REFORMATION 500 WEEK 40: HEIDELBERG CATECHISM, QA’S 105-107

Reformation 500 WEEK 40: Heidelberg Catechism, QA’s 105-107

Question 105: What does God require in the sixth Commandment? That I do not revile, hate, insult, or kill my neighbor either in thought, word, or gesture, much less in deed, whether by myself or by another, but lay aside all desire of revenge; moreover, that I do not harm myself, nor willfully run into any danger. Wherefore also to restrain murder the magistrate is armed with the sword.

     The Ten Commandments go deeper than merely commanding or forbidding an outward action. “The law is spiritual” (Rom. 7:14). God is more concerned with purity of heart than with outward appearance. We do not keep God’s commands if we only keep them outwardly. The Lord said the Pharisees “honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me” (Matt. 15:8). “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matt. 23:27-28). “The Pharisees had infected the people with a perverse opinion: that he who has committed nothing by way of outward works against the law fulfills the law. Christ reproves this most dangerous error, and He declares an unchaste glance at a woman to be adultery [Matt. 5:28]” (Calvin, Institutes, 2.8.7). Jesus died for our sins, not only to save us from the penalty of a wicked heart, but also to purify our hearts (Acts 15:9) so we love the Lord and obey His commands out of thankfulness for our salvation (John 14:15). Jesus “gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works” (Titus 2:14).

    The Sixth Commandment, “You shall not murder,” requires more than merely avoiding the outward act of murder. You would not be pleased if you knew that the person who praised you really hated you and wished you were dead; or worse, was planning your death! “The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart” (Psalm 55:21). God’s law has always forbidden hate and required love in our hearts, first for God and then for our neighbor. “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart” (Deut. 6:5). “You shall not hate your brother in your heart…. You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD” (Lev. 19:17-18). There is no neutrality; we either love or hate. To ignore or avoid someone intentionally, or to be indifferent, is not love, and is therefore a form of hate.

     The Sixth Commandment “forbids every unlawful injury inflicted upon our own or our neighbor’s life and safety;” and requires “the preservation of our own and of our neighbor’s life and safety” (Ursinus, 589). This is based on the fact that human life is made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26; 9:6), “which we may not destroy either in ourselves or in others” (Ursinus, 584). 

Not all killing is murder. To kill without God’s approval is murder. But to kill with God’s approval is not murder. Killing animals for food (Gen. 9:3) or killing in self-defense is not murder (Ex. 22:2-4). And if it is not wrong for an individual to kill in self-defense, then it is not wrong for an individual soldier or an army to kill if necessary to protect their life and country (Luke 3:14). Pacifists object to using force on the basis of Christ’s command to love our enemies and to turn the other cheek. But they fail to realize that such commands apply to the individual Christian, not to the civil magistrate. Right after the Bible tells Christians, “do not avenge yourselves” (Rom. 12:19), it says that the magistrate “is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on evil-doers” (Rom. 13:4).

     The death penalty is not murder. God instituted the death penalty to avenge and restrain murder. “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man” (Gen. 9:6; cf. Lev. 24:17). Murder is an attack on God’s image. If we shed innocent blood we must pay with our own blood; “life for life” (Deut. 19:21). The death penalty is God’s vengeance against the murderer. “Hence when the magistrate puts wicked transgressors to death, it is not man, but God who is the executioner of the deed” (Ursinus, 587). To spare the murderer is “a cruel mercy, by which society itself is injured” (Ibid. 588). In 1922, Hitler was convicted of murder and after two years in jail was released, only to go on to murder millions of people!

Question 106: Does this Commandment speak only of killing? No, but in forbidding murder God teaches us that He abhors its very root, namely, envy, hatred, anger, and desire of revenge; and that in His sight all these are hidden murder.

     God not only hates murder, He hates the very root of murder, which begins in the human heart. “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders” (Mark 7:21). Murder begins with such things as envy, hatred, anger, and a desire of revenge. Even if Cain never murdered his brother Abel, his envy, anger and hatred against his brother was hidden murder in God’s eyes.

“Whoever hates his brother is a murderer and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” (1 John 3:15). Hidden murder needs God’s forgiveness in Christ just as much as murder in cold-blood. Jesus said, “whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment,” and “whoever says, ‘you fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire” (Matt. 5:22). Even when our anger is justified, we must be careful not to sin but to deal with our anger biblically. “Be angry, and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil” (Eph. 4:26-27).

Question 107: But is this all that is required: that we do not kill our neighbor? No, for in condemning envy, hatred, and anger, God requires us to love our neighbor as ourselves, to show patience, peace, meekness, mercy, and kindness toward him, and to prevent his hurt as much as possible: also, to do good even unto our enemies.

     The only antidote to envy, anger, hatred, and a desire for revenge is to show patience, peace, meekness, mercy, and kindness toward our neighbor (Col. 3:12-14). Instead of resentment and bitterness, we must seek reconciliation with our brother (Matt. 5:23-24). “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men” (Rom. 12:18). Instead of taking revenge on our enemies, Jesus says, “love your enemies…that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matt.5:44-45; cf. Rom. 12:17-21). The only proper response is, “God, be merciful to me the sinner!” (Luke 18:13). “Create in me a clean heart, O God” (Psalm 51:10).

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:  Reformation 500 Heidelberg Catechism QA 105-107

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 40

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 39 BLOODY MARY

Reformation 500 WEEK 39    Bloody Mary

     “Princess Mary, the only surviving child of Henry VIII and [his first wife] Catherine of Aragon, was dedicated in her allegiance to the Catholic Church and Catholic Spain, the birthplace of her mother” (DeMar, Reformation, 227). Mary remembered what happened to her and her mother back in 1533. When Archbishop Cranmer had declared her mother’s marriage to Henry unlawful so Henry could wed Anne Boleyn, Mary was declared illegitimate and removed from the line of succession to the throne. In 1544, Henry reinstated Mary to the line of succession behind her half-brother, Edward, born to Henry’s third wife Jane Seymour in 1537.

     Before Edward VI died in 1553, knowing full well that after his death Mary would restore Catholicism in England, he devised a complicated scheme to prevent her from taking the throne. He named his Protestant cousin, Lady Jane Grey his success-or. After Edward died, Jane was proclaimed queen of England on July 10, 1553. Jane’s father-in-law, the Duke of Northumberland, set out with forces to capture Mary, but before he could do so she raised her own army and rallied other support-ers, prompting the royal government to switch its allegiance from Jane and declare Mary the legitimate queen. Jane, who had reigned for just nine days, was imprison-ed with her husband in the Tower of London, and Northumberland was executed. Later, Jane and her husband were tried, found guilty, and executed as traitors.

     Queen Mary worked to return England to Catholicism, undoing the reforms made by Edward. She brought the Church of England back under the authority of the pope, deposed Protestant bishops, and restored traditional Roman Catholic worship. In 1554, she married King Philip of Spain, “the most deadly foe of Protest-antism in all Europe. Many English Protestants fled abroad: most found refuge in Germany and Switzerland [John Knox fled to Geneva]. Protestants who stayed behind in England were now arrested and tried for heresy” (Needham, 2000 Years, 3:393).

     “The most notable victims of Mary’s persecution were the two bishops Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley. As the flames curled around their bodies Latimer spoke courage and comfort to his fellow martyr: ‘This day we shall light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.’” (Kuiper’s History, 226). Mary’s next victim was Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, who was promptly excommunicated. Even though Cranmer weakened and signed a denial of the Protestant faith, Mary decided to make an example of him and burn him anyway. But just before he was to die on March 21, 1556, he stunned everyone by renouncing his denial and reaffirming his Protestant faith. As the flames rose around him at the stake, the old archbishop in dramatic fashion held out the hand which had signed the denial, “so that it was the first part of his body to be burnt away” (Needham, 3:394).

     Before she died in 1558, Mary had more than 270 Protestants burned at the stake, earning her the name “Bloody Mary,” given to her by John Foxe (1516-1587) in his famous Book of Martyrs. Foxe hoped the church would never forget. At least the Anglican prayer book did not forget: “Keep us, O Lord, constant in faith and zealous in witness, after the examples of thy servants Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley, and Thomas Cranmer; that we may live in thy fear, die in thy favor, and rest in thy peace.” 

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:  Reformation 500 History: Bloody Mary

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 39

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 39: HEIDELBERG CATECHISM QA 104

Reformation 500 WEEK 39: Heidelberg Catechism QA 104

Question 104: What does God require in the fifth Commandment? That I show all honor, love, and faithfulness to my father and mother, and to all in authority over me, submit myself with due obedience to all their good instruction and correction, and also bear patiently with their infirmities [weaknesses], since it is God’s will to govern us by their hand.

                The Fifth Commandment, “honor your father and your mother,” is first in the second table of the law, because it is in the home where we begin to learn how to love our neighbor as our self and to submit to all authority in society. The purpose “of this commandment is the preservation of civil order,” and parental authority and government “was the first established among men” (Ursinus, 575). Behind this commandment is the truth that God governs us through various kinds of authority. “For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God” (Rom. 13:1-2). The only exception to our obedience to men is if they command us to disobey God, in which case, “we ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). Parental authority is the foundation of all authority. Since God knows the depravity of our hearts, that we submit to authority grudgingly, He starts us off with that submission which is easiest to tolerate, in order to gradually accustom us to submit to all other lawful authority.

                The fact that the Bible directs this commandment to children in the church teaches us that God redeems children through faith in Christ from the penalty and bondage of sin, including the sin of dishonoring parents; so that they learn to honor, love, and obey their parents out of thankfulness for salvation. “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right” (Eph. 6:1). The words, “in the Lord,” mean that this obedience “should be religious; arising out of the conviction that such obedience is the will of the Lord. This makes it a higher service than if rendered from fear or from mere natural affection” (Charles Hodge, on Eph. 6:1).

The basic meaning of the word honor is “weighty, of great value and worth.” To honor our parents is to treat them as carrying a lot of weight, as very valuable and worthy of respect, because it is God’s will to govern us by their hand. Therefore, we “should treat them with honor, obedience, and gratefulness. It follows from this that we are forbidden to detract from their dignity either by contempt, by stubbornness, or by ungratefulness [Matt. 15:4-6]” (Calvin, Institutes, 2.8.35). On the other hand, “when God requires parents to be honored, He at the same time demands that they so discharge the duties of parents as to be worthy of honor [Prov. 22:6; Eph. 6:4]” (Ursinus, 576).

Honoring parents also means to bear patiently with their weaknesses, even when they behave dishonorably (Gen. 9:18-23). This does not mean children have to put up with abuse. Parents who abuse their children are breaking the law, and abusing the authority God gave them. Therefore, “if our parents spur us to transgress the law, we have a right to regard them not as parents, but as strangers who are trying to lead us away from obedience to our true Father” (Calvin, Institutes, 2.8.38). Abused or abandoned children do not have the right to be bitter or to rage against society. Only the Lord can heal their broken heart and bitterness. “When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take care of me” (Psalm 27:10). 

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:  Reformation 500 Heidelberg Catechism QA 104

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 39

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 38: HEIDELBERG CATECHISM QA 103

Reformation 500 WEEK 38: Heidelberg Catechism QA 103

Question 103: What does God require in the fourth Commandment? In the first place, God wills that the ministry of the Gospel and schools be maintained, and that I, especially on the day of rest, diligently attend church to learn the Word of God, to use the holy sacraments, to call publicly upon the Lord, and to give Christian alms. In the second place, that all the days of my life I rest from my evil works, allow the Lord to work in me by His Spirit, and thus begin in this life the everlasting Sabbath.

     The Hebrew word Sabbath means rest, or ceasing from labor. God established the weekly Sabbath day when He finished His work of creation in six days and rested the seventh day: “on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day” (Gen. 2:2). God’s resting does not mean He was tired or stopped His work of providentially preserving and governing the universe (John 5:17). It means He ceased His work of creation. After creation week, for example, God did not create any new people but He brought new people into existence according to His providential laws of reproduction. God’s rest also means He delighted in His finished work of creation. “God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good” (Gen. 1:31); “on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed” (Ex. 31:17). God was refreshed “in the sense of His receiving joy and delight in the contemplation of the beauty of what He had created” (Kelly, Creation and Change, 238). “Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work” (Gen. 2:3). To bless a day means to make it a day of blessing for man. The Lord Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man” (Mark 2:27). To sanctify (make holy) a day means to set it apart from the other days. By resting the seventh day God set it apart from the other six days to be a day of rest for man – to imitate God’s rest. Thus, the main purpose of ceasing from work is not for physical refreshment, but spiritual refreshment!

     “God rested; then He blessed this rest…He dedicated every seventh day to rest, that His own example might be a perpetual rule.” Since “it was commanded to men from the very beginning that they might employ themselves in the worship of God, it is right that it should continue to the end of the world” (Calvin on Genesis 2:3).

     “The principle underlying the Sabbath is formulated in the Decalogue itself. It consists in this, that man must copy God in his course of life” (Vos, Biblical Theology, 139). “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy [set apart]. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work.” Why? “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore, the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed [sanctified] it” (Ex. 20:9-11). The unchanging moral principle of the Sabbath command is that God created us in His image to imitate Him in all of life – to work six days for His glory and to rest one day for His glory. The fall ruined our ability to imitate God, but redemption through faith in Christ restores our ability to imitate God out of thankfulness for salvation. “Therefore, be imitators of God as dear children” (Eph. 5:1); “be holy for I am holy” (1 Pet. 1:16).

     The day can change without changing the moral principle. Christ’s resurrection on the first day of the week did not abolish the weekly cycle of working six days and resting one day for God’s glory (Mt. 5:17). Rather, it showed that Christ perfectly fulfilled the law, paid the eternal penalty of sin, and obtained eternal life (eternal rest!) for all who believe in Him (He. 4:3). The new covenant has a new day of rest (just as it has new signs and seals – baptism and the Lord’s Supper) to show that sinners are saved only by trusting (resting) in the finished work of Christ alone!

     The new day of rest, which “God has instituted through the church [under the authoritative leadership of the apostles],” is “the first day of the week, which is called Sunday, or, more properly, the Lord’s Day, which the Christian Church has observed in the place of the seventh day from the time of the Apostles [Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:7], in view of the resurrection of Christ, as appears from what the Apostle John says: ‘I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day” (Rev. 1:10)’.” (Ursinus, 562).

     In regards to Romans 14:5, Galatians 4:10, and Colossians 3:16, most reformed commentators agree with Matthew Henry: “Paul is not speaking of the Sabbath command. Paul is speaking about special Jewish feast days, such as Passover, Pentecost, new moons, and the feast of Tabernacles.”

     The main focus on the day of rest is still spiritual worship and refreshment – to “call the Sabbath a delight,” to “delight yourself in the LORD” (Isaiah 58:13). This is why there is still to be a holy assembly every Sabbath (Lev. 23:3; Heb. 10:24-25). “God will not only be praised and called upon by everyone privately, but also publicly by the whole church [Ps. 68:26], for His own glory and comfort. It is for this reason that Christ has added a special promise to such prayers as are offered up publicly [Matt. 18:19-20]” (Ursinus, 571). The ministry of God’s Word is still the means by which God saves and sanctifies His elect (Ex. 31:17; Ac 15:21; 20:7; Rm. 10:17; Ep. 4:11-16).

     Therefore, “To keep holy the Sabbath, is not to spend the day in slothfulness and idleness; but to…devote it to the purpose for which God instituted it” (Ibid., 558); “to frequent the public gatherings of the saints for the purpose of hearing and learning the doctrine delivered from heaven [Acts 2:42], and having heard it, to meditate seriously upon it and inquire into its truth [Acts 17:11]” (Ibid., 567). It is our daily duty to meditate in Scripture (Ps. 1:2), but “every seventh day has been especially selected for the purpose of supplying what was lacking in daily meditation” (Calvin, Gen. 2:3).

     “When God forbids us to work on the Sabbath day, He does not forbid every kind of work [such as works of love, which our own necessity or that of our neighbor requires (Matt. 12:7-12; Mark 2:27)], but only such works as…hinder the worship of God, and the design and use of the ministry of the church” (Ursinus, 558). Some believers work on the Sabbath out of necessity – nurses, public officers, and others. But they can still make time for private devotions and Bible study.

     Every commandment has a wider meaning, as Jesus pointed out in the Sermon on the Mount. You shall not murder also means you shall not hate your brother in your heart (Matt. 5:21-22). You shall not commit adultery also means you shall not lust after a woman in your heart (Matt. 5:27-28). You shall do no work on the day of rest also means you shall rest every day from your evil works, allow the Holy Spirit to work in your heart (by doing your daily Bible reading and prayer), and thus begin in this life the everlasting Sabbath (cf. Heb. 4:9-10).

     To sum up [lest we make too sharp a distinction between the “continental” and “puritan” view of the Sabbath]: “The Lord’s Day (Sunday) shall be kept a holy day, devoted to the public worship of the Lord, to reading the Holy Scriptures, to private devotions, and to works of love and mercy” (RCUS Constitution, article 180).

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:  Reformation 500 Heidelberg Catechism QA 103

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 38

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 37: HEIDELBERG CATECHISM QA’S 101-102

Reformation 500 WEEK 37: Heidelberg Catechism QA’s 101-102

Question 101: But may we swear reverently by the name of God? Yes, when the magistrate requires it, or when it may be needful otherwise, to maintain and promote fidelity and truth to the glory of God and our neighbor’s good; for such an oath is grounded in God’s Word, and therefore was rightly used by the saints in the Old and New Testaments.

     When the Lord Jesus said to His disciples, “Do not swear at all” (Matt. 5:34), He was not abolishing the lawful oath required in God’s law on certain solemn occasions. “You shall take oaths in His name” (Deut. 6:13); “and swear by His name” (Deut. 10:20; cf. Ex. 22:10-11). Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill” (Matt. 5:17). Jesus Himself swore an oath when commanded to do so by the high priest (Matt. 26:63-64; cf. Heb. 6:13). The apostle Paul swore at least one oath. “I call God as witness against my soul, that to spare you I came no more to Corinth” (2 Cor. 1:23).

     One of the ways Jesus fulfilled the law was to clarify its true meaning, in order to correct the scribes and Pharisees’ perversions of God’s law. They perverted the oath by saying it was okay to swear without using God’s name. As Jesus pointed out, they swore by heaven, by earth, by Jerusalem, by their own head (Matt. 5:34-36). “The Jews made a distinction between binding and nonbinding oaths. Instead of using the divine name (which would be binding), they swore ‘by heaven or by earth or by anything.’ …that would be non-binding and would not incur the wrath of God” (Hendriksen, Commentary, James 5:12). But Jesus said that to swear by anything is to swear by God, for God stands behind everything (Matt. 23:21-22). Oath-taking is a very serious matter, and it is to be done only when necessary. In our daily conservations with people there is no need to swear at all. “But let your Yes be Yes and your No, No. For whatever is more than these is from the evil one” (Matt. 5:37). As Christians, living before the face of God, we are under oath at all times to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, out of thankfulness for our salvation (Eph. 4:15, 25).

     In a court of law, especially, the oath is necessary – first and foremost because it promotes the glory of God. God is a God of truth; and the manifestation of truth is glorious to God. The oath also contributes to our neighbor’s safety. Law and order depend on men speaking truthfully and being faithful to their word. Because of man’s natural tendency to speak lies, the oath is required in this sinful world. There is no higher motive for telling the truth than the fear of God’s wrath. An oath temporarily reminds sinners that they will be judged for what they say, and this does reduce the amount of exaggeration, distortion, and perjury. In our courts today, “So help me God,” is being removed from the oath. Why then should people tell the truth?

Question 102: May we swear by the saints or by any other creatures?

No, for a lawful oath is a calling upon God, that He, as the only searcher of hearts, may bear witness to the truth, and punish me if I swear falsely; which honor is due to no creature.

     Only God can make the oath meaningful. The unbeliever will go to hell for lying; the untruthful believer will receive God’s fatherly discipline (1 Cor. 11:31-32). 

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:  Reformation 500 Heidelberg Catechism QAs 101-102

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 37

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 37 CALVIN AND SERVETUS

Reformation 500 WEEK 37    Calvin and Servetus

     The same year King Edward VI died in England (1553), Michael Servetus was burned to death as a heretic in Geneva. Ever since, Calvin’s Geneva has been stigmatized as a symbol of religious dogmatism, intolerance and cruelty. What people don’t know is that Calvin’s world agreed with the execution of Servetus, and that “there was no occasion for another capital punishment of heresy in the Church of Geneva after the burning of Servetus” (Schaff, 8:798).

     Servetus was a Spanish scholar, physician, and Anabaptist who published a book attacking the doctrine of the Trinity, even “comparing the Trinity to Cerebus, the three-headed dog of Greek mythology. He denounced Trinitarians as heretics” (DeMar, Reformation, 208). He also denounced infant baptism as a diabolical invention and destructive of Christianity. A rejection of the Trinity and infant baptism were capital crimes. Europe was a Christian society, where every citizen was born and baptized as a member of both church and state. Therefore, to reject the Trinity was to reject Christianity and to reject infant baptism was to reject citizenship. Both Catholics and Protestants viewed the Anabaptists as revolutionary and dangerous to society.

     The Roman Catholic Inquisition in Vienne, France condemned Servetus to die by burning. But he “escaped and made his way to Geneva where he arrived on Sunday, August 13, 1553. He was promptly arrested” (DeMar, 209). “When Roman Catholic authorities learned that the escaped Servetus was in Geneva, they demanded that he be returned to their jurisdiction. The Genevan City Council then offered Servetus a choice: he could either return to Vienne or remain in Geneva. Servetus chose to remain in Geneva and take his chances with Genevan justice [he probably hoped to benefit from the hostility the city council had towards Calvin]” (DeMar, 210). “Calvin’s opponents had done all they could to hinder the trial of Servetus. Because they had tried to protect a man whom everybody condemned as a great heretic, they were now thoroughly discredited. Their power of opposition was broken” (Kuiper, Church in History, 198). On October 27^th, Servetus was sentenced to burn to death.

     Calvin agreed that Servetus should be put to death, but he disagreed with the Roman Catholic idea that the church “possessed both a religious and a secular sword” (RCUS pastor Mark Larson, Calvin’s doctrine of the State, p.3). Calvin argued that it was the job of the state, not the church, to execute heretics. 

     Both Farel and Calvin pleaded with Servetus to cry “for mercy to God whom you have blasphemed” (Schaff, 8:784). “Calvin had asked that Servetus be spared the agony of being burned to death, urging the Small Council to use the more humane method of beheading. The government refused this request” (Larson, 85-86). If Servetus died without repentance, then (like all others who have died without repentance) he is suffering in “the fire that shall never be quenched” (Mark 9:43).

     “Calvin was certainly at fault…in accepting the widely-held belief of the age that heretics should be put to death. We are all prone to judge men of former days by the standards of the age in which we ourselves live…. Perhaps God allows blemishes in his own children, while on earth, in order that men should not idolize them and put them, as it were, on pedestals” (S.M. Houghton, Sketches from Church History, 109).

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:  Reformation 500 Calvin and Servetus

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 37

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 36 ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND

Reformation 500 WEEK 36    England and Scotland

     When Luther died in 1546, Calvin was busy reforming Geneva, and answering the official Roman Catholic counter reformation in progress since 1545 at the Council of Trent (northern Italy). This Council lasted until 1563 (a year before Calvin’s death).

     Meanwhile the reformation was spreading in England and Scotland. “Patrick Hamilton, a student of Martin Luther who was the first to bring Reformed preaching to Scotland, was burned at the stake for his faith in 1529” (DeMar, Reformation to Colonization, 229). Later, some young men from Scotland, after visiting Luther’s university at Wittenberg, returned to their native country to spread Luther’s doctrines. “The transition from Lutheranism to Calvinism took place under George Wishart” (Kuiper, Church in History, 216). A priest by the name of John Knox served as Wishart’s bodyguard. But “Wishart wouldn't let Knox come with him to his trial and execution” (reformationhistory.org). Wishart was hanged and burnt at the stake in 1546.

     “Wishart’s other followers, retaliated by murdering Cardinal Beaton, Scotland’s supreme Catholic official. For nearly a year those espousing Reformed principles made some headway in Scotland from their base at the castle at St. Andrews. With the help of French forces, Catholics regained the upper hand, taking the castle and sending its Protestant inhabitants, John Knox among them, to the galley ships as prisoners” (Nichols, Reformation, 96). For nineteen months, Knox “toiled as a galley-slave. Day after day he had to ply the oars in the hot, smelly hold of a French ship,” constantly “pestered with suggestions that he should pray to the image of Mary” (Kuiper, 216). After his release in 1549, “Knox went to England where he preached and eventually became chaplain to Edward VI” (DeMar, 230).

     Also in 1549, Calvin’s wife, Idelette, died. “Calvin was devastated. Writing to his friend and fellow Reformer Pierre Viret, he declared his grief: ‘I have been bereaved of the best companion of my life.’ To Farel he stated, ‘I do what I can to keep myself from being overwhelmed by grief’.” (Nichols, 119).

     When King Henry VIII died in 1547, his nine-year old and sickly son Edward VI (by his third wife Jane Seymour) came to the throne. At his coronation, Archbishop “Cranmer referred to him as the second Josiah, as a king who would restore England to the true faith” (DeMar, 226). Calvin dedicated several of his commentaries to Edward and wrote several letters to him. “Under Edward’s leadership, a number of important changes took place: religious services were conducted in English, the Catholic Mass was abolished [images were also removed], clergy were permitted to marry, and English Bibles were freely printed” (DeMar, 226). Distinguished Protestant refugees, Martin Bucer, Peter Martyr, Jan Laski, and John Knox were also helping with reform efforts. Bucer worked with Cranmer to improve the Book of Common Prayer (a service book still used today for use in worship). John Knox helped Cranmer formulate the Church of England’s official creed, the Forty-Two Articles.

     “The Reformation in England seemed to have complete victory within its grasp.” But “Edward [only 16] died of tuberculosis in 1553” (Kuiper, 227). The “young king died, praying, ‘My Lord and God, save this realm from popery, and maintain it in true religion” (DeMar, 226). His Catholic sister Mary succeeded him to the throne. 

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:  Reformation 500 England and Scotland

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 36

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 36: HEIDELBERG CATECHISM QA’S 99-100

Reformation 500 WEEK 36: Heidelberg Catechism QA’s 99-100

Question 99: What is required in the third Commandment? That we must not by cursing, or by false swearing, nor yet by unnecessary oaths, profane or abuse the name of God; nor even by our silence and connivance be partakers of these horrible sins in others; and in summary, that we use the holy name of God in no other way than with fear and reverence, so that He may be rightly confessed and worshiped by us, and be glorified in all our words and works.

God has many descriptive titles (such as Almighty, Most High, the Holy One, Sovereign), and one primary name: Jehovah or Yahweh – the equivalent of I AM (Ex. 3:13-14). In the English Bible, God’s primary name is translated LORD. “I am the LORD, that is My name” (Isaiah 42:8). “God’s name stands for all that God is. … to profane (despise or take lightly) the name of God is to blaspheme God Himself (Leviticus 24:11, 15)” (Jones, Study Helps, 241). The word ‘vain’ means ‘frivolous, insincere, thoughtless.’ To take the LORD’s name in vain is to take His name upon our lips irreverently, insincerely, rashly, lightly, or thoughtlessly: “Oh my God, Thank God, Good Lord, Hallelujah, Jesus Christ.” God’s name is abused in the following ways: (1) by cursing. “All cursing which proceeds from hatred, and from a desire of private revenge leading to the destruction of our neighbor, is … wicked; because it desires that God should be made the executioner of our corrupt wishes and passions” (Ursinus, 538); (2) by false swearing: lying after swearing to tell the truth; “you shall not swear by my name falsely, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the LORD” (Lev. 19:12); (3) by unnecessary oaths (explained in Q&A 101); (4) by our silence (explained in Q&A 100); (5) by our disobedience (Prov. 30:9; Rom. 2:24). We must use the holy name of God only with fear and reverence. “O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Your name!” (Psalm 8:1; cf. 100:4-5). “Hallowed by Your Name.”

Question 100: Is the profaning of God’s name, by swearing and cursing, so grievous a sin that His wrath is kindled against those also who do not help as much as they can to hinder and forbid it? Yes, truly, for no sin is greater and more provoking to God than the profaning of His name; wherefore He even commanded it to be punished with death [Lev. 24:15-16].

It “is not enough merely to keep our mouth shut and not utter profanity, but we have to open them and defend the name of God when others profane it… As Christians, we are prophets (see Question 31 and 32) and must ‘confess His name’ to the world [especially when it is profaned]” (Study Helps). By our silence and connivance (acting as if nothing happened) we give the impression we approve of blasphemy: if a person “hears the voice of swearing, and is a witness, whether he has seen or known of it; if he does not tell it, he bears guilt” (Lev. 5:1). “The partner of a thief hates his own life; he hears the curse, but discloses nothing” (Prov. 29:24). Would we be silent if our mother’s name was cursed? Jesus said, “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Matt. 10:37). “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, … the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes” (Mark 8:38). With respect and wisdom, we must show our disapproval of blasphemy (Matt. 7:6; Col. 4:5-6).

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:  Reformation 500 Heidelberg Catechism 90-100

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 36

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.