Beginnings of the Protestant Reformation

By Phil Newton

Over the last couple of years, there have been some that have stated the Reformation was unnecessary, a mistake, and should never have taken place. They claim that it did more harm than good by dividing the church and eventually leading to the splintering of various churches and denominations that we have today. Was the Reformation necessary? Why did it need to take place when it did?

Did Martin Luther just decide one day that he was going to start the Reformation?

To say that a massive turning point was needed in the world around 1500 is an understatement! Winds of change swept at gale force through much of the world. The feudalistic system that had provided little kingdoms complete with serfdom within larger kingdoms, declined. Because of the growing power of various kingdoms and the tribal, warlike mind found in so many, governments could no longer afford to grant feudalistic states to prized, wealthy citizens. Instead, the central power of governments increased in order for each country to establish the base necessary for self-protection.

The Roman Catholic Church's power and dominance clutched to the reigns of influence throughout all of Europe. They could always use the fear of Islamic threat to rally nations around the church. But more endemic to the character of the church was its increased greed and corruption. The sale of bishoprics and cardinal's hats went to the highest bidder so that the pope in power might raise the capital needed for building his army or his legacy. Ignorance and superstition ranked as chief characteristics of the common man. There was almost a complete void when it came to understanding of the gospel. The sale of indulgences to buy one's way or that of a relative out of the long wait of purgatory kept people attached in fear to the church. Wealthy and powerful people collected relics - the bones of St. John, pieces of wood from the cross, breast milk of the Virgin Mary, a lock of St. Paul's hair, and many other assorted icons. Archbishop Albert of Mainz, whose dealing in relics became much of the impetus behind the Wittenberg monk, Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses on the abuses and superstitions of the church, had a remarkable relic collection.  Since he had purchased his Archbishopric from Pope Leo X, he had to come up with a way to pay for it. The pope wanted hard cash not land! So he gave Albert full authority to purpose a course of indulgences related to his relics. These "included whole bodies of saints, a bone of Isaac, manna from the wilderness, a bit of Moses's burning bush, a jar from Cana (with actual wine in it), a bit of the crown of throns, and one of the stones that killed St. Stephen," all part of a collection of some 9000 relics. Not to be outdone was Frederick the Wise, the Elector of Saxony, who eventually became the great protector of Martin Luther. He had "some 17,433 fragments of bones" among his relics! But he did not Albert's show and sale of indulgences, which helped to link him to Luther [Paul Johnson, A History of Christianity, 280-281]. In spite of this, the superstitious population flocked in droves to touch or gaze upon particular relics and with a small fee, deduct a certain number of years from their sentence in purgatory.

But the winds of change blew against the ignorance perpetrated in the name of the church. Firenze, Italy, better know to us as Florence, became a center for a new way of thinking and a different way of looking at life, religion, knowledge, education, the arts, and government. We call it the Renaissance, a term that implied "rebirth." Quite simply, it "refers to the recovery of the values of classical Greek and Roman civilization expressed in literature, politics and the arts" (Bruce Shelley, Church History in Plain Language, 312). The Renaissance affected positively and negatively the thinking and actions of the European world. From a positive standpoint, a revival of classical learning that emphasized languages, philosophy, science, and reason emerged from the ignorance and scholasticism of the middle ages. The church had a lock on education for centuries but that monopoly shattered like a clay pot crashing on stone, as the Renaissance "fuelled the Reformation by presenting clericalism as an obstacle to learning and truth" [Paul Johnson, A History of Christianity, 300]. Dante, author of The Divine Comedy, "rejected the claim of the church to control every aspect of an individual's life, and he fearlessly consigned several popes to hell for heresy, simony, cowardice, and avarice" [Clouse, Pierard, Yamauchi, Two Kingdoms: the Church and Culture through the Ages, 231]. Additionally, Petrarch, who grew up near Florence (Dante's hometown), discovered ancient manuscripts of Greek and Roman writers, bringing them back to Italy. By the early 15th century, not only had there been a revival in ancient Latin but also in Greek. Cosimo de Medici founded the Platonic Academy in Florence to further the study of Plato's philosophy and how it could be applied to their own times. Lorenzo Valla was responsible for developing the humanist science of textual criticism. He proved that the "Donation of Constantine," reportedly a 4th century document written by Constantine that granted the papacy control over the western portion of the Roman empire, was actually "an eighth century forgery." His methods for textual criticism would be widely used in 16th century Germany by Martin Luther and others [Clouse, Pierard, Yamauchi, 233]. The "prince of humanists," Desiderius Erasmus (1469-1536), was one of the Renaissance's most important figures, especially due to his collation of a Greek New Testament, published in March 7, 1516, which he revised several times before his death [239-240]. His work on the New Testament, as well as other writers, bore major influence on the Reformation, perhaps giving him the deserved title, the Unwitting Reformer.

Negatively, a rise in paganism, moral lasciviousness and attention to man led to spiritual and moral declines. Humanism began as a philosophy of life. It had two implications. There were classical humanists that valued studying what we would call the liberal arts today. They studied language, mathematics, science, and the arts. Education was valued as a necessity for the common man rather than only the clergy and the elite. But there were also humanists that turned from a God-centered world to a man-centered world. Man and his desires became supreme; God only figured in as a support of man's pursuits to satisfy his own cravings. Florence became a center for this debauched practice of godless humanism. One of the forerunners to the Reformation, Savonarola, began preaching against the immoral behavior that had been furthered by religion. His moral reforms in Florence led to the burning of pornographic books and paintings as well as occult material. This undermined the influence of the dominant Medici family as well as the humanistic papacy, so plans were laid to bribe him with promise of a cardinal's appointment. But Savonarola rejected this, and eventually was tried for heresy and executed in the Piazza de Navonna in Florence. Though lacking the theological precision of earlier reformers such as Wycliffe and Huss, his moral reforms revealed a desperate need in Europe for a radical change of lifestyle. Yet lifestyle change would not suffice. Theological reformation must take place for any lasting change in church or society.

 

Enough is Enough!

Martin Luther had lived in a rather idyllic world of admiration for the Roman Catholic Church, the papacy, and Rome. Several things shattered this idyllic world for him. First, his own study of Scripture as he prepared lectures for his students in Romans, Galatians, and the Psalms opened his eyes to the Word of God and how it contradicted the writings of many of the church fathers that he had been taught to parrot. Second, his visit to Rome during a time of particularly intense, heart-searching for peace with God only left him disappointed, as he saw corruption and immorality saturating the holy city, especially the practice of monks and priests. Third, when Albert of Mainz sought to raise finances to fund his archbishop's throne so that he could in turn make payments to Pope Leo X to replenish his exhausted coffers, he commissioned the wily Tetzel to sell indulgences throughout the whole of Bavaria. Luther responded by penning ninety-five statements for discussion in reaction against the sale of indulgences, and nailing them to the church door at Wittenberg. Finally, Luther's own grasp of justification by faith alone in Christ alone supported by his view of sola scriptura could not be contented with keeping his head in the sand. He had to at least take action in his own parish. The advent of the printing press by Guttenberg in 1454 gave rise to Luther's reformation views spreading.

But before we plunge into a look at Martin Luther, I think that it will help us to see a few key figures that helped to set the stage for Luther's work. Two were popes, one was the greatest humanist scholar produced by the Renaissance. Two motivated Luther to action, the other helped to pave the way through his scholarly work and effective pen.

 

Two Popes, One Scholar

Julius II (1503-1513) took his name after the mighty Roman general/leader, Julius Caesar. He was more interested in military pursuits and as an art patron than in the spiritual duties of the papacy. He commissioned Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel and Raphael to decorate the Vatican with his renowned frescoes [Gonzales 373]. Julius was more at home with armor and lance than with mitre and prayer missal. "Machiavelli thought him a paragon of princely guile, courage, and ruthlessness" [Monyhan 341]. He was known as il terrible for his violence shown to those displeasing him. He was the one that began building St. Peter's, laying the foundation stone for the largest church in Christendom. Michelangelo offered a poem on Julius to express his own sentiments:

Of chalices they make helmet and sword

And sell by the bucket the blood of the Lord.

His cross, his thorns are blades in poison dipped

And even Christ himself is of all patience stripped [Monyhan 343].  

Having fathered 3 children as a cardinal, his excesses caught up with him as he suffered from syphilis. His savagery in military exploits and immoral behavior inspired Erasmus to mock his papacy.

Leo X (1513-1521) was a chip off the old block, being the son of Lorenzo de Medici, who had purchased an abbot's position for his son when he was only 7 years old, canon of the church at 8, and by the time he was 13, he donned the red hat of the cardinal's rank, again, by his father's wealth. Leo patronized the arts, just as his father had done. He was unsuccessful in political and military advances that Julius had started. But, after an attempt on his life by the Cardinal of Siena and the papal doctor, he had both men executed rather viciously, and then made 31 new cardinals in one day in 1517. Since these positions were typically bought, it added to his financial base as well as his power base. He controlled the cardinals. He also swelled the ranks of papal pulembatores, who put lead seals on documents, to over three times the number that Sixtus held. Each of them paid for their position, so he used his position for gain-big gain!One theologian and historian wrote, "He would have been a perfect pope if to these accomplishments he had added even the slightest knowledge of religion" [Monyhan 344].

The legacy he sought to leave was completing the basilica of St. Peter's in Rome. But having spent lavishly on art and entertainment of every sort, the papal coffers were running dry and his credit worthless. Attended by nearly 700 courtiers, regular entertainment, and a virtual zoo following him, Leo exhausted Julius' financial reserves in two years. Leo began a campaign of selling papal indulgences to finance his building project and other papal pursuits. Johann Tetzel became his master seller of indulgences in which peasants and others could buy time out of purgatory through purchasing indulgences. He gave parish priests prepared sermons that explained,

That every mortal sin required seven years of penance even after confession and contrition. They were then to ask their parishioners how many sins they committed each day, each week, month, year, how many in a lifetime. The total would be infinite, and infinite would be the penance that must be suffered. The sales pitch followed. "Won't you part with even a farthing to buy this letter? It won't bring you money but rather a divine and immortal soul, whole and secure in the Kingdom of Heaven." [Monyhan 346]

 All was going well on this except for the emergence of a priest in Wittenburg-Martin Luther. Leo is known for his opposition to Luther, and his attempts to silence him through a mock religious trial and having Luther killed. But Frederick the Wise, elector of Saxony, took the position of Luther's protector, and foiled the plans of Leo. Luther said of Leo, " in him who calls himself most holy and most spiritual, there is more worldliness than in the world itself" [Monyhan 344].

 

Erasmus

All of the Reformers-Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Tyndale, Farrell, and others-owed a great debt to Erasmus of Rotterdam. The illegitimate son of a parish priest and physician's daughter, he grew up in Holland and was early on set apart for the monastery. He was taught Latin as a boy, and so loved the language that he virtually abandoned Dutch to embrace the language of scholarship and the printed page. He drank in the Latin books available to him. He gave in to becoming a monk because a relative in the monastery told him of their fine library. He spent his days in study but disliked greatly the habits and extremes of the monks. "He became secretary to a French bishop" when 26, and then entered into the university of Paris [David Bentley-Taylor, My Dear Erasmus, 12]. But he was so educated on his own that he surpassed his teachers at the university. He embraced the new humanism-not one that was anti-Christian-but one that put "emphasis on man rather than God, on earth in preference to heaven, and on secular interests instead of predominantly religious considerations" [Bentley-Taylor 13].

To help with finances, he engaged in tutoring rich children, with one being a young Englishman that was the tutor of the future king, Henry VIII. This led to contacts with England, which led to him eventually being invited to Oxford. Here he was greatly influenced by John Colet, who encouraged his studies but not without accompanying endeavor to live a holy and pure life. Erasmus kept up this pursuit throughout his life, counting the counsel of John Colet to be most valued.

Jerome was his favorite church father, whom he translated throughout his days. Also, since Jerome mastered Greek, Erasmus began that study as well in 1500. By 1502 he could say, "the study of Greek absorbs me completely" [B-T 24]. He even began to translate Greek works into Latin. The Greek satirist, Lucian, held strong appeal for Erasmus, who took up the same practice, writing notable satires that were reprinted often.

His first Christian work was The Handbook of the Christian Soldier (which Tyndale translated into English in his early days). "I wrote it solely to counteract the error of those who make religion consist in rituals and observances but are astonishingly indifferent to matters that have to do with true goodness. What I have tried to do is to teach a method of morals" [B-T 27]. It included 22 rules for living the Christian life consistently, and remedies for 6 common temptations. He criticized Catholic pilgrimages as useless, as well as lighting candles, prostration before statues, having relics of the cross or the bones of Paul, or other relics in one's possession. He also exposed the wearing of religious clothes and special diets as being efforts to win God's favor, though futile. "Being sprinkled with a few drops of holy water is useless unless you clean up the inner defilement of the soul," he wrote [ibid 29]. He even took aim at the hypocrisy of priests, "God will hate your flabby religion. In private you are more pagan than pagans" [ibid].

In 1509, Erasmus wrote, In Praise of Folly, a book that was to be reprinted 40 times in his lifetime. His musings cover a range of subjects, written in satirical fashion. It is a take-off on the personification of wisdom in the Bible, but using folly to unveil human foibles and foolishness. In it he is able, through tongue and cheek, to criticize even the papacy for its many indulgences and worldliness. He proved himself to be "an ecclesiastical rebel" by the book's contents [B-T 47].

In 1514 he completed his most important work, one that he would revise several times as well-the Greek New Testament. He collated a number of Greek manuscripts, putting it together with some critical notes about the manuscripts, and had it published. It created a revolution at Cambridge and a lesser degree at Oxford, and also on the Continent. Students began reading the Word of God for themselves in the original language, and were smitten by its richness and power. Many were converted simply by reading it for themselves. Luther used it in his study, and later in his translation of the New Testament into German. Tyndale used it to translate the New Testament into English. At least among those in the academies of England and Europe, as well as those educated in Greek, Erasmus' Greek NT became the foundation for the Reformation.

Additionally, Erasmus wielded his pen often to criticize the papacy, indulgences, corrupt priests and monks, superstitions, neglect of Scripture, etc. He commended Luther in the early days for his writings against indulgences and the corruptions of the papacy, though in later days, probably fearing for his life, he made sure that he remained Catholic.

Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be explicitly approved by South Woods Baptist Church.

Please include the following statement on any distributed copy:

Copyright South Woods Baptist Church. Website: www.southwoodsbc.org. Used by permission as granted on web site. Questions, comments, and suggestions about our site can be sent here.