There was one church, well, actually two, there was the Roman Catholic Church of the West…and there was the Orthodox church of the East.
The church had become divided in two.
These two churches told you what to believe, how to act and what you could do and what you could not do. They defined sin for you.
These two churches were the keepers of everything holy and sacred. World – wide, Christians were dependent upon them and upon them alone for all interpretation and knowledge.
One of the underlying principles of the Reformation was a “rethinking” of “commonly held assumptions” about “the Church.” And by “church,” I mean to imply the Roman Catholic church.
One of the exciting things that was happening was that there was a newly revived study of the “original languages” of the Bible.
As you know, the Bible was originally written in Hebrew and in Greek. Most people including theologians in the church no longer spoke either of these two languages…
The old languages were foreign.
As a matter of fact from about the 500’s until the 1400’s CE no one in Western Europe apart from Jews and a small community of Greeks knew how to read either one of these languages.
The vast majority of the church totally relied on the “Latin version” of the Bible.
It was not until the Renaissance that people became interested in studying the scriptures in their original languages.
So starting in 1300-1400’s there was new interest in studying the scriptures in their own individual original language.
This was huge! This was door opening, window opening…and spirit flowing, wind blowing stuff!
This led some – to approach Jewish Rabbis and ask them to teach them the Hebrew language.
This new knowledge opened new windows on what the Bible was about, and some people, like Martin Luther, began to rethink some of the basic principles of the Christian faith.
As we gather to celebrate Reformation Day … let’s remember that if the Reformation was anything…it was a “back-to-the-Bible movement.” It was back to the original origins. It was back to the original- meanings…languages…thoughts…word phrases, patterns and word pictures.
When Jesus was talking in John’s Gospel – the emphasis is on “continuing in my word.”
We have to “know” the word.
We have to know “the intention” behind the word.
We have to “study” the word, “dig” into the word, and have the word “explained.” We have to “wrestle” with the word and “play” with the word, and walk gently through it, if you will.
Scriptures laying dormant and collecting dust, do no one any good. And of course you do realize that the Scriptures are still the number one book sold in our world. They are also the number one book stolen.
Luther surrounded himself with the word. It was a part of his daily conversation. He dove headlong into the word, immersing himself into it.
And he was bold enough to “translate the Word,” using the original languages and then translating it into the vernacular or the “language of the people.”
For the first time in history -the Germanic peoples could read the Holy Scriptures in their own native tongue. They could hold the word, read the word, understand the word and interpret the word for themselves.
It was freeing…
The Scriptures were opened up. Slowly but surely they became accessible to all.
If you “continue” in my word…you are truly my disciples…
There is “an emphasis” here.
The emphasis lies on the word – “continue.”
“If” you “continue…”
If you continue IN MY WORD…
Hear it, read it, study it, live it, stay with it, abide, hang on to it…dwell there…
So it seems to me, that the one of the things that our celebration of the Reformation is saying… is…
It is reminding “us” to look for our Bibles…bring them out, dust them off, open them up, “check out the word” and see what’s inside…for ourselves…
Jeremiah was right, the Word needs to be within us, it needs to be written on our hearts…and we need to know the Lord…
Then we will be made “free.”