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THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION
by R.C. Sproul
"A cesspool of heresies." This was the judgment rendered
by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V on May 26, 1521, shortly after
Luther took a stand at the Diet of Worms.
Earlier, in the bull Exsurge Domine,
Pope Leo X described Luther as a wild boar loose in the vineyard
of Christ and as a stiff-necked, notorious, damned heretic. On
May 4, 1521, Luther was "kidnapped" by friends and whisked
off to Wartburg castle, where he was kept secretly hidden, disguised
as a knight. There Luther immediately undertook the task of translating
the Bible into the vernacular.
Frequently the Reformation is described
as a movement that revolved around two pivotal issues. The so-called
"material" cause was the debate over sola fide ("justification
by faith alone"). The "formal" cause was the issue
of sola Scriptura, that the Bible and the Bible alone has the
authority to bind the conscience of the believer. Church tradition
was regarded with respect by the Reformers but not as a normative
source of revelation. The "protest" of Protestantism
went far beyond the issue of justification by faith alone, challenging
many dogmas that emerged in Rome, especially during the Middle
Ages.
In a short time, the Reformation swept
through Germany but did not stop there. Aided by the translation
of the Bible in other nations, the reform spread to the Huguenots
in France, to Scotland, England, Switzerland, Hungary, and Holland.
Ulrich Zwingli led the Reformation movement in Switzerland, John
Knox in Scotland, and John Calvin among the French Protestants.
In 1534 Calvin delivered a speech calling
the church to return to the pure Gospel of the New Testament.
His speech was burned, and Calvin fled Paris to Geneva. Disguised
as a vinedresser, he escaped the city in a basket. During the
next year, some two dozen Protestants were burned alive in France.
This provoked Calvin to write his famous Institutes of the Christian
Religion, which was addressed to the King of France. His thought
contained in the Institutes developed into the dominant theology
for the international expansion of the Reformation.
The first edition of the Institutes was
completed in 1536, the same year Calvin was persuaded by Farel
to come to Switzerland to build Geneva into a model city of Reformation.
In 1538 Farel and Calvin were forced to leave Geneva. He lived
and ministered in Strasbourg for three years until he was called
to Geneva in 1541.
Calvin's theology stressed the sovereignty
of God in all of life. His chief passion was the reform of worship
to a level of purity that would give no hint to or support of
the human penchant for idolatry. Geneva attracted leaders from
all over Europe who came there to observe the model and be instructed
by Calvin himself.
During this period turbulence spread
to England when King Henry VIII resisted the authority of Rome.
In 1534 Henry became the Supreme Head of the Anglican Church.
He undertook the persecution of evangelicals, which escalated
under "Bloody Mary," causing many to flee to Geneva
for refuge.
The persecutions were suspended under
"Good Queen Bess," Elizabeth I, whose stance provoked
a papal bull against her in 1570. The Reformation spread rapidly
to Scotland, largely under the leadership of John Knox, who served
19 months as a galley slave before he went to England and then
to Geneva. In 1560 the Scottish Parliament rejected papal authority.
In 1561 the Scottish Reformed "Kirk" was organized.
One interesting footnote to this is that
the first man John Knox ordained into the ministry of the church
was an obscure clergyman by the name of Robert Charles Sproul,
of whom I am a direct descendent.
In the early 17th century, the Reformation
spread to the new world with the arrival of the Pilgrims and colonies
of Puritans who brought Reformed theology and the Geneva Bible
with them.
Reformation theology dominated Protestant
evangelism for decades but became diluted later under influences
of Pietism and Finneyism.
By the end of the 20th century, Reformation
theology declined dramatically in the Western world, being assaulted
by 19th-century liberal theology on the one hand, and the influence
of Arminian theology on the other. This was especially true in
America.
In our day we have seen a revival of
interest in the Bible and a renewed commitment to the authority
and trustworthiness of Scripture. But the Reformation was more
than a doctrine about the Bible. It was sparked by a deep and
serious study of the Bible. It is not enough to extol the virtue
of Scripture - we must hear the teaching of Scripture afresh.
It is only by a serious and earnest recovery of biblical truth
that we will be able to avoid falling into a new cesspool of heresy.
__________
Today is Reformation Sunday.
May the spirit of the 16th Century
Reformation reside in our hearts
always
-Pastor
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