Reforming from Within

Five hundred and seven years ago, today, Martin Luther’s hammer strokes sounded forth in Wittenberg, Germany, and are still echoing today. However, Luther didn’t realize that his (equivalent of today’s) discussion board post would lead to much of the insanity that is Christendom today.¹

Luther had a great love for the Church–the Church historically confessed as “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.”² The fracturing of the Church into a million denominations, each with its own unique emphases and various levels of orthodoxy, would–rightfully–appall him. The fact that Christians would rather flee the Church and point accusing fingers at it than fight for reformation would also–rightfully–disgust the man who stood boldly against the wrath of the medieval Catholic Church for the sake of the common man.³

I am a Protestant. I am proud to be a Protestant. I’m proud to have been educated at Protestant schools. But my heartfelt desire and prayer to God is that I would never be a proud Protestant. Protestants–regardless of their denomination–do not have the corner on God’s truth. We cannot pass judgment on the salvation-status of members of other branches of Christianity; “before his own Lord he stands or falls” (Romans 14:4).

Christian truth passed from Jesus and the Apostles, and through the Catholic Church, for 1500 years before Luther came on the scene. And as Church History goes, the non-Catholic branches of Christianity were always labelled as damned heretics or schismatics–for one reason or another–until Protestants had to justify our own existence apart from the Catholic Church. So we must exercise wisdom and humility, refusing to label others as unsaved or heretics when there are four fingers pointing back at us when we do.

An important slogan arising out of the Reformation was “ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda” (the church reformed, always reforming). I wrote a post seven years ago where I concluded with four connected points, mentioning that each could be expanded into its own post. Today, I expand on the first: “We can’t reform apart from the church because apart from the church there’s nothing to reform.”

Now, as I’ve (I think) matured a bit over the past seven years, I would note that there is plenty that needs reforming in our world that is not the Church–politics, education, healthcare, housing, morality, etc. But when it comes to religious reform–especially Christian reform–the statement above remains true.

1. The institution of the Church is what needs reforming.
2. Christian individuals make up this institution, so we should have an active role in this reform movement.
3. The historical positions of the Church must guide our reform efforts.

Cyprian said, “He cannot have God as a father, who does not have the church as a mother” (Unity of the Church 6).⁴ This was picked up by Augustine, and even though the resulting theology later helped justify the Inquisition,⁵ when the Reformers came on the scene, they did not do away with this teaching. John Calvin writes:

Accordingly, our plan of instruction now requires us to discuss the church, its government, orders, and power; then the sacraments; and lastly, the civil order. At the same time we are to call back godly readers from those corruptions by which Satan, in the papacy, has polluted everything God had appointed for our salvation.

I shall start, then, with the church, into whose bosom God is pleased to gather his sons, not only that they may be nourished by her help and ministry as long as they are infants and children, but also that they may be guided by her motherly care until they mature and at last reach the goal of faith. “For what God has joined together, it is not lawful to put asunder” [Mark 10:9], so that, for those to whom he is Father the church may also be Mother. And this was so not only under the law but also after Christ’s coming, as Paul testifies when he teaches that we are the children of the new and heavenly Jerusalem [Gal. 4:26]. (IV.1.1)⁶

But because it is now our intention to discuss the visible church, let us learn even from the simple title “mother” how useful, indeed how necessary, it is that we should know her. For there is no other way to enter into life unless this mother conceive us in her womb, give us birth, nourish us at her breast, and lastly, unless she keep us under her care and guidance until, putting off mortal flesh, we become like the angels [Matt. 22:30]. Our weakness does not allow us to be dismissed from her school until we have been pupils all our lives. Furthermore, away from her bosom one cannot hope for any forgiveness of sins or any salvation, as Isaiah [Isa. 37:32] and Joel [Joel 2:32] testify. Ezekiel agrees with them when he declares that those whom God rejects from heavenly life will not be enrolled among God’s people [Ezek. 13:9]. On the other hand, those who turn to the cultivation of true godliness are said to inscribe their names among the citizens of Jerusalem [cf. Isa. 56:5; Ps. 87:6]. For this reason, it is said in another psalm: “Remember me, O Jehovah, with favor toward thy people; visit me with salvation: that I may see the well-doing of thy chosen ones, that I may rejoice in the joy of thy nation, that I may be glad with thine inheritance” [Ps. 106:4–5 p.; cf. Ps. 105:4, Vg., etc.]. By these words God’s fatherly favor and the especial witness of spiritual life are limited to his flock, so that it is always disastrous to leave the church. (IV.1.4)⁷

As is clear from the initial quotation, Calvin redefined the Church. Whereas the Catholics would have said there’s no salvation outside their church,⁸ Calvin sidesteps this by accusing the Catholic Church of “[polluting] everything God had appointed for our salvation.” Calvin alludes to Cyprian when he says, “for those to whom he is Father, the church may also be Mother.” And he refers to Scripture to support this idea.

So what does this mean for today?

At the very least, it implies that Scripture and Tradition were both important for the Reformers. So, if we long to continue reforming, we must uphold both Scripture and Tradition, even if our application of the Tradition breaks with the classical application. But even then, it should be noted that Calvin’s application of the tradition did not totally change the meaning of Cyprian’s words–like some would want to do today in the name of “Reformation”–but rather applied them in a parallel way: Since God the Father is invisible, it is logical that the fullness of Mother Church is also invisible.

However, as the remainder of Calvin’s discussion of the Church highlights,⁹ just as there are visible things that identify us as God’s children (cf. 1 John 3:1-10; 4:7-8), so also there are a number of visible things that identify us as children of the Church: regular attendance at worship services, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, fellowship with other believers. If you can’t even be bothered to attend church one day a week–which is often where fellowship and the Lord’s Supper primarily happen–how can you be certain you’re a child of the Church (a child of God)?

We cannot reform the Church from the outside. When you try to reform the Church from the outside, you look like a judge, not a fellow soldier.

My social media is filled with former Christians, with Christians who’ve been hurt by the Church, with Christians who–to put it bluntly–have been abused by their Mother. I don’t want to downplay your pain. I don’t want to brush aside your hurt. I don’t want to ignore the betrayal you feel. I’ve been in similar situations myself (though likely much less traumatic than yours).

But as much as this fact might also grieve you, your human mother will always be the one who gave you life–even if her existence in your life proved to be less than pleasant afterwards. You might legitimately claim that she didn’t act like your mother, but you cannot deny that she is your mother.

And it’s the same with the Church. Your spiritual Mother might have mistreated you–or worse (God forbid!)–but she is still your Mother.

But this is the beautiful thing about Protestant ecclesiology.¹⁰ If a local church proves to be an abusive Mother, there are other Mothers ready and willing to adopt you and the love you the way God loved you. You “cannot have God as a father, [if you do] not have the church as a mother.”

Don’t remain outside the bounds of the Church. Come home! We need you with us to help make the Church a better place for all.

Jesus said that Christians are the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13). In Jesus’ day, salt was used as a preservative. If Christians make up the Church, and if we are working for reformation in our churches, then this will naturally cause ripple effects into the wider world. And this is how Church Reformation can result in the various other societal reformations I mentioned above.

Five hundred years from now, what will the history books say about our current period of Church History? Will they describe healing? Or will they describe greater division?

In this with you.

Thanks for reading

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Notes and References

1. Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity: The Reformation to the Present Day (New York: HarperCollins, 2010), 26. González here does not make a statement about today, but rather draws attention to the fact that Luther’s 95 Theses was not expected to cause a stir, since it was his second attempt at posting his ideas for reform. ↩︎
2. As found in the Nicene Creed of 381. ↩︎
3. It should be noted that the Catholic Church has improved a lot since the days of Luther, including that Protestants are no longer automatically classed as unsaved heretics (see Lumen Gentium 2.15; Unitatis Redintegratio 3.19-24; Avery Dulles, Models of the Church [Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1974], 120-121). ↩︎
4. Saint Cyprian, “The Unity of the Church,” Treatises, trans. Roy J. Deferrari, FC (New York: Catholic University of America Press, 1958), 100. ↩︎
5. See Henry Chadwick, Augustine of Hippo: A Life (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 113: “In later ages, [Augustine’s] arguments came to be disastrously exploited by inquisitors, ecclesiastical and secular, who neglected his crucial proviso that the form of correction must be seen to be a loving familial chastisement.” ↩︎
6. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles, The Library of Christian Classics (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011), 1012. ↩︎
7. John Calvin, Institutes, 1016. ↩︎
8. See Saint Augustine, “Letter to the Catholics on the Sect of the Donatists,” The Donatist Controversy I, ed. Boniface Ramsey, Maureen Tilley, and David G. Hunter, The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 2019), 607 (section 2.2); Robert Bellarmine, “On the Church Militant,” De Controversiis: Book 2: On the Church, Vol. 1, trans. Ryan Grant (Post Falls, ID: Mediatrix Press, 2017), 243-248 (chapter 4). Bellarmine specifically writes against Calvin at several points in his writings. ↩︎
9. Calvin’s discussion in IV.1.4 begins, “But because it is now our intention to discuss the visible church.” For this reason, it should be noted that even for Protestants the idea of “Mother Church” has always been tied to a specific, visible, local congregation. ↩︎
10. A fancy word for “theology of the church.” ↩︎