A Seminar Paper on Reformation Christology

Submitted to: Rev.Dr. M. Stephen Submitted by: George John

Stevy M. Mathew

Introduction
The European Reformation of the 16th Century is one of the most fascinating events in the pages of
history. The Reformation embraced a number of quite distinct, yet overlapping, areas of human activity – the
reform of both the morals and structures of church and society, new approaches of political issues, shifts in
political thinking, the renewal of Christian spirituality and the reform of Christian doctrine. It was a movement
based upon a more or less coherent set of ideas, which were believed to be capable of functioning as one of the
foundation of a programme of reform. The post Chalcedonian thinking up to the Reformation can be divided
into medieval Christological thinking and Reformation Christological thinking. In this paper we would like to
focus on Reformation Christological thinking.

Concept of Reformation
The term Reformation is used in a number of senses. Four elements are involved in Reformation which
are: Lutheranism, Reformed Church, (referred as Calvinism), the radical Reformation (still referred as
Anabaptism) and the Counter Reformation or Catholic Reformation. In its broader sense the term ‘Reformation’
is used to refer to all four movements. The term is also used in a more restricted sense to mean ‘the protestant
Reformation’, thereby excluding the catholic Reformation. 1

Need for Reformation

 Corruption was widespread among the clergy, especially at the top.
 The church tortured people suspected of holding non-orthodox beliefs until they confessed or died.
 The church encouraged believers to pray to Mary and the saints.

 Salesmen for the church went around selling “indulgences”—letters written by the pope supposedly
forgiving people their sins.2

Factors of Reformation
A number of factors paved the way for Reformation. The late medieval papacy amply illustrated the
maxim that absolute power corrupts absolutely. The church was in the vulnerable position of owning fabulous
wealth while manifestly lacking the moral qualifications needed to justify her privileges to the populace. There
was a revival of interest in the classical past called ‘humanism’ in southern Europe this interest focus mainly on
the pagan Greek and Roman classics. The key word was back to the sources – the Hebrew and Greek bible and
the early Christian fathers.3

Lutheranism
The Lutheran Reformation is particularly associated with the German territories and with the pervasive
personal influence of one charismatic individual Marin Luther, who was the pioneer of Reformation. Luther
was particularly concern with the doctrine of Justification which formed the central point of his religious
thought. The Luther Reformation was initially an academic movement concern primarily with reforming the
teaching of theology at the University of Wittenberg. It was Luther’s personal activities- such as his posting of
the famous ninety –five theses(31 October and the Leipzig Disputation( June-july1519) which made waves and
brought the ideas in circulation at Wittenberg to the attention of a wider audience. The Lutheran Reformation
began only in 1522, when Luther returned to Wittenberg.4
Luther’s concept was in order to please God and yearn his grace ‘one must do his very best’ that loves
God above all. This God was portrayed to Luther as a judge weighing up his merits. He was trapped, he could
not love God who was condemning him but until he loved God, he would not be accepted. According to
Luther’s view in Romans 1:17; “in it the righteousness of God is revealed”. He hated God for righteously
1
Alister E. McGrath, Reformation Thought: An Introduction 3rd edition(Australia: Blackwell Publishing, 1999), 5.
2
http://www.crcna.org/pages/reformation.cfm
3
Tony Lane, Christian Thought (Thituvalla: Suvartha Books, 1986), 80.
4
McGrath., Op.Cit., 7.
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condemning man not only by the law but also by the gospel. It is not the righteousness by which he condemns
us but the righteousness by which he justifies us by faith. The gospel reveals not God’s condemnation and
wrath but his salvation and justification.
He distinguishes between the inner and outer manner. It is only by faith we become righteous not by
works. Faith lays hold on God promises, unites us to Jesus Christ and indeed even fulfils the law. A Christian is
a perfectly free Lord of all, subject to none. The promises of God give what the commandments of God demand
and fulfill what the law prescribes so that all things may be God’s alone both the commandments and the
fulfilling of the commandments. He alone commands he alone fulfills… surely we are named after Christ not
because his absent from us but because he dwells in us- that is because we believe in him and are Christ’s one
to another and do to our neighbours as Christ does to us. Martin Luther did not at first mean to separate from
the Roman church, but his understanding of the NT led him to state beliefs that the church of his time declared
heretical. He was concerned that nothing should obstruct people’s simple faith in Christ. 5
The Person of Christ: “NO one can deny,’ said Luther, “that we hold, believe, sing, and confess all things in
correspondence with the apostloe’s Creed, the faith of the old Church , that we make nothing new therein nor
add anything thereto, and this way we belong to the old church and are one with it.” He described the nature of
God and the Person of Christ in a thoroughly characteristic way. He had no liking for theological technical
terms, though he confessed that it was necessary to use the old term homoousios to describe the relation
between the persons in the Trinity, and preferred the word “oneness” ; he even disliked the term Trinity, or at
least its German equivalents, Dreifating –keit or Dreheit-they were not good German words, he said; he called
the technical terms used in the old creeds vocabula masthematica; he was careful to avoid using them in his
short and even in his long Catchechism he put a and richer meaning into the theology about God and the person
of Christ

Calvinism
The origins of the reformed church lie with developments with in the Swiss confederation. Reformed
church owed its origin to a series of attempts to reform the morals and worship of the church according to a
more biblical pattern. The term ‘Calvinism’ is often used to refer to the religious ideas of the reformed church. 6
Calvinism develop in Geneva, exercised a perform influence upon the political development of much of
Western Europe. Calvin looks up his work as a direct commission from God. For this reason he remained firm
in his determination to construct in this city a Christian community based upon the word of God in the face of
every kind of opposition.7 He is blamed for the doctrine of pre destination for he heightens it some what. He is
vilified for his part in the execution of the heretic Servetus (for denying the doctrine of trinity) – although his
contemporaries uploaded him almost to a man of those considered saintly today such as Thomas More. Calvin
transformed Geneva the Scots reformer John Knox declared it to be the most perfect school of Christ that ever
was in the earth since the days of apostles. Calvin suggests building a city under the yoke of Christ. It is
important to call to mind firstly that God by his law prescribes what we ought to do, failure in any one respect
subjects us to the dreadful Judgement of eternal death which it denounces. Secondly, because it is not only
difficult, but altogether beyond our strength and ability, to fulfill the demand of the law, if we look to ourselves
and consider what is due to our merits no ground of hope remains, but we lie forsaken of God under eternal
death. When we the visible sign we must consider what it represents and by whom it has been given to us. The
bread is given us to figure the body of Jesus Christ, with command to eat it and it is given to us by God who is
certain and immutable truth. John Calvin was a greatest systematic theologian of the Reformation. His teaching
is the basis of the reform churches which still remain strong in many parts of the world today. 8

Anabaptists
The term Anabaptist owes its origins to Zwingli (the word literally means re-baptizers), and refers to
what was perhaps the most distinct aspect of Anabaptist practice – the instance that only those who had made a
personal public profession of faith should be baptized. Anabaptism seems to have first arisen around Zurich, in
the aftermath of Zwingli’s reforms with in the city in the early 1520s. it centered a group of individuals who
argued that Zwingli was not being faithful to his own reforming principles. He preached one thing and practice
another. Although Zwingli professed faithfulness to the Sola scriptura(by scripture alone) principle, Grebel
argued that he retained a number of practices – including infant baptism, the close link between church and

5
Lane., Op.Cit., 85-86.
6
McGrath., Op.Cit., 7.
7
Harold J. Grimm, The Reformation Era (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1954), 318.
8
Lane., Op.Cit., 97.
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magistracy and the participation of Christians in warfare – which were not sanctioned or ordained by
scriptures.9 Menno Simons who was another Anabaptist leader illustrates the danger of neglecting tradition
when one interprets bible. He held that Jesus Christ did not become flesh of Mary, but in Mary. In other words
while affirming that Jesus was truly human, he did not believe that his humanity was taken from Mary – who
was only his post mother. This position had already been rejected as a heresy in the 2 nd century.10

Catholic Reformation
The term is often used to refer to the revitalization of Roman Catholicism in the period following the
opening of the Council of Trent(1545). In older scholarly works, the movement is often designated the ‘Counter
Reformation’: as the term suggests, the Roman Catholic Church developed means of combating the Protestant
reformation, in order to limits its influence. It is becoming increasingly clear, however, that the Roman Catholic
Church countered the Reformation partly by reforming itself from within, in order to remove the grounds of
Protestant criticism. In this sense, the movement was a reformation of the Roman Catholic Church, as much as
it was a reaction against the Protestant Reformation.11
In 1534 Ignatius Loyola founded the Society of Jesus. The Jesuits had three major aim. To reformed the
church with in (by education especially); to fight heresy (especially Protestantism); to preach the gospel to the
pagan world. Ignatius greatest work is his spiritual exercises, one of the major spiritual classics. The goal is to
discover God’s will for once life and to dedicate oneself completely to the service of Jesus Christ – ideally as a
Jesuits. The exercises as designed to last four weeks, though each week may be shorter or longer than seven
days. The emphasis of weak one is on the purgation of sin. The second week emphasis of the kingdom of Jesus
Christ. In the third week the disciple meditate the passion of Jesus Christ. In the Fourth week the disciples
meditate on the risen Jesus Christ.12

Evaluation & Conclusion

The Reformation Era was, accordingly, one of the upheavals in nearly over every sphere of thought and
action. The breakdown of medieval conception and the threat to the unity of western Christendom led
thoughtful people to develop reform program often in conflict with one another; far reaching economic changes
were accompanied by social adjustments which frequently led to violence, the development of compact states
by ambitious territorial rulers was opposed by various political elements which occasionally used religious
dissatisfaction to further their political ends; As the Reformation era neared its close however the religious
movements, Protestant and Catholic lost much of their dynamic character.
The Reformation is a movement in which religious ideas played a major role. The Reformation era
between 1500 and 1650 was above all an age of religious faith, when what people believe had significant
bearing upon political, economic and social theories and upon literary and artistic expressions. This is not to say
that other than religious motifs were not at times decisive for secular interest were present through out the
period as in the early centuries. It was not until the end of the era, however, that these secular interest began to
take precedence over the religious.

Bibliography
Grimm, Harold J. The Reformation Era . New York: The Macmillan Company, 1954.

Lane, Tony .Christian Thought . Thituvalla: Suvartha Books, 1986.

McGrath, Alister E. Reformation Thought: An Introduction 3rd edition. Australia: Blackwell

Publishing, 1999.

Saji, Tina. Christian Social Reformers. New Delhi: Mittal Publications, 2005.

Webliography
http://www.crcna.org/pages/reformation.cfm

9
McGrath., Op.Cit., 10.
10
Lane., Op.Cit., 102.
11
McGrath., Op.Cit., 11.
12
Lane., Op.Cit., 114.
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