In Commemoration of the Reformation

I posted this in a forum discussion and thought it would be good to put it here too since this week is the Reformation Week. What is that? Find below.

The 16th century reformation is commemorated by the Protestants as God's gracious hand in history in bringing about Christian revival which in turn brought all kinds of transformation and advancement in human life. Whatever that is spiritual is transformed into the natural realm too.

Here, let's look at 3 fundamental principles of Protestantism: Priesthood of all believers, Sola Scriptura and Justification by Faith alone.

The understanding of the priesthood of all believers enables us to understand that we need no other mediator but Christ alone, so as believers we all share the same grace and hope, and thus have the same position before God in Christ.

Contrast this with the hierarchical church system at that medieval time where superstitions had abounded and people were ignorant of the truth, and would normally pray to saints or to Mary who would pray to Jesus who would in turn pray to the Father, instead of praying to the Father directly through Jesus Christ. It was common for a household to have a patron saint who would watch over them, and intercede on their behalf.

This reminds me of a similar pattern where Buddhism (originally it's a philosophy rather than a religion as the founder Prince Siddharta, never taught about God or worship of God) was brought over to China, people also began to make him an object of worship, and gradually form hierarchy where Buddha was too high to reach, so there are lesser, more approachable gods people pray to and these gods are the helpers of Buddha. Human beings have the tendency to form hierarchy and draw distance to assert superiority over one another.

Christ's words stand true that "the rulers of the Gentiles exercise authority over them,..." speaking of human desire for prominence when the disciples were fighting over who was the greatest. On such obsession over human authority and power, Christ once taught His disciples, "There is only one Father and you are all brothers."

The monarchy system at that time is of similar nature too. But the understanding of the priesthood of all believers, of men made in the image of God, and hence possess equal fundamental rights and dignity, gradually overturned prevailing monarchy system into democracy, which has become a common system of governance today. Democracy is based on the principle that the government is for the people, not people for the government. Hence as Christ says, "The greatest among you must be the servant of all." It sets the principle of servant leadership as the motivation of authority.

The next principle is Sola Scriptura. This means that the source of authority is God alone and no human being can claim infallible authority based on their position, but all rulers and leaders are subject to the judgment of the Word and are obligated to obey the Word. People began to question the church's teaching and desired to look at the source, the Scriptures itself, to make comparison.

Contrast this with the situation in the medieval church where the mass had no access to the Scriptures and had to rely on the teaching of the church without the ability to examine them. The society was illiterate, so for many of them, paintings on the cathedrals were their 'bible'. They had been taught that whatever the church taught was final, and the mindset was that it was not appropriate to question the church authority. With the principle of Sola Scriptura, i.e. Bible is the highest authority to which all must subject to, all teaching are to be examined and questioned in light of Scriptures. So there is a shift from human authority to the authority of the Word.

Similarly, the monarchy system of the past was such that the king's decision was final. Whatever he said was the truth and nobody should question him. No matter what wrong he commits, he is always right because he is king. So authority system rests in the fact of his position, and he himself is subject to no judgment. In such systems, often times power was abused and people suffered terribly when the monarch happened to be a crazy, unwise or cruel man.

Then, with the impact of this principle of Sola Scriptura which implies that God is the source of all authority, gradually people began to understand that not even the king's authority is final. So constitution is set up which even the king is subject to. So in political system we see a shift in the principle final authority from human position to the Law and Constitution.

Next, the justification by faith alone. This didn't happen all at once, but gradually as people began to understand better the meaning and nature of this faith which justifies, it results in the theological rationale for religious liberty. It is the understanding that faith is God's gift and is not the result of men's work. So we cannot convert people by force, but that a person has to be given the freedom to care for his own salvation. Our job is to preach the Word and let the Holy Spirit convert the soul in His ways and timing. So gradually violence and forced conversion gave way to religious freedom...

Here we are, youngters born 5 centuries after all those stuffs, not knowing what it has cost our predecessors, we find ourselves living in a world where we enjoy a lot of freedom foreign to our fathers in the past. We have benefited from their labors. We see the idea of democracy reflected, and there is constitution and law to protect our fundamental rights, and it seems quite logical to us that people should have the right to choose their own religion... what a different world!

Yes there have been bloody battles and blunders done by the greatest men. But the most fundamental thing is that the Reformation rediscovered biblical principles which have blessed our world over the past 500 years.

Yes, great gifts always come with high cost if we do not use them properly. Just as the gift of morality to Adam, due to misuse of it by wrong moral choice, land us where we all are today... so no doubt all the liberties gained have also been misused by faulty beings like us.

"Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well." In the 16th century, the burning question at that time was "How can I be saved?" and in pursuing that, had rediscovered these heavenly principles which also pour forth with blessings to the whole earth in all aspects of life.