Please note that the entire series entitled “Were the Reformers Heretics”? can now be viewed by clicking here as one complete essay.
The post below originally went from the sentence “John Calvin likewise taught that baptism was a means of regeneration and salvation” to the sentence: “The ordinance is indeed a sign … .”
Thanks for bringing these things to light for all of us who attended fundamentalist, Protestant schools where we were taught that Calvin & Luther saved Christianity from the apostasy of the Roman Catholic Church. Probably 80% of the graduates who attended BJU while I was there were Baptists, but in 2 semesters of church history we did not read about any Baptists in the MDiv program.
Bro. Ross,
I appreciate so much your research and commitment to expose how revisionist church history has become. So many Baptists don't know their own history, which is the line of true NT Christianity, and have instead embraced the false idea that the reformers are the faithful forerunners of and restorers of Biblical truth.
I recently got an email from a huge Calvinistic group asking the question, "Are you reader for Reformation Month?"
They went on to say… "On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. This event marked a key turning point in the emerging Reformation. The commitment, vision and bravery of men such as Luther, Hus, Wycliffe, Calvin, Zwingli, and Tyndale left a lasting imprint on the unfolding of Western civilization and the Christian Church."
They may have been part of Christendom, but they were not part of NT Christianity, that's for sure. In fact, they persecuted Christians with the same zeal as Saul before his salvation.
A good way to know if you've been "protestantized" in your view of church history is by asking yourself, who do I know better, Martin Luther or Shubal Stearns? Some readers are even asking themselves right now…Shubal who?
Case and point.
Dear Bro Webb & Rodgers,
Thanks.
By the way, it is harder to evangelize unconverted Lutherans and Reformed people who believe in the theology of Luther and Calvin if we don't know what their belief system is. An unconverted Lutheran will assent to justification by faith alone, salvation not being by works, the water of baptism not washing away sin, etc.–BUT if you ask, "were you regenerated at the moment of your infant baptism?" he will say "yes."