Saturday, March 25, 2017

REFORMATION 500 WEEK 13 WILLIAM TYNDALE PART 2

Reformation 500 WEEK 13    William Tyndale Part 2


     While Tyndale was in hiding trying to finish his English translation of the Bible, the king of England, Henry VIII, was trying to divorce Catherine of Aragon (daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain; and niece of Emperor Charles V), the first of his six wives ("divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived"), because she had provided him with no male heir. Henry appealed to the pope for annulment, arguing that he had violated Leviticus 20:21, “If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is an unclean thing…. They shall die childless.” What Henry really wanted was to marry Anne Boleyn, with whom he had been having an affair.

     The question of the legality of Henry’s marriage was considered by the universities; and scholars decided that the king was justified in pursuing divorce. But the pope (for political reasons) refused to give in; and threatened excommunication.

     After reading a copy of Tyndale’s Obedience of the Christian Man, given to him by Anne Boleyn, Henry decided he needed a “scholar like Tyndale to advance his cause of gaining a divorce from his first wife, and establishing himself as a higher authority in England than the pope, so he sent agents after Tyndale to offer him a salary and safe passage back to England. Tyndale respectfully refused this offer, saying he would return to England only if the king granted approval and made arrangements for the Bible to be translated into the English language” (Christian History #16).

     On Jan. 25, 1533, Henry secretly married Anne Boleyn. In May, Thomas Cranmer, the newly installed Archbishop of Canterbury, pronounced the king’s marriage to Catherine null and void. On June 1, 1533, Cranmer crowned Anne as queen (shortly thereafter she gave birth to Elizabeth). In 1534, Henry had Parliament pass the Law of Supremacy, which decreed that the king, not the pope, “justly and rightfully is and ought to be the supreme Head of the Church of England.”

     In 1535, while Tyndale was living in Antwerp, Belgium, “he was betrayed into the hands of local authorities and agents of Charles V by Henry Phillips, a down-and-out student who professed to be sympathetic to Tyndale’s work” (DeMar, 220).

     Tyndale was imprisoned for more than a year at Vilvorde Castle near Brussels. At his trial, acting as his own lawyer, Tyndale maintained that faith alone justifies before God. He was condemned as a heretic to be strangled and then burned. On October 6, 1536, when the executioner was attaching the wire around his throat, Tyndale’s last words were, “Lord, open the king of England’s eyes.”
     Less than two years later, King Henry “decreed that a copy of the English Bible be placed in every church in the kingdom…. Not long after Tyndale’s death, an English bishop declared to a gathering of churchmen, ‘The common people now know the Holy Scripture better than most of us’.” (Trial and Triumph, 130).

     “Tyndale’s English translation took the English language and turned it into beautiful prose. He coined new terms like ‘scapegoat,’ ‘longsuffering,’ and ‘peacemaker’.” (DeMar, 218). It is estimated “that ninety percent of Tyndale is reproduced in the King James Version of the New Testament” (Our English Bible, 26).


Also during 1534-1536, John Calvin was converted and published the first edition of the Institutes of the Christian Religion. To Calvin we turn next.

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 William Tyndale Pt 2

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 13


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 13: HEIDELBERG CATECHISM, QUESTION 33-34

Reformation 500 WEEK 13: Heidelberg Catechism, QUESTION 33-34

Question 33: Why is He called God’s only begotten Son, since we also are the children of God? Because Christ alone is the eternal, natural Son of God, but we are children of God by adoption, through grace, for His sake.

“God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Sons begotten [brought into existence by the process of reproduction] from parents “are properly called natural sons, to whom the essence and nature of their parents is communicated [not wholly but in part]” (Ursinus, 181). But the Son of God is eternal, as we have already proven in Question 25: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the one, true, eternal God. Thus, the Son of God, even before He became a man, has always been God’s only-begotten Son (John 17:5). In a manner that is altogether beyond our comprehension, the Father communicates the whole divine essence to the Son: “as the Father has life in Himself, so He has given the Son to have life in Himself” (John 5:26). “The Father has, therefore, communicated to Him the life by which He Himself lives by Himself, …which life is that one and eternal Deity” (Ursinus, 181); “since the divine essence is infinite, indivisible, and not communicated in part…the Son has the whole essence communicated to Him, [and] He is, for this reason, equal with the Father, and consequently, true God” (Ursinus, 193). Jesus Christ is according to His eternal divine nature the natural and only Son of God.

The only way for sinners to become children of God is by adoption. God sent His Son into the world to die for our sins, so that God might, for His Son’s sake, confer upon us the right and title of the sons of God, which we forfeited in Adam (John 1:12; Luke 3:38). Before the foundation of the world, God “predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ” (Eph. 1:5). “God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, Abba, Father!” (Gal. 4:4-6).

Question 34: Why do you call Him our Lord? Because not with silver or gold, but with His precious blood He has redeemed and purchased us, body and soul, from sin and from all the power of the devil, to be His own.


The title “Lord” means “master, owner.” In the Old Testament, a slave could be freed if a ransom were paid to his master. By our willful disobedience in Adam, we became “slaves of sin” (Rom. 6:20) and the devil (2 Tim. 2:25-26), as God’s just punishment for our sin. But Jesus Christ our Savior has redeemed us from the slavery of sin and Satan, by “giving His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45) – to fully satisfy God’s justice; “you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold…but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19). Since His Church was “purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28), all believers belong to Him as His bondservants (Rom. 6:20-22). By the grace of His Holy Spirit we call Him LORD (1 Cor. 12:3), and are thankful to Him for our redemption. “For you were bought at a price; therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Cor. 6:19-20). 

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 HC QAs 33-34

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 13


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.

Saturday, March 18, 2017

REFORMATION 500 WEEK 12 THE ANABAPTISTS PART 2

Reformation 500 WEEK 12    the Anabaptists Part 2

The ana-baptizers or re-baptizers (they called themselves simply Brethren) not only rejected their Roman Catholic infant baptism, but they rejected Luther and Zwingli’s attempts to reform the catholic church by the Bible, attempting instead to start from scratch and build a new church from the New Testament alone.

Both Zwingli and Luther accepted, in varying degrees, the union that existed between church and state. Zwingli defended this union on the principle that Christians are obligated to reform all of life (even the state) according to Scripture. Many reformers later rejected the union of church and state but without also rejecting infant membership in the Christian church by virtue of the covenant of grace.

To the Anabaptists, separation from worldliness meant separation from the world; and the state belongs to the world. On the basis of Matthew 5-7, the “Anabaptists thought that the only proper response to the challenge of living in but not of the world is Christianity against culture” (Nichols, The Reformation, 63).

Some Anabaptists were more extreme than others. Thomas Muntzer, originally an advocate of Luther, advocated radical reforms “as one of the leaders of the Peasants’ revolt” (Nichols, 60). Claiming the inner light of the Spirit was more important than the written word of Scripture, he felt that true believers “should join in a theocratic community to bring about the Kingdom of God” (Gonzalez, 41). He led a meager army of peasants into battle at Frankenhausen. “His inner light informed him to kill the godless nobles,” and when his army was defeated, “he was beheaded [May 27, 1525]” (Nichols, Luther, 143).

“It was partly as an attempt to curb extremism among their ranks that a number of Anabaptist leaders met in Schleitheim, Switzerland, in 1527…and issued the Confession of Schleiteim [the first theological confession of the Reformation],” containing “the seven fundamental practices and principles held by most Anabaptists” (Gonzalez, 70): (1) believer’s baptism only; (2) those who refuse to amend their lives after two private admonitions are banned from the community; (3) the Lord’s Supper is for believers only; (4) true believers must separate themselves from all that is not united with God and Christ; (5) the qualifications for clergy leave out the need for formal training; (6) Christians must be pacifists; (7) Christians must not swear an oath, for Jesus said, “Do not swear at all” (Matt. 5:34).

  Since false doctrine was an offense against both the Church and the State, heresy was a crime punishable by the government. Both Catholics and Protestants regarded the Anabaptists “as a revolutionary sect, dangerous to society,” and thus they “were imprisoned, fined, drowned, burned at the stake, tortured” (Kuiper, 207).

In 1533 certain Anabaptists proclaimed that the city of Munster in Westphalia, Germany, “was going to be the new Jerusalem with community of goods and without law.... Soon Munster was besieged by an army of Catholics and Lutherans… At last, on June 24, 1535, the city was taken. A terrible massacre followed. The leaders were horribly tortured” (Kuiper, 208).


Today the direct descendants of the Anabaptists (minus the revolutionary violence) are the Mennonites, the Hutterites, and the Amish. 

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 Pt 2

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 12


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 12: HEIDELBERG CATECHISM, QUESTION 31-32

Reformation 500 WEEK 12: Heidelberg Catechism, QUESTION 31-32

Question 31: Why is He called Christ, that is, Anointed? Because He is ordained of God the Father and anointed with the Holy Spirit to be our Chief Prophet and Teacher, who has fully revealed to us the secret counsel and will of God concerning our redemption; and our only High Priest, who by the one sacrifice of His body, has redeemed us, and ever lives to make intercession for us with the Father; and our eternal King, who govern us by His Word and Spirit, and defends and preserves us in the redemption obtained for us.

MESSIAH is the Hebrew word, and CHRIST is the Greek word, meaning ANOINTED. In the Old Testament, prophets, priests, and kings were anointed with oil to symbolize that they were ordained and gifted by God to fulfill the duties of their office. They were types (examples) of what God intends every believer to become through Christ the ultimate Prophet, Priest, and King (Num. 11:29; Rev. 1:6). Isaiah foretold that Messiah would be anointed with the Holy Spirit (11:1; 61:1). At His baptism, Jesus the Son of God was anointed by the Father with the Holy Spirit to fulfill His threefold office (Acts 10:38). As our Chief Prophet, He has fully revealed the truth to us, especially the truth about our redemption in Him (Matt. 16:16-17; John 1:18; 15:15; 17:8). As our only High Priest, “by the sacrifice of Himself” (Heb. 9:26), He has redeemed us by His blood (Heb. 9:11-15). And with His Father in heaven, “He always lives to make intercession for us” (Heb. 7:25), praying that our faith would not fail (Luke 22:32; John 17:9-15). As our eternal King, at God’s right hand, He governs us by His Word and Spirit, preserving us in the faith so we persevere in showing ourselves thankful for our salvation (Heb. 12:2; 1 Peter 1:5).

Question 32: But why are you called a Christian? Because by faith I am a member of Christ and thus a partaker of His anointing, in order that I [as a prophet] also may confess His name, [as a priest] may present myself a living sacrifice of thankfulness to Him, and [as a king] with a free conscience may fight against sin and the devil in this life, and hereafter in eternity reign with Him over all creatures.


Every believer is a member of Christ, united as one body to the risen and glorified Lord Jesus Christ in heaven (Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 6:17; Eph. 2:6; 5:30), “united to Him by the same Holy Spirit dwelling in Him and in us” (Ursinus; cf. John 15:5; 1 Cor. 12:13). Therefore, we are called Christians, “anointed ones,” for we all share in the anointing of Christ’s Spirit (1 John 2:20, 27), enabled by the same Spirit to imitate and follow Christ as prophets, priests, and kings – to know, love, and live truth (Jer. 15:16). “As prophets, we are to confess the name of Christ and declare His truth to others [Matt. 10:32; Eph. 4:15]. As priests, we are to present ourselves as living sacrifices to Christ and dedicate all we are and have to the service of God [Rom. 12:1-2; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9-10]. This includes our talents and our money. As kings, we are to exercise dominion by the Word of God over ourselves, our homes, our churches, our society [Gen. 1:28]. We are to fight the good fight against sin and the devil and reign with Christ both now and forever [2 Tim. 4:7; Rev. 2:26; 5:9-10]. When we begin to grasp the real meaning of being a Christian, life becomes a wonderful, new challenge” (Jones, Study Helps, 74).

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 HC QAs 31-32

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 12


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.

Saturday, March 11, 2017

REFORMATION 500 WEEK 11 LUTHER ZWINGLI

Reformation 500 WEEK 11    Luther Zwingli


Philip of Hesse, “along with other German and Swiss princes and rulers, faced three enemies: France, from the West; the Islamic forces or ‘Turks,’ from the East; and the Pope, ubiquitously [everywhere]. The princes could not afford to be divided; their lives and the survival of their provinces demanded a united front among the splintered reform movements to withstand these enemies at the gate” (Nichols, Luther, 117).

     “But theologians on neither side would bless a military covenant unless there were first an agreement in religion. The Swiss felt that the Lutherans were still tainted with popery.” The Lutherans “believed the Swiss were of one stripe with the [radical reformers].” Plus, Luther was against using the sword “in the defense of religion because the sword belongs only to the magistrate to keep peace”(Bainton, 91f). 

     Prince Philip summoned an impressive gathering of theologians to his castle at Marburg on the first three days of October 1529. From the Swiss Confederacy, Zwingli was joined by John Oecolampadius, from Basel; and Martin Bucer, from Strassburg. “Luther was joined by Justas Jonas and Philip Melanchthon as representatives of Wittenberg” (Nichols, 118). “It was the first council among Protestants, and the first attempt to unite them” (Schaff, 7:637).

     Both sides discussed fifteen articles, expressing the basics of evangelical doctrine. They agreed on all but the last article which concerned the Lord’s Supper. Both Luther and Zwingli condemned the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation [the bread and wine change into the body and blood of Christ]; and “Zwingli agreed that the celebration is something more than a memorial because there is a spiritual communion with Christ” (Bainton, 92). Zwingli argued for a spiritual eating of Christ on the basis of John 6:63: “the words I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” “Zwingli reasoned: Christ ascended to heaven, therefore he cannot be on earth with his body” (Schaff, 7:642). But Luther insisted that “This is my body” (which he wrote with chalk on the banquet table) should be taken literally. Thus, Christ’s physical body is in the sacrament. “I believe, said Luther, that Christ is in heaven, but also in the sacrament, as substantially as he was in the Virgin’s womb. I care not whether it be against nature and reason, provided it be not against faith” (Ibid, 642).

     The conference ended with this final statement: “although at present we are not agreed on the question whether the real body and blood of Christ are corporally present in the bread and wine, yet both parties shall cherish Christian charity for one another, so far as the conscience of each will permit; and both parties will earnestly implore Almighty God to strengthen us by his Spirit in the true understanding. Amen.”

     The Conference “was by no means a total failure. It prepared the way for the Augsburg Confession, the chief [creed] of the Lutheran Church” (Schaff, 7:649).


     Zwingli and his fellow Swiss went home and ended up fighting and losing a war against the Catholics. Zwingli was killed in battle, and his body was quartered by the executioner. “Luther did not soften at the news but regarded Zwingli’s death as a judgment for having taken the sword on behalf of the gospel” (Bainton, 94). “While eventually the Reformed tradition would claim Calvin as its foundational theologian, there would still be much in it that bore Zwingli’s imprint” (Gonzalez, 65). 

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 Luther Zwingli

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 11


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 11: HEIDELBERG CATECHISM, QUESTION 28-30

Reformation 500 WEEK 11: Heidelberg Catechism, QUESTION 28-30

Question 29: Why is the Son of God called JESUS, that is, Savior? Because He saves us from our sins, and because salvation is not to be sought or found in any other.

Question 29 begins to explain the biblical basis of article two of the Apostles Creed: “I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son, our Lord.” We begin with the name Jesus, which is the NT form of the OT name, Joshua. Both Joshua and Jesus mean “the Lord saves,” or “Savior.” Through Joshua, God merely saved His people from external enemies. So, Joshua was a type and foreshadowing of the true Savior Jesus, the Son of God in human flesh. The angel told Joseph, “Do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:20-21). “Whom does He save? His people, that is, all and only the elect given to Him by the Father [John 17:1-2, 9]” (Ursinus). He purchased His Church “with His own blood” (Acts 20:28). And by His Spirit He grants faith to His elect so they believe in Him and receive all the benefits of His death (Phil. 1:29). He said, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me” (John 6:37). Jesus does not save us part-way, and leave the rest up to us. He saves “to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25). Jesus said, “I give My sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:28; cf. 5:24).

Jesus is the only Savior, for He is the only Mediator between God and man. He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). “Nor is there salvation is any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

Question 30: Do those also believe in the only Savior Jesus, who seek their salvation and welfare from saints, themselves, or anywhere else? No; although they make their boast of Him, yet in their deeds they deny the only Savior Jesus; for either Jesus is not a complete Savior, or they who by true faith receive this Savior, must have in Him all that is necessary to their salvation.

If we truly believe Jesus is the only Savior, we will not seek salvation anywhere else. He is a complete Savior; and we are “complete in Him” (Col. 2:10). Jesus “does not confer salvation in connection with others, nor in part only; but He alone confers it entire, and in the most perfect manner. Hence, we justly conclude that all those who seek their salvation wholly or in part somewhere else [whether in the saints or in themselves], in reality deny Him to be an only and perfect Savior [Titus 1:16]” (Ursinus). “Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you?” (1 Cor. 1:13).  

But is it not the case that we are helped by the prayers of the saints and not by Christ alone? When the saints (all believers) pray for each other they do not appeal to their own worthiness but to the worthiness of Christ alone. Furthermore, the prayers that we pray for each other do not save us, as if we could not be saved without them. Rather, the Lord (who does not need our prayers) is pleased to use our prayers to contribute to each other’s spiritual welfare (2 Cor. 1:11). 

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 HC QAs 29-30

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 11


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.


Saturday, March 4, 2017

REFORMATION 500 WEEK 10 WILLIAM TYNDALE

Reformation 500 WEEK 10    William Tyndale


     “Four months after Luther published his theses Erasmus sent them to his English friends John Colet and Sir Thomas More. Thereafter many books were imported into England. Lutheran doctrine invaded the two great English universities of Oxford and Cambridge” (Kuiper, 221). In the town of Cambridge, “there was a pub called the White Horse Inn which served as a gathering place where intellectuals discussed the latest in Reformation thinking. Because of the popularity of Luther’s work there, the pub was given the name ‘Little Germany.’ A number of English reformers were at Cambridge at this time: William Tyndale, Hugh Latimer, Thomas Cranmer, Nicholas Ridley, and Miles Coverdale. All these men played important roles in establishing the Reformation in England. But the person who had the greatest long-term impact on developing the English Reformation was William Tyndale, ‘the father of the English Bible’.” (Gary DeMar, Reformation to Colonization, 216-217).

     For a century and half, Wycliffe’s English translation of the Latin Bible had circulated in England. But “copies of Wycliffe’s translation into English were not numerous” (Kuiper, 222). Tyndale, who “came to saving faith in Christ by reading the New Testament in Greek” (Richard Hannula, Trial and Triumph, 127), was determined to translate the Bible into English from the original Greek and Hebrew. This he did “in an era when the English Catholic church had in effect a law that made it a crime punishable by death to translate the Bible into English” (Christian History, Vol.16).

     “Once, in Coventry, England [in 1519], some parents were burned to death for teaching their children the Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Commandments in English. Such atrocities drove Tyndale to tears” (Trial and Triumph, 127).

     Tyndale testified that ‘some of the papists say it is impossible to translate the Scriptures into English, some that it is not lawful for the lay people to have it in the mother-tongue, some that it would make them all heretics’ (quoted in Schaff, 6:726). Tyndale argued that the pope had locked up the plain meaning of the Bible ‘with the false and counterfeited keys of his traditions, ceremonies, and feigned lies’ (Ibid.,718).

     Once a rich and learned man, “fed up with Tyndale’s habit of quoting the Bible, shouted, ‘We would be better off without God’s law than the pope’s.’ ‘I defy the pope and all his laws,’ Tyndale answered. ‘If God spares my life, in a few years a farm boy shall know more of the Scriptures than you do’.” (Trial and Triumph, 128).


     In 1524, Tyndale’s bishop refused to let him translate the Greek NT into English. So, he fled from England to the German provinces to translate [along the way he met briefly with Luther]. In 1525, in Cologne, as he prepared to print an English New Testament, he was discovered and escaped with only a few printed portions. In 1526 a printer in Worms, published 6,000 copies of Tyndale’s first edition of the English New Testament. Three months later, smuggled copies were being circulated throughout England. In 1527 English bishops bought and burned thousands of Tyndale’s testaments. Yet Tyndale used the money to finance a revision of his NT. “The revised testaments were smuggled into England in flour sacks” (Church History Made Easy, 115). From 1527–1530 Tyndale kept moving, and writing, and hiding. Exciting things were also happening with Luther and Zwingli. 

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 William Tyndale

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 10


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 10: HEIDELBERG CATECHISM, QUESTION 27-28

Reformation 500 WEEK 10: Heidelberg Catechism, QUESTION 27-28

Question 27: What do you understand by the providence of God? The almighty, everywhere-present power of God, whereby, as it were by His hand, He still upholds heaven and earth with all creatures, and so governs them that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, indeed, all things come not by chance, but by His fatherly hand.


     The word providence means ‘to see beforehand,’ or ‘to provide for.’ God knows everything before it happens, because in His eternal counsel He planned everything (Palm 33:10-11; Acts 15:18). “I am God, and there is none like Me... I have planned it; I will also do it” (Isaiah 46:9-10). God’s providence (or sovereignty) is His almighty and everywhere present power upholding and working “all things according to the counsel of His will” (Eph. 1:11; cf. Dan. 4:35; Prov. 21:1). God ordinarily works according to the order He has established in nature “as when He sustains us by food and heals us of disease by medicine [Isaiah 38:21]” (Ursinus). God can also work in a manner different than the established order of nature, as when He does His miracles, like parting the Red Sea, or turning water into wine. 

The greatest miracle is redemption from sin through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and the regenerating grace of the Holy Spirit. God’s providence includes all things – herbs and grass (Psalm 104:14), rain and drought (Amos 4:7), fruitful and barren years (Hab. 3:17), meat and drink (Acts 14:17), health and sickness (Ex. 15:26), riches and poverty (1 Sam. 2:7) – even things that appear to happen randomly or by chance (Ex. 21:13; 1 Kings 22:34; Prov. 16:33). Jesus said not even a sparrow “falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will” (Matt. 10:29). Whatever happens, “whether it be good or bad, comes to pass not by chance, but by the eternal counsel of God, producing it if it be good, and permitting it if it be evil” (Ursinus). God permits evil for the good of His chosen people. So, Joseph could say to his brothers: “you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive” (Gen. 50:20).


Question 28: What does it profit us to know that God created, and by His providence upholds, all things? That we may be patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity, and for what is future have good confidence in our faithful God and Father, that no creature shall separate us from His love, since all creatures are so in His hand, that without His will they cannot so much as move.



     Knowing that God controls all things by His providence has three practical benefits for us as God’s children: (1) it helps us to exercise patience in adversity: “in faithfulness You have afflicted me” (Ps. 119:75); (2) it helps us to be thankful in prosperity. “In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: Surely God has appointed the one as well as the other” (Eccl. 7:14); (3) it helps us not to worry but to trust our Father’s perfect plan for our future (Jer. 29:11; Matt. 6:25-34). No creature shall separate us from God’s love in Christ, since all creatures do only what God “determined before to be done” (Acts 4:28). We cannot suffer any harm except what God permits. Then He makes that harm work for our good. “He who did not spare His Own Son… how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Rom. 8:31-32).

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:  Reformation500 Heidelberg Catechism QAs 27-28

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 10


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.