History of the Reformation-How Christ restored the gospel to his church (Part 1)

Arlington Presbyterian Church ^ | October 31, 2004 | Tom Browning

[HarleyD]

Someone recommended I post some history on this site. This is the first part of a twelve part series on the history of the Reformation. These articles are rather lenghty but then it's kind of hard to cram history into a few short pages.

[HarleyD]

Pinging you to the Protestant history series.

[nmh]

Good post!

Thank God for Luther and the Reformation!!!

[jo kus]

All one can say is that the "historian" of this article is biased, clearly shown by his sarcastic comments. True historians don't lead the reader to make a conclusion, but present the facts.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Good historians don't. But history is filled with people who have used histories for didactic purposes. Sometimes, quite evil purposes, and sometimes with the best of intentions.

As far as I'm concerned, the best public examples of living the Gospel fully are:

+ Francis of Assisi.

+ Benedict

Blessed Mother Teresa

But there are huge numbers of others.

IMHO the Gospel isn't philosophical reasoning. It's the good news that Christ came and died and arose to save us. It's living as Christlike as possible, for love of Him. It's shaping one's life as closely as possible to the teaching of the Sermon on the Plain and the Sermon on the Mount.

The people I've seen who do it best were shaped by the Catholic and the Orthodox traditions. But I have seen holy people (defined by me as people who truly and deeply love Jesus and strive hard to live the Gospel) come from other branches as well.

They are all marked not so much by their philosophical fine points, but by the depths and fire of their love for Christ, and their attempts to live his message as fully as they have been taught.

A whole lot of the theologians haven't done so well by this standard...and a whole lot of didactic historians fail the test all together!

[Dark Skies]

Bump

[Campion]

The Catholic Church instituted the sacrament of penance based upon a mistranslation of the Greek word “to repent”.

Now that's funny. Great humor, Harley, thanks.

I wonder what caused the Eastern Orthodox to instutite the sacrament of penance, since you can't really blame a translation error in translating the New Testament from Greek to ... uh ... Greek.

[Pyro7480]

LOL!

[A.A. Cunningham]

Someone recommended I post some history on this site.

You failed to include the caveat "selective history".

"I never approved of a schism, nor will I approve of it for all eternity....That the Roman Church is more honored by God than all others is not to be doubted. St. Peter and St. Paul, forty-six Popes, some hundreds of thousands of martyrs, have laid down their lives in its communion, having overcome Hell and the world; so that the eyes of God rest on the Roman church with special favor....It is not by separating from the Church that we can make her better."

Martin Luther to Pope Leo X, 6 January 1519

[Gamecock]

I just went to Wittenberg and found it quite cool. Here is a pic I took of the Church tower. The coolest part is that one of the stained glass windows has an image of John Knox.....

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Thanks for a great thread, Harley.

THE NECESSITY OF REFORMING THE CHURCH

"...the restoration of the church is the work of God, and no more depends on the hopes and opinions of men, than the resurrection of the dead, or any other miracle of that description. Here, therefore, we are not to wait for facility of action, either from the will of men, or the temper of the times, but must rush forward through the midst of despair. It is the will of our Master that his gospel be preached. Let us obey his command, and follow whithersoever he calls. What the success will be it is not ours to inquire. Our only duty is to wish for what is best, and beseech it of the Lord in prayer; to strive with all zeal, solicitude, and diligence, to bring about the desired result, and, at the same time, to submit with patience to whatever that result may be." -- John Calvin

[Dr. Eckleburg]

I just went to Wittenberg and found it quite cool.

You fortunate saint, you. 8~)

I think we need more threads on John Knox.

Does "budding amillenialist" mean you're flowering into a confident Postmillenialist who believes Christ will rule on earth as He does in heaven?

POSTMILLENIALISM AND THE REFORMED FAITH

[HarleyD]

"I wonder what caused the Eastern Orthodox to instutite the sacrament of penance, since you can't really blame a translation error in translating the New Testament from Greek to ... uh ... Greek."

I believe you'll find the Eastern Orthodox has a different interpretation of penance:

Roman Catholicism

The Catholic sacrament of penance and reconciliation is the method given by Christ to the Catholic Church by which individual men may confess sins committed after baptism and have them absolved by a priest. (It is not necessary to confess sins committed before baptism, as baptism itself removes the guilt of sins.) This sacrament is known by many names, including penance, reconciliation, and confession (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Sections 1423-1442). However, because confession is only one aspect of the sacrament, it is no longer officially called "confession." Official Church publications always refer to the sacrament as "Penance and Reconciliation," or shorten it to "penance" or "reconciliation."

Catholics believe that no priest, as an individual man, however pious or learned, has power to forgive sins. This power belongs to God alone; however, God can and does exercise it through the Catholic priesthood. Catholics believe God exercises the power of forgiveness by means of the sacrament of reconciliation.

The basic form of confession has not changed for centuries, although at one time confessions were made publicly. Colloquially speaking, the role of the priest is of a judge and jury; in theological terms, he acts in persona Christi and receives from the Church the power of jurisdiction over the penitent.

Eastern Orthodoxy

The Eastern Orthodox sacrament of confession, or repentance, includes prayer to God and confessing ones sins to God, typically in the presence of an icon of Jesus Christ and also with a priest nearby to bear witness. The priest will typically add his own prayers, may add counsel or assign some form of penance, and will usually announce God's forgiveness of sins. In Orthodox ecclesiology, the priest is not an intermediary between God and the penitent. The confession is to God in the presence of a priest, not to a priest in the presence of God. In addition, the "penance" is not assigned in order to receive absolution — which is granted upon sincere confession — but is a "spiritual calisthenic" to help avoid further sin.

From Wikipedia. This, of course, is a substantial difference.

[Dark Skies]

Charles Hodge insisted that "There is no intimation in the New Testament that the work of converting the world is to be effected by any other means than those now in use.... It is to dishounour [sic, sl] the Gospel, and the power of the Holy Spirit, to suppose that they are inadequate to the accomplishment of this work."

The nerve of that man! Just joking. :)

[Campion]

This, of course, is a substantial difference.

Whatever you want to think, friend. Whatever you want to think.

[Salvation]

**You failed to include the caveat "selective history".**

Very well said. Without Catholicism there would be no Lutherans today.

In fact, many Lutherans are returning to the Catholic Church.

[Campion]

Seriously, Harley, don't you see the incredible -- for lack of a better word -- dishonesty in posting, with your endorsement, an essay which describes the sacrament of confession as the result of a mistranslation of Scripture, and then, when it's pointed out that that's hardly even possible -- since a church that has spoken Greek since the times of the Apostles also has the sacrament of confession -- you take refuge in an article from that authoritative theological compendium, Wikipedia, citing a minor difference in outlook between the Eastern and Western theology of the sacrament??

Sometimes I honestly fear for your soul, sir.

[bonfire]

Thanks, Harley. Great read! Keep them coming.

[jo kus]

Catholics believe that no priest, as an individual man, however pious or learned, has power to forgive sins. This power belongs to God alone; however, God can and does exercise it through the Catholic priesthood. Catholics believe God exercises the power of forgiveness by means of the sacrament of reconciliation.

Really? That's not what I've been told, nor do the Church Fathers agree with that idea.

Power to Forgive Sins

It is noteworthy that the fundamental objection so often urged against the Sacrament of Penance was first thought of by the Scribes when Christ said to the sick man of the palsy: "Thy sins are forgiven thee." "And there were some of the scribes sitting there, and thinking in their hearts: Why doth this man speak thus? he blasphemeth. Who can forgive sins but God only?" But Jesus seeing their thoughts, said to them: "Which is easier to say to the sick of the palsy: Thy sins are forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, take up thy bed and walk? But that you may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) I say to thee: Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house" (Mark 2:5-11; Matthew 9:2-7). Christ wrought a miracle to show that He had power to forgive sins and that this power could be exerted not only in heaven but also on earth. This power, moreover, He transmitted to Peter and the other Apostles. To Peter He says: "And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven" (Matthew 16:19). Later He says to all the Apostles: "Amen I say to you, whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven" (Matthew 18:18). As to the meaning of these texts, it should be noted:

- that the "binding" and "loosing" refers not to physical but to spiritual or moral bonds among which sin is certainly included; the more so because the power here granted is unlimited -- "whatsoever you shall bind, . . . whatsoever you shall loose";

- the power is judicial, i.e., the Apostles are authorized to bind and to loose;

- whether they bind or loose, their action is ratified in heaven. In healing the palsied man Christ declared that "the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins"; here He promises that what these men, the Apostles, bind or loose on earth, God in heaven will likewise bind or loose.

But as the Council of Trent declares, Christ principally instituted the Sacrament of Penance after His Resurrection, a miracle greater than that of healing the sick. "As the Father hath sent me, I also send you. When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained' (John 20:21-23). While the sense of these words is quite obvious, the following points are to be considered:

- Christ here reiterates in the plainest terms -- "sins", "forgive", "retain" -- what He had previously stated in figurative language, "bind" and "loose", so that this text specifies and distinctly applies to sin the power of loosing and binding.

- He prefaces this grant of power by declaring that the mission of the Apostles is similar to that which He had received from the Father and which He had fulfilled: "As the Father hath sent me". Now it is beyond doubt that He came into the world to destroy sin and that on various occasions He explicitly forgave sin (Matthew 9:2-8; Luke 5:20; 7:47; Revelation 1:5), hence the forgiving of sin is to be included in the mission of the Apostles.

- Christ not only declared that sins were forgiven, but really and actually forgave them; hence, the Apostles are empowered not merely to announce to the sinner that his sins are forgiven but to grant him forgiveness-"whose sins you shall forgive". If their power were limited to the declaration "God pardons you", they would need a special revelation in each case to make the declaration valid.

- The power is twofold -- to forgive or to retain, i.e., the Apostles are not told to grant or withhold forgiveness nondiscriminately; they must act judicially, forgiving or retaining according as the sinner deserves. The exercise of this power in either form (forgiving or retaining) is not restricted: no distinction is made or even suggested between one kind of sin and another, or between one class of sinners and all the rest: Christ simply says "whose sins".

- The sentence pronounced by the Apostles (remission or retention) is also God's sentence -- "they are forgiven . . . they are retained".

It is therefore clear from the words of Christ that the Apostles had power to forgive sins. But this was not a personal prerogative that was to erase at their death; it was granted to them in their official capacity and hence as a permanent institution in the Church.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11618c.htm. This site has many citations of Church Fathers verifying the Catholic belief that priests have the power to forgive sins.

In Orthodox ecclesiology, the priest is not an intermediary between God and the penitent.

This implies that the Orthodox do not consider that the Priest is the sacramental presence of Christ, which is what Catholics also believe. The Orthodox ALSO believe that priests have been given the power to forgive sins, as amply stated by the Church Fathers time and time again.

In addition, the "penance" is not assigned in order to receive absolution — which is granted upon sincere confession

Catholics believe the same thing here, as well. Penance does not provide absolution, but is given BEFORE the penitent leaves the confessional and performs the penance.

The difference is not so substantial as you would have it.

Regards

[bonfire]

"Sometimes I honestly fear for your soul, sir."

In light of this article, that remark tickled my funny bone!