The Reformation was an amazing time in the history of the Christian Church. All at the same time it was a rebuke, a recovery, and a rupture. Rome had blown it and needed rebuking. The Gospel had been buried and needed recovering. But, neither of these necessities could happen without struggle, pain, and consequences...a rupture. On October 31, 1517 Martin Luther nailed 95 theses on the church door in Wittenburg, Germany, and never again would the world be the same. From that hammer blow came Calvin, Zwingli, and Knox; the clearest articulation of the Gospel of free grace ever formulated by the Church; the purest manner of worship after the Apostles. But today, as we sit back and ponder the finer points of theology, we forget that the Reformation struggle, which America owes its' existance from, was one to the death. These were not the days of endless and meaningless Ph.D.s, prolific self-publishing and self-promotion, or internet chat groups. When you came to a conviction, it would most likely mean your life. This is why I tend to trust the Reformers more than today's psuedo-scholars.
More to come...
