Introduction
When I was growing up I never heard the Reformation referenced in Church. I had no idea why the Reformation even mattered. It wasn’t until many years later, through seminary and after, that I began to see the contributions of the Reformers and began to understand why the Reformation was important to be remembered and appreciated.
In his paper, “What do we owe to the Reformation?” J.C. Ryle says, “There is a widely-spread disposition to undervalue the Protestant Reformation. Time has a wonderful way of dimming men’s eyes, and deadening their recollection of benefits. The whole result is that few people seem to understand either the evils from which the Reformation delivered us, or the blessings which the Reformation brought in.” (1)
The Reformation is part and parcel to Anglicanism itself. You can hardly read a sentence in the Book of Common Prayer without hearing the voice of the great Reformers of the Anglican Church.
Brief History of Anglicanism
The truth is that we are a church of the Reformation. While Christianity certainly existed in the British Isles as early as the 2nd Century, it was not the Anglicanism of today. When Pope Gregory the Great sent Augustine to England in 595, it marked the beginning of the English Roman Catholic Church. With the Reformation in the 16th century, what emerges is a church of the Protestant Reformation—the Anglican Church.
For over 300 years this was how Anglicans understood themselves and their Church. There were of course degrees and variations, but the 39 Articles, the Books of Homilies, and the Book of Common Prayer rooted the theology of the Anglican Church firmly in the English Reformation. But as Bishop Ryle said, “Time has a wonderful way of dimming men’s eyes…”
So, what I’d like for us to consider are a few of the specific things that are ours by way of their work and witness. And by way of their sacrifice. Most of them had to spend time in exile, preaching and writing in secret. Many of them were imprisoned. Many of them were burned alive, including Thomas Cranmer who gave us the first Book of Common Prayer. Do we even have a category to place this type of conviction? To be willing to die for someone, seems praiseworthy and noble. But to die for your beliefs? To be willing to die for your convictions? That is something very foreign to modern men and women. Do we believe anything that strongly?
Consider two of the most famous Anglican Reformation martyrs, Bishop Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley. These men were burned at the stake on the 16th of October 1555. They were burned for their convictions regarding the authority of Scripture, Justification by faith alone, Baptism and Communion. They were tied back to back on a stake in Oxford. Ridley’s last words were a prayer, “Heavenly Father, I give thee most hearty thanks that thou hast called me to a profession of thee even unto death. I beseech thee, Lord God, have mercy on this realm of England, and deliver the same from all her enemies.”
But it is the final words of his friend Bishop Hugh Latimer that are perhaps the best known final words of any reformer. As the fire was lit on the wood where they were tied, Latimer’s words rang out for all to hear. He said, “Be of good comfort Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day, by God’s grace, light such a candle in England as I trust shall never be put out.” And so they did.
While there are many things we have to thank the Reformers for, I’d like to focus on three.
The English Bible and Authority of Scripture
The first thing I believe we can thank our Reformers for is the English Bible. This is something that we can easily take for granted. Most of us think nothing of having the Scriptures in our own language. We can easily order as many copies as we like. We can read it online or on our phones. We can listen to it on Audible. But have you ever thought about the fact that there was a time when this was not possible? When members of the Church could not hear the scriptures being read in their own language? When translating the Bible into English would get you imprisoned or executed?
For example, in 1519 six men and a woman were executed by burning in Coventry for teaching children the Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Commandments in English and possessing an early copy of an English Bible.(2) The systematic opposition by Roman Catholic authorities in league with the King was brutal.
The champion of this cause was William Tyndale. He was a brilliant linguist and theologian who studied at Oxford and Cambridge and was fluent in French, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Latin, and Spanish. Tyndale was opposed and hunted. He fled from England to Germany and worked in secret having various sympathizers smuggle Bible back into England. But why? Why was this so crucial?
Here’s Tyndale in his own words, “It was in the language of Israel that the Psalms were sung in the temple of Jehovah and shall not the gospel speak the language of England among us? Christians must read the New Testament in their mother -tongue…Without the Bible it is impossible to establish the laity in the truth.”(3)
That is why. So that all of us, the Body of Christ, the Church may be established in the truth. That we may read the “Word of the Lord” (as we say each week) for ourselves. That we may hear God himself speaking to our own minds and hearts for the salvation and encouragement of our souls. The unique and primary authority of the Bible was Tyndale’s conviction and the conviction of the rest of our Anglican Reformers.
Tyndale was burned at the stake in 1536. As he was burning his voice could be heard, “O Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.” Within 3 years, they would be. In 1539 King Henry VIII allowed an English Bible to place in every parish church in England. And in 1611, the King James Version of the Bible was published. Let us never take for granted the great cost paid for our English Bibles.
Justification by Faith Alone
Secondly, we turn to the principal doctrine of the Reformation, Justification by Faith Alone. This is the principal doctrine of the Reformation because it addresses that crucial question of “How are we, a sinful and rebellious people, made right with a Holy and Sinless God?” Is it faith? Is it doing good works? Is it by being purified in purgatory? Is it impossible to know? For the medieval Christian, their salvation was tenuous at best. It was tied to Masses and priestly mediation, penances, taxes, superstitions, and indulgences. These things totally obscured the saving message of the Gospel. Each week we give thanks for Jesus’ work on the cross so “that we might come with confidence before the throne of grace.” The throne of grace was hard to find in those days.
Martin Luther said Justification was the article by which the Church stands or falls.
And Cranmer, the author of the first book of Common Prayer, made sure the thread of Justification by Faith Alone ran cover to cover through his English liturgy. By God’s grace it still does. You can hear it in our liturgy today from the 1662 book and you can hear it each week in the 2019 book.
In examining the theology of Thomas Cranmer and his editorial choices in the Book of Common Prayer, Zac Hicks notes, “Sola fide is the governor of Cranmer’s theological decisions.” Cranmer held tightly to the words of St. Paul in Romans 3:26-27, “Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.”(4)And in Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”(5) Cranmer made sure this idea echoed for generations to come in the worship of the church.
Again, why? Because if I think my salvation rests in me, then I miss out on the life-changing truth, and the lived experience, of the powerful love of God. You and I are not saved by anything we do other than believing, by faith, in the Lord Jesus. But doesn’t James tell us “faith without works is dead”? Yes. Of course. But we are not saved by our good works; we are saved for good works. We are not saved because we do good things. No, we are saved by faith in the love of the Father, the sacrifice of the Son, and the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit and we do good works in response to the love we have received. We then reflect that love to the world. This is what Jesus says in Matthew 5:16, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”(6)
The Christian’s Call Christlikeness
The third and final thing I want to call your attention to is the Reformer’s emphasis on the Christian’s Call to Christlikeness. For the Reformers, every Christian was called to mature as a disciples, to grow in holiness and Christlikeness. After all the very term “Christian” means “Little Christs.”
But this idea that every Christian was called to Christlikeness and to growth in the faith was not commonly believed in the middle ages. Men and women despaired not only of their ability to be saved, they despaired of their ability to live in holiness. You had to be a monk or a nun or a priest if you wanted to be holy or if you wanted to really be a disciple of Jesus. God’s favor, most people figured, was only reserved for those who withdrew from the world, who locked themselves in cloisters, and left the “normal” world behind. The great multitude of common people simply did not believe that they too were truly loved by God, redeemed by grace, and called to experience the abundant life of faith.
The Reformers, particularly Cranmer, brought the hope of authentic discipleship and spiritual growth back to the people. That is the entire direction of the Book of Common Prayer . It took the monastic offices and simplified them for the use of the entire Church in the Daily Office. The language of the Eucharist went from Latin to English and the theology of the service was clarified to bring hope to the men, women, and children who filled the parish churches of England. Michael Jenson’s book Reformation Anglican Worship had a profound impact on me when I read it during the pandemic. In it, he notes that the Anglican Church of the Reformation was meant to achieve several specific things. 1.) It was meant to edify those who took part in it. 2.) It was meant to inspire holy affections toward God. 3.) It was designed to have an impact on the society and 4.) It was missional- designed to communicate saving faith to those who heard it.(7)
He says, “The Reformers of the sixteenth century were convinced that the right pattern of corporate worship was essential for the spiritual health of the people of God, and even for the evangelization of the nation.”(8)
In all of this, note the emphasis our Reformers placed on accessibility, understanding, and action. The call to faithful living and a realistic hope of growing in Christian maturity was no longer only for the monastics and clergy. It was for the farmer in his field, the mother teaching her children, for the children gathered around the dinner table. The Christian faith was once again anchored in the real world and offered real, Good News, to real people.
Conclusion
These three things: the English Bible and the Authority of Scripture, Justification by Faith Alone, and the Common Call to Christlikeness are all part of our heritage and all were championed by the Anglican Reformers.
As I opened with a quote from Bishop Ryle, so I will close with his words:
“For ever let us thank God for the Reformation! It lighted a candle which ought never be extinguished or allowed to grow dim. And for ever let us remember that the Reformation was won for us by the blood of the martyrs quite as much as by their preaching and praying, and writing and legislation. It was forged in the fires of Oxford and Smithfield. It cost the lives of one Archbishop, four Bishops, and 280 other men and women.”Their legacy is our inheritance. It is no less than the gift of the Gospel itself which continues, from their time until ours, to save and sanctify men, women, and children to the glory and honor of God. May their legacy be our legacy. Perhaps one day, five hundred years from now, it will be said of us, “Those Anglicans kept the candle burning in difficult days and passed on to us a heritage worth celebrating—the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
[1] Ryle, J.C. Distinctive Principles for Anglican Evangelicals, Church Society, 2014, Lee Gatiss Ed., 22
[2] As recounted by J.C. Ryle in Distinctive Principles
[3] D’Aubigne, J.H. Merele, The Reformation in England, Vol 1, Banner of Truth, 1977, org. 1853, 172
[4] Romans 3:26-27, ESV
[5] Ephesians 2:8, ESV
[6] Matthew 5:16, ESV
[7] Jenson, Michael Reformation Anglican Worship, Crossway, Wheaton, 2021, 73-74
[8] Jenson, IBID, 22