Who Were the Heretics? Part Two

I have covered church history up to the Protestant Reformation in part one (to review click here.) We now come to the early reformers.

John Wycliffe can probably be considered the first reformer of the reformation era. He lived in the 14th century. He attended Oxford and his scholastic eminence was such that he probably had no equal in the England of his day. The most important aspect of Wycliffe’s teaching was that interpretation of Scripture is not the sole prerogative of any man or organization; the meaning of Scripture is made clear by the Holy Spirit to those who are enlightened of Christ and approach God’s Word in a spirit of humility and teachableness. When he gave the Bible to the English people in their own tongue, he was laying the foundation for the emergence once more of the church of apostolic times. For this he was declared a “heretic”.

William Tyndale lived in Henry VIII’s England of the 16th century and was declared a “heretic” by both the church of England and the Roman church for his accentuation of Bible reading by the “laity” and denunciation of clergy practices.

Martin Luther was the best known of the reformers of the 16th century. He was an Augustinian monk of the Roman church who spoke out against many practices of the Roman church. He found in Paul’s Roman epistle that salvation was by faith alone. The Roman practice of selling indulgences, Luther said, can remit neither guilt nor divine punishment. He denied the final authority of the Pope. He was excommunicated by Rome.

The Lutheran Church which he established was a compromise between his Scriptural ideals and his earthly loyalties to some form of ecclesiastical authority. It developed into something far from the churches of the New Testament. His reformation theology became watered down by adherence to a clergy/laity system.

John Calvin arose in France parallel with Luther in Germany. He stressed that the teaching of the apostles had been obscured by the teaching of salvation through the sacraments of the Church. Salvation, he maintained, is not bay works, as the Roman church taught, but bly faith through which the life of Christ is appropriated by the believer. That a believer lives a life of righteousness is a proof that he has entered into a vital relationship with Christ who is the guide to the Christian’s daily walk,

We find coming into prominence in the first half of the 16th century, groups of Christians who formed a third and increasingly powerful stream of religious life, totally independent of Catholics and Protestants alike. Being free from political association, These groups of believers generally called themselves simply by the name of Christians or brethren, but administered baptism only to those who had chosen regeneration through faith in Christ, and were stigmatized by the name Anabaptists, meaning “those who baptized again”. This referred to the fact that the brethren did not recognize the baptism of children as valid, and baptized a second time those who came into an experience of salvation through faith. And, of course, Anabaptists were recognized in history as “heretics” by both Catholics and Protestants. They did not have any organized system of Christian congregations. The different assemblies came into being in different ways through the ministry of different people, but had the one common bond of spiritual life which all alike had received through faith in Christ – this being similar to the apostolic times of the Bible. Faith, if it means anything at all, means the reception of the indwelling Christ, and Christ dwelling in mortal bodies means holiness.

Puritans was the name given to those who had been influenced by the Reformed faith as it was practiced in Switzerland and in France they were called Hugenots. They claimed that the church should be run in accordance with New Testament pattern, and objected to anything which did not find Scriptural warrant such as vestments, and kneeling for the reception of the bread and the wine at the Lord’s table which they feared was akin to the Roman practice of adoring the elements. This was a heretical concept.

Many known as Independents said that a church consisted of a company of believers who are united through their relationship with Christ. Each congregation sets apart the officers through whom it should be governed and is completely independent, yet owning a vital, spiritual link with every other company of born again people. “Heretics” again.

The “Pilgrim Fathers” aboard the Mayflower coming to America in 1620 were a mixture of a newer development in the history of the Church, that of churches gathering on specific doctrinal ground. One of the most common threats to the supremacy of Christ in the assembly is loyalty to a man, a great and spiritual man he may be, but a man nevertheless who receives some at least of the submission and dependence which should be accorded directly to Christ.

In the 17th century, many were attracted by the preaching of George Fox, and meetings of the “Friends” or “Quakers” as they were called were begun in many places. In America, William Penn fully associated himself with them. Fox laid great stress upon the inward witness of the Spirit through which God speaks to man. Again, “heretics” to both Catholics and Protestants.

Within the Roman church there had long been people, called Mystics, whose yearning after communion with God had led them to develop a life of meditation and strict temperance. One of the best known of the Mystics of the late 17th and early 18th centuries was Madame Guyon. Although finally imprisoned by the king of France in the Bastille, her influence continued to spread beyond the walls of her awful dungeon. She was primarily concerned with personal fellowship with God and felt that the ecclesiastical gatherings under clergy had become a system of power control. Another “heretic”.

There was much denominationalism formed during the 18th and 19th centuries with leaders such as John and Charles Wesley, George Whitefield, Benjamin Newton, John Darby, George Muller – all looked on as “heretics” by the organizational church.

In conclusion, churches as they were in the times of the apostles have never ceased to exist, as we have seen, and wherever God works through the power of His unchangeable Word, people made partakers of the divine nature, anxious to obey the Word which has shed a flood of light into their souls, have gathered together and are gathering together as the disciples did in the Book of Acts.

The complexities of denominationalism and ecclesiastical authority have covered over the truth of what the Church was meant to be which is simply the unity of those who have received new life in Christ, not a unity determined by creeds, forms or ceremonies.

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