CH 602 Test 1

• 5.2A:
• Not like how we view the idea of “protesting,” originally; word derived from Latin “pro” (for) + “testari” (witness); thus a witness FOR, not against.

By use of this term, the impression is given that there is only one single, organized body in Christendom; its universal submission is to be to the Pope; and that it is the sole means of salvation for all. The RCC claims there is no salvation outside the Church in its Catechism (1994), and numerous other church documents and papal pronouncements.

5.3A: In two councils at Speyer (1526 and 1529), efforts were made by Charles V and Clement to reunite the church due to the Turks attacking Charles’ borders. At the 2nd council, Luther and Zwingli issued a protestio affirming beliefs that they shared and defended the right of conscience in religious matters, This is the basis for the name "Protestant." At Augsburg the following year (1530), the Reformers submit their Confession expressing their desire for unity with the Catholic church (in 28 articles), but require the emperor to consider their theological statements, which articulate evangelical doctrine. By this the seeds of the Catholic counter-reformation were sown, as the differences are not reconcilable.

While followers of Luther and Zwingli were known as Protestants, the key word by which they described themselves in the Sixteenth Century was Evangelicals, identifying themselves as messengers of the Good News of the Gospel. Those who are authentic members of the true catholic church have no problems with this term.

• Meaning / Relation to Salvation / Origination
• Sola Scriptura
• M:Authority, Sufficiency, Perspicuity*
• R/S: content of the gospel;
• O: from God

• Sola Christus
• M: Exclusivity of the Provider of Salvation
• R/S: Basis of the Gospel
• O: from Christ Himself (Jn 14.6)

• Sola Gratia
• M: Totality of the Provision
• R/S: "Objective (external) cause of the gospel
• O: from God's pleasure

• Sola Fide
• M: Means of appropriation
• R/S: "Subjective (personal) agency
• O: through the gift of faith

• Soli Deo Gloria
• M: purpose of all (specifically in salvation)
• R/S: Reason for Sanctification
• O: from Him, through Him, to Him (Rom 11.36)

6.2A: The Formal, or foundational, principle of the Reformers was that the Scriptures were alone the source of faith and practice. One could access them directly without human mediation to find God’s truth. Thus their basic confession of non-negotiable truths began with Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone). But what effectively separated them from Rome was the Material Principle, the doctrine of Sola Fide (faith alone).

6.3A: Justification by faith alone (sola fide) is the material principle because the Word without faith does not profit. Rome claimed to hold to this as well, but qualified that God’s grace only begins the work of conversion in man (supposedly to avoid the error of Pelagianism or semi-Pelagianism). Acc to the Roman church, one begins a process of salvation by mental assent, but completes it by good works that flow from faith. They hold that one can actually exceed the righteousness of the law with surplus meritorious works (works of supererogation). However, one cannot be certain of salvation except it be the product of special revelation (Trent). Conversely, the Reformers maintained that the only preparation necessary for justification was the consciousness of guilt awakened by the judicial function of the Law. They defined three essential angles of faith: notitia, assensus, and fiducia; essentially knowing, agreeing, and depending upon the object of faith. Any faith short of this they held not to be saving faith. Luther maintained that faith without works was dead; that is, that true justifying faith will be accompanied by works. This is a key distinction to the Papist view that maintains that justifying works are necessary to complete salvation.

7.2A: Notitia, assensus, and fidicia are the three angles of justifying faith. One must know about the object of faith; then exercise free internal consent to all the scriptures teach of the mercy of God in Christ; and critically, to depend upon it by an act of the will moving toward the object believed in. Anything short of these three components falls short of saving faith.

7.3A: Luther’s touchstone was sola fide, the Material Principle. He even examined the Formal Principle by the Material Principle, by which he questioned the value of certain books that are now maintained by Christendom to be canonical. Clearly Romans and 1 Peter belonged, because they articulated the gospel most clearly. However, James he held to be “an epistle of straw,” (i.e., less valuable by comparison) to the aforementioned. Yet he also said, “I praise it and consider it a good book, because it sets up no doctrines of men but vigorously promulgates the law of God.” Hebrews he called a “hard knot” and could not reconcile the warning passages to justification by faith. Revelation he seemed mystified by and declared, “I can in no way detect that the Holy Spirit produced it.”

It seems charitable to recognize that Luther’s views on the NT were in development at this time of the infancy of the Reformation. Calvin and others struggled with interpreting Revelation.

7.4A: Sola Scriptura was the formal (foundational) Reformation doctrine and differed from Romanist doctrine in that while the Old and New Testaments (sans Apocrypha) were viewed by the Reformers as the proper and pure source of doctrine, and the only certain measure of saving faith. Conversely, the papists invested the Word and tradition with that equal authority, but gave tradition the preference (acc to Trent S4, D1).

• 7.5A: Papists maintained that both Scripture and tradition were the products of the Spirit and are understood only with the help of the Spirit. Their elevation of the translation of Jerome to the status of the original mss helped to consolidate the Church’s interpretive power over time by cloaking the truth of the scriptures from an increasingly ignorant populace. Ironically, it can be demonstrated in Jerome’s commentaries that the Church in few books actually used the authentic translation of Jerome.
• Trent (1546) anathematizes any who do not receive the Latin Vulgate and “knowingly and deliberately contemn the traditions aforesaid.” It further forbade the “private interpretation” of scripture, viewing such as presumptive and against the “holy mother church.” Laymen were prohibited from even reading the scriptures without special permission by the bishop; and Trent also forbade the printing of the scriptures without Church approval. Rome claims that their magisterium is not superior to the Word, but by its actions has shown that the Bible is subordinate to its tradition.
• For Rome, tradition is revelation not initially committed in writing by the author, though it may since have been written. It is partly expository and partly supplemental to the Bible. It derives from Christ and the apostles and is therefore equal with their Word and still in process. It is the living Word as opposed to the inscripturated Word. It is apostolic detail that far exceeds what is given in the gospels, which the Church is to transmit and follow. It is thus to be followed upon pain of anathematization.

• The Normative Principle is less restrictive in
• Christian worship, allowing what is not commanded or modeled in the Scripture as long as it does not contradict the life of the church or is not forbidden in the Scripture. Whatever is not forbidden may continue. This characterized the Lutheran, and parts of the Anglican, reformation. The Regulative Principle is more restrictive: only what the Scripture prescribes should be practiced. Only the more advanced reformers, as the Genevan, Scottish (Pres.), English Puritans, and English separatist (Baptists), maintained the RP.

• Rome makes priests a special class, and essential to the people’s ability to receive grace. Trent anathematized any who deny that God’s grace may be received without the sacraments (S7, canon 4). They also anathematized any who denied a visible and external priesthood; or denied the power of consecrating and offering Christ’s true body and blood; or of forgiving and retaining sins—uniquely priestly functions.
• Protestantism's view was three-pronged. Theologically, it held that a soul may individually have fellowship with God and be taught by Scripture. Ecclesiologically, no higher standing was necessary or possible than simply to be a believer-priest in a community of the same. Sociologically/politically—priesthood of the believer applied calls for the right of a man to exercise his beliefs according to his conscience without coercion.

· The Reformation provides a window into the nature of the origin and development of theological error; viz., Rome, under the pretense of protecting truth, adds error to truth, eventually suppressing the truth

· Theology is the vital force of the Reformation; not manners or behavior.

· Theologywas not viewed academically; it was viewed pastorally. Pastoral issues included providing a Bible in their language; how to be saved; how to grow as a believer.

· The theology of the Ref was pastorally proclaimed through preaching and the publication of sermons.

· The truth compelling the Ref forward proved to be the essence of the gospel. The gospel had contemporary relevance as well as future promise.

• 1500-1650 Reformations. Religious wars, Prot scholasticism (producing hyper-denom). Peace of Westphalia (1648) ended period of religious wars. 1555—Lutheranism made legal. Prot Scholasticism arose to become guilty of trying to answer every question that
• even the scriptures did not address, thus producing sterility.

1650-1815 Pietism. (basis for hyper-unity = mysticism), a reaction to Scholasticism. Revivals, Advance, and Defections (Secularization, Enlightenment, and Fr and Am Revolutions result). E.g., Puritanism, Catholicism, even Judaism. Recovery of religious practice, but resulted in weakness of doctrine, thus strengthening ecumenism.

1815-1914 Great Century. Inventions, immigration, mission endeavors; organization of denominations.

1914-present Ecumenism (?). Doctrinal slide; focus on least common denominators; which today mean little.