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May 25, 2014 |
| The Reformation Garbage Can | ||
Although Martin Luther is credited with beginning the reformation of the church, he wasn't the first to express the belief that the Roman Catholic Church was in error. He was the first at that time to do it so boldly and openly. By posting his 95 theses on the door of the church he openly attacked the authority of the church.
But long before him there had been groups who could see that the Roman Catholic Church had gone into error. When the church refused to hear them their only option was to separate from the church. Martin Luther's initial desire was to reform the church from the inside. But when they rejected his theses, then excommunicated him, then put his life in danger, he too had no choice but to start a new church.
Martin Luther's 95 theses were inspired by the selling of indulgences which were thought to be a way for living relatives to get their dead loved ones into Heaven. Purgatory itself was a non-biblical invention of the Roman Catholic Church. The idea behind it was that, at death, the good people went to Heaven, the bad people went to Hell, and the ones that were so-so went to Purgatory, where they had a chance to purge themselves of their evils until they were good enough to go to Heaven. An indulgence was a quick way to get your relatives out of Purgatory and into Heaven. Selling these indulgences became a major source of revenue for the church.
But Martin Luther's theses went past the selling of indulgences and all the way up to the Pope's authority to create such a thing. As the movement rolled on, its area of interest became broader as more of the church's teachings were scrutinized against the Bible, which was becoming more available due to the invention of the printing press.
A few of the churches coming out of the Reformation didn't go as far as most others in cleaning out the false teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. In this lesson we will look at many of the teachings that most of the reformers threw in the garbage can.
There were splits from the Roman Catholic Church prior to the Reformation split. The largest one prior to the reformation was the East - West split, which resulted in the Eastern Orthodox churches. There were splits before that one but that is where we'll start because the reformers also threw out much of what Eastern Orthodox churches had rejected.
The early church within the Roman Empire was organized into 5 geographic regions. From the earliest times Rome claimed primacy (being the head) over the others, which meant that it thought it should be the one in charge overall. The other regions disagreed and ignored Rome's claims of supremacy and Rome was powerless to do anything about it.
One of the causes of the East - West Schism was attempts by Rome to enforce its will on the other regions. Obviously after the split, the Eastern Orthodox church rejected the supremacy of Rome. It was also the same for the Reformation split. The new churches rejected the supremacy of Rome.
Another cause of the East - West Schism was the statues and pictures that the Roman Church so dearly loved. The Eastern Church varied from accepting a few statues and pictures in their churches to accepting none at all. The Roman Church claimed that it wasn't worshipping these statues but only venerating them. Any dictionary, however, will tell you that venerate means essentially the same thing as worship, revere, reverence, hallow, exalt, vaunt, adore, honor, respect, and esteem. It was the same in the Reformation. The new churches were free or mostly free of statues and pictures.
The Eastern Church also disagreed with the Western Church's belief that the bread and wine become the physical body and blood of Jesus at communion. This idea was also thrown out by the reformers.
The Eastern Church also disagreed with the Western Church's belief in Purgatory, which was described above. This idea was also thrown out by the reformers. The Eastern Church also sees Hell in a different way than the Western Church.
The Eastern Church also disagreed with the idea that the Pope was infallible, that is, he could not make a mistake when officially teaching Christian beliefs. The concept of infallibility puts the Pope in the position of being more than a man. In fact the Roman Catholic Church teaches that he is the stand-in for Jesus while Jesus is gone from the earth.
The Eastern Church also disagreed with the idea that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was without sin. In the Roman Catholic Church it is felt that Mary must have been without sin in order to give birth to Jesus. Surely Jesus was too pure to have been born from an ordinary woman who sinned as we all do. In fact the Roman Catholic Church has elevated Mary to the position of being almost a god. They also believe that Mary ascended to Heaven just as Jesus did. The reformers also threw this in the garbage can.
But the Eastern Orthodox Church is still very much like the Roman Catholic Church in other beliefs and practices. The split between them was not just about theological differences but also about cultural and language differences. Therefore the split was different from the Reformation split, which was all about theological differences and had the goal of returning the church to its apostolic roots.
By the time of the Reformation, roughly 600 years after the East - West Schism, the Roman Catholic Church had not reformed itself. In fact things had gotten much worse. As the newly printed Bibles became available in the languages that the people spoke, the people could see that there was no Biblical support for many of the claims of the church.
The reformers threw out the idea of an intermediating priesthood and with that many other teachings. By his death Jesus had put an end to the need for a priesthood between man and God. But as soon as they were able to the Roman Catholic Church put that priesthood back in place. As part of that they changed the doctrine to ensure that place between man and God. These are individual teachings that the reformers threw out with it
Forgiveness of Sins - The Bible is pretty clear that only God can forgive sins. The text below is what the Catholic Church gives as the foundation for its ability to forgive sins.
During his life, Christ forgave sins […]. Since he would not always be with the Church visibly, Christ gave this power to other men so the Church, which is the continuation of his presence throughout time, would be able to offer forgiveness to future generations.1
Interpreting Scripture - This belief within the Roman Catholic Church essentially cuts off the people from their Bibles. Why would anyone read the Bible when you couldn't interpret it and when the church had already interpreted it? Instead you would read the churches interpretations of it. But this creates a dangerous situation where the church can become evil and begin putting out evil interpretations and this was the problem at the time of the Reformation.
Salvation - The Roman Catholic Church believes that salvation is not possible without baptism and because baptism can only be done in the church the church is necessary for salvation. They support this from a Bible verse from a specific translation
1 Peter 3:21 Baptism . . . now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
But other translations render that verse more like these below
1 Peter 3:21 And that water is a picture of baptism, which now saves you, not by removing dirt from your body, but as a response to God from a clean conscience. It is effective because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 3:21 For you also are saved in it by that simile in baptism, not when you wash the body from impurity, but when you confess God with a pure conscience, and by the resurrection of [Jesus], the Messiah
The difference is quite remarkable. These two verses say that baptism is a response to a confession of God from a clean conscience. Therefore baptism is the symbol and confessing is the requirement for salvation. This is consistent with other verses on baptism and other actions in the Bible. For example Jesus forgave the one thief on the cross and said he would be in Paradise, yet there was no baptism.
The Roman Catholic Church also requires ongoing works in the church for salvation. This includes things like attending certain services and observing certain days.
Authority over Christians - The Bible does not provide any evidence of the apostles placing one person over all churches. Only Jesus is the head of the church.
The Church - The Bible also makes it clear that the church is a community joined together by the Holy Spirit not by an organization of man.
The reformers threw out the idea that Mary was sinless, as was mentioned above, but also the idea that she remained a virgin for the rest of her life. Mary is seen as an ordinary person who was blessed in the sense that she was chosen to be the woman who would give birth to the Messiah.
The reformers threw out the idea that the priests could make water Holy. The reformers thinking was that, if the priest could make an ounce, a cup, a jar, or a vat of water Holy surely he could make all the water in the world Holy and make everyone clean and free the world from all evils.
The reformers restored the numbering of the Ten Commandments. The Roman Catholic Church had changed the numbering from the way it had been done by the Jews for more than 1000 years. They merged what Protestants call the 2nd and 3rd commandments into one which required an irrational split up of the 10th commandment. The reasons for the change aren't clear but looking at the change that was made it appears to be related to the graven images found in Catholic churches. The result is that there is a difference of one for most of the commandments; the 4th commandment becomes the 3rd commandment. The reformers restored the numbering mostly but it still differs slightly from the Jewish system.
The reformers also threw out the requirement that priests and other church officials be celibate. The Bible makes it clear that some of the Apostles had wives and one of Paul's criteria for leadership in the church was to show leadership in the family. So there is support against celibacy. The reformers also threw out the idea of nuns as celibate women of the church.
The reformers also threw out a pile of Holy Days the Catholic Church had created. Obviously, not believing in the ascension of Mary into Heaven would mean that we wouldn't celebrate the Holy Day observing the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. There are many more that most Protestants have never even heard of.
Supremacy
Statues and pictures
Transubstantiation - Bread and wine become physical
Purgatory - A place in the afterlife where you can atone for your sins
Papal Infallibility - The Pope cannot make a theological mistake
Immaculate Conception - Mary was sinless
A priest can forgive sins and specify penalties for sins
The church is the only one allowed to interpret scripture
Salvation is not possible without the church
The Pope has complete authority over all Christians
The church (as a physical organization) is the unity of Christians
Mary a virgin
Holy water
Ten Commandments
Celibacy
Holy Days