2011 issue 2 - what every christian needs to know about the protestant reformation - counsel of...

8/12/2019 2011 Issue 2 - What Every Christian Needs to Know About the Protestant Reformation - Counsel of Chalcedon

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what every christianshould know about theprotestant reformation

by Joe Morecraft III

I. The Christians Historical Task:Psalm 145:4

I will extol Tee, my God, O King And I will bless Ty name forever and ever.

Every day I will bless Tee, And I will praise Ty name forever and ever.

Great is the LORD, and highly to be praised; And His greatness is unsearchable.

One generation shall praise Ty works to another, And shall declare Ty mighty acts.

On the glorious splendor of Ty majesty, And on Ty wonderful, works, I will meditate.


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Counsel of Chalcedon Issue 2 20118

What Every Christian Should Know...

And men shall speak of the power of Tyawesome acts;

And I will tell of Ty greatness.Tey shall eagerly utter the memory of

Tine abundant goodness, And shall shout joyfully of Ty righteous-

ness.Te LORD is gracious and merciful;

Slow to anger and great in lovingkind-ness.

Te LORD is good to all, And His mercies are over all His works. All Ty works shall give thanks to Tee,

O LORD, And Ty godly ones shall bless Tee.

Tey shall speak of the glory of Tykingdom,

And talk of Ty power;o make know to the sons of men Ty

mighty acts, And the glory of the majesty of Ty

kingdom.Ty kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And Ty dominion endures throughout

all generations.

David was a student of history. Hismeditation of Gods wonderful

acts in the generations of His peopleencouraged him in his own struggles.Terefore he recounts Gods victoriesand mighty acts to other generationsthat they too may glorify God and bemotivated to work for His kingdom.One of Davids greatest joys was the

historical task.- ANTITHESIS, Vol.I, No. 1, p. 2. We have the same task.But because it has been neglected orshirked by generations of Christians inthe wentieth Century, the Church haslost ground and been compromised inher witness. Recapturing this sense of

history is essential to the renewal of theChurch and the strengthening of herwitness in the wenty-First Century.

Te Word of God commands us: Donot move the ancient landmark which your fathers have set, Proverbs 22:28.Hosea 5:10 alludes to this proverb to in-dict the princes of JudahTe princesof Judah have become like those whomove a boundary; on them I will pourout My wrath like water. Te leadershipof Judah was breaking down the antith-esis between right and wrong, truth

and falsehood, Jehovah and Baal; andwas thereby encouraging the people toevil and apostasy. Tis proverb warnsus against removing the old landmarksof our Christian heritage. We must re-sist and overcome the attempts of ourculture to cut itself loose from the past,from solid historical precedents and

milestones, like the Protestant Refor-mation of the Sixteenth Century. To -days western culture has broken downthe barriers between right and wrong,truth and falsehood, God and idols. odo this is to murder western culture.We are to reclaim history, to rediscoverit, to teach it to our children, so as to beencouraged to persevere in the culturewars we are presently ghting, knowingthat timepast, present and futureison our side.

II. The Importanceof Understanding

Reformation History

A. THE UNDERSTANDING OF

HISTORY AND OF THE PRESENT

Critical issues that disrupt the Churchof Jesus Christ today are only under-standable in their historical setting and


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9Counsel of Chalcedon Issue 2 2011


development. As one has said: Not toknow what has happened in the past isalways to remain a child; and ignoranceof the Reformation story tends to weak-en our grasp of the spiritual [truths] forwhich the times demanding unrelent-ing contention.- S.M. Houghton, in theintroduction of DAubignes HE HIS-ORY OF HE REFORMA ION INENGLAND, Vol. I, p. 15.

Te more you know, the more you nd there is to know in this grandand beautiful world. It is only theignorant who suppose themselvesomniscient.- Robert E. Lee

B. THE APPRECIATION OF

OUR HERITAGE AS AMERICAN

CHRISTIANS

Te liberty we cherish, and our insti-tutions that preserve that liberty, werepurchased for us by Christians, in theage of the Protestant Reformation, whowere willing to seal their witness for

Christ and His Word with their ownblood. And their blood still cries to usfrom the ground on which it was spilt.Te men and women who left us such agreat heritage at such a high price werepeople of whom the world was not wor-thy. We are unworthy of our heritage

if we turn a deaf ear to its voice and tothose who, though they are dead stillspeak to us out of history.

C. THE STIRRING OF THE SOUL

Te study of the graphic portrayal ofpeople stirred to the depths of theirsoul by the power of the Word of God,of people agonizing by the weighty ten-sions that result from experiencing thenew birth by the Spirit of God in anintensely hostile ecclesiastical, politicaland cultural environment cannot leavethe believer unmoved and unedied.erefore, the book of Hebrews exhortsus to run the race of life conscious of thefact that we have so great a cloud of wit-nesses surrounding us, Hebrews 12:1.

D. THE REVELATION OF THE LIV

ING GOD IN CHURCH HISTORY

Although much of historical writing iscold and unemotional, the history ofChristianity and the Church is, to useDAubignes phrase, pregnant with ce-lestial re. A Christian historians pri-mary goal is to show the hand of Godat work in human affairs, and this notonly in respect of the spiritual move-ments of his period, but equally so inrespect of political and ecclesiasticalmovements. God ruling, God over-ruling, God hiding His power, Godopenly intervening in the affairs of[nations] and individualsthisis theessential stuff of history, the principalthread needful for the weaving of histapestry.History should be made tolive with its own proper life. God is thislife. God must be acknowledgedGodproclaimedin history. Te history ofthe world should [be designed to showitself] to be annals of the government


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of the supreme King.- Houghton inDAubigne, Vol. I, p. 11.

I. THE CRITICALIMPORTANCE OF

THE PROTESTANTREFORMATION IN THESIXTEENTH CENTURY

e Protestant Reformation in the Six -teenth Century was, according to Wil-liam Cunningham, the greatest event,

or series of events, that has occurredsince the close of the Canon of Scrip-tures, [i.e., the age of the Apostles].-HE REFORMERS AND HE HEOL-OGY OF HE REFORMA ION, p. 1.It was the greatest revolution in historysince the First Century. It was not reallya revolt so much as it was the reestab-lishment of the principles of primitive[original] Christianity. It was a regenera-tive movement with respect to all thatwas destined to revive, a conservativemovement as regards all that will existforever.Te Reformation is eminentlydistinguished from all the revolutions ofantiquity, and from most of those of themodern world. Political changes werethe object of the latter. Te love of truth,of holiness, of immortality, was the sim-ple yet mighty spring which set in mo-tion [the Protestant Reformation]

Primitive Christianity and theReformation are the two greatest revo-lutions in history. Tey were not limitedto one nation only, as were the various

political movements that history re-cords; but their in uence extended overmany, and their effects are destinedto be felt to the utmost limits of theworld. Primitive [apostolic] Christian-ity and the Reformation are one and thesame revolution, brought about at dif-

ferent epochs, and under different cir-cumstances.one is the parent of theother.- DAubigne, HIS ORY OF HEREFORMA ION, p. 1. In other words,the Protestant Reformation was a Spir-it-produced revival and reformation ofchurch and culture by the Word of God.

II. THE BEGINNING OFTHE REFORMATION:

MARTIN LUTHER

When did the Protestant Reformationbegin? Tere are several ways to answerthat question. In one sense, it beganwith John Wycliffe in the 13 th Century,translating the Bible into English out ofLatin and sending out his Lollards, (itin-erant preachers), throughout Englandpreaching the gospel that would laterbe preached in all its fullness in the 16 th Century. In another sense, its beginningwas with William yndale, in the early16th Century, with his more accuratetranslation of the Bible into English fromHebrew and Greek, and the impact of hiswritings and martyrdom.


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According to one high school termpaper, recorded by Richard Ledererin ANGUISHED ENGLISH: MartinLuther was nailed to the church doorat Wittenburg for selling papal indul-gences. He died a horrible death beingexcommunicated by a bull. Accordingto Lederer another term paper statedthat the English Reformation began inthe womb of Henry VIII.

But, in a very real sense, after cen-turies of preparation, the ProtestantReformation began on October 31,

1517, when Martin Luther nailed hisninety-ve Teses to the church doorin Wittenburg, Germany, spelling outhis disagreements with the doctrinesand practices of the Roman CatholicChurch and calling for a public debateon these issues.

Martin Luther was a German, Au-

gustinian monk, born on November 10,1483. He became a monk because ofhis anxiety about his spiritual condi -tion and his standing with God; but his years as a monk only intensied thatanxiety. He could never nd assuranceof the forgiveness of his sins in all therites, practices, sacraments and doc-trines of the Roman Catholic Church.He knew he could never be sure if hehad done enough good works orderedby the church in order to merit salva-tion. He could never be certain thathe had confessed all his sins and so helived under a heavy weight of guilt anda strong fear of Gods wrath on him be-cause of his sins.

Ten, he started reading the Bible,instead of the medieval scholastics.While he was working on his sermons onthe Psalms in the summer of 1513, Godcaptured Luthers heart. Romans 1:16-17penetrated his heart and changed every-thingFor I am not ashamed of the gos-

pel, for it is the power of God for salvationto every one who believes, to the Jew rstand also to the Greek. For in it the righ-teousness of God is revealed from faith tofaith; as it is written: Te just shall liveby faith. Be grace he realized that thisrighteousness which is the basis of onesstanding in the favor of God was notsomething man produced but somethingthat God gives through faith in Christalone. He said: When I realized this Ifelt myself absolutely born again. Tegates of paradise had been ung open,

and I had entered. Tere and then thewhole of Scripture took on another lookto me- Introduction to Latin edition ofhis WORKS (Wittenberg, 1545), WA. 54,186. From that point on Luther sensedthat the Church had grown further andfurther away from the gospel and had lostit in favor of a powerful secular institu-

tion and a humanized philosophy-cum-theology. He made nothing new yet madeeverything new. He simply restored thegospel. He innovated nothing, but reno- vated everything.- James Atkinson, HEGREA LIGH , p. 21

james atkins


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homas Carlyle said of MartinLuther:

I call Luther a truly great man. He is great in intellect, great in

courage, great in affection and in-tegrity; one of the most lovable and gracious men. He is great , not as ahewn obelisk is great, but as an Al- pine mountain is great, so simple,honest, spontaneous; not settinghimself up to be great, but there for quite another purpose than the purpose of being great. What were

all the popes, emperors, and po-tentates in comparison? His lightwas to ame as a beacon over longcenturies and epochs of the world,and its history was waiting for thisman.- quoted by John R. Richard- son, AN IN ERVIEW WI H DR. MAR IN LU HER, p. xii

Professor Roland Bainton of Yale wrotea biography of Luther called HERE IS AND and said in it, Luther is notan individual. He is a phenomenon.-quoted by Richardson, p. xiii

It could also be said that the Ref-ormation began between the years1515-1516 with Luthers lectures on theepistle to the Romans and his publish-ing of those lectures. Unknown for 400 years, that manuscript was not founduntil 1908, when it was published thatsame year.

In these lectures, Luther at onceargues the doctrine of justication byfaith as the door to the gospel, show-ing the profound error of contempo-rary scholasticism in seeking its ownrighteousness and in not seeing thatthe gospel destroys any and all righ-teousness of our own and creates awholly other righteousness, a righ-teousness not of our own making butof Gods making.- Atkinson, p. 30.

Luther wrote: It is not because a manis righteous that he is therefore reputedto be righteous by God, but because heis reputed to be righteous by God he istherefore righteousapart from Christno one is righteous, and no one keepsthe Law. As long as I recognize that Icannot be righteous before GodI thenbegin to ask for righteousness fromHimTe only thing that resists thisidea of justication is the pride of thehuman heart, proud through unbelief.-quoted by Atkinson, p. 31

Tese same themes are emphasizedand expounded in his sermons on Gala -tians, (October 1516-March 1517) andon Hebrews (March 1517-March 1518).What set Luthers preaching apart fromthat of his contemporaries was his cen-tral emphasis on the person and work ofJesus Christ as the only basis of our right

standing with God. Tis was the dynam-ic of all his preaching and writing.

martin luther


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On October 31, 1517, Luther nailedhis 95 Teses to the church door inWittenberg, Germany. Te immediateoccasion was the selling of Indulgencesby the unscrupulous etzel, a Domini-can monk. Indulgences promised for-giveness of sins, time off of from purga-tory and mitigation of penalties for sinin return for money. Fine distinctionswere made by Rome to remove thedistasteful edges of indulgences, butin common practice these distinctionswere not made: Pay your money and

get your sins forgiveness or deliver yourdead relatives from some measure ofthe torments of purgatory. etzel wouldassure his hearers that As soon as thecoin the coffer rings, the soul from pur-gatory springs!

Tese 95 Teses were written in Lat-in for academic discussion, and not for

public dissemination.- Atkinson, p. 42.Teses 1-4 discuss the nature oftrue repentance as taught in the New estament. Repentance is notdoing penance nor has it any-thing to do with this indulgencebusiness. It is an inward and con-tinuous process of dying to self andrising again to righteousness, awhole turning of the entire personto God. In fact, indulgences workedagainst godly discipline, for theirmotive was to evade punishment.

Teses 5-7 argue that the Churchcan remit only the penalties shehas imposed: guilt, only God canremove.

Teses 8-29 deny the Popes powerover the dead in purgatory.

Teses 30-40 argue that the livingalways have true forgiveness anddo not need any indulgences.

Teses 41-52 contrast true worksof mercy with the rebuilding of St. Peters Church in Rome.

Teses 53-80 compare the preach-ing of indulgences with the preach-ing of the gospel.

Teses 90-95 develop the essen-tials of the gospel of the death andresurrection of Christ.- Atkinson, p. 42-43

Once these Teses were translated intoGerman and widely circulated, thenuclear bomb was exploded, and theReformation had begun. Luther tookhis message to the German people todeclare his position more precisely.

It did not take Rome long to de-clare Luther a heretic and outlaw. Hislife was often threatened by stranglingor drowning, or the like, but the morepeople threatened, the more he wouldplace his complete trust in Christ. Hesoon came under the protection ofpowerful German princes.

Luther wrote many books and pam-phlets, but FOUR of his most importantand inuential, called his ReformationWritings, are: (1). OPEN LE ER O

HE CHRIS IAN NOBILI Y OF HEGERMAN NA ION CONCERNINGHE REFORM OF HE CHRIS IANES A E; (2). HE PRELUDE ON HEBABYLONISH CAPTIVITY OF THECHURCH; (3). And HE FREEDOMOF A CHRIS IAN MAN; AND (3). Lu-thers incomparable HE BONDAGE

OF HE WILL.(1). In the rst part of his book, ANOPEN LE ER O HE CHRIS IANNOBILI Y OF HE GERMAN NA-ION CONCERNING HE REFORMOF HE CHRIS IAN ES A E, Lutherdoes three things: (1). He sets forth his


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key doctrine that was a blast againstRomanism of the spiritual priesthoodof all believers. (2). His second blastwas the declaration that since we havethe Holy Scripture, we do not need aPope. And (3). He refutes the idea thatonly the Pope has the authority to calla church council. In the second part ofthe book, Luther castigates the worldlypomp of the Pope and cardinals, andtheir greed. Atkinson, p. 59. He givesa long list of things in the church thatneed reformed, including the abolition

of papal power over the state, the cre-ation of a German Church with its owncourt of nal appeal, together with areligious and moral reform of the wholeof Christendom.- Atkinson, p. 59

(2). In his HE PRELUDE ON HEBABYLONISH CAPTIVITY OF THECHURCH, Luther rst of all exposes the

three main errors of Roman concerningthe Lords Supper: the exclusion of thelaity from the cup, the doctrine of tran-substantiation, and the sacrice of themass. He shows that transubstantiationis a product of medieval scholasticism.He also attacked the number of sacra-ments in Roman Catholicism.

(3). In his HE FREEDOM OF ACHRIS IAN MAN, Luther summa-rizes the Christian life. His leading ideais that the Christian man is the lordof all and subject to none, by virtue offaith; the Christian man is the servantof all and subject to every one, by virtueof love. A Christian mans life is madeup of faith and love; faith in relation toGod, love in relation to his fellow man.Man is made free by his justicationby faith, but that faith is exercised inlove to ones fellows and in good works.A man must rst have this relation toGod, i.e., be righteous before he can dothe righteous things God requires him.

Good works proceed from a good man.Good works do not make man into abelieving man or a justied man. Faithunites the soul to Christ in perfectunion, therefore whatever is Christs isthe souls also. Tis is more than com-munion: it is victory, redemption andfreedom.- Atkinson, p. 61

With the publication of this book,Luther had the ear of Germany. WhenLuther threw into the re the papalbull condemning him on December10, 1520, a thrill went through Europewhen it learned that a man with nomore weight behind him than his faithin God had burned a papal bull. It wasthe ery signal of emancipation. Ifthe Reformation can be dated precisely,that date must be December 10, 1520.If eras can be dated, our modern erabegan at nine oclock that morning.-Atkinson, p. 63


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(4). His book, HE BONDAGE OFHE WILL, is one of the best, if not thebest, explanation of the relationshipbetween predestination and humanresponsibility (free will) ever written. Itmay be Luthers most important book.Luther considered it his most impor-tant book because it spoke to issues thatwere at the heart of the church. Benja-min B. Wareld called it the manifestoof the Protestant Reformation. It waswritten in 1525 to answer Erasmus dia-tribe against him entitled, DIA RIBE

CONCERNING FREE WILL. Luther begins HE BONDAGEOF HE WILL by emphasizingthe clarity of Scripture on mattersof salvation, and Scriptures roleas the nal arbiter of the debate. Next he explains how important itis for the Christian to have a cor-

rect view of the human will and ofthe sinners dependence on Gods grace.- R.C. Sproul, WILLING O BELIEVE, p. 88

Both [Luther and Erasmus] af- rmed the necessity of grace, but atissue (as in the debate over justi-cation [and sola de]) was the sola[in sola gratia]. It is the question of

monergism versus synergism in theinitiation of human redemption. Is the deciding factor in salvation something man does or somethingGod does?- Sproul, p. 88

Tis book, unlike his modern name-sakes, reects Luthers thorough Au-gustinianism and Calvinism in his

doctrines of the sovereignty of God andthe responsibility of man. In respond-ing to Erasmus, Luther wrote: a manwithout the Spirit of God does not doevil against his will, under pressure,as though he were taken by the scruffof the neck, and dragged into it, like a

thiefbeing dragged off against his willto punishment; but he does it spontane-ously and voluntarily. And this willing-nessis something which he cannot inhis own strength eliminate, restrain oralterthe will cannot change itself, norgive itself another bent On the otherhand: when God works in us, the willis changed under the sweet inuence ofthe Spirit of God. Once more it desiresand acts, not of compulsion, but of itsown desire and spontaneous inclina-tion- quoted by Sproul, p. 94

Besides these books, and severalothers, he translated the Bible into Ger-man as DIE HEILIGE SCHRIF , and hewrote several hymns we still sing today,e.g., A Mighty Fortress is our God andAway in a Manger.

At Worms, Germany, uesday,April 17, 1521, at 4:00PM, Luther stood

boldly in resistance to both an Emperorand a Pope in defense of the gospelof justication by grace and throughfaith in Christ alone, and in defense ofthe nal and infallible authority of theBible alone. One of the worlds greatestmoment was in that place on that daywhen Luther said in defense of the truthof the gospel: Hier stehe ich. Ich cannight anders. Gott helfe mir. Amen.

Martin Luther lived a long, indefati-gable, useful and controversial life to thelast. On November 17, he completed hissermons on Genesis, at the conclusionof which he said to his students: Tis isthe beloved Genesis; God grant that af-ter me it may be better done. I can do nomore. I am weak. Pray God that He maygrant me a good and happy end.- quotedby Atkinson, p . 121. Finally, at age 63,his health failed completely, and he diedquietly in the village of Eisleben wherehe was born. He died with these wordson his lips: For God so loved the world


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that he gave His only begotten Son, thatwhoever believes in Him should not per-ish, but have everlasting life. And theProtestant Reformation lost its Elijah!

III. THE Leading playersOF THE PROTESTANT

REFORMATION

Martin Luther and his successor PhilipMelancthon were used of God to bring

Reformation to Germany. WilliamFarel, Martin Bucer, John Calvin, Ul-rich Zwingli, and others were used ofGod to bring Reformation to Switzer-land, France and southern Germany.John Rogers, Hugh Latimer, NicholasRidley, Tomas Cranmer and the Pu-ritans were used to bring Reformationto England. Patrick Hamilton, GeorgeWishart, John Knox and the Covenant -ers were used of God to bring Reforma-tion to Scotland. Te Canons of Dort,the Belgic Confession of faith and theHeidleberg Catechism established theReformation in the Netherlands. John aLasco took the Reformation to Poland.

John Hus took it to Bohemia. MartinReinhard, Hans ausen and Johann Bu-genhagen brought it to Denmark. Olafand Lars Andersson took it to Sweden.Te English Puritans, French Hugue-nots, Scottish Covenanters, Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, German Luther-ans, and Dutch Calvinists brought theReformation to North America, fromwhich land, God has taken it aroundthe world. Heroic Reformers were alsoto be found in Spain, Italy and Hungaryin the Sixteenth Century.

IV. THE PROTESTANTREFORMATION: THE

REDISCOVERY OF GR ACE

Te Reformation was the rediscovery ofgrace, to use the title of William C. Rob-insons book. In a real sense, the Refor-

mation was a rediscovery of God as Hehad revealed Himself in Christ and theBible. For the Reformers God is at thecenter of life, God who acts, God whodoes, God who thinks, God who speaks,God who saves, God who reigns andrules here and now. When every trueChristian, whether living or dead, has

a share given to him by God in all thebenets of Christ and the Church evenwithout letters of pardon, then God ad- vances for him into the foreground andonce more the treasure of the Churchis the Holy Gospel of the grace andglory of God.- William C. Robinson,THE REFORMATION: A REDISCOV -ERY OF GRACE, p. 37, quoting Tesis37 and 62 of Luthers 95 Teses

Te Reformers used short, crisp,clear slogans, sound-bites, to set forththe grace of God in the gospel with un-mistakable clarity. God led His peopleto victory in the Reformation underthese banners:


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SOLA GRATIA

Salvation is by Gods sovereign andunmerited grace alone and not by anyachievement by or merit in human be-

ings Ephesians 2:8-10.SOLO CHRISTO

Our acceptance with God is not basedon any righteousness produced by our-selves; rather it is based on the righteouslife and atoning death, Sola Cruce, ofChrist alone, II Corinthians 5:21.

SOLA FIDE

We are justied and accepted with Godby faith alone apart from the works ofthe Law, Romans 3:28.

SOLI DEO GLORIA

his faith in Christ takes away allgrounds for boasting and for claim-ing merit before God. It gives all gloryfor the saving of the sinner to GodaloneFather, Son and Holy Spirit, ICorinthians 1:30.

SOLA SCRIPTURE

It is only by the faithful exposition of thewritten Word of God that the Holy Spiritbrings the gospel to us. Te Bible is theinerrant Word of God, of nal and com-prehensive authority, our only infalliblerule of faith and practice, apart from theoral traditions and decrees of the churchor the use of reason as the source and

standard of truth, II imothy 3:16-17.William C. Robinson summarizes

the gospel of the Reformation withthese words: Here it is: Jesus did it all,all to Him I owe. In my hand no price Ibring, simply to His cross I cling. Here Ihold because here I am held, teneo quia

teneor. Faith is simply the hand whichgrasps Christ and His righteousness. Itis by grace alone, through faith alone,on the ground of Christs righteousnessalone, that God and God alone saves us.We supply nothing but the sinners to besaved. All the merit and all the praisefor our salvation belongs to God, oursole and only Savior. Tis is the Gospelfreely offered in the Good Book, andbrought to our hearts by the Holy Spiritthrough the preaching, teaching andreading of that Word.- pp. 1-2

V. the lessons of thesixteenth century

reformers

A. THE NECESSITY OF PRECI

SION IN PROCLAMING THE

TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL

oday we have a renewed assault on thedivine authority and supreme relevanceof propositional revelation, i.e., divinerevelation that comes to us in wordsand sentences, in rational, coherent,non-contradictory, precise, system-atic propositional recorded in the Bible.Tat Biblical revelation comes in a va-riety of genres: narrative, poetry, doc-trine, parables, law, etc., but because itis the Word of the rational, omniscient,self-conscious God, it is incapable oferror, and therefore, as we learn fromthe Reformers, our expression of thatbody of revealed truth, our teaching,

preaching, witnessing and defendingof it must also be accurate and precise,and carefully studied, as over-againstsloppy, haphazard, and confused. TeWestminster Confession of Faith givesus the reasons for this necessity of pre-cision, 1.6,7,9:


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Te whole counsel of God, con-cerning all things necessary for Hisown glory, mans salvation, faith,and life, is either expressly setdown in Scripture, or by good and

necessary consequence may be de-duced from Scripture; unto whichnothing at any time is to be added,whether by new revelations of theSpirit, or traditions of men

All things in Scripture are notalike plain in themselves, nor alikeclear unto all; yet those thingswhich are necessary to be known,

believed and observed, for salva-tion, are so clearly propoundedand opened in some place ofScripture or other, that not onlythe learned, but the unlearned, ina due use of the ordinary means,may attain unto a sufficient un-derstanding of them.

Te infallible rule of interpre-

tation of Scripture is the Scriptureitself; and therefore, when thereis a question about the true and full sense of any Scripture, (whichis not manifold, but one), it mustbe searched and known by other places that speak more clearly.

B. THE PROPER HERMENEUTICS

OF THE WORD OF GOD

After Christs apostles died, the ten-dency of the early church was towardan allegorizing of the Bible, ratherthan reading it according to the prin-ciples and methods of sound exegesispracticed by the apostolic writers ofthe New estament. As a result wend many fanciful interpretations ofthe Bible, in a search for hidden mean-ings other than the plain sense of thewords, that tell us more about theimagination of the interpreter thanthe word of God. Augustine was oneof those early church fathers that did

not escape this allegorizing tendency.In his work on CHRIS IAN DOC-

RINE he lays down a number of verysensible rules for the exposition of theBible, but in practice he forsakes hisown hermeneutical principles and of-ten runs into excessive allegorizing.[Some of his exposition of the Bibleis] full of fanciful interpretations andmystic allegorizing. His best exposi -

tions are of those passages on whichhis own rich experience and profoundacquaintance with the operations ofthe human heart enabled him to com-ment with surpassing beauty and greatpractical force. His exegetical treatisesare the least valuable of his multifari-ous writings, but through all his worksare scattered many brilliant and pre-cious gems of thought.- Milton erry,BIBLICAL HERMENEUTICS, p. 658.

Tis allegorizing hermeneutic hasraised its head in our times in the writ-ings of James Jordan, David Chilton,and many of those associated with theFederal Vision movement.

augustine


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Allegorical hermeneutics usuallydisregard the importance and meaningof the historicity of a text, being moreconcerned with some hidden meaningbehind the plain sense of the words,that the imagination of the interpretercreates. In other words, allegorical ex -egesis is characterized by arbitrariness.Te most powerful argument againstthe allegorical method is that it seemsto allow for no controls. In effect, any-one can see any meaning he or shewishes to see in any passage.- Moises

Silva, HAS HE CHURCH MISREADHE BIBLE, p. 74. I also tends towardthe tyranny of the experts, for it re -quires, an elite group of interpreterswho alone are given the key to the deep-er meaning of Scripture.- Silva, p. 74

John Calvin and the 16 th and 17 th Protestant Reformers went back to the

Bible not only for their theology but alsofor their hermeneutics, and so they castoff the allegorizing, rationalistic andmystic hermeneutics of the early andmedieval church and taught the churchhow to read the Bible Biblically, i.e., ac-cording to the grammatico-historicalprinciple of Bible interpretation.

Te termgrammatico-historicalhermeneuticreminds us that becausethe books of the Bible were written bymen, the Bible should be read like anyother book. (At the same time, becauseit is the infallible word of God, it mustbe read unlike any other book.) IN orderfor a Biblical text to speak for itself, thewords and sentences of the text mustbe explained according to the [He -brew and Greek] dictionary meaning,the grammatical structure, the normalrules of syntax (hence the grammatico-part of the equation), and also in theirhistorical setting (the historical part ofthe equation).- Henry Krabbendam,

HE AGONY OF DECEI , p. 74. Fur-thermore, the meaning of the Biblicaltext is determined by that text as ad -dressed and understood by its originalaudiencein its own historical situa-tion and cultural setting.- Krabben-dam, p. 75. Moreover, we must neverisolate a passage, text, sentence, or wordfrom its literary context. e purpose ofthe larger unit (a chapter, a section, or awhole book) must be recognized beforethe meaning of the parts can be estab-lished. Specically, it is wrong to ask a

text questions that it does not seek toanswer in the rst place, to draw les-sons from it that it is not designed to yield, to settle issues by it that it doesnot address, or to glean informationfrom it that it is not prepared to give.-Krabbendam, p. 75.

Te grammatico-historical methodof interpreting the Bible requires anunderstanding of the laws of grammarand the facts of history. A fundamentalof this hermeneutic is that words and

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sentences can have but one signicationin one and the same connection. Temoment we neglect this principle wedrift out upon a sea of uncertainty andconjecture.- erry, p. 203, 205

C. THE EXCEPTIONAL GIFTS

AND LEARNING OF THE RE

FORMERS

Te 16 th Century Reformers were menof exceptional gifts, talents, and exten -sive learning. God selected them andequipped them with superior abilitiesfor the work of restoring His truth andreforming His church. Tey understoodthat to whom much is given much isrequired; therefore they not only usedthose gifts and learning, they cultivatedand improved to be as effective as possi-ble in glorifying God and in doing what-ever they could for the advancement ofthe cause of His kingdom and gospel.

In tracing the history of the livesof the leading Reformers, we ndthat there is scarcely one of themwho had not opportunities af- forded them in providence, at some period or other, of devoting aconsiderable portion of time to dil-

igent and careful study. [We ndthem taking advantage of everyopportunity to study.]- WilliamCunningham, HE REFORMERS AND HE HEOLOGY OF HE REFORMA ION, p. 606

Te fact that they were such men hasobvious practical application. It shouldremind us of our obligation to learn asmuch as we can about as many areas ofthought and life that we can, with thehope that the more knowledge we ac-quire, the more useful we may becomein advancing the cause of Christ.

D. THE DILIGENT LABOR OF THE

REFORMERS

We see in the 16 th Century Reformersstriking examples of men committed todiligent labor and hard work in the workof Christ, often past the point of weari-ness and exhaustion. ey were not ivo -ry tower students and authors, who livedpassive and isolated lives. Tey were dili-gent and laborious workers. We see thisespecially in John Calvin.

Tough [Calvin] lived only 54 years, and struggled during a large portion of it with a very inrm state of bodily health, and withmuch severe diseases, half his lifewas well-nigh spent before the Lordbrought him to Geneva, and calledhim to engage in the public serviceof His church. But how much washe enabled, during the remain-der of his life to do and to effect!Tough engaged incessantly in thelaborious duties of a pastor and professor of theology, he was called

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upon to give his counsel and ad-vice, by personal applications andby written correspondence, uponalmost every important question, speculative and practical, that

affected the interests of the Re- formed cause in Europe; and yethe has left many folio volumes full of profound and admirably-digested thinking upon the mostimportant and difficult of all sub- jects,exhibiting much patientconsideration and great practicalwisdom, clothed in pure and clas-

sical Latin; forming also (for someof them were written in French,and several, as the INS I U ES,both in Latin and French), in theestimation of eminent French crit-ics, who had no liking to his the-ology or his ecclesiastical labors,an era in the improvement of thelanguage of the country which had

the honor to give him birth. Cun-ningham, REFORMERS, p. 606 We are too apt to think, in

these degenerate times, that areasonable and not very exaltedmeasure of diligence and activ-ity in some one particular de- partment, whether of study or of practical labor is all that can be

fairly expected; but the exampleof the Reformers should show thatit is possible, through Gods grace,to do much more,should teacha lesson of the value of time, andof the obligation to husband andimprove it,constrain all to labor,with unwearied zeal and diligence,expecting no rest here, but look-

ing, as they did, to the rest thatremaineth for the people of God.-Wm.Cunningham, Te Reformersand the Teology of the Reforma-tion, p. 606

E. THE INDEFATIGIBLE STUDY

OF THE BIBLE

Another lesson we learn from the Re-formers is the necessity and vital im-portance of dedicating much time andconcentration to the study of the Wordof God. Te Reformers were all led byGod, at an early period in their [lives], togive careful attention to the study of thesacred scriptures; and they were guidedby His Spirit to form correct views of thegreat leading principles which are thereunfolded. Tey were led to continue everafter to study them with care and dili-gence; and they persevered in applyingthem to comfort their hearts amid alltheir trials, and difficulties, and to guidethem in the regulation of their con-duct.Te Word of God dwelt in themrichly.- Cunningham, p. 606.

F. THE PASSION OF THE PROTES

TANT REFORMERS

Te Protestant Reformers were distin-guished by a passionate love for truth anda passionate hatred for evil. Te truth ofGods Word consumed them, like a reshut up in their bones; and because of thatfact, they hated everything opposed to that

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Word in themselves and in the world. Teyresisted and sought to defeat all opposi-tion to that Word. Tey were like RobertL. Dabney of 19 th Century Virginia, chiefof staff for Gen. Stonewall Jackson, Pres-byterian minister. Tey were men withpenetration and insight to discern goodand evil and with heroic boldness to warn[people] against an evil course.- TomasC. Johnson, IN MEMORIAM, p. 10. Teyloved truth passionately and hated evilpassionately. Tey were good haters as ev-ery good lover must be.

Conclusion

Te legacy the Protestant Reformationin the 16 th and 17 th Centuries has handedto us is Biblical Christianity in its puresthuman expression, stripped of the em -bellishments and perversions of Roman

Catholicism. Let us not betray that heri-tage. As Paul said of the apostolic systemof revealed truth given to the churchin his exhortation to Timothy: Retainthe standard of sound words which youhave heard from me, in the faith and lovewhich are in Christ Jesus. Guard throughthe Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the trea-sure which has been entrusted to you, IIimothy 1:13-14.

With regard to this precious legacy,be like the mighty Robert L. Dabney,Stonewall Jacksons adjacent general,who as his biographer said of him: Lov-ing truth for herself, he sought her as onemight seek to win his bride; and so hisconvictions went down into the substanceof his whole being. His holy reverence fortruth wrought in him a holy intoleranceof error; and he fought for the one, andagainst the other, with a passionate ear-nestness- Benjamin M. Palmer, TeChristian Warrior, in IN MEMORIAM:ROBER LEWIS DABNEY, p. 20.

In conclusion, to paraphrase Dabneyconcerning the theology and worldviewof the Protestant Reformation: [Because]the principles of truth and righteousnessare as eternal as their divine legislator,they must be upheld and defended andapplied in every age, regardless of the cost.Te salvation of the life of the South [andof our entire nation] must be found bytaking the Word of God as our constantguide. And with reference to the revealeddoctrines of that Word, we must resolveto surrender in nothing and to concede

nothing of righteous conviction concern-ing Gods truth. We must resolve to yieldor bend to no falsehood and conceal noBiblical truth or principle, but ever to as-sert Gods Word with such endurance,self-sacrice and fortitude as Gods provi-dence gives us. Resolve that no losses, northreats, nor penalties, shall ever make you

yield one jot or tittle of what is truth and just.- Te Duty of the Hour, DISCUS-SIONS, Vol. IV, p. 16

And, when it comes to the revealedtruth of God, believe it, confess it, go toa church where it is faithfully preached,apply it to your life and family, bear wit-ness to it, and courageously and sted-fastly stand rm in defense of it like aStonewall.

joe morecraft III

2011 issue 2 - what every christian needs to know about the protestant reformation - counsel of...

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