The Reformation

Martin Luther

This past weekend, we had our annual men's retreat.  The speaker this year was Steve Huffman, who spoke on the Reformation.  It's a suitable topic, as we approach 500 years (this October) since Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door in Wittenberg and ended up sparking a movement that had been brewing for some time: the Reformation.  The below summarizes Steve's talks.  For brevity, where possible I link to topics and personalities rather than explain them in full.

The Coming of the Reformation

Christianity began in the Middle East, of course.  After the temple in Jerusalem is destroyed (AD 70), though, the center of Christianity shifts to Rome.  Early Church leaders start to gain power (Clement sends letters indicating authority), which in time would grow into a papal structure.  Early Christians were persecuted until the time of Emperor Constantine (312-337).  He made all religions legal and called the Council of Nicea, which set the foundation of orthodoxy.  Over one hundred years later (476), the [Western] Roman Empire falls; barbarians invade but the Church stays put and provides the foundation for rebuilding.  Slowly but surely, the Church starts to get a bureaucracy, structured like the Roman Empire, and starts claiming more authority in civil matters.  To aid their case, the Church uses the so-called "Donation of Constantine" (later proven to be a forgery), which claims that Constantine gave the Pope authority in the west after Constantine shifted his capital east to Constantinople in 330.

As centuries pass, things go really awry and the Church continues to gain civil authority.  Gregory the Great (540-604) starts talking about purgatory and other non-Biblical doctrine.  Around 800, the Pope crowns Charlemagne, showing a remarkable degree of civil authority, and starts to acquire land (just like a king).  By 1500, the Papal States (in modern Italy) exist, and Popes start to turn more and more to civic matters; religion takes a back seat.  Around 1000, the idea creeps in that the Church is infallible, and in ~1200, Pope Innocent III acts like the Pope is infallible, getting into a fight with English King John and John relents, showing how the Pope can use authority in civil matters.  Around this time the doctrine of transubstantiation is declared.  The progression continues.  Pope Boniface VIII says "all authority derives from me."  Popes are becoming more worldly and wield more secular power.

That's not to say that everything was bad.  Theology in 1100-1300 enjoyed a good and stable time, with diverse schools of thought (from scholasticism and Thomas Aquinas to nominalism).  This diversity would be shut down after the Reformation.

The fourteenth century was disastrous in many ways- the black death, little ice age, hundred years war, and other disasters.  Everything is affected, including the Church.  During this time, a French Pope moves from Rome to Avignon, causing Rome's decline.  The papacy would move back to Rome in 1377, which upset some, who elected another Pope and put him back in Avignon, setting up the great western schism.  In 1409, the Council of Pisa tried to end the schism and elected a 3rd Pope; the Council of Constance (1414-18) would depose all 3 and elect another.  The overall effect: the church gets discredited.

A line of horrible Popes are in power leading up to the Reformation  Among them is Leo X, an agnostic who became priest at age 7.  Since Rome declined, he spent money like water to re-build and beautify it, including St. Peter's Basilica.  He needed money to do so- lots of it.  So he started charging for offices, and Italy began sucking money from northern Europe.  As can be expected, northern Europe doesn't care for this.

For Christians 500 years ago, they believed the basics of what we do, but with some notable differences.  First, the concept of purgatory.  Second, the general principle that they didn't need explicit faith in Christ; implicit faith (signified by obeying the Church) was fine.  Priests were needed to get to heaven.  Since the Roman Catholic Church was the only show in town, this resulted in a significant amount of control over the populace.  You get the picture.

It was clear the Church needed reform.  And indeed, there were calls for Reformation well before the Luther in 1517.  John Wycliffe, Jan Hus, and others set the stage decades/centuries before.  Jan Hus, as he was being burned for heresy, would say "you can cook this goose, but a swan is coming."  One hundred years later, Martin Luther would arrive- but it wasn't just him.  Erasmus called for reform of morals and ethics (not doctrine); he'd produce a Greek New Testament in 1516.  The Renaissance was a cultural movement which (among other things) called people "back to the source," which helped spur the Reformation.  New technologies- like the printing press- did as well.    New education was undermining the Church and secular authority as well- both were under fire.  Greek and Hebrew were big in education, so people could read the Bible in its original (not the Vulgate, the accepted Latin translation with several notable faults).

The Crux- Justification

In 1500, the Church taught that you must clean sin off of you, needing the Church to do so.  Baptism cleansed, but subsequent sins must be cleansed through works of merit (congruous, condign, supererogatory).  Supererogatory merit was extra merit that went into a 'treasury of merit' that the Pope could dispense- hence indulgences.  There are multiple things you can do to obtain this merit- to include paying for it.

Luther wants righteousness, and so does anything he can to gain merit, but he couldn't escape/get over his sinfulness.  His teacher decides he should start teaching the Bible to help him through this time.  Luther looked at Latin translation inaccuracies that led to some unbiblical practices.  He also gets more in the Word and it's on verses like Romans 1:17 or 3:21-28 that Luther finds his hope- God justifies us through faith, not works.  This changes everything.  Justification is not imparted, it's imputed.  There's no point in trying to gain merit.  And, if we can pay for sin, it's not that bad; this diminishes Christ.  So it's about faith, and not by works.

Luther was angry about the practice of indulgences that was sweeping through Germany to help Princes raise money (to reclaim what they lost through giving to the Pope).  He nailed 95 Theses to the door at Wittenberg on October 31, 1517, knowing they'd be seen the next day at All Saint's Day.  He wanted to debate and course correct; he didn't intend to start a movement.  But, by (effectively) attacking the Church's revenue stream, he raised the ire of the Pope and many others, leading to things like the Heidelberg Disputation, the Diet of Worms, and other events attempting to silence Luther.  It was too late.

Authority

Who has authority over us?  In the Roman Catholic Church, it's the scriptures + Church's teachings/traditions.  The Church's translation of the scriptures- Jerome's Latin Vulgate- was generally good, but had some weird choices that affected doctrine.  Luther and many others would get back to the original Hebrew & Greek texts and realize this.  The Reformers believed that only Scripture was the ultimate authority- not the Church- and so it started getting translated into common languages that everyone could understand (rather than Latin only).  As an aside, today we have the complete Bible in 636 languages; work is ongoing in 2422 languages (~98% of the world population has at least part of Bible in their native language).

Going to scripture alone (Sola Scriptura) was revolutionary.  Translating it into common tongues renewed interest in literacy.  It changed how the worship service was conducted, now focusing on preaching the Word and not Mass.  Scripture would be used to interpret scripture- another revolutionary idea.  Several catechisms and confessions would be created (from 1523-1647), summarizing teachings and distilling the scriptures.

As might be expected, the Catholics didn't like this, and reacted in 1546 at the Council of Trent, which condemned all but Vulgate (and, incidentally, laid down Catholic doctrine for the first time).

Working out the Reformation

The Reformation was positive in many ways, but not exhaustively so.  As Catholics warned, once Church authority was eroded, chaos ensued.  Some Protestants behaved badly, smashing statues, destroying art, and harassing priests (Luther didn't approve and told them to cease).  There was lots of upheaval- in events like the Peasant's War (where 100,000 peasants are killed), some participants pointed to Luther as inspiration.  And finally, with no main authority, many different interpretations of Scripture came to light, dividing Protestants amongst themselves (sacraments like the Lord's Supper and baptism were central issues, but there were others).  They tried, at the Marburg Colloquy, to agree, but could reach accord on 14.5/15 things.  They showed love to each other, but disagreed, and this would result in denominations.  They agreed on the following principle:

in essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity

But of course, who said what was essential or not?  And so the controversy continues to this day.

image from Steve Huffman

Gifts of the Reformation

The Reformation gave us many things.  Among them:
- The priesthood of all believers (1 Peter 2:5); we don't need a priest to interpret for us
- To God alone be the glory (Psalm 115:1)
- Vocation and this idea that everything we do matters (1 Corinthians 10:31, 1 Peter 4:11), and we should use our gifts to serve others
- Freedom of a Christian; because works don't save us

A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none.
A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant, subject to all.

God doesn't need your works, but your neighbor does.

- Role.  We are co-creators with God.  As Abraham Kuyper once said, 'There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!'
- Art.  After the Reformation, we see art of common people doing common tasks
- Assurance.  We are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9), so we can be assured (1 John 5:13).

Reformers gave us back grace, faith, and scripture.  The 5 Solas summarize it nicely, so we'll end with that.

image from here