Thoughts on Reformation

What Reformation Is Not

There is a strange notion among many Protestants that the spirit of reformation is the spirit of rebellion. In other words, reforming the church means rebelling against church authority. Put simply, that is untrue. The Reformers, most notably Luther and Calvin, wanted to reform the church as an act of obedience, not rebellion. That is, they sought to obey God’s Word.

The fact that the Reformers’ obedience to God meant rebellion against Rome was accidental to their cause. The substance of the Reformation was and still is obedience to the Lord, not rebellion against authority.  Moreover, if the Bishop of Rome, or any other church authority, merely commands obedience to God’s Word, that authority should be humbly obeyed. There’s no need to reform that which is rightly formed.

Another strange view of reformation is that it is the triumph of the individual conscience. A true reformer, it is thought, is one whose conscience can override God’s moral law as it is contained in the Scriptures. This, too, is untrue to the spirit of the Reformers, whose consciences were formed and bound by God’s Word.

There is much talk about “bound conscience” among Christians, but the question that needs to be asked is, “Bound by what?” Luther’s words at the Diet of Worms are instructive for anyone who wants to engage in true reformation: “I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God.”

Individual conscience matters, but conscience can err. God’s Word does not err. True conscience is that which is open to being corrected and reformed by God’s Word. And true reformation is that which is captive not to the spirit of the age, but to the Spirit of God (who also just so happens to be the Author of the Bible!).

What Reformation Is

True reformation is reforming the Church so that she is in greater accordance with the Word of God. Why is this necessary? Because there is an obstinate tendency in the Church to make the traditions of men more important than the commandments of God. Reformation fights against this tendency. It labors to elevate the inspired Scriptures over and above – and, if necessary, against – man-made precepts.

There is great freedom that comes from the gospel. Because of Jesus Christ, there is no need to earn one’s salvation, no need to follow ceremonial laws (even if those ceremonies were commanded by God in the Old Testament, because the purpose of those ceremonies was to point to Christ), and most notably, no need to follow the traditions of men.

Yes, spiritual disciplines instituted by men can be good ways to cultivate faith. For example, the observance of Advent or Lent can serve to emphasize and cultivate a particular element of the Christian life. However, such man-made disciplines are not necessary for Christians to observe. Helpful? Yes. Necessary? No. Why? Because God never said, “Thou shalt observe Advent.”

Reformation means making sure that even good things instituted by holy men never turn into necessary things, as if they were instituted by God. Making good things necessary obscures the freedom one has in the gospel. It reduces faith in the living God to nothing more than a bunch of petty traditions passed on by men.

No matter how religious such man-made precepts may appear, they carry no weight in comparison to that which is actually commanded by God in his Word. A true reformation, therefore, is reforming Church teaching and practice to be evermore closely aligned with the Word of God.

Anything less than this is just a petty rebellion, to which the words of Hebrews should be applied, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls.” (Hebrews 13:17)

One Last Word

The Reformation – the period of reform in the 16^th century that splintered the Western Church into hundreds of sects – is not something to be celebrated. Sectarianism runs contrary to the unity for which Jesus himself prayed. (Cf. John 17) Divisions between Christians are perhaps the greatest detriment to Christian witness, meaning the Reformation should be lamented as a tragic (though perhaps necessary) occurrence.

What is to be celebrated is the desire and the courage to labor for the Church’s faithfulness to God. That kind of reform is something to be sought for in every age.