The year 2017 marks the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Also, at the end of this year the Roman Church in Malta takes stock of its church attendances by means of its research institute’s (Discern) census. The last census of Mass attendance was held twelve years ago.
But in substance what have the Churches (Protestant, Orthodox and Roman) learnt from their past mistakes and especially since the experiences of the early Church? This question is perhaps even more relevant as we are constantly bombarded by the media showing how much our culture is in desperate need of Biblical truths.
Since the early Christian Church began 50 days after Christ’s resurrection (on Pentecost), it witnessed persecutions both from within its ranks as well as outside it. It is noted that the early Church was characterised by wind, fire and the speaking in tongues. At the time, there were 120 people in the upper room including Mary, the Mother of Jesus.
The signs (wind, fire and speaking in tongues) are not the main characteristics of the Church as explained in Acts 2:14-28 but it was the power of the Church’s witnessing which as quoted in Acts 2:14-28 will continue to happen all through the ages. But, have these characteristics waned down?
The Church or better still, early Christianity started to experience attempts to destroy it through false doctrines. The movements within the early Church that threatened it were the Judaizers, Gnostics, Marcionites, Montanists, Novantians and Arians.
One of the first problems encountered by the early Church is detailed in Acts 15:20 as James the Less (the younger James and the brother of Jesus) summed up the debate and decided on certain prohibitions; not eating the blood of strangled animals, refraining from sexual immorality and an exhortation to practical Christian living.
The Church was also being threatened by outside forces as all the Apostles except one (John who died a natural death) were martyred. This persecution was so strong because Christians were uncompromising in their beliefs.
The effective characteristic of the early Church was the power to witness that started from it (Acts 2:14). The Church began with Jews believing in one God and the Proselytes (Gentiles who had converted to Judaism). Before this, there were groups who believed in other gods such as the stars, sea and nature.
The reformation was a gradual process and started on 31 October 1517 when Martin Luther, (1483-1546) considered the Father of the Reformation, stuck his 95 theses on to the door of the Wittenberg church, outlining what the Roman Church was doing wrong.
There were several forces leading to the Reformation. For instance, money dictated who became officers of the Church and who was granted forgiveness of sins. The fall of the Roman Empire had also led to widespread illiteracy and ignorance and theologians held that scripture could only be interpreted by a learned few, leading to biblical interpretation restricted to monasteries. There were also volumes of writings claiming to explain scripture, which in reality had no connection with the biblical text
Other men also followed Luther’s example such as John Wycliffe, born in England (1324-1384), William Tyndale, born in England (1484-1536) and John Calvin, born in France (1509-1564), and Huldrych Zwingli (1484-31).
Being born in a Christian country does not make someone automatically a Christian inasmuch as living in a garage does not make a person a car. We live at a time when Churches, irrespective of denomination are being threatened with extreme and fanatical radicalism of other religions from within by a religion based mainly on the Roman Church’s traditions that does not seem to have learnt from past mistakes. Perhaps more than ever, Christian Churches in general need to:
• Watch out for false doctrines. Study the scriptures yourself and not just listen only. We need to listen to the scripture and study it.
• Stress good methods of Bible study which we need to continue throughout our Christian experience by building up theology and studying systematically by putting in your revelations for future reference. We need to discern the spirits. God can only use what you put inside yourself.
• Realize that not everyone who says they come in the name of the Lord is necessarily of the Lord.
• The Baptism in the Holy Spirit with speaking in tongues will not keep Christians from error if we do not know the scriptures. We need to watch out for human philosophy that comes to bear and will not allow people to come to the Salvific Truth.
Anthony Zarb Dimech