For the Protestant reformers of the Reformation, there was a
central principle: All human life stands under the direct judgment of
God. This meant specifically that mankind gives direct allegiance to
God, and only to God. No pope or church might legitimately claim an
absolute or final allegiance of that sort. The source of this principle was the
biblical teaching, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." For the
Protestant reformers, to give to Church hierarchy the allegiance and trust due
only to God for the interpretation of the Bible, was idolatry or blasphemy of
the worst kind.
In a general sense, one could say that the supreme or final religious
authority for Protestants was and is the Bible, read by the individual in
the light of his or her conscience. However, for the Roman Catholic that
authority was and is the Church speaking through clergy, hierarchically
organized under the pope. While Protestants read their Bibles with their own
understanding, the Catholic reads it under the authoritative guidance of the
Church.
Since the Bible was seen as centrally important in all forms of
Protestantism, it was not by chance that the Reformation was accompanied by
great activity in the translation of the Bible into the various languages of
Europe, so that it might be directly accessible to common folk. The interest in
language translation was enabled by the development of modern printing.
Gutenberg built his first printing press in 1450.
One history of the Reformation suggests that making the Bible directly
accessible to "the people" may be compared in its social and cultural effects to
a vast irrigation project which provides water to dry land. "Men's religious
natures were provided with life-giving water," it was said. "People could now
read their Bibles for themselves and found directly such truths as the
sovereignty of God, salvation by faith, and the proper conduct of the Christian
life.
Martin Luther was a leader in articulating what would become Protestant
thought during the time of the Reformation. By 1510, Luther had been ordained a
priest, but he was deeply troubled by feeling personally alienated from God. He
sought relief through the rigors of monastic discipline, and by every means of
grace in the Roman Catholic system ---- seeking to put himself "right" with God.
He was not successful. But, as he did further Bible study he began to see that
justification ---- being put "right" with God ---- was not a thing to be
earned by human effort. Instead, it was a free gift from God which sinful
mankind alone cannot earn or deserve. This free grace, Luther concluded,
can be appropriated only by mankind's inner trust or faith in God.
Faith, for Luther, was simply an inward act of saying "yes" to God, turning
with trust and loyalty to God as the center and source of one's life. This was
a new way to look at religion, rendering useless and trivial much of the
elaborate medieval Roman Catholic system. In 1519, Luther debated publicly with
Roman Catholic leaders. Luther argued that the Scriptures are an authority
above the Church. The following year he was excommunicated.
The natural state of mankind, Martin Luther said, is alienation from God,
and proud self-worship. By man's own acts he is powerless to save
himself. Luther placed little confidence in the capacity of reason to turn
mankind to God. Because mankind is "fallen," Luther believed, man's reasoning
is itself depraved and sinful, and thus leads man away from God. Faith, not
reason, was for Luther the way man approaches God. By "faith," Luther meant
neither the use of intellect, nor so-called mystical experiences, but rather a
trust of the heart and commitment of the will, born of a sense of mankind's
complete helplessness, and evoked by God's grace and love.
For Luther, the Gospels (the message of the Word of God) showed precisely
the deep conviction that, apart from reason and ritual, God has acted in Christ
to heal the alienation between himself and mankind. Christ is the
reconciliation between God and man.. Mankind's role is to turn to humble but
confident faith for God in Christ. The joyous acknowledgement that mankind is
reconciled to God has become known as "justification by faith," and became a
central doctrine for Protestants.
The good news of this reconciliation is revealed to us by the Bible, Luther
believed, which assumed for Luther a place of supreme authority. For Luther,
the direct teaching of the Bible was the final authority in all matters of
religion ---- not tradition, nor the Church nor the pope. Luther believed that
one had only to read the inspired pages of the Bible with an honest and seeking
mind, guided by the inner promptings of the Holy Spirit.
The riches of faith to be had in the Bible, in Luther's view, not only make
philosophical speculation unnecessary, but the direct accessibility of the Bible
leads straight to the doctrine of the "priesthood of all believers," as Luther
put it. God's truth in Christ is not the exclusive prerogative of a priest or
the pope. Rather, each person may and must guide their own life by
Scripture and right reason, interpreted according to their best judgment.
Finding this truth, or rather being found by it, the Christian is a free
man, Luther believed. A part of the exercise of this freedom consists in
bearing witness to this truth to others. For Luther, the priesthood of
believers meant not only that every man is his own priest, but also every
man is a priest to every other man.
Following Martin Luther's teachings, Scripture reading is always part of
our worship services at Central Presbyterian Church. While our Senior Pastor
may illuminate an interpretation of the Scripture reading for that day, in the
last analysis, as Luther said, it is up to each of us to find within ourselves
the intended message of that Scripture passage.
_______________________________________________________________________________
These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult Spiritual Development
Team, hoping to encourage you to pursue some personal spiritual growth this Fall
at CPC.
_______________________________________________________________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment