Effects of the Reformation

DAY 40 4/9/17 Palm Sunday- DAY 40 EFFECTS OF THE REFORMATION
The Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.  Psalm 118:23; Mark 12:11

Thoughts:
The world is not the same because of the Protestant Reformation.  Though it was a long time coming (think Wycliffe, Waldo and John Hus) it has a long term effect.  In some ways the Reformation was fueled by and fueled the Renaissance.   Most of the Reformers were humanists who sought to get back to the source- the Bible, and were well schooled in their day.  The political power of the Roman Catholic church broke as it both fought and could not fight the Reformation and its leaders.  Feudalism gave way to nationalism both by the Reformers (like Cranmer in England and Knox and Scotland) and the reaction to the Protestants in France and the Netherlands.  Democracy and individualism were influenced by the idea that we didn’t have to go through a priest and people could read scripture alone.  Many point to Calvinism as a tremendous influence on the checks and balances found in American government, and presbyterianism’s representative democracy as influencing the representative democracy of America and others.  The rise of the middle class was definitely inspired by the Protestant work ethic of both Luther and Calvin who valued every day work and encouraged all to do their best for the glory of God.  Vernacular Languages of German, French, and English were tremendously effected by the writings of the German Bible, the Book of Common Prayer and King James Version in English, the French Bible of Olivetan and Calvin’s writings. 
     There were also some negative things.  The church divided then divided then divided again.  In the midst of the divisions the main teaching of love has been downplayed.  Many of the teachings of the Reformation once rejected in the Counter-Reformation and the Council of Trent are now mollified with Vatican I and Vatican II councils that recognize the limits of the veneration of the saints, the problems of indulgences, and the idea that we are saved by grace and not by works.  There has been a tremendous shift in the Catholic church.  At the same time, some Protestants today are downplaying the basis of their own belief systems saying that scholarship and science should be elevated to the same position of authority as the Bible.  There has clearly been a growing skepticism in western Europe and among the old mainline churches of the Reformation in America.  There are some who say that every 500 years a change is made and we should embrace that change.  But the Book of Judges (everyone did what was rig hint heir own eyes), the deterioration that led to the Old Testament and Diaspora exiles should warn us that not all change is good.  We should be ever reforming- but not omit- “According to the Word of God.”  It is clear that without belief and the Spirit no church or even great principle will stand on its own.  The church today needs to get back to its roots, which was the original call of the Reformation (the solas: Scripture, Grace, Faith, Glory to God, and Christ Alone) and also return to our first love.

Prayer: Lord, help me to change.  Keep me from being conformed to the world but to be transformed in a way that honors you alone.  May my life glorify you alone.  

Reformers to Know- Knox and Erasmus

DAY 39 4/8/17- DAY 39 REFORMERS TO KNOW- JOHN KNOX, THOMAS CRANMER
Amos answered, “I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore fig trees. But the Lord took me and said, ‘Go Prophecy to my people.’” (Amos 7:14,15)

John Knox (1513- 11/24/1572) was a Scottish Reformer who both started and formed Presbyterianism in Scotland.  Knox studied at the University of St. Andrews and possibly the University of Glasgow.  He was influenced by Patrick Hamilton and George Wishart.  Wishart had been persecuted for speaking out against the veneration of Mary.  He had been exiled and when he came back to Scotland, Knox became his bodyguard brandishing a two-handled sword.  However, Cardinal Beaton had Wishart arrested and burned at the stake.  While Knox was a fugitive some Protestants assassinated Cardinal Beaton in St. Andrews castle.  Many protestants rallied to them, including Knox.  The French besieged the castle and Knox was made a French Galley slave for 19 months.  In 1549 he was released in exile to England where he had influence upon the writing of the second edition of the Book of Common Prayer and became a chaplain to the young king, Edward VI.  He disputed with Thomas Cranmer over kneeling in communion, so that a caveat was said that kneeling was not for veneration but humility.  When Edward died, Mary Tudor tried to restore Catholicism and Knox went in exile to Geneva where he met Calvin and then to Frankfurt.  When he left Frankfurt he broke all ties with the Church of England.  He returned to Scotland in 1556 where he was put on trial by the bishops in Edinburgh.  But he had so much noble support that the bishops delayed the trial.  He returned to Geneva.  He wrote (1558) “The first Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women” in which he decries women in any position of authority especially Mary Guise, Mary Tudor, and Mary Queen of Scots.  Later he softened his tone before Elizabeth I of England.  1559-1560 saw the Church of Scotland become Protestant and Reformed.  In 1560 Knox’s wife Margery died leaving him two children under five.  In 1561 Knox and five others named John wrote the Scots Confession and the Book of Discipline that promoted a predecessor of Presbyterianism where each congregation could hire but not fire their ministers, and superintendents, not bishops, were put in charge.  However it was not until l689 that Presbyterianism took full root.  In 1562 and 1563 the catholic Queen Mary accused Knox of being irreverent and even treason but he was exonerated.  She supposedly said, “I fear the prayers of Knox more than all the armies of Europe.”  Indeed Knox prayed while in one of his many exiles, “Give me Scotland or I die.”  He was also purported to have said, “One man and God is a majority.”  Knox died and his remains are in a barely marked grave in the parking lot. He taught his followers not to revere him, but to listen to his teachings from the Word of God. 
      Thomas Cranmer (7/2/1489- 3/21/1556) was Archbishop of Canterbury during the time England separated from the Latin Catholic church.  He wrote arguments for the annulment of King Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon and the idea of Royal Supremacy, that the king should be in charge of the churches in his realm.  He was born to a modest family in Nottinghamshire.  He studied at Cambridge and also studied LeFevre and Erasmus, Christian humanist with some reforming ideas.  In 1532 he was appointed ambassador to the Holy Roman Empire and set aside his vows to marry Margarete the niece of a reformer in Nuremberg, Osiander.  Cranmer was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury 3/30/1533 and immediately began working on the annulment of Henry’s marriage to Catherine.  Cranmer later oversaw the annulment of two other marriages at Henry’s convenience. Later it was found that Henry had already secretly married Anne Boleyn.  Cranmer became Henry’s main confidant when Thomas Cromwell was executed.  However, the church made few reforms until after Henry died and the young Edward VI succeeded him.  Then Cranmer was able to write the Book of Common Prayer that had a vast influence on the English language.  He allowed Bucer and Knox to come into England and influence the second edition of the Book of Common Prayer.  When the catholic Mary ascended the throne she declared Cranmer a heretic and treasonous.  Cranmer recanted his Protestantism- but on the day he was executed he recanted his recantations.  

Prayer: Lord, we have horribly offended you.  Have mercy on us and lead us in the way of righteousness this day.  (From Prayers of Knox)

Reformers to Know- John Calvin

DAY 38- 4/7/17- DAY 38 REFORMERS TO KNOW- JOHN CALVIN
But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should to go Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out? (Ex. 3:11)

John Calvin (7/10/1509- 5/27/1564) was the greatest theologian of the Reformation.  He was born in Noyon France, where Charlemagne was crowned in 768.  John Calvin’s father, Gerard, was a lawyer for the Bishop of Noyon.  His mother, Jeanne LeFranc, died perhaps of the plague when he was three years old.  When Calvin was four Pope Leo X started selling indulgences- which was one of the last straws of corruption in the church for the Protestants.  When Calvin was seven Erasmus made his first Greek translation of the Bible, paving the way for the Bible to be translated into German (translated by Luther), French (translated by Calvin’s cousin Olivetan), and English (Tyndale and Genevan translations- which Calvin influenced). When Calvin was three, Jacques LeFevre, a professor in Paris wrote that we are saved by grace alone.  When Calvin was eight Luther posted his 95 theses on the Wittenburg door fueling the Reformation.  When Calvin was 19 (1528) Henry VIII declared the Church of England Protestant.  Calvin had a brother, Charles, who was an early Protestant in France and persecuted for his faith.  Calvin studied law at Orleans but later went to the University of Paris.  But in 1531, at 22, Calvin’s father died and Ulrich Zwingli of Zurich was killed in a battle with Catholic armies.  In 1532 he wrote a humanist commentary on Seneca that didn’t sell well.  Calvin wrote of his conversion in 1533 that “God by a sudden conversion subdued my heart.”  In Paris Calvin helped write a sermon by Nicolas Cop expressing that the Bible was more authoritative than the church.  Some authorities threatened his life.  Calvin literally jumped out of a third story window to flee some entering the door.  He changed his name to “Charles D’Espeville” (Charles of the City of Hope), and his own servant robbed him of all he had.  Calvin fled to Basel where he wrote the first (1536) Protestant theology book, “The Institutes of the Christian Religion.”  It is said that what Einstein is to physics Calvin is to theology.  In 1536 Calvin visited northern Italy and was passing through Geneva when William Farel threatened him with God’s wrath unless he stayed and preached in Geneva.  But when Farel and Calvin insisted the church (not the state) has the power to say who should take communion, they were exiled by Geneva’s City Council.  Calvin wrote, “Surely if I had merely served humans, this would have been a poor reward.  But it is my happiness that I have served Him who never fails to reward his servants to the fullest extent of his promise.”  Calvin went to Berne and then Strasburg where he preached to French exiles under the influence of Martin Bucer.  In August 1540 Calvin married a widow with two children, Idelette de Bure with whom he had no children.  Later Calvin boasted that in Christendom he had 10,000 children.  In 1541 the Genevans begged Calvin to come back.  Many from all over the world came to Geneva.  John Knox said that Geneva was “the purest school of Christ on earth.”  In Geneva Calvin preached every day, lectured three times a week, was present at every town council, yet found time to write thousands of letters and books.  There are over 2,025 sermons in the Genevan library by him.  He founded the Genevan Academy (University of Geneva and Seminary).  In a time of turmoil Calvin’s writings on Providence and the Sovereignty of God took hold.  His teaching was known as Reformed Theology and had influence over the Netherlands, Hungary, Scotland, parts of France, parts of England, Ferrara Italy, Geneva, Lausanne, Neuchatel, and more. At his death Pope Pius IV said,  “The strength of that heretic [Calvin] consisted in this, that money never had the slightest charm for him. If I had such servants my dominion would extend from sea to sea.”

Prayer: I offer Thee my heart Lord, promptly and sincerely. (Prayer of John Calvin) 

Reformers to Know- Oecolampadius and Melanchthon

DAY 37- 4/6/17- DAY 37 REFORMERS TO KNOW- OECOLAMPADIUS, MELANCHTHON
Since we are surrounded by such a cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and run the race set before us.  (Hebrews 12:1)

Oecolampadius (1482- 11/24/1531) original name was Hussgen- or House Lamp (thus Latin Oecolampadius) born in the Electorate of Palatinate (Uppper Region of the Rhine in Germany), but later spending most of his time in Basel.  For three years 1519-22 he preached in Augsburg where he encountered and accepted Luther’s teachings.  He briefly became a monk but upon quitting said, “I have lost the monk and found the Christian.”  Oecolampadius had a deep respect for Mary and is quoted thus from both Catholics and Protestants. He once said, that Mary is the neck that mediated the graces of the head (Christ) to the mystical body of Christ- the church.  However he criticized the practices of veneration like the rosary and the abstaining from drink and sexual relations on Saturday only to over-indulge on Sunday.  He represented the Reformed thinking at the Marburg Colloquy coming into disagreement with Luther. 
     Melanchthon (2/16/1497- 4/19/1560) was Luther’s right hand man and successor in Wittenburg.  He is criticized by Lutherans of conceding too much to the Reformed in an effort for unity among the Protestants. 
Melanchthon was a deep thinker and theologian par excellence formulating fuller Luther’s ideas of Justification by Faith, the contrast between Law and Gospel in Lutheran thinking, and differences between his view and transubstantiation.  He did not believe that the bread and wine were changed into the body and blood but were rather united with the body and blood of Christ in the sacrament.  Melanchthon was the main author of the Augsburg Confession, one of the great documents of the Reformation.  Melanchthon also worked with Bucer to try to unite the Lutheran and Reformed branches at Marburg and the Wittenburg Concord.  At the end of his life, the Lutherans were defeated militarily.  Melanchthon refused to sign the Augsburg Interim. But later he signed some documents called the Leipzig Interim that many felt gave too many concessions to the Roman Catholics (conceding the indifferent/adiophora items like candles, vestments, and holy days).  Some Lutherans accused him of being a heretic but he bore this with grace and hope.  The Formula of Concord in 1577 re-united the Lutheran churches. 

Prayer: Lord, thank you for your servants who stand up for the people against the wolves of the day.  Help me to be bold in standing up for you.  

Oecolampadius (left)
Melanchthon (right)

Reformers to Know- Zwingli and Bucer

DAY 36- 4/5/17- DAY 36 REFORMERS TO KNOW- ULRICH ZWINGLI, MARTIN BUCER
“Whom shall I send?  Who will go for us?” Isaiah 6:8

Ulrich Zwingli (1/1/1484- 10/11/1531) was a humanist scholar who studied at the University of Vienna and the University of Basel and became a priest.  Luther was concerned about his own salvation and studied scripture, while Zwingli was concerned about being a good pastor to his congregation, and studied Erasmus’ translation of the New Testament (Latin and Greek).  In 1519 the pope sent a representative to ask that people pay indulgences (paying to relieve sins for the living or the dead) in order to build St. Peter’s in Rome.  Zwingli convinced the rulers and the gates were shut not allowing the representative (Sanson) to come into the city.  In 1519 he became the pastor of the Grossmunster church in Zurich and began preaching straight through Matthew. This year a plague broke out that killed a fourth of the population.  Most were encouraged to leave the city, but Zwingli did not leave his post.  Eventually he contracted but survived the plague.   In 1522 he began preaching his ideas of reform by breaking the Lenten fast publicly by eating sausages.  By October 1523 Zurich had taken all images and statues of the saints out of their churches.  Zwingli was a leader of Zurich and was instrumental in forming and breaking alliances among the Swiss Cantons and Philip of Hesse and Strasburg. In 1529 Zurich formed a Christian Civic Union with Bern and Constance (other cities such as Basel joined).  Five Swiss Cantons formed the Christian Alliance of Catholic states.  A war occurred in which Zurich won and Zwingli pushed for the free preaching of Protestantism there.  In 1529 the Marburg Colloquy tried to unite Lutheran and Reformed (Zwinglian) thought.  It agreed on fourteen points but disagreed about the sacraments.  Zwingli saw baptism and the supper not as sacraments but as an ordinance (command) in which we remember Christ.  On October 11, 1531 the five catholic states attacked Zurich which was unprepared and only musterd 3,500 men to face an army twice its size.  Zwingli was killed, once again refusing to leave his people.  The love he had for Switzerland and for his people made his teachings stick with them.  Afterwards Henrich Bullinger succeeded Zwingli.  He was able to unite the Protestant Cantons and achieved a relative peace, writing the Second Helvetic Confession which is part of the PCUSA’s Book of Confessions. 
      Martin Bucer was a humanist scholar who mainly lived in Strasbourg Germany (11/11/1491- 2/28/1551).  He originally was a Dominican Friar as well.  He met Luther in 1518 and renounced his vows and was excommunicated- fleeing to Strasbourg. Bucer tried to mediate between Luther and Zwingli at Marburg, and later with the Tetrapolitan Confession and Wittenburg Concord (which he helped write with Melanchthon).  Bucer took Zwingli’s views about the supper as a memorial, but thought this was a secondary, indifferent matter.  He noted that Luther rejected “impanation” (the idea that Christ became the bread), but Luther rejected Bucer’s saying there is no difference.  In September 1530 Emperor Charles V declared that all Protestants should join the Catholic Confession or be forced to do so by the military.  Melanchthon and Bucer wrote a common nine theses in response to try again to unite the Lutheran and Reformed confessions.  Luther met with Bucer and, though he disagreed with him asked him to continue to try to unite.  Zwingli neither agreed or disagreed, but Bucer traveled to many different German and Swiss cities pleading for unity.  He once said, “If you immediately condemn anyone who doesn't quite believe the same as you do as forsaken by Christ's Spirit, and consider anyone to be the enemy of truth who holds something false to be true, who, pray tell, can you still consider a brother? I for one have never met two people who believed exactly the same thing. This holds true for Theology as well.”  Bucer continued to work to join the Lutheran and Reformed churches- helping to write the First Helvetic Confession and the Wittenburg Concord- but full agreement was never achieved.  When Calvin was fleeing for his life- Bucer welcomed him in Strasbourg.  Bucer tried to get the Catholics and Protestants to form a German National Church separate from Rome, but this failed with the Schmalkaldic Wars.  He was exiled to England in 1549 where he helped Thomas Cranmer with the second edition of the Second Book of Prayer.  When Mary Tudor came to the throne, she tried to restore Catholicism and had Bucer’s body dug up and burned.  Elizabeth I, later put a plaque down at the place of Bucer’s original burial.  Bucer lived a holy, sincere life in which he valued love over theological differences. 

Prayer: Lord, Help me to value the boldness of Zwingli and the love and unity treasured by Bucer.  

Reformers to Know- Martin Luther

DAY 35- 4/4/17- DAY 35- REFORMERS TO KNOW- MARTIN LUTHER
“Who am I, Lord God, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?” (1 Chr. 17:16)

Calvin and the Reformed Protestant leaders called Martin Luther “the Apostle of the Reformation.”  Most of them had deep respect for Luther, even if Luther disagreed with some of their thinking, because he broke the glass ceiling of sacerdotalism in the church. 
Luther was born 11/10/1483 in Eisleben Saxony (Southeast Germany) the son of Hans and Margarette Luther.  Hans was a successful miner but wanted his son to be a lawyer and Luther studied to be one earning an MA at the University in Erfurt.  In 1505 Luther was caught in a terrible thunderstorm and he cried out, “Save me St. Anne and I will become a monk.” Most think Luther was headed toward the monastery anyway in his efforts to save himself from God’s wrath and hell.  At the monastery Luther was constantly doing acts of penance for perceived sins and continually confessing to the abbot in true anxiety for his soul.  At 27 he went to Rome for a church conference but came away more disillusioned by the immorality and power he saw.  He went to the University in Wittenburg, received his doctorate and became a professor there.  1513-1515 Luther’s thinking changed.  He read in Romans, “The just shall live by faith” and realized that salvation did not depend on his actions as much as on putting his faith in what Christ had already done.  On October 31, 1517 he nailed his 95 these to the Wittenburg church door as a means to try to stop indulgences for forgiveness and to reform the church of Rome.  In October 1518 Luther was called before Cardinal Cajetan in Augsburg to recant his 95 theses but he did not.  Luther was excommunicated in January 1521 for saying that the Pope did not have the exclusive right to interpret scripture.  He was summoned before the secular authorities (Emperor Charles V) at the Diet of Worms where he still refused to recant.  His famous statement at Worms was “My conscience is captive to the Word of God…  Here I stand.  I can do no other.  God help me, Amen.”  On May 8, 1521 Luther’s writings were banned and he was declared a heretic.  This made him a condemned man threatened with death.  Friends whisked him away to a castle in Wartburg where he spent months translating the Bible into German.  In 1522 Luther began organizing the Lutheran church from his followers and with the protection of some German princes.  In 1524 a Peasants Rebellion broke out.  At first Luther seemed to side with the peasants (his father was considered a peasant), but in the end he saw this rebellion as wrong and encouraged the defeat of the peasants.  In 1525 he married Katharina Von Bora and together they had six children.  He remained as professor in Wittenburg dying February 18, 1546 at the age of 62.  Philip of Hesse called Luther and Zwingli together October 1-4, 1529 to work out an agreement between the Protestant states.  The Lutherans and Reformed could agree on 14 of 15 points- but the last one (in what sense Christ is present at the Lord’s Super) separated them.  Initially Luther refused to call the Reformed Christians but later he softened his stance and came up with the Marburg Articles that pointed to the fourteen theological agreements.  Luther also believe the body of Christ was ubiquitous (available everywhere) and thus could be present in the elements- whereas reformed thinking spoke of the body of Christ ascended into heaven.  Luther got in trouble along with Melanchthon and Bucer for advising Philip of Hesse to not divorce his wife but to marry again (using as justification the polygamy of the Old Testament).  Luther is often criticized for his attitude toward the Jews and Muslims.  Luther refused to call for a holy war against the Turks, but did encourage a secular war against them.  Luther also criticized the Annabaptists for their aversion against all authority, adult baptism and pacifism, and the antinomians who thought the law did not apply to them.  Luther was the closest thing to a prophet of the Reformation.  Luther was also known for writing many hymns including one we still sing, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.”  Like David and others in the Old and New Testaments we can learn from his faults as well as his good qualities.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for raising up a Luther.  Help us to learn from his mistakes and his boldness.  

Priesthood of All Believers- Christ the Great High Priest

DAY 34- 4/3/17- DAY 34- THE PRIESTHOOD OF ALL BELIEVERS

“Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office.  But because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood.  Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” (Hebrews 7:23-25)
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.  (1 Timothy 2:5)

The idea of the priesthood of all believers rests on the idea that Jesus is our permanent high priest.  A priest was called to mediate between God and humans: representing God to us and representing us to God.  The priest made sacrifices for forgiveness.  We do not need to make those sacrifices any more.  As Hebrews says (7:27) “He sacrificed once for all when he offered himself.”  As pointed out earlier, we do not sacrifice Christ each time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper.  Christ also intercedes for us- praying for us- and opening up access to God the Father.  So when we pray, we pray in Jesus’ name and for His sake (not ours alone).  Our prayers go through Jesus- not through a priest and then through Jesus.  It appeared that the medieval church seemed to teach that we should be afraid to pray the wrong thing and in the wrong way.  So prayers were written out for each Sunday and for every occasion.  While these can be an aid, it can be a bit like walking with a cane when we could walk without one- we become dependent and lose our ability (to speak freely from our heart). 

Prayer: Lord, thank ou that you are the mediator between God and man.  Help me to trust in the way you have made.