May 18, 2008

 

Factors contributing to the Reformation:

 

1)  With increased attempts at dictatorial control by the Romanist papacy,

    there was a growing resentment by European leaders and people.

2) The utter moral corruption witnessed in the papacy and priests eroded

     confidence in such church leadership.

3) Growing nationalism among the states of Europe fed an appetite for

     liberty and direction of churches by local leadership rather than the papacy.

4) The Renaissance encouraged enlightenment, seeking truth and discovery

     of man’s gifts and goodness.

5)  The invention of the moveable press (Gutenberg Bible- 1448) that allowed

    widespread publication of material, increasing the availability of information.

6)  The recovery of the value of scripture through the studies of the

     manuscripts of the Bible by monks and scholars.

 

Revival of interest in and use of the scriptures:

 

1) With fall of Constantinople in 1453, considerable copies of Greek NT scriptures

    were carried by monks into Europe so to not be destroyed.

2) Erasmus, a humanist and Cardinal Ximenes (Spain) collated and published

    Greek NT that made scriptures more available.  These Gk manuscripts later     

    helped  influence Protestant translations of scripture into native languages.

3)  Widespread distribution of Wycliffe’s English translation of the Bible further

    encouraged both Bible study and the seeking of Bible translations.

4) The Reformation view was that scripture formed the foundation and authority

    for the Christian life, but at the same time did not oppose reason.

 

Martin Luther (183-1546)

1) Born to peasant parents in Saxony, Germ. and raised with strict discipline.

He was raised in the mining district of Harz to parents who were industrious,

honest, religious and poor.  Luther was taught the ancient classic writers and mastered Latin; he did not learn Greek until he was a professor.  He attended

mass regularly and was a devout worshipper of Mary.

2) His moral conduct was unblemished and he grew to love music.

3) He entered the Univ.of Erfert in 1501 and the Augustinian monastery in 1505

against his father’s wishes.  He was devout and preached and began his study

of scripture.

4) His outward earnestness as a Rom.Catholic was contrasted with his inward

turmoil at his sense of sinfulness against the holiness of God.

5) In this state of anxiety, Luther meets Dr. Johann Staupitz, head over the August. Convent and a man who cared more for the internal spiritual changes

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than outward religious rituals.  Staupitz taught Luther of God’s forgiveness

and enabling grace to change his heart and relieve his guilt.  Staupizt remained

Catholic all his life, leaving Erfurt and died in 1524.

6)  The study of the scriptures eventually moved Luther further from self-

mortification and self-condemnation as he examined Romans and Galatians

and comprehended justification as an act of God, not a process (Rom.Cath.).

7) Luther is ordained to the priesthood in 1507, moving to Wittenberg just before 1510.  During this period, 1510-1511, Luther visited Rome as a serious

Catholic and was shocked by the lack of godliness that he witnessed.

8)  At the university of Wittenberg, Luther began lectures or Biblical expositions moving through several books and themes until he came to Galatians in 1516.

He was increasingly evangelical in his approach to scripture and troubled at

the shallowness of Catholicism in general.

9) About this time, Pope Leo 10^th needed additional funds in the building of

St. Peter’s church in Rome and moved to offer “indulgences” in order to raise

The necessary money.  Dr. Tetzel was appointed to sell indulgences in Germany and with considerable fanfare offered them to German Catholics.  Luther was

Beginning to proclaim a very evangelical doctrine of forgiveness and felt moved

to denounce this practice by the church and offer by Tetzel.