Re-post May 1, 2011 still one of our most popular posts
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.
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