Protestantism-Revolt or Reform?

PART 1

Prominent American magazines published an arresting challenge some time ago by Father John Courtney Murray, S.J., professor of theology at Woodstock College:

"It is not, in fact, possible for Protestantism to situate itself historically, to define itself as a religious system, or to deploy itself as a cultural dynamic, except, fundamentally, in terms of opposition to the Catholic Church." 1

This question of the place of the Protestant Reformation in the stream of history is as old as Protestantism itself. There are today three widely accepted and broadly diverging views of the Reformation. The historic Protestant conviction is that the Reformation marked the emergence of apostolic doctrine and practice from the underground status to which it had been subjected during the centuries of Roman Catholic domination. Against this the Catholic Church has pressed its claim to being the only true Christianity; it has seen Protestantism, consequently, as a revolt against the church of God. A third view of the Reformation, the secular, or profane, as it is sometimes called, has looked upon the Reformation, and indeed the whole history of Christianity, not from the standpoint of spiritual truth, but rather from that of purely human, social, political, and economic aspects. This view has wide currency today in liberal Protestant thinking, but the historic position is still characteristic of conservative evangelical Christianity.

The founders of the Protestant movement were keenly conscious of the importance of Christian history. They recognized that the Reformation marked a break in the continuity of the visible church; consequently, they felt it necessary to account for themselves in the stream of history. For them the study of history was far from a mere academic exercise; it was rather the feverish unearthing of documentary historical evidence in support of positions they had previously taken on the basis of their theological study. Luther recognized this in characteristically robust style:

"Rightly and well is it done, by whoever can do it, when one confidently extols the pope as the arch enemy of our Lord and Saviour and the disturber of His holy Christian church. For this, next to the Holy Scriptures, the histories of the emperors serve very well." 2

Although Luther, as the creative genius of the German Reformation, did much to turn the attention of his followers toward the importance of church history, he himself wrote no historical works. The Lutheran view of Christian history was first effectively presented by Matthias Flacius Illyricus (1520-1575), a Slav from Istria. As a young man Flacius studied at Wittenberg, where he became suffused with an ardent love of Luther's teachings, and with as burning a hatred of the Papacy. In 1556, ten years after Luther's death, he published his first work on church history, Catalogus testium veritatis ("A Catalog of Witnesses of the Truth"). Here Flacius expounded the conviction that the evangelical doctrine was not an invention of Luther, but that it was apostolic Christianity, and that such Christianity had been handed down through the centuries by a line of "witnesses of the truth." Flacius counted more than four hundred such witnesses, including Augustine of Hippo, Bernard of Clairvaux, and Johannes Tauler, the medieval mystic. He stressed that in all ages there had been true Christians who had not followed the great apostasy.3 Thus Flacius sought both to account for Protestantism historically and to provide it with a succession reaching back to the apostles.

Flacius' Catalogus was, however, only the precursor of a greater work. Years before the appearance of the former book, there was develop ing in his mind the plan of a comprehensive history of the church, which would settle definitely the historical position of Protestantism. In a letter of March 7, 1553, Flacius set forth this plan:

"I am going about with a great plan, with a plan which, I confess, reaches far beyond my powers, but which, if it were accomplished, could bring to the church extraordinary benefit. ... I wish then, that a church history would be written in which would be shown in definite order and according to chronology, how the true church and its religion gradually fell from its original purity and unity in apostolic times into evil ways, this partially from the negligence and ignorance of its teachers and also partially through the wickedness of the godless. It should also be shown how the church now and then has been reinstated by several truly pious men, and how the light of truth has shown brighter at times, and at times has more or less again been dimmed under the growing darkness of godless conditions, until finally in these our times, when the truth appeared almost completely wiped out, true religion in its purity has once more been established through the immeasurable goodness of God." 4

It would be difficult to find a more concise statement than this of the Reformers' view of their own place in history. In the same year that Flacius wrote this, he began work upon his great project.5 Gathering about him some half dozen scholars, he organized the first cooperative research project since the days of the Hellenistic scientists of Alexandria, seventeen hundred years before. Some of Flacius' men traveled widely through Central Europe gathering source materials, even disguising themselves at times to gain entrance to monastery libraries. Others occupied themselves with the actual writing. During the next twenty-one years Flacius and his fellows produced an imposing thirteen-volume history of the church. This work is best known as the Magdeburg Centuries, tak ing its title from the city of Magdeburg, where it was composed, and from the fact that each volume covered just one century. These volumes are the classic statement of the Reformers' view of Christian history.

Basic to the Reformers' thinking were three premises. First was the conviction that correct doctrine, and not institutional continuity, was the criterion for judging the trueness of a church. This was expressed by the authors of "the Centuries in the preface to their first volume, where they asserted that doctrine "should be the chief thing in church history, because it is the most distinguished mark and the very heart of God's true church." In harmony with their reliance on Scripture, the Reformers took the Bible and especially the New Testament as their doctrinal standard. Referring to this, Flacius and his co-workers stated, "From this [the New Testament] we must take a rule or standard according to which we shall measure and judge all doctrines of every age." 7 In be ginning their second volume, again they emphasized that "the godfearing and industrious reader should be mindful of this, that one must measure all succeeding centuries against the first, which is the one standard for the others." 8 In this connection Flacius' personal motto is significant: Historia est fundamentum doctrinae— ("History is the foundation of doctrine").

Judging on the basis of apostolic doctrine, the Reformers took as their second premise that the development of the visible, organized church had been a process of falling away from pristine purity. Luther, to be sure, was uncertain as to the exact point at which this decline began. Flacius placed it in the third century. On the title page of his volume covering that period appears the announcement that during this time "some already begin ... to turn true doctrine sour with philosophy and the dreams of men." Closely connected with this premise was the overwhelming conviction of the Reformers that the Roman Papacy was Antichrist. The concept of a falling away in Christian history, however, was not original with the sixteenth-century Reformers. The Waldenses of the Middle Ages, as well as other similar sects, had laid great emphasis on the evil state of the visible church and had expressed much of the force of their movement in a call to reform. But with the Reformers this conviction was put for the first time in its historical perspective.

The Catholic accusation of Protestantism as a novelty gave point to the third historical premise of the Reformers. As set forth in Flacius' Catalogus and elaborated in the Magdeburg Centuries, they held that the true church was to be seen in a historical succession of witnesses who throughout the ages had remained true to apostolic doctrine and who were to be considered the connecting link between the apostles and the Reformers. Thus the Reformers contended that they and not the Catholics were the recipients of true apostolic succession; and that their church, measured by the standard of doctrine, had claim to higher antiquity than the Church of Rome. That Catholics and Prot estants contended for historic apostolic succession and each for a greater antiquity for them selves than for the other, points up the fact that they held very different criteria for judging the trueness of a church. The Catholics accepted the visible institution of the Ro man Church and its superstructure of tradition as true, in the belief that it had been founded by Christ through Peter; they considered that whatever additions to dogma had been sanctioned by the church since apostolic times were by the will of God. As has been seen, however, the Protestants' in sistence on Scriptural authority alone limited them at most to the first few centuries of Christian history for their standards, and thus these standards were largely apostolic and doctrinalrather than institutional and traditional. This difference in concept regarding the constitution of the true church is basic to an understanding of the opposing Protestant and Catholic views of church history.

The historical philosophy of Mrs. Ellen G. White lies in close parallel with that of the Protestant Reformers. Each of the three fundamental principles of their historical outlook finds cordial confirmation in her writings. That she saw the true church throughout the ages to be characterized by an adherence to spiritual truth based on Bible doctrine is clear from the following statement:

"The faith which for many centuries was held and taught by the Waldensian Christians, was in marked contrast to the false doctrines put forth from Rome. Their religious belief was founded upon the written word of God, the true system of Christianity. . . . Theirs was not a faith newly received. Their religious belief was their inheritance from their fathers. They contended for the faith of the apostolic church, 'the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.' 'The church in the wilderness,' and not the proud hierarchy enthroned in the world's great capital, was die true church of Christ, the guardian of the treasures of truth which God has committed to His people to be given to the world." 10

Mrs. White makes very clear that apostolic succession is not institutional but spiritual:

"Descent from Abraham was proved, not by name and lineage, but by likeness of character. So the apostolic succession rests not upon the transmission of ecclesiastical authority, but upon spiritual relationship. A life actuated by the apostles' spirit, the belief and teaching of the truth they taught, this is the true evidence of apostolic succession. This is what constitutes men the successors of the first teachers of the gospel." 11

The Reformers' concept of a falling away from truth in the visible, organized church is a fundamental tenet in Mrs. White's view of Christian history:

"Little by little, at first in stealth and silence, and then more openly, as it increased in strength and gained control of the minds of men, the mystery of iniquity carried forward its deceptive and blasphemous work. Almost imperceptibly the customs of heathenism found their way into the Christian church. . . . The nominal conversion of Constantine, in the early part of the fourth century, caused great rejoicing; and the world, cloaked with a form of righteousness, walked into the church. Now the work of corruption rapidly progressed. Paganism, while appearing to be vanquished, became the conqueror. Her spirit controlled the church. Her doctrines, ceremonies, and superstitions were incorporated into the faith and worship of the professed followers of Christ.

"This compromise between paganism and Christianity resulted in the development of the 'man of sin' foretold in prophecy as opposing and exalting himself above God."

Likewise, Mrs. White agrees with the Reformers' conviction that throughout the centuries there has been a line of witnesses to the truth representatives of the true church:

"In every age there were witnesses for God, men who cherished faith in Christ as the only mediator between God and man, who held the Bible as the only rule of life, and who hallowed the true Sabbath. How much the world owes to these men, posterity will never know. They were branded as heretics, their motives impugned, their characters maligned, their writings suppressed, misrepresented, or mutilated. Yet they stood firm, and from age to age maintained their faith in its purity, as a sacred heritage for the generations to come.

"The history of God's people during the ages of darkness that followed upon Rome's supremacy, is written in heaven, but they have little place in human records. Few traces of their existence can be found, except in the accusations of their persecutors. It was the policy of Rome to obliterate every trace of dissent from her doctrines or decrees. Everything heretical, whether persons or writings, she sought to destroy." 12

This is the traditional Protestant philosophy of history. It is Protestant in that it protests against the falling away of organized Christianity in ancient and medieval times. But it is more than a negative protest in opposition to the Catholic Church; it is a call to Christians to return to Scriptural, apostolic standards and an avowal that the Reformers' principle of Scriptural authority has an ancestry as old as Christianity.