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Was a Reformation Needed Then? Is a Reformation Needed Now?
Introduction It is always a puzzle for people in the Church how so many denominations came about.
When we look at the Acts of the Apostles we find that, as far as we can see, there was only one church. Sure, the book of Acts is not the whole story of how the church grew. We don’t know, for instance, about Barnabas’s ministry with John Mark in Cyprus (Acts 15:39).
What we do know is that he and Mark are known as the founders of church in Cyprus in the first century and, which, in the 5th century became a autocephalous (self-ruling) Orthodox Church. According to legend, we are also told that John Mark was the founder of the Church in Alexandria.
Similarly, we don’t know much about the ministry of Philip the Evangelist who led the Ethiopian Eunuch to the faith. After several years of archeological research, a team reported in 2019 of the ruins of an ancient basilica from the 4th century close to Ethiopia’s border with Eritrea which confirm the presence of a church, 3000 kms away from Rome, about the time that Constantine announced the Edict of Milan (AD 313) to herald religious tolerance and to prohibit the persecution of Christians. If the tradition of St. Thomas is to be believed, then Christianity reached India in the first century through Thomas the Apostle. All this is to say that our knowledge of the ancient Church(es) is limited; moreover, most studies of church history are focused primarily on the Western Church, thereby downplaying the influence and significance of the Orthodox churches. Christians in some parts of the world are totally ignorant of the vast network of Orthodox churches throughout the world. Thankfully in recent years scholars are trying to rectify this omission in the study of church history.
This article is primarily meant to educate laymen on the developments that led to the necessity to reform the church. An attempt is made to trace various turning points in the history of the church and consider their role leading to the need for reformation. The paper concludes with an account of a Reformation in the Syrian Orthodox Church in South India.
The Church and its Beginnings. The New Testament gives us little indication of the global spread of the church. However, it gives us glimpses into the developments that show us how the gospel spread from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and a little bit of the ‘uttermost parts of the earth.” As the church grew, so did its problems. Acts 15 describes the Jerusalem Council – the first ecumenical council, if we may call it – to discuss the important issue of the extent to which its Jewish past would affect the new community of Christians from both Jewish and Gentile backgrounds. The decisions were made in a democratic manner. In the spirit of mutual trust and compliance, the Christian community not only unanimously agreed on the decisions, they sent delegates to all the newly established fellowships to communicate the decisions of the council. It was when embarking on this venture that we find Paul and Barnabas separating over the issue of taking John Mark.
Persecution. Paul’s missionary journeys had considerable persecution. The church grew despite persecution. The growth of the church was not through the open sharing of the gospel. In the Roman Empire Christianity was a persecuted religion. How then did the church grow? In recent years sociologist scholar Rodney Stark has traced the growth of the church to its response during times of social upheaval and epidemics such as plagues and famines. Christians chose to risk their lives in order to save lives and their selfless sacrifices led to the growth of the church. Much as they tried to stamp out the Christian faith, the powerful Romans could not carry out their plans. The Christian faith spread rapidly among slaves who were more in number than freemen in the Empire. This is only part of the story; Christianity also spread among influential and important individuals in Roman society, although to a limited extent. History records that there were Christians even in the Imperial palace.
The phenomenal growth of the church, we may add ‘persecuted’ church, was indeed a surprising development. Instead of the most natural outcome of disintegration it seemed that the church was on its way to expansion and growth. So significant was this growth that changes needed to be made to the simple Presbyterian structure of the church in order to make room for the expansion. We are left to make reasoned conclusions how the biblical model of Presbyterian church government very early led to the episcopal form of church government.
As early as the middle of the second century, as the church increased in number, the office of the Presbyter (from presbuteros i.e. elder, or an older person) which included the function of overseeing (from episkopos i.e. overseer) became bifurcated into two offices: that of Presbyter or elder and Bishop. In the history of the church many of the early bishops were examples of courage, leadership, and martyrdom. The martyrdom of the disciple of the Apostle John, Polycarp of Smyrna, had a lasting impact on the church. Such lives and sacrifices led to influence many to join the church and be prepared to become a witness (Gk. martureo), from which we get the English word ‘martyr.’ The initial response of the Romans was to crush this movement that threatened to dislodge everything that Rome stood for.
From the middle of the first century to roughly the first quarter of the fourth century the Christian church was severely persecuted. The severity of these pogroms was so debased and inhuman that, at least in some cases, Christians became the object of sympathy for their sufferings. Christians became the raw material for Rome’s lust for blood sports to entertain the local populace. The persecution of Emperor Nero about AD 64 saw Christians blamed for an attempt to burn Rome, which was more likely Nero’s doing, Christians were reportedly crucified and set ablaze to shed light on the Emperor’s garden. Traditionally, it was during this persecution that the Apostles Peter and Paul were executed. During other persecutions Christians were made to fight against wild beasts; at times they were covered with the skin of an animal so that the attacking wild beasts would mistake the human for another animal, what ensued was a bloody treat for the audience in the arena.
One of the outstanding examples of unflinching determination to suffer for Christ wqs that of Perpetua (181-203). Coming from an affluent family, she and her slave Felicitas and other Christians died as martyrs. Perpetua was married and had recently given birth to a child. Despite her father’s pleadings she chose to die. Perpetua showed considerable courage in the arena. It is said that after she was gored by a wild animal her hair became dishevelled. She stood up faltering and steadied herself, now bleeding, and tied her hair properly since it was improper for a woman to have loose hair. After more attacks the signal was given to kill her. Sources say that she guided the trembling executioner’s sword to her throat to facilitate her death.
Persecution peaked and ended in the early fourth century. The severity of persecution did not deter Christians from death. They went gladly. There was a practical problem for the state, jails were so full of “bishops, presbyters, and deacons, readers, and exorcists” that there was no room for criminals. Soon a new edict promised freedom for those who recanted, and torture and death for those who did not; the Christians chose the latter. Eusebius then goes on to describe, as an eye-witness, the martyrs in Egypt where the confessors were thrown to be torn by wild beasts. While the beasts were irritated with those who provoked them to attack the Christians, the Christians were calling the animals to do so. He talks of young and old who were unflinching in their faith, after the animals had finally attacked the believers the soldiers killed the survivors by the sword. He records the deaths of women who were tied naked to trees; others who were fastened to two trees pulled together, and then the trees would be cut free instantly ripping the person in two. Every day for years this went on; in Egypt alone Christian men, women, and children numbering anywhere from 10 to 100 were killed daily.
In God’s providence persecution ended in the early fourth century. Rome probably realised that the Christian faith was a formidable force that was beyond its control. In a matter of about 10 years and three different emperors, God miraculously intervened to ensure the end of persecution. Accounts differ as to how this happened. Emperor Constantine believed that he saw a vision of the cross in the sky with the words “In this sign, conquer!” It is reported that he changed the Roman symbols in his army with a cross. He went out to fight against a larger army and won the battle. With this victory the Edict of Milan (313) was issued. This respite brought freedom of worship for Christians, except for a brief relapse when paganism was revived during the reign of Emperor Julian (361-363). The conversion of Constantine and the Edict of Milan signaled the gradual adoption of Christianity as the religion of the Roman Empire. The church in Rome was existent in the first century, but it received an imperial identity from the early fourth century. The church now became lax in spiritual fervency which led to the rise of monasticism that sought deeper communion with God.
Doctrinal Purity From the fourth to the eighth centuries the church was engaged in fighting false teachings and clarifying its beliefs. This was the period of the great ecumenical councils. These councils did not give any new revelation, rather they affirmed what the Bible taught. It is important to note that the unity of the church was evident during these periods. Early expressions of this unity were seen in the fragmentum a piece of the bread broken by the bishop and distributed throughout his parish which was mixed with the bread broken in the local church. Another sign of this unity was the weekly prayers for the bishops in the local churches; when a bishop’s name was struck off the list, it usually meant that he had apostatized. When we refer to ‘ecumenical’ it comes from a Greek word that means ‘the whole inhabited earth.’ Therefore, an ecumenical council is a meeting that had ecclesiastical representatives from around the world, wherever a Christian church had been established. The first of these ecumenical councils was held in AD 325 to decide on whether Jesus Christ is fully God (because a false teaching was being propagated that He was a created being – sounds like today’s Jehovah’s Witnesses). It is interesting to note that one of the representatives at the Council of Nicea was “John of India and Persia’. – a clear indication that whatever ‘India’ is referred to here, there was a Christian community there in the beginning of the fourth century.
One of the regrettable developments in the church universal was the division between the Eastern and western churches. For centuries the church stood united, however, the rise in power of the Roman Bishop, who assumed certain additional prerogatives, led to a breakdown of this unity. There were several reasons for this: the moving of the capital of the Roman Empire to Constantinople (modern day Istanbul). Constantine believed that Rome’s background was too bloody and unsuited to be the capital of a Christian state. When the state machinery moved to Constantinople (named after the Emperor of course), Rome was left without a strong leader. The Roman bishop promptly took this place. When hordes of barbarians invaded the borders of the Empire it was the Roman Bishop who began to negotiate with them.
East and West Separation The rising power of the bishop of Rome (the see of St Peter) meant a struggle for supremacy. Early territorial bishops were outstanding examples of strong leadership in ecclesiastical and doctrinal matters. They stood courageously in the face of challenges and risked their lives for what they believed. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, confronted the Emperor Theodosius because of a brutal slaughter of several thousand innocent civilians killed in retaliation for the murder of his governor. One account says that he stopped the Emperor at the door of the church saying that a man with so much blood on his hands will be allowed into God’s sanctuary. Theodosius repented, and went through the steps to receive pardon, and be re-instated in the church.
In AD 1054, the Eastern and Western churches separated on matters of doctrine and practice. One of contentious matters that led to this outcome was doctrinal. The Western church believed that the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father and the Son and included that in the Nicene Creed; The Eastern churches held that He proceeded from the Father. Another difference was that the Western church insisted on using unleavened bread for the Eucharist, but the Eastern churches had no such preference. Perhaps the most important issue was the rising power and jurisdiction of the Roman bishop, who by this time was exercising the privileges assumed with the title of ‘Pope’ (meaning ‘papa’ or ‘father’) thus claiming universal authority in ecclesiastical matters. The Great Schism, as it is sometimes called, came about partly because of the highhanded manner in which the Roman representative to Constantinople conducted himself. The end result was the separation between the two churches that mutually excommunicated each other. (This breach was reversed in 1964 when both churches mutually restored fellowship.)
Is should never be construed that the western church had no reformations prior to the sixteenth century. Throughout the history of the church God raised godly, wise, and dedicated leaders to correct waywardness in the church. About the 11th 12th centuries monastic reform began from Cluny, France. The Cluny reform movement primarily sought to reform monasteries, but also spoke against clerical marriage, nepotism, etc. Leo IX, during whose time the schism between East and West took place, also tried to reform the church to reflect the teachings of the Western church. His successor Hildebrand or Pope Gregory VII carried out more reforms. Gregory VII is remembered for his severe action of excommunicating the young and arrogant Emperor Henry when the latter refused to comply with his directions. Henry later was restored after seeking forgiveness through repentance – which involved wearing sackcloth, and kneeling three days in the snow outside a fortress in Canossa to seek pardon. Gregory also replaced the election of a Pope from the common consent of the people of Rome to the college of Cardinals, a practice that is followed even today.
The strengthening of the Papacy brought with it its own problems. The church began introducing non-biblical beliefs and practices into the church. Early on when barbarians began converting to Christianity the church allowed the use of idols into worship to assist these simple and unlearned people to focus on an object for worship. Freed from the limitations of having to balance views with the Eastern Orthodox churches, the Western church began to introduce more ecclesiastical innovations. One such, that played an immense role leading to the Reformation, was purgatory. This belief was further fortified in the 13th and 14th centuries with the Black Death (1346-1353), when roughly about one-third the population of Europe died. Like the present day COVID-19, the Black Death was no respecter of persons: it affected the common populace as well as nobility and royalty. The preoccupation of people was on death.
This unfortunate development was further reinforced through paintings and literature that talked about life after death. Morbid pictures of the hereafter became a preoccupation of all believers, who wished to ensure that life after death will not be spent in hell. Perhaps chief among these influences were the writings of Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) especially The Divine Comedy a trilogy in which he talks of hell, purgatory, and heaven. The church seized this opportunity to capitalize on the fear that gripped people and proposed ways for their release from this predicament. Pilgrimages were encouraged and veneration of relics - the supposed remains of biblical persons, objects, and saints - was revered and promoted. The Pope claimed to provide indulgences, or pardons, to those who paid homage to the relics in order to reduce one’s time in purgatory. In essence the teaching of purgatory was that the goodwill generated from going on pilgrimages to pay respect to relics, will set off the years of toiling in purgatory through the mercy of the Pope who had the ability to draw from Treasury of Merit to grant these indulgences. In addition to pilgrimages, the excess good works of the saints of the past were also accumulated in the Treasury at the Pope’s disposal. During the early sixteenth century, Leo X commissioned monks to sell indulgences for the release of the buyer from his future torment, or his or her relative languishing in purgatory. The money was needed for constructing the St Peter’s Basilica in Rome for which he had commissioned the best known designers, artists, and sculptors of the day. In many ways this indirectly led to the Reformation of 1517.
Note must be made of developments in the 14th - 15th centuries. From 1309-1378, during a period known as the ‘Babylonian Captivity,’ the Pope was forcibly taken to Avignon, France. This was followed by a schism in which there were two Popes from 1379-1417. The unrest in the church, the growing immorality among clergy, the luxury of the hierarchy, left a distaste in both ecclesiastical and secular circles. This brought about early voices for reform. Chief among these were the early Reformers such as John Wycliffe (1330-1384), who is called the ‘morning star of the Reformation.’ Wycliffe, an Oxford scholar, questioned the false teachings of the church, especially transubstantiation,’ and was forced to retire from his position in Oxford university. He began an English translation of the Bible that was completed by his friend John Purvey. Forty years after Wycliffe’s death, the church exhumed his bones and burned them. His ideas were perpetuated by the Lollards, his followers. Wycliff’s teachings influenced John Huss (1372-1415) the Chaplain at the University of Prague. He was summoned to the Council of Constance in 1415 under safe conduct, a promise that his life will be protected. At the council he was tried, found guilty of heresy, and condemned to die at the stake. His murder sparked protests in his native Bohemia. His death was not in vain. The Bohemian church began to worship freely unrestricted by the practices of the Roman church. Among those who trace their roots to John Huss are the Moravians, a missionary minded church that re-surfaced after the Reformation and is active even today. (In 1999, Pope John Paul II expressed an apology for the cruel death of John Huss.) Another early Reformer was Savanarola (1452-1498), a Roman Catholic priest, whose objections to the immorality associated with religious art works, and other excesses resulted in his martyrdom. Another martyr and translator of the English Bible was William Tyndale (1494-1536). Tyndale was a Roman Catholic priest who requested permission to translate the Bible but was refused by the Bishop of London. He went to Europe and was arrested by authorities in the Netherlands where he was continuing his translation in hiding. He was tried in Flanders (Belgium), found guilty of heresy, strangled and burned at the stake.
A movement that came about in the 14th to 16th centuries was the Renaissance, simply put ‘a re-birth of culture.’ While in southern Europe the Renaissance delved into the depths of rediscovering Greek roots for sculptor and art, in northern Europe this was expressed in the study of ancient books and what they said in their original languages. The Renaissance led to the rise of humanism, and it should be noted that several of the early Reformers were humanistic scholars. Among those who contributed to the Reformation directly or indirectly, or were Reformers influenced by humanism, were names such as Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, Erasmus, John Calvin, and Theodore Beza to name a few. This great interest in learning led to a curiosity among scholars to explore the original languages of the Bible. It must be remembered that up to this time the only official Bible was the Vulgate Latin translation of Jerome. As scholars studied the Hebrew and Greek texts they found new interest in what the Bible taught. Moreover, it was during this time that the first edition of the Greek New Testament was published by the Dutch scholar, Desiderius Erasmus.
We need to close asking ourselves, ‘Was there a need to reform the Roman Catholic church?’ The answer is a resounding ‘Yes!’ Among the doctrines and practices that were common at the time were the following: 1) the teaching of transubstantiation – that the bread and the grape juice (wine) turn into the actual body and blood of Our Lord after consecration by the priest; 2) The teaching of purgatory, the belief that after death those who die without having had a chance to confess their sins go to purgatory where their sins are expunged and then are sent to heaven; 3) the belief that it is possible that the time in purgatory can be shortened by good works done for that departed soul or by indulgences (certificates of pardons) bought on behalf of that soul; 4) the belief that the Pope is the head of the Church, when the Bible clearly says that Christ is the Head of the Church. Later in 1870, this was brought to its logical conclusion when Pope Pius IX gave an encyclical that said when the Pope makes an ex cathedra (lit. “from the chair”) pronouncement, it becomes infallible; 5) the teaching that the Bible and ecclesiastical tradition have the same value, and not that the Bible is touchstone of our faith; 6) the teaching that Grace and good works are necessary for salvation, as opposed to the clear biblical teaching that grace alone is sufficient for salvation. Salvation leads to good works, not the other way around; and 7) Christ and the saints are needed to intercede for us, not Christ alone is our Great High Priest and Intercessor.
Add to the above, the detestable lifestyle of the clergy and ecclesiastical excesses during the times leading to the Reformation. Many priests lived with their concubines and had children. Even the great humanist scholar Erasmus of Rotterdam was an illegitimate child of a priest. It is reported that some Popes too had their concubines. In 1415, for the Council of Constance, it is reported that several hundred prostitutes were brought to town presumably for the entertainment of the delegates.
There was also great trade and profit in relics. In John Calvin’s Treatise on Relics (1543) he gives an analysis of the various collections of relics and says that if all the bones etc., are put together they will be more than the person or thing represented, e.g. the Disciples, John the Baptist, the Cross, etc. The selling of indulgences has often been cited as the one of the practices that led directly to the Reformation. Nepotism and avarice in the hierarchy of the church was also well-known.
If we have concluded that a Reformation was needed, we should also ask ourselves, Is Reformation Needed Today? To this too our answer is ‘Yes.’ The phrase ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda (the church reformed, always reforming) sums it up. After the 16th century the reformation continued in various branches of the church. In England, which became ‘Reformed’ because of political expediency, soon gathered momentum and, despite setbacks, eventually became the Protestant Church of England. The process included shedding of several anti-scriptural practices. Even after it became the Church of England there were those who believed that more should be done and thus, beginning in the late 16th century onwards, the Puritans tried to purify their mother church. When persecution arose they fled to Europe and notably to America where they established settlements in the East. Most of them were Congregationalists who established their churches as well as Harvard, Yale and other educational institutions.
Conclusion In what sense is reformation being carried on today? As we noted above the spirit of the Reformation kept expanding and influencing churches bringing them back to the Bible and its teachings. A question that many readers would ask is whether the Reformation spread to any of the Orthodox churches. Yes, it did, but only in the modern times. In the nineteenth century, the Syrian Orthodox church in south India was influenced by Protestant British missionaries when the area was under British administration. This resulted in the formation of the Mar Thoma Church, a church that is Protestant in spirit. Throughout the world too, Orthodox churches have been influenced by other Protestant churches and biblical doctrines and have developed new identities that are evangelical in spirit.
In closing let me again repeat the phrase ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda (the church reformed, always reforming) which has been traced to a book written by Jodocus van Lodenstein (1620-1677), a Dutch pastor. In an enlightening article in Liogonier Ministries Blog (2017) W. Robert Godfrey tries to understand what van Lodenstein meant by this phrase:
So what did van Lodenstein mean by his famous phrase reformed and always reforming? Probably something like this: since we now have a church reformed in the externals of doctrine, worship, and government, let us always be working to ensure that our hearts and lives are being reformed by the Word and Spirit of God. Whatever other meanings may be made of this phrase, this original meaning is well worth pondering and preserving (emphasis mine).
Let us return back to the Word to learn from Our Lord Jesus Christ what He has taught us about love and to see in the lives of Paul and the Apostles how this love changed their lives.
May we go beyond the doctrines of the Reformation to allow the Word to bring conviction to our hearts and be inspired by the lives of those who made us free to truly understand the gift of grace so that we could worship God today in spirit and in truth.