Zwingli was the Swiss Reformer in the 16th Century. He lived an extraordinary life. What made him different that we can learn from?

1.His sheer hunger to know the Word of God

In 1516, aged 32, Zwingli bought himself a copy of Erasmus’ Greek NT and for the next few years he studied it. In fact, he was so excited by it he handwrote a copy of Paul’s epistles and memorised almost the entire NT in Greek!

2. Being a man on a mission

He had some of the best humanists as teachers in his early education, so became a Reformer naturally because of this and his liking for Augustine and the NT. But it began as a thing of the head rather than the heart.

But in 1519 when he became ill with the plague and almost died and stared eternity in the face he changed! He returned a changed man on a mission. Now he had a new perspective on the idolatries of the church, whether through worshipping saints or trusting in sacraments. He saw it all as loss and now wanted to lead people’s hearts to the Living God!

3. He trained others in every Bible book

He founded a university called the School of the Prophets. Today, it’s the University of Zurich—originally founded by Zwingli. Students studied the New Testament and the Old Testament. They had a morning lecture in Hebrew, then a lecture in Greek from the New Testament. And then one of the pastors would come and preach in German. That was the curriculum.

The students went from Genesis through Revelation, studying the Bible in the original languages. They then passed all this rich understanding of the Word of God to others.

4. He understood the power of the Word

At Zurich, he just preached the Word but with relevance and common sense and let the city Council make orderly changes according to the Word, when it was ready.

That is he respected the timing of the Word of God in people’s lives. He didn’t try to force changes in their lives but trusted in the Word to make appropriate changes at the right time.

No wonder Zwingli proved a powerful Reformer in his day. We need to learn from his life and prove the power of the Word of God today.