Not all the characteristics that marked the Reformation period (1517-1661) are still present in evangelical Christianity today, some for good reason. Below, I will discuss characteristics that are still present today followed by those that are no longer present.
Characteristics that marked the Reformation period (1517-1661) that are still present in evangelical Christianity today.
The following features or characteristics of the Reformation period have endured to this day within evangelical Christian circles.
- Sola gratia, sola fide, sola Scriptura. The central message of Protestantism was: sola gratia, sola fide, sola Scriptura. That meant “salvation was by grace alone through faith alone as communicated with perfect authority in the Scriptures”[1] This message has endured within most evangelical Christianity till this day and is central to the faith of many evangelicals. Noll writes, “Protestants would obey the Bible before all other authorities. And what many Protestants would find in the Bible was a message of salvation by grace at least substantially similar to the one that Luther had discovered for himself in the pages of the Scriptures”.[2]
- The Priesthood of all believers. This is the idea that every believer is a priest, regardless of his or her full-time occupation. Believers do not need a mediator to go between them and God but can approach directly. Every believer has direct access to God. The ideas argued by Luther on this subject eventually became the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Along with sola gratia, sola fide, and sola scriptura, the priesthood of all believers was one of the top ideas of the Protestant Reformation. This characteristic of the reformation has endured to this day in many evangelical circles.
- Bible available in language people can understand. If all believers are priests, it makes sense that they should have access to the word of God so that they can effectively do their priestly duties. Luther translated the New Testament into German. Ever since, Protestants have translated the Bible into languages people can understand ever. Today, there are many Bible translation ministries led by protestants that are working to get the Bible translated into remote languages all over the world so indigenous people can read in their own mother tongue the words of God.
- Mass education of believers. The invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg was priceless to the propagation of the reformation. It was also a helpful tool for protestants leaders to train lay people and also start schools to train future leaders. This feature of Protestantism which follows logically from the priesthood of all believers continues to this day in many evangelical circles with great emphasis being made on using print and other modern technologies to teach believers to be able to fellowship with God directly.
- The restoration of the sacraments. The sacraments were restored to the people and Luther reduced them to only two (Baptism and Eucharist)[3].
- Clerics could marry. Luther married the former nun Katherine von Bora. With that action, he set the example for the Protestant clerical family. Today, most protestant pastors and clerics marry. About 500 years later, Catholic clerics still don’t marry.
- Money is still frequently a cause of schism in evangelical churches today. Money from the sales of indulgences that benefited the pope and other church leaders was, at least partly, at the root of the troubles that led to the reformation. Unfortunately, the love of money is still the root of all evil today and often causes problems, including schisms within evangelical churches today.
Characteristics that marked the Reformation period (1517-1661) that are no longer present in evangelical Christianity today.
While many of the characteristics of the Reformation period have endured in evangelical Christianity of today, some have not. And it’s a good thing that some of them have not. Below, I share three that are no longer present in evangelical Christianity today.
- Tense political and religious climate with fierce opposition from the Catholic church and the empire. A political and religious climate like that which existed under emperor Charles V and the pope does not exist today. There was the emperor, Charles V, who felt called to defend Catholicism, which he believed was the true faith. Combine that with a zealous pope who wanted to maintain power and protect his source of money and you get a recipe where people were easily labeled heretics and killed when they didn’t toe the line. Fortunately, the kind of pressure that Luther was up against from 1517 to the Diet of Worms in 1521 and beyond is rare within evangelical circles today, at least not in the West.
- State churches. Early on, the protestant split from the Roman Catholic church in different regions didn’t mean the many denominations could exist. That was a much later occurrence. Each region had a national church which often paid loyalty to a local monarch as was the case in England.
- Executions and Burning at the stake. Unfortunately, it was common during the early days of the reformation for church authorities to label opponents as heretics and kill them. The burning Jan Hus at the stake and the execution of many Anabaptists are examples. We are fortunate that we no longer live in such an atmosphere.
- Predestination. Luther believed much more firmly in predestination than have many later Protestants.
- Sacraments. Luther believed that God genuinely regenerated infants in baptism and that Christ was truly present in the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper. Those are beliefs that very few Protestants outside the Lutheran churches share today[4].
Foot Notes
[1] Mark A. Noll, Turning Points: Decisive Moment in the History of Christianity, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academics, 2012), 219.
[2] Noll, Turning Points, 146
[3] Tony Lane, A Concise History of Christian Thought, rev. ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academics, 2016), 157.
[4] Noll, Turning Points, 162