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Remembering The Reformation

This past Sunday, October 27th, was Reformation Sunday. The intent of marking this day on the Church calendar is to commemorate and celebrate one of the most significant events in Church history: The Reformation of the 16th Century.

Taking time to reflect on God’s mighty acts in history is biblical. You find the call to reflect on the great works of God throughout the Psalms. Consider Psalm 78:1-4,

O my people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter hidden things, things from of old—what we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done. (NIV)

Reading a little further in Psalm 78 you find the great failure of the people clearly stated in verses 9-11, “The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned back on the day of battle; they did not keep God’s covenant and refused to live by his law. They forgot what he had done, the wonders he had shown them."

We live in a day of forgetfulness. It is not uncommon to read Christian historians and theologians who are blind to the mighty hand of God at work at the time of the Great Reformation of the 16th Century. You can see it by how they answer one question: What was the cause of the Reformation? Here are some common answers.

It was a time of crisis in the Church. The pope had lost his prestige and power. There was the Great Schism between the two centers of power in the Church: Rome and Avignon. The struggle resulted in the Council of Pisa in 1409. When the dust had settled there were three popes.

It was a time when people first started seeing the State gain authority over the Church. The idea of nations was beginning to take root. People saw themselves as French, German, etc. Kings and lords began to function without the guidance of the Church.

It was a time of gloom. Wars and violence seemed to be everywhere. The Black Death with its famine and disease appeared to be destroying large segments of the population all over Europe.

It was a time when various abuses in the lives of the clergy lowered the standing of the Church in the eyes of many. Luxury prevailed for the high clergy but the lower clergy were often oppressed and untaught. Many clergy were more interested in their own needs and how they could increase their own power and income.

The Renaissance and Humanism greatly fostered and fed many of these ideas. Luxury, learning, and literature became the concern of many. A call was given to return to the classical period of the Greeks and Romans.

The invention of the printing press sparked the Reformation. It was good marketing skills coupled with wise use of new technology. The reformers outwitted their opposition by flooding the market with their pamphlets, sermons, and Bibles.

The list could be continued, but the point of these ideas is clear: a combination of these forces “constituted an irresistible, inevitable thrust toward upheaval. There would have been a Reformation, in other words, even if Luther had died in the cradle” (Hans J. Hillerbrand).

What about those who were there at the time? What did they have to say about the cause of the Reformation? In 1522 Martin Luther gave his answer, “I will preach, speak, write, but will force no one; for faith must be voluntary. Take me as an example. I stood up against the Pope, indulgences, and all papists, but without violence or uproar. I only urged, preached, and declared God’s Word, nothing else. And yet while I was asleep, or drinking Wittenberg beer with Philip Melanchton and Amsdorf, the Word inflicted greater injury on the papacy than prince or emperor ever did.”

In the same year the Swiss reformer Ulrich Zwingli gave his response, “Thus I planted. Matthew, Luke, Paul, and Peter watered, but God in a wonderful manner gave the increase.”

R. Tudor Jones got it right when he said the Bible was the heart of the Reformation: “As the evangelical faith spread, it inspired translators to provide their respective nations with new renderings of the Bible…As these translations circulated among thousands of people who had never handled a Bible in their life before, so they worked like a powerful leaven in the hearts and minds of the readers.”

May we never forget the power of God’s Word and may we never think the fruit is our doing. Instead, let us remember to pray with Paul, “that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored” (2 Thessalonians 3:1) in our own day.

Elder Jim Gordon