Today, as well as All Hallows Eve eve, it is also Reformation Day Eve. The Reformation is acknowledged to have started on 31 October 1517, when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, in what is now Germany.
When Covid-19 struck the world – at least when the panic and the initial measures were taken, when they started closing borders and not allowing people outside, we were in Germany. Germany was our first stop in our planned trip. We were hoping to see Denmark and other places but most of Europe was closed before we would have a chance but one place that we were able to see before the great lockdown was Mainz in Germany. (Here are some pictures of our time in Mainz) Do we know what is an important artifact relating to the Reformation that is in Mainz? It is something that actually came into being sometime between 1450 and 1454, a few years before the Reformation: The Gutenberg Bible! (show pictures)
Acts 17:11-12: Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. 1s a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.
In that same spirit and more, centuries later, the Gutenberg Bible had a profound effect on history in general, printing, and the Reformation itself. The Gutenberg Bible is named after Johannes Gutenberg, the person who printed it. Textually, the Bible had quite an influence on future editions of the Bible. The Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible, the Mazarin Bible or the B42, not to be confused with the B52s) was the earliest major book printed using mass-produced movable metal type in Europe. It marked the start of the "Gutenberg Revolution", as it is called, and the age of printed books.
We were able to see some of two original Gutenberg Bibles and plates in the Museum in Mainz while we were there on one of the very last days that people were allowed indoors in Europe (except for in Sweden). As a result, the museum was quite empty and we were able to have a good long look at things.
The museum is primarily dedicated to Johannes Gutenberg. Gutenberg was native of Mainz and not that long ago, he was named "Man of the Millennium". At the heart of the exhibition in the museum are the two copies of the Gutenberg Bible in the walk-in vault. It was quite interesting. we were able to see comprehensive information about his life, work, and inventions, as well as their reception and consequences. The museum itself was founded more that a century ago, in 1900, by citizens of Mainz. It was very interesting.
The Gutenberg Bible is an edition of the Vulgate and contains the Latin version of the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament.
In 1448, Gutenberg took out a loan from his brother-in-law Arnold Gelthus, quite possibly for the printing press and/or related paraphernalia and in 1455 Gutenberg completed his 42-line Bible. About 180 copies were printed, most on paper and some on vellum. Making the Bible available to more people than ever so we can all examine the scriptures thoroughly.
Then, about a year later, some time in 1456, there was a dispute between Gutenberg and Fust, and Fust demanded the money he invested in the project back, accusing Gutenberg of misusing the funds. The court decided in favor of Fust and gave him control over the Bible printing workshop and half of all the already printed Bibles.
Gutenberg's printing technology, however, continued to spread rapidly throughout Europe and later the world. The Gutenberg Bible was the first printed version of the Bible. This arrival of mechanical movable type printing introduced the era of mass communication which permanently altered society and the church. The Catholic Encyclopedia describes Gutenberg's invention as having made a practically unparalleled cultural impact in the Christian era. The relatively unrestricted circulation of information transcended borders, and captured the masses in the Reformation making the Word of God available to many.
This is important because scripture is vitally important as 2 Timothy 3:15b-17 records, “Holy Scriptures…are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” The printing press put this information directly into more people’s hands than ever before and as a result was a major spark to the Protestant Reformation, which started 505 years ago tomorrow. Scriptures are important.
The Salvation Army’s spiritual grandfather, John Wesley put a strong emphasis on the Scriptures,[1] he said: “I want to know one thing - the way to heaven, how to land safe on that happy shore. God Himself has condescended to teach me the way, for this very end He came from heaven; He hath written it down in a book. O give me that Book! At any price, give me the Book of God. I have it; here is knowledge enough for me. Let me be homo unius libri! [a man of One Book!]”[2] Wesley noted that all scripture is given by God (2 Tim 3:16-17); the Scriptures are infallible and thus profitable for each of us to engage[3] and even more they are “a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the Day-star arise in your hearts.’ (2 Peter 1:19)”, if we want to share in this experience Wesley said we should search the Scriptures![4]
On this Reformation Day Eve, it is important to note that the Scriptures were of the utmost importance to all the Church Reformers. Ulrich Zwingli, in his work, On True and False Religion, stated that the true source of all religion is the Word of God. “The Reformation as a whole was based on this principle.”[5] He said, “there is no law or word that will give greater light to the inward man than the Word of God.”[6] He insisted that the word of man must always be subject to the Word of God rather than the other way around[7] as he perceived was happening in his day and which can certainly be argued is happening in ours. We must remember, only humankind can come to know God and ourselves through the Word of God; it is the Word of God, which sets us apart from the plants and the animals.[8]
Like Wesley and like Zwingli, The Salvation Army holds a very important role for the Scriptures in our theological tradition. Our very first doctrine –my personal favourite- reads, “We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by inspiration of God, and that they only constitute the Divine rule of Christian faith and practice.” We hold that they are the primary authority, the ‘final court of appeal’ for the Christian that supersedes all other claims and that “as we search the Scriptures, we enter into dialogue with them and experience the transforming power of the message.”[9]
This is – or should be – I believe, true of all Christians. What about us here today? How familiar are we with the Bible which, these days, is very easily accessible? How many of us spend time reading the Bible on our own? How long does it take to read some of the letters in the New Testament? An hour or less? Not very long. How many of us set that time aside? We can easily read a New Testament book or an Old Testament story while we are having our morning coffee or our afternoon tea. It doesn’t take long. How many of us read our Bibles with our children, grandchildren, or great-grand children as the case might be? It needn’t take very long and the blessings are eternal and amazing.
2 Timothy 3:14-17: “… continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
2 Timothy 3:15 - the Holy Scriptures are able to make us wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Romans 1:16, the Gospel itself “…is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.”
Susan has shared her testimony here before. I won’t retell her whole story for you now other than to remind you that as a university student she came to know the Lord through reading the Scriptures to prove those Christians wrong.
Romans 1:16, the Gospel “…is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.”
Let us pray.
[1] Captain Michael Ramsay, John Wesley’s Means of Grace compared with Ulrich Zwingli as seen through a Salvationist Lens. Presented to William and Catherine Booth College, October 2008. Available online: http://www.sheepspeak.com/Michael_Ramsay_History_TSA.htm#Wesley1
[2] John Wesley, in The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, A.M. (London: John Mason, 1829), Thomas Jackson, editor, V:ii,iii. Cited in Arnett, William M. “John Wesley and the Bible,” Wesleyan Theological Journal 3, no. 1, (Spring 1968): http://wesley.nnu.edu/wesleyan_theology/theojrnl/01-05/03-1.htm
[3] John Wesley, The Means of Grace, III.8-9
[4] John Wesley, The Means of Grace, III.10
[5] Courvoisier, Zwingli: A Reformed Theologian, (Richmond, Virginia: John Knox Press, 1963), 27.
[6] Ulrich Zwingli, Clarity and Certainty of the Word of God (Zurich: 1524), cited in Bromiley, 67.
[7] W.P. Stephens, The Theology of Huldrych Zwingli. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986), 52-53.
[8] Courvoisier, Zwingli: A Reformed Theologian, (Richmond, Virginia: John Knox Press, 1963), 28.
[9] The General of The Salvation Army. Salvation Story: Salvationist Handbook of Doctrine: (London: Salvation Books, 1998), 8-9.
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