REFORMATION LECTURE NOTES

Introductory Remarks

The Church, the Body of Jesus Christ has been in existence for over 2000 years. No
doubt, there have been various Church reforms during its 1500 years of existence
before Martin Luther’s radical reforms were to expose the deep need for reforms.
However, no challenge to the Church’s authority has been registered until that which
Martin Luther the Monk championed in the 16th century and the subsequent centuries
by his fellow reformers from different parts of the world especially Europe.

I. The Need for Church Reforms

The need for the reformation started way back in the centuries before the 16th century.
Various developments in the Church and the world at large for centuries necessitated
such reforms.

A. National Independence
During the ensuing centuries after the Dark Ages, many kings and their people in
Europe were tired of the authority of the pope in Rome, so most of them
wanted to be free from Roman influence. They were tired of interference by the
pope and Rome in all matters patterning their national affairs, both for the
church and the state. They disliked the tendency by the pope owning/acquiring
vast lands and houses in their countries. They sent much money to Rome
but now they wanted to use their church money in their own countries. As a
result, they wanted their nations to independence and establish their own
national church leadership.
B. Renaissance
This was the period of the rebirth of learning in Europe. It focused on the
renewal of education. This period started in the 14th century during which
period people became hungry for education. Some began to read the old Greek
and Romans writings. A number of schools were established and many people
enrolled in them and consequently started asking questions regarding some of
the conducts and authority of the Church. They stopped accepting every
statement made by the pope of the Church denial of the Extra Cathedra. They
wanted to see for themselves and they wanted to know the real truth about
anything. So the great awakening of learning was born.
C. The Invention of the Printing Press
The invention of the printing press in Gutenberg, Germany, helped to put in
place/print a number of books following renaissance. Notable to be printed after
being translated into German and other local languages was the Bible by Martin
Luther. It is said that he is the one who used the printing press more than any
other during his pursuit of reformation for the Church. With the Bible in local
languages especially German, many people could see the errors of the Church
for themselves.

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 D. The Abuse of Papal Authority

During the 15th century, most Popes in Rome abused their ministerial authority in a
number of ways:

i. Despotic Power
Some of the popes used their Papal power for dictatorial policies that affected
the masses. One such pope is Alexander VI who had vast abuse of papal power
such he was “ready to sell the keys, altars and even Christ –all these were within
his rights since he also bought them. Some popes abused their ecclesial powers
by intimidating their subjects. Others substituted their religious/ecclesiastical
power with political power, such that one would almost think that popes were
politicians rather than church leaders.

ii. Hedonism –sensuality/love of pomp (worldliness of the clerks)

This is the love of pleasure. Clerical immorality (neglect of their avowed celibacy,
drunkenness and gambling) registered their height and this created a scandal
among the faithful. Pope Alexander VI had many concubines who were legally the
wives of others in his court who born for him several children whom he
acknowledged publicly. Absenteeism, pluralism (holding several ecclesiastical
offices) and too much wealth of the high ranked clerics bore little resemblance
to the Christian gospel. With all this moral decadence, surely the Church needed
reforms.

iii. Corruption
Pope Sixtus IV (1471-1484) was actually one of the most corrupt popes. During
his pontificate, corruption and nepotism reach new heights. The main thrust
of his policy was to enrich his family, particularly his five nephews. Under his
reign, the church became a family business and all Italy was involved in a series of
wars and conspiracies whose sole purpose was to enrich the pope’s nephews.
His favorite nephew Pietro Riario was 26 years old when he was made a
cardinal, patriarch of Constantinople, and archbishop of Florence. In short, most
of the members of the clergy including the popes of these centuries who were
often members of the nobility lived in splendor and moral corruption. Secular
humanists as well as Christian humanists such as Desiderius Erasmus of
Rotterdam in Holland condemned such practices but nothing happened to
change it.

iv. The Great Schism

Division/ splitting of a group into opposing factions/ the formal separation of a
church into two churches or the withdrawal of one group over doctrinal
differences.

There was constant scramble for papacy during the 15th century. There was a
time when there were two popes for the church –one in Rome, Italy and

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 another in Avignon in France. This was done when the king of France changed
Popes and declared French church independent of Rome. This was called the
Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy. This affected the church’s unity in Europe
and greatly damaged its reputation. During that time, Europe suffered constant
battlefield for rival popes, or for nobles and republics that supported one side or
the other.

v. Selling of Ecclesiastical Positions

During the 15th and 16th centuries, there were a lot of buying and selling of
ecclesial positions. For example, during the pontificate of Pope Leo X, Albert of
Brandenburg, Germany, bought ecclesial positions –he bought two Episcopal
diocese and went ahead to buy another most important archbishopric in
Germany –that of Mainz. He negotiated with Pope Leo X, one of the most
corrupt popes of the age who was also very materialistic (greedy) and indolent
(very idle).

E. Estrangement of the Ecclesiastical Teaching

Over the centuries, there had been a lot of straying away from the cardinal
doctrines of the church. Most of these teachings that prompted Luther’s opposition
had to do with salvation. The Church had used its authority to indoctrinate the
masses that salvation is by works. The more you do good works, the more you are
becoming of a child of God. These teachings and church practices reached its apex
during the time of Pope Leo X who allowed some of the members of the clergy to
preach and sell indulgences in the name of buying salvation.

F. The Sale of Indulgences

During Pope Leo X, he authorized Albert of Brandenburg, whom he had sold the
archbishopric of Mainz, to announce a great sale of indulgences in his territories on
condition with hopes that half of the proceeds be sent to the papal coffers. Leo X
had in mind to finish up the construction of the great Basilica of Saint Peter which
was begun by Pope Julius II (1503-1513). To this end, the great Basilica of St Peter’s
Cathedral in the Vatican which is revered by most Catholics today was one of the
indirect causes of the Reformation. In order to promote the rapid sales of the
indulgences, the man in-charge of the sales in Germany, was a Dominican John
Tetzel, an unscrupulous (immoral, crooked, dishonest) man who was willing to make
scandalous claims for his commodity, as long as claims would help sales. He,
together with his preachers, were heard announcing that the indulgences that they
sold made the sinner “cleaner than when coming out of baptism,” and cleaner than
Adam before the Fall,” and that “the cross of the seller of indulgence has as much
power as the Cross of Jesus Christ.” They even went ahead preaching that those
who wanted to buy an indulgence for a loved one who was deceased were promised
that, “as soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs. This
was indeed the distortion of the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
This practice of selling indulgences, preaching and teaching that salvation could
be bought by John Tetzel and his friends was the immediate cause of the opposition

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 and the need reformation by Martin Luther and for sure it sparked the church’s
revolution that was to follow and continue to be felt to this day.

II. Reformation in Germany

A. The Life of Martin Luther

Martin Luther was a German monk, born in 1483 in Eisleben, Saxony, Germany. His
father was of peasant origin who became a miner and then a founder of several
foundries. His father wanted him to become a lawyer but Martin joined the
Augustinian monastery at Erfurt in 1505 when he was almost 20 years old. He
became a professor of Biblical studies at the University of Wittenberg. In 1513 he
began to lecture on the Psalms which he interpreted christologically.
The great discovery came in 1515 when he began lecturing on the Epistle to the
Romans. During his lectures of Romans Luther discovered that we are saved by
God’s grace through faith alone, nothing else as the Church had taught. This brought
to him to conclusion that faith alone was central to Christianity and that it is the
only means to salvation.
When he became convinced of this truth, he sought to challenge the tradition
views of the Church. As such, he composed 97 theses to be debated in an academic
setting. In these theses, he attacked several of the main tenets of the scholastic
theology. However, the theses and debate aroused little interest beyond the
university itself.
Then he wrote another set of theses and fixed them on the door post of the
chapel with no expectation that they would have more impact than previous ones,
and the result was such a stir that eventually all of Christendom was involved in its
consequences. The reason for this very different reaction was that these 95 theses
attacked the sale of indulgences and its theological presuppositions. In them he
rejected the idea that salvation could be achieved by good works and by buying
through the indulgences. He strongly stated that the religious authority rests not
with the pope or the church; but with the Bible. He criticized the excesses of
clerical and papal wealth. In 1521, Luther denied the authority of the pope and was
effectively excommunicated by the pope and declared an outlaw by Charles V at the
Diet of Worms. (a discussion of his trial at Worms, pp27-28 of Gonzalez).
He then got married to one of the sisters an in apparently defiance to the vow of
celibacy and found wives for his fellow colleagues as well.

B. Luther’s theology

i. The Word of God

Martin Luther sought to make the word of God the starting point of and the final
authority of his theology. For him, the Bible was of paramount importance and it is in it
that we find the answer to our sinful diseases. For him, in its primary sense, the Word
of God is none other than God himself. This is supported by the first verses of the

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 Gospel of John: ‘In the beginning was the Word….’ For him, the Bible itself, strictly
speaking, declares the Word of God is none other than God the Son, the Second
Person of the Trinity, the Word who was made flesh and dwelt among us. According to
Luther, when God speaks, we are not simply given information, above all, God acts. This
is what it means in the book of Genesis, where the Word of God is a creating force:
‘God said, let there be… and there was.’ When God speaks that which is uttered is also
created. God’s word besides telling us something does something in u and in creation.
That creative and powerful Word was incarnate in Jesus Christ who is both God’s
greatest revelation and God’s greatest action. In Jesus Christ God was decisively
revealed to us and He overcame the power of evil that had us in subjection. God’s
revelation in Jesus Christ is also God’s victory over the all that oppose his kingdom. For
Luther then, the Bible is the Word of God because in it the Word Incarnate comes to
us. Anyone who reads the Bible and does not find Jesus Christ in it has not encountered
the Word of God. Thus for Luther, the Bible is the final authority for both rule and faith
for believers in Jesus Christ.

ii. The Knowledge of God

Luther agreed with the most traditional theology that it is possible to know something
about God by purely rational or natural means. Such knowledge includes the fact that
God exists, and allows us to distinguish between good and bad, right and wrong.
However, for Luther this is not true knowledge of God. One does not know God
through speculation, just as one gets to the roof by climbing a ladder. For Luther God’s
highest and supreme self-disclosure took/takes place in the Cross of Jesus Christ. For
this reason, for Luther the rightful and adequate knowledge of God is what he called
through the ‘theology of the Cross.’ In the Cross God destroyed all evil and when we
know God in the Cross total confession of our sinful behavior occurs.

iii. Salvation

On salvation, Luther taught, as the Bible teaches that we are saved by God’s grace
through faith. Teachings such as those from the New Testament, especially Paul’s letters
of Romans, Galatians and Ephesians were clear about salvation as a gracious offer of
God through faith in Jesus Christ (Cf. Acts 15.11; Rom. 1.17; 3.24; 5.1-2; 9.30-32; Gal.
2.16; 2.20; 3.8; 3.11; Eph. 2.8-9; 3.12; Phil.3.9; etc.) No works, be they good or
whatsoever can save man. This was in contrast to what the established church taught –
that we are saved by grace plus good works. For Luther, then his teaching on salvation
is sola gracia and sola fide –that is grace alone and faith alone.

iv. Priesthood of All believer

The church was an essential element of the Christian message. His theology was that of
an individual and that of direct communion with God. However, Luther emphasized the
necessity that all believers are priests and they each one can commune with God
directly for himself or for others. Contrary to the RCC teaching that one can come to

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 God through the church embodied in the persons of the church’s clerics –the pope,
bishops and priests.

v. Sacraments

Luther rejected the RCC teaching of the seven sacraments. The RCC teaches that there
are 7 sacraments, and these are as follows:
1. Baptism –sacrament of initiation –because the rest of our Christian life depends
on it
2. Lord’s Supper/Mass/Eucharist/Holy Communion –sacrament of initiation –
because the rest of our Christian life depends on it
3. Confirmation –sacrament of initiation because the rest of our Christian life
depend on it
4. Confession –manifests God’s grace that sanctifies us and help us to grow in
Christ-like character
5. Marriage –between man woman exemplifies the union of Christ and the Church
6. Unction of the sick –administered to both the dying and those gravely ill
7. Holy Orders –three orders: episcopate, priesthood, and diaconate

On the contrary, Martin Luther recognized two Christian sacraments –Baptism and
Lord’s Supper. Baptism was a sign for one’s death and resurrection with Jesus
Christ. By the power of God, we are made members of the Body of Christ –the
Church. Baptism and faith are closely tied for the ritual itself is invalid without faith.
For him, the Christian sacraments are these two mentioned above because Jesus
explicitly commanded them to be done by his church –the believer –‘do this in
remembrance of me’ –1 Cor. 11.23b-26; cf. Matt. 26.26-29; Mk 14.22-27; Lk. 22.7-
23. Luther’s teaching of the Lord’s Supper is that of Consubstantiation –that Christ
is in/under/with the bread and wine of the Eucharist. The RCC’s teaching on the
Lord’s Supper is that of Transubstantiation –that the bread and wine literally turns
to be real body and blood of Christ during the Mass.

vi. The Two Kingdoms (two governments)

This deals with the issue of the relation between the Church and the State. According
to Luther, God has established two kingdoms or governments. One is that of the law
and the other is that of grace. The state or government operates under the law using
the sword whose main purpose is to set limits to human sin and its consequences.
Without the state, sin would lead to chaos and destruction. Believers on the other hand
belong to the other kingdom –the kingdom of grace which uses the gospel to advance
its propaganda –fostering salvation in men and women. For Luther, Christians are
members of both kingdoms –they belong to the kingdom of grace through the gospel
and their confessed salvation in Jesus Christ; but they also belong to the kingdom of the
law through their citizenship to the state. But the unbelievers belong to one kingdom
only –that of the law and the sword.

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 Luther’s successor was Melanchthon who carried on with Lutheranism after’
Luther’s death.

III. Reformation in Switzerland

A. Ulrich Zwingli

Ulrich Zwingli was born in a small Swiss village in January 1484, less than two months
after Luther. After learning his first letters from his uncle, he studied in Basel and Bern.
He then went to the University of Vienna and again to Basel. After receiving his degree
of Master of Arts in 1506, he became a priest of a town of Glarus, where he continued
with his studies and became proficient in Greek. This combination of priestly duties with
humanistic studies was exceptional, in that many parish priests in Switzerland were
ignorant of and that there were even some who had ever read the entire NT.
In 1512, and again in 1515, Zwingli went on Italian campaigns with mercenary
soldiers from his district. The first expedition was successful, and the young priest saw
his parishioners looting the conquered region. The outcome of the second expedition
was opposed, and he now had occasion to see the impact of war on the defeated. This
convinced him that one of the great evils of Switzerland was that mercenary service
destroyed the moral fiber of society. After spending 10 years at Glarus, he was made
priest of an abbey to which many went on pilgrimage. He soon drew attention upon
himself by preaching against the notion that exercises such as pilgrimage could avail for
salvation, and declaring that he found nothing, in the NT, in support of such practices.
By the time he became a priest in Zurich in 1518, Zwingli had reached
conclusions similar to those of Luther. His route to such conclusions had not been the
anguished quest of Luther, but rather the study of scriptures according to the method of
the humanists, and his zealous outrage against the superstition that passed for
Christianity against the exploitation of the people by some of the church and against the
mercenary service.
Zwingli’s preaching, devotion, and learning soon won him the respect of his
parishioners in Zurich. When a seller of indulgences arrived, Zwingli convinced the
government that he should be expelled from the city before he could peddle his wares.
Then Francis 1 of France who was at war with Charles V requested mercenary
contingents (groups) from Swiss Confederation and all the cantons (districts) sent their
soldiers –except Zurich. The pope who was an ally of Francis insisted that Zurich had an
obligation to the papacy and prevailed on the government to send to mercenary soldiers
to serve under Francis. That incident directed Zwingli’s attention to the abuses of the
papacy, and his attacks on the superstition and the unjust use of power became more
sharply focused on the papacy.
Zwingli was under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the bishop of Constance who
gave signs of concern over what was taking place in Zurich. When he preached against
the laws of fasting and abstinence (self-denial) and some of his parishioners gathered to
eat sausages during Lent, the bishop of Constance accused him before the Council of
Government, but he defended his preaching on the basis of scripture and he was

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 allowed to continue preaching. Shortly thereafter, he expanded the scope of his attacks
on traditional Christianity by declaring that priestly celibacy was not biblical, and further
declaring that those who demanded it didn’t follow their own injunctions (orders/ban).
The Council of Government called for a debate between Zwingli and
representative of the bishop. At that point, hundreds of spectators were present.
Zwingli expounded several theses and defeated them on the basis on Scripture. The
bishop’s representative refused to respond to him, declaring that soon a general council
would gather and at that time all matters currently debated would be settled. When he
was asked to try to show that Zwingli was wrong, he again refused to do so. Thereafter,
the Council decided that since no one had refuted Zwingli’s teachings, he was free to
continue preaching. This decision marked Zurich’s final break with the bishopric of
Constance and thereafter with Rome.
Zwingli’s main goal for reformation was to restore biblical faith and practice:
1. He condemned the sale of indulgences
2. He condemned superstition –practice of pilgrimage to Eisieden where the statue
of Mary was stationed and people could bow to it. People believed that by doing
so they could:
i. be healed of their diseases
ii. be forgiven of their sins
iii. be blessed
3. He condemned the teaching about Mass
4. He condemned that salvation is by works of merit
5. He condemned prayers to the saints
6. He condemned celibacy.
7. He stressed the fact worship should be in the language of the common people,
contrary to Latin as used by RCC

B. Zwingli’s Theology

Zwingli’s theology coincided with Luther’s on many points. Their only difference was on
the meaning and nature of the Lord’s Supper/Mass/Holy Communion. Luther’s doctrine
on the Lord’s Supper was that of Consubstantiation (bread and wine becomes the real
body and blood of Jesus), while for Zwingli during the Lord’s Supper, bread and wine are
reminders. They only remind us of the body and blood of Jesus Christ. They were the
physical signs or symbols of spiritual reality.
Some of the Catholic’s hard-liners became angry with Zwingli’s teaching which
for them it was a direct challenge to the pope in Rome. As such they sent soldiers to
attach Zurich and the Protestants sent theirs as well. The battled raged on in which
Zwingli was a chaplain of the protestant armies, unfortunately he was killed in the battle.
With his death, the protestant reformation’s leadership in Switzerland then went
on to John Calvin.

IV. Reformation in Geneva -Switzerland

A. John Calvin

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 John Calvin was born in a small town of Noyon in France on July 10, 1509. By that time,
Luther had delivered his first lectures at the University of Wittenberg. Calvin’s father
was part of the rising middle class of Noyon and he served as secretary to the bishop of
the cathedral chapter. Through such connections he obtained for his son, John, the
income from the minor ecclesiastical posts to defray (pay) his expenses as a student.
John made use of such resources and engaged himself in ecclesiastical career in Paris
where be became acquainted with the teachings of Luther.
In 1528 he received his Master of Arts. His father decided that he should
abandon theology and pursue a career in law. John then studied law in Orleans and
Bourges.
Through the influence of reading the Scripture and the early Christian history, he
came to conclusion that he must break with Roman communion and follow the route of
reformers and Protestantism.
In 1534, he returned to Noyon and gave up the ecclesiastical posts his father had
secured for him and in 1535; he went into exile in Switzerland in the protestant town of
Basel and arrived in Geneva in 1536. For him, it was not his intention to become one of
the reformation leaders; but it was to settle in a calm environment where he could
study Scripture and write about his own faith. His theological teachings are found in his
famous book, Institutes of Christian Religion.

B. Calvin’s Theology.

John Calvin’s central idea of salvation is that it comes only by God’s choice. His teaching
came as a result of emphasis on the Sovereignty of God –the notion that God is in total
control of all things in heaven and on earth. It is because of this extreme in-balance of
God’s Sovereignty over God’s Love that John Calvin’s central idea of his teaching – the
Doctrine of Predestination can be summed up in five points:

Total Depravity –For Calvin, this teaches about what he called Total Depravity. All
people inherit the sin of Adam through their parents. Man is totally sinful and that
sinning is actually his very nature.

Unconditional Election –God planned who should be saved to eternal life and who
should be condemned to eternal hell even before the creation. For Calvin no one can
do anything to change this.

Limited Atonement – John Calvin taught that the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross
was only for a limited (few) number of people, those God had already elected, chosen
or predestined to salvation by God himself.

Irresistible Grace –Calvin taught that a person cannot refuse to be saved. He cannot
choose salvation or reject it. The grace of God comes to those he has chosen and

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 predestined through the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of that person and that a
person has nothing to do with it because it is a matter of God’s Sovereign will.

Perseverance of the Saints –John Calvin taught that those chosen to salvation or
those predestined to salvation can not fall away from God’s saving grace. This is so
because God has chosen to save him, no matter what. This he called Impossibility of
Apostasy
After his death, his student Theodore Beza took over the leadership mantle of
the Geneva reformation and continued with the teachings of Calvin. Calvin’s teachings
became the benchmark of the Reformed Tradition called Calvinism. Most of the
Reformed Churches and Presbyterianism follow Calvin’s teachings.

V. Reformation in Great Britain

The reformation in Great Britain was not necessarily that of doctrine. Here reformation
was brought about by matrimonial issue of Henry VIII of England who was a staunch
support of Catholicism and opposed Luther’s reforms led the Church in England in its
break with Rome.
 Henry VIII wanted to marry his brother’s widow Catherine of
Spain, but since the canon law prohibited a man’s marriage with
his brother’s widow, tension arose between England and Rome.
 The pope refused to bless their marriage.
 Henry had no male child with Catherine. Their only child was
Mary Tudor.
 As a solution to this dilemma, Henry suggested that the bastard
son whom he made Duke of Richmond be declared legitimate
and made his heir.
 Such arrangements would require papal action and the pope
refused to take a step that would alienate Spain.
 The cardinal in-charge of these negotiations suggested that
Henry arrange the marriage of Mary his daughter with his
bastard son.
 Henry felt that marrying his daughter Mary to her own half-
brother would only compound the original error of marrying
him to his brother’s widow.
 Henry’s solution was to request the pope to annul (divorce) his
own union with Catherine, so that he can be free to marry
anyone who would give him the needed heir to the throne.

Following much diplomacy that yielded nothing between Henry and Rome, Thomas
Cranmer, Henry’s advisor on religious issues was the archbishop of Canterbury and he
told the king to consult Catholic universities of Paris, Orleans, Toulouse, Oxford,
Cambridge, and even those in Italy to declare that Henry’s marriage with Catherine was
not valid.

10

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 From that point on, Henry followed a policy that would eventually lead to break with
Rome:
 The ancient laws forbidding appeals to Rome were re-enacted,
thus putting the clergy more directly under the kings’ authority.
 He also decided that all the church funds that normally went to
Rome be retained in England
 Henry’s concern was not a reformation like that taking place on
the continent; rather he needed a restoration of the rights of
the crown (kingship) against undue papal intervention.
 Earlier John Wycliffe’s reformation program in England included
the creation of a national church under the direction of civil
authorities
 Cranmer’s hope was also a church under the royal authority
 And in 1534 the final break with Rome came when Parliament,
following the dictates of the king enacted a series of laws
forbidding the payment of anything and any other contribution
to Rome, ruling that Henry’s marriage to Catherine was not
legitimate and therefore Mary Tudor was not the legitimate heir
to the throne, and finally making the king the ‘supreme head of
the Church of England.’ In order to enforce this last decision,
Parliament also declared that anyone who dared say that the
king was a schismatic or a heretic was guilty of treason.

In summary, the reformation in England took a different direction as compared to that

of Germany and Switzerland. It was not mainly doctrinal and church practices; on the
contrary, it was a matrimonial issue. During various reigns of different monarchs, its
tendency was either to be in good terms with Rome or to be on the other extreme of
total turning away from Rome. It all depended on who was a monarch –some were
more of catholic while other more of protestant. For example, Mary Tudor became a
monarch when King Edward VI died and she was a catholic hardliner. During her reign
Thomas Cranmer, the archbishop of Canterbury was killed. After her death, her half-
sister Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, became queen of England.
Elizabeth was protestant but not a protestant hardliner. She wanted a church in
England in which there would be no place for either Roman Catholicism or extreme
Protestantism. She accepted any moderate Protestantism as long as it participated in the
common worship of the Church of England. The Book of Common Prayer was edited
which has inclusivistic approach to theology (pg. 79) for a phrase on the Lord’s Supper.
This is the reason why the Anglican Church or Church of England is neither
wholly protestant nor wholly Roman Catholic. It has ‘fathers’ or ‘priests’ or ‘bishops’
but these get married unlike those of catholic. It combines elements of Protestantism
and those of Catholicism. The head of the Anglican Church is the Monarch of Great
Britain, of course with Archbishop of Canterbury as the leading Clergy man for the
Church.

Reformation in Scotland

11

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 In the sixteenth century, Protestantism had been making its way into Scotland. Many
Scots who studied in Germany returned to their homeland, taking with them the ideas
and writings of Luther and other reformers. Despite persecution of those who would
want church reforms by the government, protestant doctrines continued to gain
adherents. The spread of Protestantism was particularly noticeable among the nobility
who resented the growing power of the crown and the loss of many of their ancient
privileges. It was also noticeable among university students who constantly read and
circulated the smuggled books of protestant authors.

John Knox
 He was born around 1515 and studied theology and was
ordained priest in the late 1530s.
 John Knox was the famous Scottish reformer and he became
the leader of Scottish Protestant against his will but he could
not do otherwise but help by becoming the main preacher of
the protestant community and thus the spokesperson for
reformation in Scotland.
 Protestantism in Scotland flourished because both England and
France were going through difficult times and could not
interfere in Scottish affairs.
 When France interfered years later, persecution was decreed
against Protestants, and Knox and other reformers were
imprisoned. Knox spent nineteen months in cruel labor but he
was released upon intervention by King Edward of England.
 After King Edward of England died and Mary Tudor became
queen of England persecution against Protestants broke out
again.
 Knox went to Switzerland where he spent some time with John
Calvin in Geneva and in Zurich with Bullinger, Zwingli’s
successor.
 Knox organized the Reformed Church of Scotland whose polity
was similar to later Presbyterianism. In each church elders were
elected as well as ministers, although the latter could not be
installed before being examined by other ministers. The pillars
of the new church were the Book of Discipline, the Book of
Common Order, and the Scots Confession.
 Before he died, John Knox had established the Reformed
protestant tradition in Scotland. He encouraged his fellow
protestant to continue with the struggle for church reformation

In Malawi, the CCAP synods of Blantyre and Livingstonia originated from Scotland. The
Dutch Reformed Church of Nkhoma synod is also of the Reformed tradition.

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