The Reformation Movement (Lesson 2) Series

INTRODUCTION

Outline.

2. The Reformation Movement

Remarks.

1. This is lesson two, in our semon-series of the theme: “The Departure from the Faith.” It should be noted that Paul begins our lesson by describing “the retraction movement” or “the departure from the faith!” It should also be noted, that, before there could be a “departure from the faith”; there must have been first, an “establishment of the faith.” One must belong before they could departure. It should also be understood – that Paul called this movement, “the faith.”

2. In our second lesson, we will address the “reformation movement” or man’s attempt to “return to the faith” as outlined in the New Testament. This movement began and continued from AD 1513 to AD 1809; these dates are merely estimates. The movement’s faith is noted as beginning with “Martin Luther” in Wittenberg, Germany. Luther was a Roman Catholic priest, and found a problem with its religious practices and started a rebellion that lasted nearly three hundred years. Martin Luther attempted to reform the Catholic denomination. He was followed by many other religious leaders whose intentions were honest and good – but, could not obtain “unity of their cause”; which was guided by the “thinking and reasoning of men.” Every denomination that exists today; is a spin off from the “reformation movement,” which began by Martin Luther and others. Instead of true “reformation,” it created confusion to “the faith”; concealing the truth, rather than illuminating it to the world. These men were in truth, “the blind leading the blind,” Matthew 15:14. They neither sought the real light, which illuminates from the word of God, Psalms 119:105. With this introduction let’s discussed the “reformation”; in this three lesson series.

BODY OF LESSON

II THE REFORMATION MOVEMENT

A. The Reformation Movement: The religious movement initiated by Martin Luther in the 16th Century to reform the Roman Catholic Denomination. After about, 9 centuries of Catholicism. The Reformation began by a priest named, Martin Luther, in 1517.

1. Martin Luther was a priest by religious profession in the Catholic order. While struggling against the “Selling of Indulgence,” he became enraged and denounced this practice authorized in the Catholic order, by John Tetzel, a papal commissioner sent to sell indulgence in Germany, to raise money to rebuild St. Peter's Basilica, in Rome. Reference, Halley's Bible Handbook, Halley, p. 787.

2. While in Wittenberg, Germany, in his opposition he nailed to the cathedral door, his famous 95 thesis protest against Catholicism. He was later was excommunicated, and stripped of his priesthood. He married a nun in total defiance of the papal’s required for celibacy.

3. His followers form the Lutheran denomination after his death in 1520. This was the beginning of the “Protestant Movement” in Germany. Luther's religious reforms eventually turned into a European movement. Reference, Western Civilization Since 1500, Kirchner, p. 41-42.

4. On 31 October 1517, Luther wrote to Albrecht, Archbishop of Mainz and Magdeburg, protesting the sale of these indulgences. He enclosed in his letter a copy of his "Disputation of Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences," which came to be known as, The 95 Theses.

5. Luther's writings circulated widely, reaching France, England, and Italy as early as 1519. Students thronged to Wittenberg to hear Luther speak. He published a short commentary on Galatians and his Work on the Psalms. This early part of Luther's career was one of his most creative and productive. Three of his best-known works were published in 1520: To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church, and On the Freedom of a Christian. From these works, Luther formed his teaching regarding “justification by faith.” Notice:

a. First, Luther determined in his studies, that justification was entirely the work of God. This teaching by Luther was clearly expressed in his 1525 publication: On the Bondage of the Will, in rebuttal to an article: On Free Will, by Desiderius Erasmus, in 1524.

1) Luther based his position on predestination based upon Saint Paul's epistle to the Ephesian church, Ephesians 2:8-10.

2) Against the teaching of his day that the righteous acts of believers were performed in cooperation with God. Luther wrote that Christians receive such righteousness entirely from outside themselves; that righteousness not only comes from Christ; but, actually is the righteousness of Christ, imputed to Christians (rather than infused into them), through faith.

3) These religious positions were completely in accord with some of the teachings of the 1 century Church, conveyed in the Letter of Paul to the Romans. He, however, opposed the writings of James on “faith and works,” James 2:14-26.

b. Further, he believed, “That faith alone makes someone just and fulfills the law." He wrote, "Faith is that which brings the Holy Spirit through the merits of Christ."