Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
- Matthew 28:19-20
Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.
- Genesis 28:14
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
- 1 Peter 2:9
And they sang a new song, saying:
“You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased for God
persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
and they will reign on the earth.”
- Revelation 5:9-10
“ To call popes, bishops, priests, monks and nuns the religious class, but princes, lords, artisans and farm workers the secular class is but a specious device invented by certain time-servers. But no one ought to be frightened by it, and for good reason. For all Christians whatsoever really and truly belong to the religious class and there is no difference among them except insofar as they do different work For baptism, gospel and faith alone make men religious and create a Christian people … The fact is that our baptism consecrates us all without exception and makes us all priests (1 Peter 2:9, Revelation 5:9-10).’ (Appeal to the German Ruling Class 1.1).”
- Tony Lane, A Concise History of Christian Thought
Martin Luther, (1483-1546), studied to become a lawyer, but after his conversion he was ordained as a priest. He was redirected toward a more scholastic assignment. He founded the Lutheran church and most consider him the spark that led to the protestant Reformation. Many claim October 31st as Reformation Day as the day Luther nailed his 95 theses on “something” at the Wittenberg Church. Legend says nailing on the door, but there is doubt about that, maybe another form of fastening on a bulletin board, not that the church door couldn’t be a bulletin board also.
But in this quote from Martin Luther, he is basically saying that the church, indeed religion, is for all nations and all people. Odd that Luther fought against the church elite and Jesus did the same thing. The Holy Spirit comes upon the people of God’s choosing and God can pour the Spirit upon the uneducated as well as the educated and influential. In fact, maybe even more so when you consider the haughtiness of the elite.
Luther established the foundation of the Reformation movement in a few tenets that have remained the keystones of the Reformed church. Salvation is by Grace alone, by faith alone, by Christ alone. The authority of the person preaching the word is by Scripture alone. And the purpose of the church is what I place at the end of nearly all my posts, Soli Deo Gloria. Only to God be the Glory. These five points distinguish the Reformed faith from the Roman Catholics.
And this started with Luther stating that the clergy and church leaders were no different than anyone sitting in the pews.
While Erasmus broke away from Luther as the new church was being formed, Luther did not really want to form a new church either. At one point he was being lured to Rome, in an effort to arrest him or kill him once he was out of the protection of the German royalty. He had a public debate when an emissary of Rome came to him. With his political backing, he started the Lutheran church.
Luther wanted everyone to be considered part of the religious class. He states in the quote above that the Scriptures from 1 Peter and Revelation above make us all priests. I added the Scriptures from Matthew (The Great Commission from Jesus) and Genesis (God’s promise to Jacob) to tie in that the promises are meant for all nations and all people, not just the well-educated. The Gutenberg Bible had come out in the mid-1400s. The Word of God was getting to the people in their language and the Reformation was born.
Was everything done perfectly? Not by a long shot, but it was a start.
If you like these Tuesday morning essays about philosophy and other “heavy topics,” but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Tuesday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.
Soli Deo Gloria. Only to God be the Glory.
Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley 
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