Five-hundred years ago on All Hallows Eve (the day before All Saints Day) Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the All Saints Church in Wittenberg, Germany. Professor Luther was proposing a theological debate, what he got was a revolution. What Luther unwittingly launched that day in Wittenberg was one of the most momentous movements in church history: The Protestant Reformation. Among the many consequences of the Reformation was that the Western Church separated into Catholic and Protestant churches. One way of describing the Reformation would be, “there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other.” (Acts 15:39)
So here we are now, five-hundred years down the road — five-hundred years beyond the Wittenberg Door. And finding ourselves half a millennium beyond the Wittenberg Door, how should we think about the Protestant Reformation? I have a few thoughts.
First of all, Commend It.
The Church of the Renaissance had become scandalously corrupt. Too often Popes were worldly emperors and bishops worldly princes with little authentic spirituality. Moral laxity among the clergy and a hierarchy marked by avarice and greed compromised the witness of the Church. A Church mired in empty ritualism where the sacraments were often used as a means of control threatened to rob people of the gospel. Something had to change. When John Tetzel arrived in Wittenberg selling indulgences (think “vacation passes from Purgatory”) as a fund-raising scheme for St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, hawking his wares with tawdry slogans like, As soon as the coin in coffer rings / The rescued soul from Purgatory springs, well, this was all too much for the young professor of theology, Martin Luther.
I admire Luther for the courage it took to challenge the corrupt system and call for reform. Luther was not only risking his clerical career, he was risking his life. Many would-be reformers had already been burned at the stake. Martin Luther has to be regarded as one of the most courageous (and successful) prophets in church history. So for bringing desperately needed ecclesial and theological reform to a corrupt and misguided Church, I commend the Protestant Reformation.
But I also Lament It.
I lament the Protestant Reformation for the tragic division it brought to the Church. We didn’t end up with a Catholic Church and a Protestant Church…we ended up with something like 10,000 Protestant denominations. And Word of Life Church (the church I pastor) belongs to the second largest Protestant “denomination” in America — non-denominational.
CLICK HERE to continue reading
Comments