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 find directly such truths as the sovereignty of God,
salvation by faith, and the proper conduct of the Christian life.
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.
Previously, the Bible had been faithfully translated into Latin, but
only the well-educated and church people could read Latin. The interest
in language translation was further enabled by the development of modern
printing. Gutenberg built his first printing press in 1450.
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 by becoming a monk. Luther tried 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 achieved only by
mankind's inner trust or faith in God. Mankind must be open
to receiving this free grace.
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, dealing directly with God. 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 of the
Bible are an authority above the Church. The following year he was
excommunicated.
The natural state of mankind, said Martin Luther, is
alienation from God ---- 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 mankind approaches God. By "faith,"
Luther meant neither the use of intellect, nor so-called mystical experiences,
but being evoked by God's grace and love.
For Luther, the good news of this reconciliation is revealed
to us by the Bible. Luther believed in directly teaching from the Bible
as the final authority in all matters of religion ---- not just following the
lessons of tradition, the Church, or the Pope. Luther said that one had
only to read the God-inspired pages of the Bible, with an honest and seeking
mind, guided by one's inner promptings from the Holy Spirit.
The riches of faith to be had in the Bible, in Luther's
view, made philosophical speculation unnecessary. More importantly,
having direct accessibility to the Bible leads straight to the doctrine of the
"priesthood of all believers," as Luther put it. Thus, 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 free will consists in bearing
witness to others. As Luther saw it,"the priesthood of
believers" meant not only that every man or woman was their own
priest, but also that they were a priest to every other man or woman.
Following Martin Luther's teachings about the supremacy of
the Bible, Scripture reading is always part of our worship services at
Central Presbyterian Church. While our Senior Pastor may illuminate 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 the Scripture
passage. This is the direct word of God ---- no intermediaries required!
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These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult
Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage you to pursue some personal
spiritual growth this year at CPC.
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