speak boldly against the Church and believed that every follower of Jesus had the right to read the Bible for themselves — in their own language.

He once said:

“Christ and His apostles taught the people in the language best known to them.”

Around 1382, Wycliffe and his team completed the first full Bible in English — translated from Latin Vulgate, because the original Greek and Hebrew texts were not yet accessible in England.

These handwritten copies were secretly shared, read aloud in homes and fields, and cherished by ordinary people.

The Church’s Response:

• Church leaders declared Wycliffe a heretic

• His English Bibles were banned

• After his death, the Church dug up his bones, burned them, and scattered the ashes — hoping to erase his influence.

But it was too late.

The spark had been lit.

And soon, others would pick up the torch.

Martin Luther

More than a hundred years after John Wycliffe’s English Bible stirred hearts in England, another man across Europe would challenge the religious system — not with violence, but with truth.

Martin Luther (born 1483 – died 1546) was a German monk, professor, and Bible scholar.

He was deeply devoted to God, but also burdened by fear and guilt. Like many in his time, he had been taught that forgiveness had to be earned — through confession, penance, payments, and obedience to the Church.

But everything changed when Luther began to study the Scriptures for himself.

There, he discovered something the Church was not teaching clearly:

That salvation is a gift from God, received by grace through faith in Jesus, not by human effort or religious rituals.

As he compared the Bible with what the Church was doing, Luther saw major problems. The most serious? The selling of indulgences — people paying money to supposedly reduce punishment for sin, for themselves or even for the dead.

In 1517 Martin Luther wrote a document called the 95 Theses — statements challenging the Church’s practices and calling for reform.

He nailed them to the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany — a public act of protest that marked the beginning of what would become a massive shift in history.

Luther wasn’t trying to start a new religion.

He wanted to bring the Church back to the truth of the Bible.

His boldness inspired a movement of believers who also believed that:

• God’s Word, not Church tradition, should guide faith

• Salvation cannot be bought — it is received by trusting in Jesus

• Every person should be able to read the Bible for themselves

To make that possible, Luther translated the New Testament into German in 1522, using the original Greek.

It was one of the first times in centuries that the Bible had been printed in a language people actually spoke and understood.

The Reformation Begins

Luther’s actions lit a fire that spread across Europe. Others joined the call for change. They began to speak out, translate Scripture, and teach what the Bible really said.

Because they were protesting the corruption of the Church, they eventually became known as “Protestants.”

Their goal wasn’t rebellion — it was restoration.

The Bible was returning to the people.

William Tyndale

After Wycliffe's English Bible stirred a hunger for truth, the Church doubled down on its control. But a new movement was beginning — one that would change history forever.

At the center of it was William Tyndale (born c. 1494 - died 1536), a theologian and linguistic scholar at Oxford University and later Cambridge. Tyndale believed that the Bible was not just for priests, but for every person — farmer, merchant, mother, and child — in a language they could actually understand.

Tyndale knew that the Latin Vulgate — still the only version allowed in England — was limited and outdated. He wanted people to read the true words of God, not the interpretations of religious leaders.

When a Catholic priest once said to him,

“We are better to be without God’s law than the Pope’s.”

Tyndale responded:

“If God spare my life, ere many years, I will cause a boy that driveth the plough to know more of the Scripture than thou dost.”

In 1526, Tyndale completed the first printed New Testament in English, translated directly from Greek, not Latin.

• He later worked on much of the Old Testament from Hebrew.

• His translation was clear, readable, and deeply faithful to the original texts.

But it was illegal.

Owning or reading Tyndale’s Bible was punishable by death.

His Death

• Tyndale was betrayed, arrested in 1535, and held in prison for over a year in Belgium.

• In 1536, he was strangled and burned at the stake.

• His final words were:

“Lord, open the king of England’s eyes.”

Key Events After Tyndale

1539 – The Great Bible

At first, King Henry VIII opposed Bible translation — but everything changed when he broke away from the Roman Catholic Church in 1534, declaring himself the head of the Church of England.

To support his new authority and weaken Rome’s influence, he needed Scripture in English that could be read publicly. The Great Bible (1539) served that purpose — giving people access to the Bible while reinforcing his control over religion in England.

• Commissioned by King Henry VIII, this was the first authorized English Bible to be read publicly in churches.

• Based heavily on Tyndale’s work.

• Called “Great” because of its size — large copies were chained to pulpits.

1560 – The Geneva Bible

During the reign of Queen Mary I (1553–1558), a devout Catholic daughter of King Henry VIII, the Roman Catholic Church’s power was restored in England.

This began the persecution of anyone who supported Bible reforms or denied the Catholic teachings.

Many English Bible scholars and believers were persecuted and fled to Geneva, Switzerland, where they had freedom to study and teach.

There, they translated the Bible into English directly from Hebrew and Greek, not Latin. The Geneva Bible (1560) was a people’s Bible: easy to read, packed with notes, and deeply rooted in the original texts — but its critical tone toward kings made it politically unpopular with future monarchs.

• Produced by English exiles in Geneva (under persecution).

• First English Bible with verse numbers, marginal notes, and wide use among early English-speaking Christians — including the Pilgrims.

• Also based largely on Tyndale’s translations.

1604–1611 – The King James Version (KJV)

After decades of division — and competing English Bibles — King James I of England wanted a single, unified translation that all English churches could use.

In 1604, he authorized a team of 47 scholars and translators to produce a new Bible based on the best available Hebrew and Greek manuscripts, while avoiding controversial notes like those in the Geneva Bible.

• Published in 1611.

• Intended to be a politically neutral, unified translation for the Church of England.

• Based heavily on Tyndale’s original work, but revised using more available manuscripts and scholarship.

• It became the most influential English Bible in history — read in churches, homes, schools, and across the English-speaking world for centuries.

Though it had flaws based on the limited manuscripts of the time, the KJV marked a major moment:

The Word of God — once hidden in Latin behind church walls — was now spoken in the heart language of the people.