Tuesday, July 28, 2015

THE AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE IN THE ZURICH REFORMATION



The following is an abstract of Peter Opitz, "The Authority of Scripture in the Zurich Reformation," Journal of Reformed Theology, vol 5, 2011, pp296-309.

The decisive impulse of the Zurich Reformation was not a particular theological tenet or the religious experience of one single reformer. It was the discovery of the authority of God’s Word. This discovery was essentially a liberating experience. Scripture was experienced as the place for encountering the living God, who is intrinsically a gracious God, and who correspondingly makes his will known to people. Given the circumstances of early modernity, it was, however, consequent and inevitable that in the process of restructuring a Christian society and church according to God’s Word the Bible became the authoritative scripture., Abstract The decisive impulse of the Zurich Reformation was not a particular theological tenet or the religious experience of one single reformer. It was the discovery of the authority of God’s Word. This discovery was essentially a liberating experience. Scripture was experienced as the place for encountering the living God, who is intrinsically a gracious God, and who correspondingly makes his will known to people. Given the circumstances of early modernity, it was, however, consequent and inevitable that in the process of restructuring a Christian society and church according to God’s Word the Bible became the authoritative scripture.

Sunday, July 19, 2015

ZWINGLI’S INDEPENDENCE OF LUTHER




Despite claims that Zwingli was influenced by Luther in developing his reformed ideas, look at what Zwingli declares in Article 18 of “The Defense of the Reformed Faith”:

“Before anyone in this area had even heard of Luther, I began to preach the gospel of Christ in 1516 so that I never entered the pulpit without looking up the words which were to be read in the mass that day and expounding them on the basis of scripture…

When I began to preach in Zurich in 1519 I indicated to the honourable gentlemen of the Chapter hos I intended to preach on the gospel of Matthew, God willing, without any human addenda and without any hesitancy or wavering because of counter arguments. At the beginning of that same year (for I reached Zurich on St John the Evangelist day), no one in our midst knew anything of Luther, except that he had said something concerning indulgences, which did not teach me anything new since I had been informed earlier that indulgences were a fraud and false appearance. I had learned this from a disputation with Thomas Wyttenbach of Biel, mylord and faithful teacher had engaged in Basel some time ago, though I was not present at the time. Consequently Luther’s writing at the time did little to help me in my preaching on Matthew. Nonetheless, everyone eager to hear the word of God came hurrying to my expositions so that I was quite surprised myself…

For who has equipped me to preach the gospel and to preach from the writing of one evangelist from beginning to end? Did Luther? I started preaching the gospel before I had ever heard Luther’s name mentioned and in order to prepare for the same time I started to learn Greek some ten years ago so that I might learn the teaching of Christ from its original sources. How well I have mastered Greek, I let others judge. However, Luther, whose name I did not know for another two years, had definitely not instructed me. I followed holy scripture alone. But the papists burden me and others with such names from sheer malice, as I have stated earlier, saying, ‘You must be Lutheran for you preach just as Luther writes.’ My answer is: ‘I preach the word of Christ: why do you not take me to be a Christian as well?’ They practice sheer malice…

By the same token, I do not wish the papists to call me Lutheran; for I did not learn the teachings of Christ from Luther but from the very word of God. If Luther preaches Christ he does the same thing as I do, though, God be praised, through him a far greater number of people are led to God than through me and others (whose measure God increases and diminishes as he pleases). So far I do not wish to bear no other name than that of my captain Christ: whose foot soldier I am. He shall give me the orders and pay, as he sees fit. I hope that some will understand by now why I do not wish to be called Lutheran even though I esteem Luther as highly as any other person. Accordingly I testify before God and all people that all my life I have not written a single word to him nor has he written to me.”