Two Great Men: John And Martin
It goes without saying that Reformed Faith churches owe their very existence to John Calvin and Martin Luther. And if such a premise is true, isn’t it worth becoming acquainted with them in a more-than-superficial manner? Do we know anything more about Luther than the fact he nailed 95 theses on a church door? Is there more to John Calvin than the greatly misunderstood doctrines of election and predestination? Yes, so much more!
Years ago, Reformation Sunday never passed my city, St. Louis, Missouri, without a real turnout of Protestant Christians to Kiel Auditorium to celebrate the historical birth of the “Justification by Faith” movement. Today Reformation Sunday comes and goes with hardly a whimper from the evangelical sector. There are perhaps many reasons for this, including a possible ecumenical spirit and desire not to emphasize differences. However, it is also possible that special recognition of the Reformation has fallen into silent disrepute because evangelicalism has lost its fervor for sound doctrine. The emphasis has switched from doctrine to need-meeting (a form of narcissism). Many flock into churches today to have personal needs met rather than to know more intimately a great God or His will for the Church.
It goes without saying that Reformed Faith churches owe their very existence to John Calvin and Martin Luther. And if such a premise is true, isn’t it worth becoming acquainted with them in a more-than-superficial manner? Do we know anything more about Luther than the fact he nailed 95 theses on a church door? Is there more to John Calvin than the greatly misunderstood doctrines of election and predestination? Yes, so much more! I will even venture to confess here the impact Martin Luther had on me when I was eleven years old. I borrowed a book on Martin Luther’s life from the bookmobile that came to our elementary school once a week. It was a child’s book, but it communicated the fact that he experienced a turning point in his life and a personal relationship with God. Thanks to that story, I became a truth seeker at a very young age and searched for a personal knowledge and relationship with God. The fulfillment of that search became a reality when I was 19 years old.
Both John Calvin and Martin Luther, of course, can be faulted in one way or another from our “enlightened” perspective. We are not called to put anyone on a pedestal; and from our present vantage point, they would not desire such from us either. Nonetheless, the personal pilgrimages and teachings of these two men changed the known world of their day upside down, and 506 years later continue to impact us today.
Perhaps the greatest vestige of the Reformation attributable to John Calvin is his Institutes of the Christian Religion, one of the most positive interpretations of the Christian religion. His prefatory letter to Francis I is a model of a “learned, eloquent, elegant, dignified address of a subject to his sovereign,” according to A. M. Fairbairn. “It throbs with a noble indignation against injustice and with a noble enthusiasm for freedom and truth. It is one of the great epistles of the world, a splendid apology for the oppressed and arraignment of the oppressors.” I can’t resist the thought that if families included the Institutes of the Christian Religion in their home libraries and read it frequently, a hardier Christianity would emerge today which would impact our culture greatly. Calvin was a super spiritual strategist. Within a period of eleven years, his center of education in Geneva sent at least one hundred sixty-one pastors into France. “They were learned men, strenuous, fearless, praised by a French bishop as modest, grave, saintly, with the name of Jesus Christ ever on their lips . . . The Reformed minister was essentially a preacher, intellectual, exegetical, argumentative, seriously concerned with the subjects that most appeared to the serious-minded.” Most of all, the teachings of the Christian faith, according to Calvin, transformed the men and women in the pew into a learned, vibrant, respected (and often persecuted) followers of Jesus Christ.
As for Martin Luther, according to Martin F. Marty, “There’s no more consistent strand in Luther than the gospel of forgiveness. That theme still isn’t heeded well.” Today, the gospel of self-esteem and marketing the church based on people’s needs takes precedence over the teaching of sound doctrine. Martin Marty also notes that, “Our culture promotes human ability and human will, as did the indulgences culture in Luther’s day, as a way to bring salvation.” If Luther lived today, he would probably direct his central message to the evangelical church itself. How history twists and turns!
John and Martin were two men who lived intensely in their day, who knew God and served Him diligently and without compromise. They were unashamed lovers of God and of His written revelation. If we are to experience revival or reformation in our day, such men and women are needed once again. Are we willing to pick up the torch which once beamed so brightly and to dare hope for true reformation in the Church in our day? If so, we must willingly give serious study to the Word of God and doctrine as these men once did. Let’s pick up the torch and run with it to the glory of God and for the sake of His Church!
Helen Louise Herndon is a member of Central Presbyterian Church (EPC) in St. Louis, Missouri. She is freelance writer and served as a missionary to the Arab/Muslim world in France and North Africa.
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A Present, Perpetual, Personal Revival
People are willing to travel thousands of miles to see a weeklong worship service, but they’re unwilling to pick up their bibles off the nightstand. If we want to see personal revival, let us be engrossed in God’s word, entrenched in prayer, and in love with God’s people. May God truly revive us again.
There’s been a lot of conversation about revival lately. R.C. Sproul described revival as a time when, “the Holy Spirit comes into the valley of dry bones (Ezek. 37) and exerts His power to bring new life, a revivification of the spiritual life of the people of God.” This “revivification” presumes a knowledge and proclamation of the true gospel, and I long to see this in our churches. I also desire to see this in my own soul. I desire a present, perpetual, personal revival. And while I have no real opinion on what’s going on in other places, I wanted to give three strategies for seeing long term, personal revival.
Read Your Bible Daily
When God gave instructions for the kings of Israel, he commanded the king to write out his own copy of God’s word, and he was to, “read in it all the days of his life.” God goes on to tell us what would be the effect of that daily reading of the word of God. “…that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel” (Deut 17:19-20). And while this instruction is specifically for the king in Israel, the principle remains: If we want to learn to fear the Lord our God, to obey God, and to be humbled, then we must have a daily habit of reading the word of God.
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How to Make your Spiritual Life Purposeful, Part I
We need both the habits and the goal. On the one hand, there is a power in developing purposeful habits that we consistently practice over decades. On the other hand, many of our spiritual habits are without purpose or have lost their purpose. We need habits directed toward a finish line.
What plan do you have for your spiritual life? Where do you want to go spiritually? And how are you going to get there?
My hunch is that most of us don’t have a plan for our spiritual life. Most of us live hoping that we’ll drift into a better spiritual life. But that is a faulty assumption. Have you drifted into losing weight? Or becoming a better father? Or into your Master’s degree?
For some reason, we think that even though we make plans for improvement and we set goals in other areas, it’s not necessary or spiritual for us to set out these kinds of plans for our spiritual walk.
Jesus himself lived an incredibly purposeful life. If you pick up the gospel of John, you see that Jesus is very sensitive to discerning and following God’s purpose for his life. His purpose was not about self-fulfillment but self-giving at the cross. In John 17:1, Jesus prays, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.”
How do we live a spiritual life with such purpose and awareness?
Just as we need a plan to study for a business exam, or to lock in our workouts to lose weight, so we need a plan for our spiritual life. So, what’s your plan? What do you want? How are you going to grow in your understanding of God’s Word? Or how are you going to grow in your prayer life? What current habits do you have? Do they need to be changed to grow? Do you need a shock to your system? Or maybe you need to expand what you’re doing?
We need both the habits and the goal. On the one hand, there is a power in developing purposeful habits that we consistently practice over decades. On the other hand, many of our spiritual habits are without purpose or have lost their purpose. We need habits directed toward a finish line.
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The Illiteracy of Current Issues
State of Theology: Christian Societal Responsibility
23. Christians should be silent on issues of politics.
This question deals with the Christian’s responsibility regarding society, which is clearly implied in Scripture. While Scripture does not direct or imply any particular level or nature of political involvement, it is clear that Christians should be deeply concerned about the society in which they live, seeking to improve it in ways that glorify God (Jeremiah 29:7). Israelites were commanded to care for widows, orphans, and sojourners (Deuteronomy 14:29 and 24:17) as well as to relentlessly pursue justice and mercy (Exodus 23:6, Zechariah 7:9). While these commands could be considered part of the civil law, they are undergirded by the moral law that is still just as binding today as it was then. They are part of loving your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:8) and not neglecting the weighty matters of justice (Matthew 23:23) as clearly taught by Jesus. Many political issues are issues of justice, so to be silent about them is to disobey these commands. Scripture is equally clear that silence in the face of injustice and oppression are just as sinful as the injustice and oppression themselves (Job 31:16-23, Isaiah 1:16, Ezekiel 22:6-12). This means it is incompatible with Scripture to say that Christians should be silent on political issues in general. Over half of respondents across all categories affirmed that silence about politics is not commanded in Scripture, ranging from 56% of regularly attending Northeasterners to 76% of Midwest evangelicals. These results are mixed, but generally positive. While there is certainly room for debate as to how much political involvement is prudent and appropriate, it would be improper to say that silence is required. However, it is equally important to stress that while individual Christians can be involved in the political process, it is not the place of churches to be officially involved in politics. We do not wage war using the weapons of the world (2 Corinthians 10:4), including politics. The Gospel is what truly transforms society, and history teaches that such transformations are often slow. Churches must focus on the Gospel, which then compels individual believers to act in ways that advance the Kingdom of God much as it compelled people like William Wilberforce to fight against slavery over two centuries ago.
State of Theology: Extramarital Sex
25. Sex outside of traditional marriage is a sin.
This question is explicitly addressed in Scripture by the Seventh Commandment as interpreted by Jesus (Matthew 7:27-32). Scripture therefore defines “traditional marriage” as the covenantal union between one man and one woman as established by God to reflect the diversity and unity of the Trinity as well as the union between Christ and the Church (Genesis 1:28, Ephesians 5:22-33, Colossians 3:18-19, 1 Peter 1:7). Throughout Scripture, sex outside of this union is prohibited (Leviticus 15 and 20, Proverbs 5-7, Mark 10:1-12, 1 Corinthians 5-6). This is further echoed by Paul with his use of the generic term “sexual immorality” as any sexual activity outside of God’s definition of marriage (Romans 13:13, 1 Corinthians 10:8, 2 Corinthians 12:21, Galatians 5:19, Ephesians 5:3, Colossians 4:3). Thus, Scripture is clear that sex outside of traditional marriage (as defined by God) is sinful. While over half of respondents across all categories except the Northeast (at 39%) affirmed this, it is concerning that results both overall (53%) and for the Midwest (54%) were also relatively low for something so clearly taught by Scripture. Only with regularly attending evangelicals nationwide and in the Midwest were results better than 80%, showing that in certain regions and denominations the sin of extramarital sex has either been denied or neglected. This is especially concerning when we consider that this question only deals with the act of sex and not with lust, which Jesus equates with adultery (Matthew 5:27-28). Had the question included lustful thoughts, pornography, and other forms of sexual immorality outside of sex itself, I fear the results would have been much more negative. Still, it is slightly encouraging to see that in our hypersexualized society, the majority in most categories did affirm the sinfulness of extramarital sex, even if it was only a slight majority.
State of Theology: Abortion
26. Abortion is a sin.
The question of abortion is not clearly addressed in any passage of Scripture but is clearly implied by Scripture overall. Since the term “abortion” does not appear in Scripture, it must be defined first. For our purposes, abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by the willful killing of the baby in the womb. Thus abortion is a premediated act and not the death of the child during an act of medical necessity to save the mother’s life. Being the killing of a baby, abortion is sinful if it falls outside of the limitations for killing in Scripture. The command against killing in Scripture rooted in the Sixth Commandment forbidding murder, which is reiterated by Jesus, proving that it is part of the moral law and thus still applicable today (Matthew 5:21, 15:19, and 19:18, Mark 7:21 and 10:19, Luke 18:20). While speaking His covenant to Noah, God says “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image” (Genesis 9:6). This comes just before God reiterates the cultural mandate to be fruitful and multiply (verse 7), so it refers to all mankind (men and women of all ages). This establishes that since people are made in the image of God, killing them is a grave sin apart from specific circumstances explicitly set out by God. The first of these caveats is seen in this passage: punishment for murder or other serious crimes, which must only come after a just conviction (Numbers 35:30, see also Exodus 21:12-14. Leviticus 24:17-18, Numbers 35:31). The second is the killing of enemy combatants in battle (which is allowed in certain circumstances throughout Scripture) and when the death of a perpetrator happens due to self-defense that was not premeditated (Exodus 22:2-3). Scripturally, the killing of a person outside of these caveats is murder and thus sinful.
Scripture is equally clear that a baby in the womb is a person with equal worth to any other person.
