Predestination & John Wycliffe

John Wycliffe’s understanding of predestination is confined to those who are the true members of the Church and what the Church actually consists of. He distinguished between the visible and invisible Church as all evangelical believers do. The invisible Church is the true Church, and Christ only is the head of that body, not the pope. As for the visible Church, he wondered which pope, Urban or Clement, who were warring over the papacy at the time, was considered to be the head of the visible Church. He believed that no pope (or any man) had the right to such a position. The reformer described the Church of Christ as consisting only of those who have been predestined to enjoy Heaven. Non-elect men and women may indeed be part of the visible Church but that does not automatically qualify them as members of the true or invisible Church.

His Biblical starting point for promoting predestination, like all reformed theologians, is Romans 8:28-30, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified.” In commenting on this passage of Scripture he writes,  

“This predestination is the principle gift of God, most freely given, since no one can merit his own predestination. Since it cannot be present without being present at the first moment of existence of the predestinate, it follows what is commonly said of grace that this is the principle grace. It can never be lost, since it is the basis of glory and bliss, which equally cannot be lost.” Therefore such predestination is a divine decree rather than the personal choice of any man.