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On October 31,1517, the Spirit of God moved a 34 year old German priest named Martin Luther, to post 95 theses on the castle door at Wittenburg University, and what would be known as the Protestant Reformation was underway. Preceeding by courageous but persecuted thinkers like John Wyclif (in England) and John Hus (in Bohemia) and inspired by studies in Romans and Galatians, Luther decided he could no longer be silent in the face of religious system that had replaced the command of God with traditions of men. The center of his message was (1) justification by faith (in opposition to the Catholic idea of justification by works) and (2) the belief that Scripture alone (and not the edicts of popes and councels) is the authoritive standard. In The Babylonian Captivity of the Church he challenged so much that had become a part of traditional Roman Catholicism (including the sacraments, the priesthood and the papacy). In 1521, after saying his conscience was held captive by the word of God, he was expelled from the Catholic Church by Pope Leo X. Eventually new churches were set up where one found missing the office of bishop, the mass, the priesthood, the restrictions on marriage, and the statues. In thier place was an emphasis on eaching and preaching the wod of God. The steps Luther took against an intimidating system must be appreciated. His was a major move away from an apostate church. Sadly, Luther's refoms of the church did not lead to discipling relationships nor to reform of his own charactor. He himself wrote that he was often lacking in self control and could be rude or course in his dealings with people. What resulted from his reforms was not a full return to biblical practice but a denomination named for him (contrary to teachings of 1 Corinthians 1:12). Contemporary with Luther were other reformers such as Ulrich Zwingli who led much of Switzerland in a revolt against Catholicism and John Calvan, a brilliant young scholar from France. In 1536 Calvin published his Institutes of the Christian religion which became known as the landmark work of the reformation. From Calvin came the "reformed tradition" which later included the Dutch Reform Church, the Church of Scotland, Presbyterians and Baptists, unfortunetly emphasizing his 5 major doctrines, summarized with TULIP acrostic. They were: (1) total depravity of man, (2) unconditional forgiveness by God, (3) limited atonement (i.e. Jesus did not die for everyone), (4) irresistible grace (i.e. those elected to be saved cannot resist the grace of God, and (5) perserverance of saints ( more popularly presented as "once saved, always saved"). Those of us in the modern multiplying ministries movement may find our closest kinship in the Reformation in that group known as the Anabaptists ( a name given by thier opponents who despised the idea that they taught that you should be baptized again). Considered "radicals" and "fanatics" even by reformers like Luther and Calvin, this group sought a more thorough return to New Testiment Christianity. Speaking plainly about "discipleship," they rejected the idea of infant baptism, insisting that every person who follows Jesus must make his own decision to be baptized based on his own faith and convictions. They insisted on being the very kind of church described in the Bible and that church was not an institution that made alliances with the state but was a family of believers who were sent by God to be salt and light in a sick and dying world. In perhaps the greatest move toward a biblical church, disciples were expected to help one another actually obey all the teachings of Jesus. Protestantism, in thier view, had not gone nearly far enough. As a result thee people were severly condemned by the likes of Luther, Calvin and Zwingli, and a terribly persecuted by the members of the mainstream Reformation as reformers had been persecuted. Those caught "rebaptizing" were officially executed by drowning. The Reformation in England was a very differant sort of story from that on the continment. It was not biblical conviction but pure political expediency that lead Henry VIII to renounce the authority of the pope and tranform the Catholic Church in England into the Church of England. The King had wanted the pope to annul his marriage so that he would be free to marry the younger Anne Boletyn. When the pope refused, Henry declared the Church of England to be seperate organization and secured from it the permission to remarry. He was not really interested in changing any doctrines, and for half a century the Church of England ( or Anglican Church) would swing back and forth sometimes in the direction of Protestantism and sometimes in the direction of Catholicism but there was never any real passion for biblical Christianity. Catholicism oblivously suffered losses during the Reformation period, but eventually mounted a counter-reformation and an internal reform movement of its own in an attempt to blunt the effect of the Protestants. Led by such men as Ignatius Loyola they attemted to revive spiritual concerns and interest in converting the pagans. However, at the famious council of Trent they specifically rejected the Reformation doctrines, insisting that Luther's idea of " Scripure alone" was false and reaffirming thier belief in the authority of the pope and the bishops. Meanwhile, since Gutenburg's invention of the printing press in 1455, the Bible had been translated into the common language of the people and spread among the comman man fueling the Reformation and leading to the modern day. Part V of my series is next, titled " 1700- Present- A household divided.
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