REFORMATION 500 WEEK 9 THE ANABAPTISTS

Reformation 500 WEEK 9    the Anabaptists

     Conrad Grebel, a prominent member of the church in Zurich, “had been led to the evangelical faith by Zwingli and heartily approved his work of reformation” (Kuiper, 204-205). But soon he and others of like mind felt that both Zwingli and Luther’s reform movements had not gone far enough. They were not satisfied with separation from catholic corruptions; they wanted separation from all the ungodly.

     These radical reformers felt that the root cause of all the corruption in the Church was the compromising State-Church bond that had existed since the days of Constantine, where every citizen was born and baptized as a member of both church and state. This “brought much of the world into the Church” (Kuiper, 205), and allowed too much State interference. “The churches looked to the state for salary and support. Official Protestantism seemed to differ little from official Catholicism” (Bruce Shelley, Ch. History in Plain Language, 249). “In Zwingli’s Zurich, the Council of Government had the final word in religious matters” (Gonzalez, 70).

     Zwingli’s critics argued that Scripture requires true believers to be separate from the ungodly world; and therefore, a Christian “should not hold government office because this involved ‘the use of the sword,’ should not be a soldier, should not take an oath, and should not sue in the courts” (Kuiper, 206). The disciples in Jerusalem knew nothing of a state-church alliance, but rather they “left the synagogue and the world, gathered in an upper room, sold their goods, and held all things in common” (Schaff, 8:75). Apostolic churches were composed only of heartfelt believers, baptized only after a public commitment to live for Christ. Thus, “infant baptism must be rejected, for it takes for granted that one becomes a Christian by being born into a supposedly Christian society” (Gonzalez, 67-68).

     In the fall of 1524, when Grebel’s wife gave birth to a son, the Grebels refused to baptize their baby. To deal with the crisis, the City Council of Zurich arranged a public debate on January 17, 1525. Zwingli defended infant baptism as a sign of the covenant, replacing the old sign of circumcision (Col. 2:11). He also appealed to 1 Cor. 7.14 and to the NT examples of family baptisms. “Bullinger, who was present at the disputation, reports that the Anabaptists were unable to refute Zwingli’s arguments” (Schaff, 8:81). The Council agreed and “warned all parents who had neglected to have their children baptized to do so within a week or face banishment from Zurich” (Shelley, 250).

     “George Blaurock, a former priest, stepped over to Conrad Grebel and asked him for baptism in the apostolic fashion – upon confession of personal faith in Jesus Christ. Grebel baptized him on the spot and Blaurock proceeded to baptize the others” (Shelley, 247). Thus, Anabaptism was born. They rejected the name Anabaptists (“re-baptizers”) because they never considered their infant baptism a real baptism. 

     We will meet the Anabaptists again, but to sum up for now: “The Reformers attempted to reform the old Church by the Bible; the Radicals attempted to build a new Church from the Bible.” They “went directly to the apostolic age, and ignored the intervening centuries as apostasy…. Nothing is more characteristic of radicalism…than an utter lack of historical sense and respect for the past” (Schaff, 8:71). 

NOTE: These Posts were written and  designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .  

Link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert:  Reformation500 The Anabaptists

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 9

Official Seal of  the RCUS

This is the seal of the Reformed Church of the United States (RCUS).  As you can see its history goes back to 1748, when the RCUS began.  We celebrate with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation we praise God for what is probably the most amazing spiritual revival in the history of the world.

Page on Omaha Reformed Church's Website: Links to all Bulletin Inserts.

REFORMATION 500 WEEK 9: HEIDELBERG CATECHISM, QUESTION 26

Reformation 500 WEEK 9: Heidelberg Catechism, QUESTION 26

Question 26: What do you believe when you say: I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth? That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who of nothing made heaven and earth with all that is in them, who likewise upholds and governs them by His eternal counsel and providence, is for the sake of Christ, His Son, my God and my Father, in whom I so trust as to have no doubt that He will provide me with all things necessary for body and soul; and further, that whatever evil He sends upon me in this troubled life, He will turn to my good; for He is able to do it, being Almighty God, and willing also, being a faithful Father.

QA 26 begins explaining the biblical basis of the first phrase of the Apostles Creed. To “believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth,” is to believe that He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Sovereign Creator, Sustainer, and Governor of the universe, and that He is a Father to me for Christ’s sake.

    Before Jesus existed as a Man, He existed as the eternal Son of God (John 17:5). God the Father created all things through His Son (John 1:3). To create is to produce something out of nothing (Heb. 11:3). Once there was nothing except the Triune God in all His eternal glory (Psalm 90:1-2). Even time was created by God (Titus 1:2). By His almighty power, God spoke the space-time-matter-energy universe into existence (Psalm 33:6). The Fourth Commandment reminds us that God created everything in six days and rested on the seventh day in order to set a pattern for us to follow, so that we might imitate God in all of life (Exodus 20:8-11).

     God the Creator also upholds and governs all things by His eternal counsel and providence. This will be explained further in Question 27. For now, we are simply told that God in Christ “upholds all things by the word of His power” (Heb. 1:3; cf. Neh. 9:6). Just as nothing could have ever existed without the creating power of God, so it is impossible that anything should continue to exist, even for a moment, without God’s almighty power, “since He gives to all life, breath, and all things” (Acts 17:25).

     Wonder of wonders! The eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is for the sake of Christ, His Son, my God and my Father! Since we are not natural children of God, the only way for God to become our Father is by adoption (this is explained further in Question 33). Because of what Jesus did on the cross for His people, all who believe in Him are adopted children of God and call God Father (John 1:12; 20:17; 1 John 3:1).

    By God’s grace, I trust in my Father that He will never fail to provide everything that I need for my body and my soul (Matt. 7:9-11) – even in times of trouble and pain. God never promised to save us from suffering in this fallen world (John 16:33), only that His grace is sufficient (2 Cor. 12:9).

     Does God really send evil upon me? Yes, but indirectly. Though God controls all things, including evil, God does not do the evil (1 John 1:5). “He is not the author of sin – He merely permits it” (Ursinus). For example, in the case of Job, the Bible says his friends “comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him” (Job 42:11). But it also says the Lord brought the evil upon Job indirectly by giving Satan permission to inflict Job directly. “Satan struck Job with painful boils” (Job 2:7). By God’s grace, I trust my almighty and faithful Father to do for me what He did for Job, turn evil to my good (Rom. 8:28; James 5:11).

NOTE: These Posts were written and  designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .  

Link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert:  Reformation500 Heidelberg Catechism QAs 26

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 9

Official Seal of  the RCUS

This is the seal of the Reformed Church of the United States (RCUS).  As you can see its history goes back to 1748, when the RCUS began.  We celebrate with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation we praise God for what is probably the most amazing spiritual revival in the history of the world.

Page on Omaha Reformed Church's Website: Links to all Bulletin Inserts.

REFORMATION 500 WEEK 8: MARTIN LUTHER’S 1521-1525

Reformation 500 WEEK 8: Martin Luther’s 1521-1525

     When Martin Luther refused to recant at the Diet of Worms, he sealed “his doom as a heretic. German nobles quickly surrounded him and led him safely from the hall,” and “when it became clear that the German nobles would not hand Luther over to the papal authorities, Charles V placed him under the imperial ban. Luther could be hunted down and killed by anyone – a ruling that he lived under for the rest of his life. Further, anyone harboring Luther would also fall under the same condemnation. Frederick the Wise [Luther’s prince and friend] fully predicted the outcome at Worms. He arranged for Luther to be kidnapped and taken to one of his castles” (Nichols, 42).

     Luther was taken to the castle, “the Wartburg, whose wooded rocky heights overlooked the pretty little town of Eisenach. Here Luther stayed for ten months [from 1521 to March 1522] while the storm quieted” (Kuiper, 181). Writing occupied most of his time. “He translated the Bible into the German language, the language of his people. In the Roman Catholic Church the Bible was studied only by the church leaders and scholars. Luther held that every man has the right and the duty to read and study the Bible for himself” (Kuiper, 184).

     When Luther returned to Wittenberg in March, 1522, “his breach with Rome was both irreparable and final. Now Luther had to oversee the establishment of a new church” (Nichols, 45). “Luther retained the idea that there is only one, true, visible Church. He did not think of himself and his followers as having left the Church. The Romanists were the ones who had departed from the New Testament Church. Luther did not feel that he had established a new church. All that he had done was to reform the Church that had become deformed” (Kuiper, 185).

     Luther “instituted numerous reforms, including congregational singing, the use of German in addition to Latin, and a new-found emphasis on the sermon” Nichols, 47). We still sing his most famous hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is our God.”

     “Luther challenged the celibacy of the priesthood and monks,” and backed it up “by marrying priests and by assisting nuns in escaping the convents at great personal risk. On one occasion, he assisted twelve nuns,” who “escaped on a wagon containing barrels used to store herring” (Nichols, 48). Luther later married one of these nuns – Katherina Von Bora – on June 13, 1525. They lived happily ever after.

     Two months before his wedding, Luther’s reform efforts were taken in a fanatical direction in the Peasants’ War. “German peasants found inspiration in both the life and writings of Martin Luther. As Luther threw off the shackles of the Medieval Roman church’s oppressive theology, so the peasants sought to rid themselves of the oppressive economic and political structures of the Medieval political world” (Nichols, 47). At first, “Luther was in sympathy with them. But when under the leadership of fanatics they began to kill and destroy, Luther turned against them and urged the government to put down their uprising with a firm hand. From that moment the lower classes turned their backs upon Luther and the Reformation” (Kuiper, 237).      

While Luther was finishing (in his opinion) his greatest work, The Bondage of the Will, another radical movement was taking place in Switzerland, led by a group who felt that Zwingli’s reforms were not going fast enough or far enough. Stay tuned.

NOTE: These Posts were written and  designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .  

Link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert:  Reformation500 Heidelberg Catechism QAs 24-25

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 8

Official Seal of  the RCUS

This is the seal of the Reformed Church of the United States (RCUS).  As you can see its history goes back to 1748, when the RCUS began.  We celebrate with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation we praise God for what is probably the most amazing spiritual revival in the history of the world.

Page on Omaha Reformed Church's Website: Links to all Bulletin Inserts.

REFORMATION 500 WEEK 8: HEIDELBERG CATECHISM, QUESTIONS 24-25

Reformation 500 WEEK 8: Heidelberg Catechism, QUESTIONS 24-25

Question 24: How are these articles [of the Apostles creed] divided? Into three parts: the first is of God the Father and our creation; the second, of God the Son and our redemption; the third, of God the Holy Spirit and our sanctification.

We can see how the Apostles’ Creed is based on the truth of the Trinity, the most basic truth of all (Matt. 28:19). “The Creed is divided into three parts, one each for the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit” (Jones, Study Helps, 55). These three Persons are indivisibly One God, having in common all the divine attributes (characteristics). Each Person is equally “eternal, incomprehensible, invisible, unchangeable, infinite, almighty, perfectly wise, just, good, and the overflowing fountain of all good” (Belgic Confession, article 1). All three Persons create, redeem, and sanctify, but in a different order and manner of working. God the Father made all things through His Son [John 1:3] and by His Holy Spirit [Gen. 1:2; Psalm 33:6; 104:30]. “The work of creation is attributed to the Father…because He is the fountain of Divinity, and of all divine works, and so of creation [John 5:17, 26]; …Redemption is attributed to the Son…because the Son is that Person who immediately [most directly] performs the work of redemption; for the Son alone was made a ransom for our sins [Mark 10:45]”; and “sanctification is attributed to the Holy Spirit,” because He “is that Person who immediately [most directly] sanctifies us [1 Pet. 1:2]” (Ursinus, Commentary, 120). For example, “God has sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts” (Galatians 4:6).

Question 25: Since there is but one Divine Being, why do you speak of three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Because God has so revealed Himself in His Word, that these three distinct persons are the one, true, eternal God.

The term Trinity (“three-in-one”) is used by the Christian Church to summarize the biblical truth that there is “one only God, who is the one single essence, in which are three Persons, really, truly and eternally distinct” (Belgic Confession, article 8). It is simply a matter of allowing Scripture to interpret Scripture. There are Scriptures which reveal that “the Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deut. 6:4; cf. Isaiah 45:21; 1 Cor. 8:4); and there are Scriptures which reveal three distinct divine Persons. For example, “when our Lord was baptized in Jordan, the voice of the Father was heard, saying, This is My beloved Son (Matt. 3:17); the Son was seen in the water, and the Holy Spirit appeared in the shape of a dove” (Belgic, article 9). Jesus promised His disciples: “when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me” (John 15:26). The church’s benediction is: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen” (2 Cor. 13:14). The prayers of believers are Trinitarian: “through [Christ] we have access by one Spirit to the Father” (Ephesians 2:18). God is one in essence, three in Person. People often object to using theological terms like essence and person. “Indeed, I could wish they were buried, if only among all men this faith was agreed on: that Father and Son and Holy Spirit are one God, yet the Son is not the Father, nor the Spirit the Son, but that they are differentiated by a peculiar quality” (John Calvin, Institutes, 1.13.5). 

NOTE: These Posts were written and  designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .  

Link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert:  Reformation500 Heidelberg Catechism QAs 24-25

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 8

Official Seal of  the RCUS

This is the seal of the Reformed Church of the United States (RCUS).  As you can see its history goes back to 1748, when the RCUS began.  We celebrate with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation we praise God for what is probably the most amazing spiritual revival in the history of the world.

Page on Omaha Reformed Church's Website: Links to all Bulletin Inserts.

REFORMATION 500 WEEK 7: ZWINGLI

Reformation 500 WEEK 7: Zwingli

Before we see what happened to Martin Luther after his famous “here I stand” speech at the Diet of Worms in 1521, it is important to understand that his efforts to reform the catholic church were not isolated.

     Ulrich Zwingli was born in a small Swiss village in January 1484, less than two months after Luther. “Later, Zwingli would declare that, even before having heard of Luther’s teachings, he had come to similar conclusions through his study of the Bible. Thus, Zwingli’s reformation was a not a direct result of Luther’s; rather, it was a parallel movement that soon established links with its counterpart in Germany” (Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity, p.60).

     Zwingli’s experience differed greatly from that of Luther. “Luther descended from the peasantry…while Zwingli was the son of a magistrate” (Schaff, 8:34). Zwingli “never lived as a monk in a convent. He did not have Luther’s deep consciousness of sin, and he knew nothing of Luther’s fearful spiritual struggle to gain salvation. Luther emerged out of the darkness of medievalism and had been educated in scholastic theology… Zwingli received his education under the influence of the Renaissance” (Kuiper, Church in History, 187-188).

     When Erasmus (the great renaissance humanist) published his Greek NT in 1516, “Zwingli made a copy of it which he carried with him in order to memorize as much of it as possible” (Gonzalez, 57).

     “Zwingli was made a priest of an abbey to which many went on pilgrimage. He soon drew attention to himself by preaching against the notion that exercises such as pilgrimages could avail for salvation, and declaring that he found nothing in the NT in support of such practices. His fame grew to the point that in 1518 he was transferred to Zurich” (ibid, 59). He also became a chaplain in the army of Zurich.

     “In 1518 Zwingli attacked indulgences [on one occasion he convinced the government to expel from Zurich a seller of indulgences]. The stand Luther took at the Leipzig debate and his burning of the papal bull inspired Zwingli to make a systematic attack on the Roman Church. Images were removed from the church buildings in Zurich. The mass abolished. Altars, relics, and processions were discarded” (Kuiper, 188). Zwingli’s enemies spread the word that his teachings were the same as those of the German heretic Martin Luther.

     “Zurich was under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the bishop of Constance, who expressed concern over what was taking place in Zurich. In 1522, when Zwingli preached against the laws of fasting and abstinence, and some of his parishioners gathered to eat sausages during Lent,” the bishop of Constance “accused the preacher before the Council of Government.” The Council called “for a debate between Zwingli and a representative of the bishop.” No one could refute Zwingli’s Scriptural defense; therefore, “he was free to continue his preaching. This decision marked Zurich’s final break with the bishopric of Constance, and therefore with Rome” (Gonzalez, 60-61).

                “One German Lutheran realized that, if Luther and Zwingli united their movements, their chances for survival would increase. So he asked them to meet in the German city of Marburg” (Church History Made Easy, 110). 

NOTE: These Posts were written and  designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .  

Link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert:  Reformation500 Ulrich Zwingli

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 7

Official Seal of  the RCUS

This is the seal of the Reformed Church of the United States (RCUS).  As you can see its history goes back to 1748, when the RCUS began.  We celebrate with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation we praise God for what is probably the most amazing spiritual revival in the history of the world.

Page on Omaha Reformed Church's Website: Links to all Bulletin Inserts.

REFORMATION 500 WEEK 7: HEIDELBERG CATECHISM, QUESTIONS 20-23

Reformation 500 WEEK 7: Heidelberg Catechism, QUESTIONS 20-23

Question 20: Are all men, then, saved by Christ as they have perished in Adam? No, only those who by true faith are engrafted into Him and receive all His benefits.

Although Adam represented and acted on behalf of all mankind, Christ represented and acted on behalf of those who believe in Him and thereby receive the salvation He earned for them. “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36).

Question 21: What is true faith? True faith is not only a sure knowledge, whereby I hold for truth all that God has revealed to us in His Word, but also a hearty trust, which the Holy Spirit works in me by the Gospel, that not only to others, but to me also, forgiveness of sins, everlasting righteousness, and salvation are freely given by God, merely of grace, only for the sake of Christ’s merits.

Faith by definition is to rely upon the word of another. When a jury reaches a verdict, they are relying upon the testimony of faithful witnesses. Faith in God is to rely upon God’s Word (the Bible). True (saving) faith is to be convinced by the Holy Spirit that God’s Word is truth (John 17:17; 10:35; 2 Tim. 3:16); and, especially, to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ alone for salvation (John 5:24). Since He merited (earned) salvation for me, I embrace Him with a believing heart and seek nothing more besides Him.

Question 22: What, then, is necessary for a Christian to believe? All that is promised us in the Gospel, which the articles of our Catholic, undoubted Christian faith teach us in summary.

In order to truly believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and not be deceived by those who preach “another Jesus” (2 Cor 11:4), we need to believe specifically what the Bible says about who Jesus is and what He has done to save His people from their sins. These key doctrines of the gospel are summarized in the articles [statements] of Apostles’ Creed (not written by the apostles but based on their teaching in the New Testament). This Creed is called catholic, meaning universal, because it contains the universal beliefs of all Christians. They are undoubted (not doubted) by true believers.

Question 23: What are these articles? I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, His only Begotten Son, our Lord: who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

The next 35 Questions and Answers (24-58) explain the biblical basis of these articles. 

NOTE: These Posts were written and  designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .  

Link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert:  Reformation500 Heidelberg Catechism QAs 20-23

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 7

Official Seal of  the RCUS

This is the seal of the Reformed Church of the United States (RCUS).  As you can see its history goes back to 1748, when the RCUS began.  We celebrate with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation we praise God for what is probably the most amazing spiritual revival in the history of the world.

Page on Omaha Reformed Church's Website: Links to all Bulletin Inserts.

REFORMATION 500 WEEK 6: HEIDELBERG CATECHISM, QUESTIONS 16-19

Reformation 500 WEEK 6: Heidelberg Catechism, QUESTIONS 16-19

Question 16: Why must he be a true and righteous man? Because the justice of God requires that the same human nature which has sinned should make satisfaction for sin; but one who is himself a sinner cannot satisfy for others.

Our Mediator must be a real man, because he that would make satisfaction for man should himself be very man, having sprung from the posterity of Adam, which had sinned (1 Cor. 15:21). And our Mediator must be a perfectly righteous man, for if he himself had been a sinner, he could not have escaped the wrath of God (Isa. 53:11).

Question 17: Why must he also be true God? That by the power of His Godhead He might bear in His manhood the burden of God’s wrath, and so obtain for and restore to us righteousness and life.

If our Mediator had been only a man, even a sinless man, he would have been crushed under the heavy weight of God’s wrath. It was necessary therefore that our Mediator should possess infinite strength that he might endure in his manhood an infinite punishment. But this he could not have done had he not been God (Acts 20:28).

Question 18: But who now is that Mediator, who in one person is true God and also a true and righteous man? Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is freely given unto us for complete redemption and righteousness.

The only Mediator between God and man is the God-Man – the LORD Jesus Christ – the eternal Son of God who became a man to reconcile God and man (1 Tim. 2:5; 3:16). The second creation, whereby sinners are made new creatures (1 Cor. 5:17), “was to be effected by the same person through whom the first creation was made [John 1:3]” (Ursinus). In Christ alone we have complete redemption and righteousness. He obeyed God’s law perfectly and He satisfied God’s wrath for our disobedience (1 Cor. 1:29).

Question 19: From where do you know this? From the Holy Gospel, which God Himself first revealed in Paradise, afterwards proclaimed by the holy patriarchs [Abraham, Isaac, Jacob] and prophets, and foreshadowed by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law, and finally fulfilled by His Well-Beloved Son.

From the holy law, we come to know our sin and misery; from the holy Gospel, we come to know our salvation from sin and misery through the Mediator Jesus Christ. The gospel (good news) was first revealed immediately after the Fall: God promised salvation through the Seed, who would be “bruised” (Gen. 3:15). God “preached the gospel to Abraham” (Gal. 3:8), saying: “in your Seed all the nations shall be blessed” (Gen. 22:18). All the blood shed on Jewish altars was a prophecy of the Son of God (the Lamb of God!) offering Himself to God as a sacrifice to be killed in our place. “He was bruised for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5). OT believers were saved by faith in the Messiah who would come in the flesh. NT believers are saved by faith in the Messiah who has already “given Himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God” (Eph. 5:2).

NOTE: These Posts were written and  designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .  

Link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert:  Reformation500 Heidelberg Catechism QAs 16-19

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 6

Official Seal of  the RCUS

This is the seal of the Reformed Church of the United States (RCUS).  As you can see its history goes back to 1748, when the RCUS began.  We celebrate with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation we praise God for what is probably the most amazing spiritual revival in the history of the world.

Page on Omaha Reformed Church's Website: Links to all Bulletin Inserts.

REFORMATION 500 WEEK 6: HERE I STAND

Reformation 500 WEEK 6: Here I Stand

When a copy of Luther’s 95 Theses reached Pope Leo X, he “dismissed the document as nothing more than the ramblings of a drunken German who, he believed, would think differently when sober” (Nichols, Martin Luther, 34).

    Eight months later, in July 1518, the pope “issued a summons to Luther to appear before him in Rome. If Luther had gone to Rome it would have meant his certain death” (Kuiper, Church in History, 170). But Luther’s prince, Frederick the Wise, intervened to protect his most famous and popular professor at the University of Wittenberg. “Frederick did not too well comprehend Luther but was concerned that a German subject should not be taken to trial outside of Germany, and should receive an impartial hearing” (Roland Bainton, The Reformation, 55).

     In the meantime, at Leipzig in 1519, Luther debated Dr. Johann Eck, a trained theologian, who had already written a tract against the 95 Theses. Eck maintained that the Pope was the successor of Peter, and the vicar of Christ by divine right. Luther said this “was contrary to the Scriptures, to the ancient church, to the Council of Nicea, …and rests only on the frigid decrees of the Roman pontiffs” (Schaff, 7:181). But when Eck had gotten Luther “to say that some of the teachings of Hus had been unjustly condemned by the Council of Constance,” he “had made Luther take his stand openly on the side of a man officially condemned by the Church as a heretic” (Kuiper, 172). The Leipzig debate strengthened Luther’s followers and won many new followers, one of whom was Martin Bucer, who later helped to shape the views of John Calvin.

     On June 15, 1520, Leo X issued a papal bull, calling for the immediate restraint of the “wild boar in God’s vineyard.” Luther had 60 days after receiving the bull to recant or be excommunicated. After the 60 days expired, Luther burned “the Detestable Bull of the Antichrist” in Wittenberg. 

     “Yet, because of political considerations, excommunication did not immediately follow; and Frederick the Wise arranged that Luther should have a hearing before the diet [imperial meeting] of the German nation about to meet early in 1521 in the city of Worms with the newly elected Holy Roman Emperor Charles of Hapsburg [Charles V], the King of Spain” (Bainton, 58-59).

     “Luther arrived to a hero’s welcome at Worms…. When it was time for him to appear before the Diet, he was simply asked two questions: Are these your writings? Do you recant? Luther stood stunned before the assembly. How could they expect him to recant? His writings contained the words of Scripture, the words of the councils, and even the words of the popes.... Luther requested one day to think things over, and Charles V granted this request” (Nichols, 41).

     The next day, April 18, 1521, Luther once again stood before the diet of Worms. He then delivered his famous speech. “Unless I am convinced by the testimony of Scripture or by clear reason, for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradict themselves, I am bound to the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. I cannot do otherwise, here I stand. May God help me.” 

NOTE: These Posts were written and  designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .  

Here is a link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert:  Reformation500 Martin Luther Here I Stand

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 6

Official Seal of  the RCUS

This is the seal of the Reformed Church of the United States (RCUS).  As you can see its history goes back to 1748, when the RCUS began.  We celebrate with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation we praise God for what is probably the most amazing spiritual revival in the history of the world.

Page on Omaha Reformed Church's Website: Links to all Bulletin Inserts.