Historical Overview of the Protestant Reformation: Zwingli to Calvin

The Radical Reformers

Andreas Bodenstein von Carlstadt and Gabriel Zwilling

Gabriel Zwilling

The Zwickau Prophets (Nicholas Storch, Marcus Stubner, Thomas Dreschel)

Insisted on laity touching the bread of the communion because Jesus said take and eat!

Rejected infant baptism

Rejected the Church-State alliance

The Zwickau Prophets (Nicholas Storch, Marcus Stubner, Thomas Dreschel)

Led by Thomas Munster

They claimed direct revelation from God

Munster made the Bible secondary to the “direct speaking” of the Holy Spirit to the heart.

He believed that, if necessary, the elect would have to take up the sword to conform society to his idea of perfect equality.

Claimed that Luther was a mere academic, an enemy of the Holy Spirit, who worshipped the dead letter of the Bible.

Luther once said about Munster, “Thomas Munster thinks that he has swallowed the Holy Spirit feathers and all.”

The Pea

Concerning Church-State Relations

The nationalist Reformers - transferred powers of the papacy to the state in order to secure protection for the Protestants against the papacy. [Lutheran and Anglican Churches fit here]

Christianising Reformers - committed to the ideal of a Christian society and culture, believed in the rightness of a Christian state. [This is exemplified in Martin Bucer, John Calvin, and the Reformed Churches]

Those who abandoned the ideal of Christianising society and cutlure, rejected the notion of a Christian state, saw the church as an alternative society living in an irredeemably wicked and hostile world. [These are the radical reformers]

The radicals were pacifists.

Anabaptists were extreme egalitarians, contending that women had the same right of functions in the community as men.

At one point the Anabaptists actually took over Strasburg, and due to the impacts of war on the male population, installed polygamy.

Reformation, Chaos, and Violence

Religious life became chaotic in Wittenberg.

Violence erupted

Mobs smashed alters, shrines, images, statues and stain-glassed windows

Evangelicals insulted and intimidated those who stayed loyal to Rome.

Luther was compelled to return and restore order.

He preached a series of sermons over 8 days that produced calm.

Faith must always be accomplished by love.

All true reform must be truly evangelical, growing from the freedom of the gospel, rather than from the compulsion of the law.

The Peasants’ Revolt

1524-1525, widespread throughout Germany, strongly influenced by the radical reformers, especially Thomas Muntzer.

Luther believed that civil disobience was sin, regardless of how tyrannical a government might be, civil war was worse.

Luther rejected the Peasants position.

In 1525, 8,000 peasants had gathered to battle a professional German army.

The Protestant prince, Philip of Hesse offered to allow them to disband and leave. Spurred on by Thomas Muntzer, they refused.

Muntzer was taken captive, the Peasants were annihilated, and Muntzer was tortured and executed.

Muntzer’s last act was to recant and receieve the mass.

It is estimated that 100,000 peasants lost their lives.

The Reforms of Ulrich Zwingli

Life of Zwingli (1484 - 1531)

Zwingli studied in Basel and Bern, then the University of Vienna.

He was proficient in Greek

Made a copy of Erasmus’ GNT so that he could memorize as much of it as possible.

He was not only a pastor and a scholar, but a patriot as well.

He reached many of the same conclusions as Luther, independent of Luther’s influence.

In October of 1531, five Catholic cantons joined in a suprise attack on Zurich.

A mercenary captain found Zwingli among the wounded after the battle.

He killed Zwingli by a single sword thrust, then had his body quartered and burned.

Theology of Zwingli

Zwingli differed with Luther on the sacrements, claiming that the presence of Christ was only symbolic. Luther held that the presence as real. Roman Catholics believed in the actual transformation of the elements into the body and blood of Christ.

On the issue of Predestination, they agreed but came to their conclusions differently:

Luther and Zwingli both affirmed that predestination was scriptural, and that it was necessary to affirm it as the basis for the doctrine of justification by grace alone.

For Luther, predestination was the expression and result of his experience of knowing himself powerless before his own sin.

For Zwingli, presdestination was the logical consequence of the nature of God. God is both omnipotent and omniscient, and God knows and determines all things beforehand.

While Luther’s theology would lead to the Lutheran tradition in Protestantism, Zwingli’s theology would lead to the Reformed tradition.

It is from Zwingli’s views that many Christians have taken up arms as a matter of righteousness and justice.

The Life and Theology of William Tyndale

Life of Tyndale (1494 - 1536)

Born in the western part of England, graduated from Oxford.

Tyndale’s passion was translating the Bible into English

Tyndale once said to a clergy with whom he was debating:

“If God spare my life, ere many years, I will cause a boy that driveth the plough to know more of the Scripture than thou dost.”

P.M. Bechtel and P.W. Comfort, “Tyndale, William,” ed. J.D. Douglas and Philip W. Comfort, Who’s Who in Christian History (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1992), 684.

Tyndale left England and settled in Hamburg, Germany in 1524.

Tyndale used the same Greek Text of Erasmus that Luther used for his German Bible.

15,000 copies of 6 editions were smuggled into England between 1525-1530.

Tyndale was arrested and carried off to Brussels in 1535 where he was imprisoned.

A year later he was strangled, and burnt at the stake. His last words: “Lord, open the King’s eyes.”

Theology of Tyndale

Faith alone justifies

He denied any human works in salvation

He denied the freedom of the will

He denied purgatory

Life of Melancthon (1497 - 1560)

Become professor of Greek at Wittenberg in 1518.

By 1521 he had given the reformation its first dogmatics.

With Luther’s help, he drafted the Augsberg Confession for the Imperial Diet.

Melancthon was more of a scholar and reflective theologian than he was a man of action.

Theology of Melancthon

The Life and Theology of Heinrich Bullinger

Life of Bullinger (1504 - 1575)

Replaced Zwingli as the leader of the Swiss reformation.

Turned a monastery into a church in Kappel because all the monks had become Protestant through his exposition.

He was a gifted preacher and theologian.

His sermons were published as a textbook of systematic theology, called, Decades. It became the basic textbook of theology for training Anglican clergy.

Bullinger’s greatest theological contribution was his development of the covenant theme.

He argued that God’s covenant with Abraham was the basis of “salvation history,” and that Christ is the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant.

Bullinger tied the old and new testaments closely together as the unfolding of one story, one single gracious covenant, in which the Mosaic law was only a temporary addition.

Bulling was also the author of the Second Helvetic (Swiss) Confession, published in 1566, which became one of the most widely used confessions of faith among the Reformed Churches.

Theology of Bullinge

The Life and Theology of John Calvin (1509 - 1564)

Between 1531 - 1541, the reform movement seemed to lose momentum. This was due to the ensuing confusion and divisions that were taking place between Lutherans, Reformed, and Radicals. Care must be taken here when you read about the radicals. They should be not confused with the Reformed Baptists. This was a tactic employed at the time by some within the reformed camp in order to polarize and marginalize the Baptists who disagreed with infant baptism but who were moderate in their theology, rejecting the excesses of the radical anabaptists.

Nevertheless, it remains true that if any single person among the Reformed pioneers had ultimately the most far-reaching influence on Church and world, it was surely Calvin.

Life of Calvin

Born in north-eastern France in 1509 to a upper class family.

He was originally educated toward the priesthood but after his father had a quarrel with the church, he shifted young Calvin toward becoming a lawyer.

Calvin came to Protestantism sometime between 1532-34.

Calvin had to leave Paris because it became a very dangerous place for Protestants.

In 1535, Francis I issued a public letter accusing French Protestants of being political rebels intent on overthrowing the government.

Calvin responded by righting a short book and included in the preface of that book an open letter to Francis I.

The title of that book was called, Institutes of the Christian Religion.

It was the clearest, most elegant and best organized presentation of Reformation theology and spirituality which had yet appeared.

Calvin spent much of his life expanding the Institutes of the Christian Religion.

Theology of Calvin

The basic theology of the Institutes was the Reformation gospel of salvation by God’s grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

Calvin was a disciple of Augustine, and taught a strong Augustinian doctrine of humanity’s helpless bondage to sin, and the absolute sovereignty of God’s grace in predestination and salvation.

Many people associate the doctrine of Predestination with Calvin as if he invented it. This is a very serious misunderstanding of Church history. Most of the great Western theologians of the Middle Ages held a form of Augustinianism, and all the leading Protestant theologians of the Magisterial Reformation stood with Calvin in teaching the doctrine of God’s sovereignty in salvation.

Calvin rejected the Lutheran, Roman Catholic, and Anabaptist view of the church but borrowed elements from each one.

The true Church is the spiritual body of all true believers, infallibly known to God alone. (Luther)

The visible church is of supreme practical importance, and must enter into partnership with the state in order to build a Christian society. (Calvin accepted the concept of the Christian state.)

The institutional church is independent of the state and should not be controlled by it. Moreover, the church must exercise a strong internal discipline to ensure that its members are made up of those who professed the true faith and lived a Christian life. The power of excommunication belongs only to the Church.

Calvin differed with Luther in that “This is my body” meant “This signifies y body.” Calvin agreed with Luther that one did receive Christ’s body in the eucharist, but he believed that reception through faith alone. Only the believer partook of the Christ in the eucharist.

Calvin believed that the Lords Supper should be celebrated every time the church gathered for worship.

A true church is recognizable by the true marks of preaching and faithful hearing of the Word, the right administration of the sacraments, and, a functioning discipline to guard the sanctity of communion.

Calvin’s view on the knowledge of God.

Institutes of the Christian Religion 1. Without Knowledge of Self There Is No Knowledge of God

Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.3

“Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: knowledge of God and of ourselves.”

Institutes of the Christian Religion 2. Without Knowledge of God There Is No Knowledge of Self

Again, it is certain that man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself5 unless he has first looked upon God’s face, and then descends from contemplating him to scrutinize himself. For we always seem to ourselves righteous and upright and wise and holy—this pride is innate in all of us—unless by clear proofs we stand convinced of our own unrighteousness, foulness, folly, and impurity.

Institutes of the Christian Religion 2. Without Knowledge of God There Is No Knowledge of Self

For, because all of us are inclined by nature to hypocrisy, a kind of empty image of righteousness in place of righteousness itself abundantly satisfies us.

Institutes of the Christian Religion 2. Knowledge of God Involves Trust and Reverence

For, to begin with, the pious mind does not dream up for itself any god it pleases, but contemplates the one and only true God. And it does not attach to him whatever it pleases, but is content to hold him to be as he manifests himself; furthermore, the mind always exercises the utmost diligence and care not to wander astray, or rashly and boldly to go beyond his will.

Calvin’s views on Scripture

Institutes of the Christian Religion 1. God Bestows the Actual Knowledge of Himself upon Us Only in the Scriptures

God bestows the actual knowledge of himself upon us only in the Scriptures

Institutes of the Christian Religion 2. The Word of God as Holy Scripture

For by his Word, God rendered faith unambiguous forever, a faith that should be superior to all opinion.

Institutes of the Christian Religion 3. Without Scripture We Fall into Error

For errors can never be uprooted from human hearts until true knowledge of God is planted therein.

Institutes of the Christian Religion 1. Scripture Has Its Authority from God, Not from the Church

Hence the Scriptures obtain full authority among believers only when men regard them as having sprung from heaven, bas if there the living words of God were heard.

Institutes of the Christian Religion 1. Scripture Has Its Authority from God, Not from the Church

But a most pernicious error widely prevails that Scripture has only so much weight as is conceded to it by the consent of the church. As if the eternal and inviolable truth of God depended upon the decision of men! For they mock the Holy Spirit when they ask: Who can convince us that these writings came from God? Who can assure us that Scripture has come down whole and intact even to our very day? Who can persuade us to receive one book in reverence but to exclude another, unless the church prescribe a sure rule for all these matters? What reverence is due Scripture and what books ought to be reckoned within its canon depend, they say, upon the determination of the church. Thus these sacrilegious men, wishing to impose an unbridled tyranny under the cover of the church, do not care with what absurdities they ensnare themselves and others, provided they can force this one idea upon the simple-minded: that the church has authority in all things.

Institutes of the Christian Religion 1. Scripture Has Its Authority from God, Not from the Church

Thus these sacrilegious men, wishing to impose an unbridled tyranny under the cover of the church, do not care with what absurdities they ensnare themselves and others, provided they can force this one idea upon the simple-minded: that the church has authority in all things. Yet, if this is so, what will happen to miserable consciences seeking firm assurance of eternal life if all promises of it consist in and depend solely upon the judgment of men? Will they cease to vacillate and tremble when they receive such an answer? Again, to what mockeries of the impious is our faith subjected, into what suspicion has it fallen among all men, if we believe that it has a precarious authority dependent solely upon the good pleasure of men!

Ephesians 2:20 ESV

built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,

Ephesians 3:20 ESV

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,

Institutes of the Christian Religion 4. The Witness of the Holy Spirit: This Is Stronger than All Proof

We ought to remember what I said a bit ago:10 credibility of doctrine is not established until we are persuaded beyond doubt that God is its Author. Thus, the highest proof of Scripture derives in general from the fact that God in person speaks in it.

Institutes of the Christian Religion 5. Scripture Bears Its Own Authentication

Let this point therefore stand: that those whom the Holy Spirit has inwardly taught truly rest upon Scripture, and that Scripture indeed is self-authenticated;16 hence, it is not right to subject it to proof and reasoning. And the certainty it deserves with us, it attains by the testimony of the Spirit. bFor even if it wins reverence for itself by its own majesty, it seriously affects us only when it is sealed upon our hearts through the Spirit. Therefore, illumined by his power, we believe neither by our own nor by anyone else’s judgment that Scripture is from God; but above human judgment we affirm with utter certainty (just as if we were gazing upon the majesty of God himself) that it has flowed to us from the very mouth of God by the ministry of men.

Institutes of the Christian Religion 1. Scripture Is Superior to All Human Wisdom

Unless this certainty, higher and stronger than any human judgment, be present, it will be vain to fortify the authority of Scripture by arguments, to establish it by common agreement of the church, or to confirm it with other helps. For unless this foundation is laid, its authority will always remain in doubt.

Institutes of the Christian Religion Chapter IX: Fanatics, Abandoning Scripture and Flying over to Revelation, Cast down All the Principles of Godliness

FANATICS, ABANDONING SCRIPTURE AND FLYING OVER TO REVELATION, CAST DOWN ALL THE PRINCIPLES OF GODLINESS

Institutes of the Christian Religion 1. The Fanatics Wrongly Appeal to the Holy Spirit

Furthermore, those who, having forsaken Scripture, imagine some way or other of reaching God, ought to be thought of as not so much gripped by error as carried away with frenzy. For of late, certain giddy men have arisen who, with great haughtiness exalting the teaching office of the Spirit, despise all reading and laugh at the simplicity of those who, as they express it, still follow the dead and killing letter.1

Calvin’s view of the Christian life

Institutes of the Christian Religion 1. We Are Not Our Own Masters, but Belong to God

Now the great thing is this: we are consecrated and dedicated to God in order that we may thereafter think, speak, meditate, and do, nothing except to his glory. For a sacred thing may not be applied to profane uses without marked injury to him.

Institutes of the Christian Religion 1. We Are Not Our Own Masters, but Belong to God

But the Christian philosophy bids reason give way to, submit and subject itself to, the Holy Spirit so that the man himself may no longer live but hear Christ living and reigning within him [Gal. 2:20].

Calvin’s teaching on Total Depravity

Calvin’s on Election and Predestination

Institutes of the Christian Religion 1. Necessity and Beneficial Effect of the Doctrine of Election; Danger of Curiosity

First, then, let them remember that when they inquire into predestination they are penetrating the sacred precincts of divine wisdom. If anyone with carefree assurance breaks into this place, he will not succeed in satisfying his curiosity and he will enter a labyrinth from which he can find no exit. For it is not right for man unrestrainedly to search out things that the Lord has willed to be hid in himself, and to unfold from eternity itself the sublimest wisdom, which he would have us revere but not understand that through this also he should fill us with wonder. He has set forth by his Word the secrets of his will that he has decided to reveal to us. These he decided to reveal in so far as he foresaw that they would concern us and benefit us.

Calvin’s view on the Atonement

Calvin’s Teaching on Grace in Regeneration

Calvin’s view on perseverance