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 becoming a monk and joining a monastery.
For Luther, the question was
"How is an unrighteous person (a fallen sinner) made righteous in the
sight of God ---- especially if he or she wants to be admitted to Heaven upon
death?" Luther tried every means in the Roman Catholic system,
seeking to put himself "right" with God. He did not believe he
had been successful.
But as he did further Bible
study he began to see that being put "right" with God was not to be
earned by human effort. Instead it is a 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. But mankind must be truly open to
receiving this free grace.
Faith, for Luther, was simply
an inward act of saying "yes" to God. It meant 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, where one's priest was one's only route to justification with
God. 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 would be 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 simply by being open to God's grace and
love.
For Luther the good news
of this reconciliation between mankind and God is revealed to us through 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 and 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 through 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. But a part of the
exercise of 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
teaching 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 summer at CPC.
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