Reformation Day

On October 31, 1517, the people of Wittenberg were preparing to attend church, since it was All Saints Eve. They were doubtless excited about the next day, All Saints Day. Their ruler, Frederick the Elector of Saxony, was authorized to grant indulgences on All Saints Day to all who came to the Castle Church, paid some money, and venerated the relics he displayed there on that day. 

Frederick had collected over 17,000 relics, including objects like fragments of the cross, the burning bush, and bones of the saints. These indulgences were desired because it was thought that the veneration of them would release people from penalties they would have to pay either in this life or in purgatory. Frederick was not the only one offering them. In the next province over, John Tetzel was selling indulgences, simply for the payment of money, which could be acquired either for yourself or for your loved ones in purgatory. The pope had authorized these indulgences, believing that it was in his power to distribute the treasury of merit laid up by Christ and the surplus merits of the saints.

Already in the previous year, Martin Luther had begun to warn his congregation against the use of indulgences. He had preached about it on All Saints Eve in 1516. Now on All Saints Eve in 1517, Luther published 95 theses against the sale of indulgences, posting it on the church door of the Castle Church. 

Luther argued that the pope had no power to release souls from purgatory - he only had power to release people from penalties imposed by the church in this life, what we might call church discipline. He argued that the pope had no treasury of merit at his disposal, for Christ’s merits are freely available to all true Christians without indulgence letters, and the saints have no extra merit to share with others: at most, they have only done their duty. He also argued that indulgences misled people, replacing repentance, faith, and true good deeds with human traditions.

Once Luther’s arguments were translated and made known, indulgences lost their credibility in Wittenberg. Elector Frederick himself ceased his annual display of his relics in 1523. On the other hand, Luther's arguments were not received well by the bishop of Rome. The ensuring controversy grew into a wide-ranging reform of the church according to Scripture called the Protestant Reformation. 

Lutherans continued to observe All Saints Day in a reformed way, without praying to the saints, trusting in their merits, or worshipping their relics. In the 1600s they would also begin celebrating Reformation Day on October 31st, gratefully remembering the event that had sparked the Reformation. 

Remembering the Saints of Old

Having looked at the errors of praying to dead saints and praying for the faithful dead, let us turn to how to properly honor and remember the saints who have died. While the error of the Roman church is to misuse the saints, to treat them almost as gods, the error you find among some Protestants today is to neglect the saints of old. This was not true of the Reformers, but it is true of all too many Protestants today.

The Bible teaches the doctrine of the communion of saints. This doctrine teaches that all the saints are united in Christ their head as one body, are blessed to be a blessing to the rest of the body, and are therefore bound by their profession to maintain fellowship with one another in worship, in mutual edification, and in outward assistance. All Christians, living or dead, are saints, "holy ones" (1 Cor. 1:2, Eph. 1:1). You are united in Christ not only to the saints on earth presently, but also to the saints in heaven, forming one communion, one household (1 Cor. 3:21-23; 12:7, 12; Heb. 12:22-24).

The letter to the Hebrews tells us to remember the saints who have proceeded us. Hebrews 13:7 speaks in particular of exemplary ministers who taught the word of God and confirmed it by their lives: "Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith." Hebrews 11 also lists exemplary believers from the Old Testament from all walks of life, a great "cloud of witnesses" (Heb. 12:1). Some of the saints are particularly exemplary, and some you are particularly connected to or indebted to, although all Christians are all saints and brethren. 

1. Remember the saints of old. 

“Remember your leaders...” (Heb. 13:7). We should study the history of the church. We should learn the stories of the saints of old. This is an honor to them and a beneficial thing to us. A study of their lives is also a study of what God has done in and through them by his grace, stirring us to glorify God. 

2. Heed the biblical teachings of the saints of old.

“...who spoke to you the word of God...” (Heb. 13:7). We should remember those who taught the word of God. Remember them gratefully. They have kept the faith, defended the faith, and passed it on from generation to generation, from land to land, until it got to you. While Scripture alone is the divinely given rule of faith and life, its message has been contended for, proclaimed, and explained by faithful saints of old. May we learn from the teachers Christ has given to his church throughout the generations, even as we also learn from our own living pastors today, heeding their biblical teachings.

3. Find encouragement from the saints of old.

“...consider the outcome of their way of life...” (Heb. 13:7). We can find encouragement from Peter’s fall and restoration and subsequent faithfulness. We can find encouragement from the endurance of the martyrs, seeing how they ran the race to the end. The church does not need the merit of the saints. Their examples and martyrdoms provide a different benefit for the church. As Calvin said, “the church in general receives benefit great enough, when by their triumphs it is kindled with a zeal to fight.” Consider the saints in heaven as a “cloud of witnesses” whose examples testify to Christ and call upon you to imitate them.

4. Imitate the virtues and endurance of the saints of old.

“...and imitate their faith” (13:7). This is a major theme in Hebrews 11, as the faith of the Old Testament saints, and the fruits of their faith, are put on display for our encouragement. The same can be said of the saints of the New Testament. In Philippians 3:17, Paul wrote, “Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.” This work of imitation brings us unity - as Paul says, we “join in” imitating good Christian examples, sharing this common way of life. While not everything the saints have done is exemplary, we should imitate what is good. The fruit of the Spirit has been vividly displayed in their lives. Moreover, if we don't imitate good examples, we will likely imitate bad examples. As the Second Helvetic Confession (1562) puts it, while the bodies of the dead are to be honorably buried (not worshipped), the most noble relics of the saints of old are their virtues, their doctrine, and their faith, which are to be praised and imitated. 

5. Give thanks to God for the saints of old.

What they had was by his grace, unto his glory. Even as we ought to let our light shine before others, so that they may see our good works and give glory to our Father who is in heaven (Matt. 5:16), so we ought to give glory to the Father for the light shone by the saints of old. Give thanks to God for the good accomplished through them in their generations, for the benefit we receive from their instruction and examples, and for the display in their lives of his mercy, which endures to all generations. 

6. Worship God with the saints of old.

While we should not pray to or for believers who have died, we do worship God with them. We have come to the heavenly Jerusalem, "to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel" (Heb. 12:22-24). With the saints in heaven, we the saints on earth worship the living God through Jesus Christ, fellow heirs and members of the same household. Rejoice in a common inheritance (Col. 1:12) and look forward to reunion in that inheritance. "Remember me, O LORD, when you show favor to your people; help me when you save them, that I may look upon the prosperity of your chosen ones, that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation, that I may glory with your inheritance" (Psalm 106:4–5). 

Let me conclude then with summary statements concerning the saints of old from two Protestant confessions from the 1500s, the first from the Reformed churches and the second from the Lutheran churches: 

“Hence we love them as brothers, and also honor them; yet not with any kind of worship but by an honorable opinion of them and just praises of them. We also imitate them. For with ardent longings and supplications we earnestly desire to be imitators of their faith and virtues, to share eternal salvation with them, to dwell eternally with them in the presence of God, and to rejoice with them in Christ.” (Second Helvetic Confession, 1562)

"Our Confession approves honors to the saints. For here a threefold honor is to be approved. The first is thanksgiving. For we ought to give thanks to God because He has shown examples of mercy; because He has shown that He wishes to save men; because He has given teachers or other gifts to the Church. And these gifts, as they are the greatest, should be amplified, and the saints themselves should be praised, who have faithfully used these gifts, just as Christ praises faithful business-men, Matt. 25:21, 23. The second service is the strengthening of our faith; when we see the denial forgiven Peter, we also are encouraged to believe the more that grace truly superabounds over sin, Rom. 5:20. The third honor is the imitation, first, of faith, then of the other virtues, which every one should imitate according to his calling." (Defense of the Augsburg Confession, 1531)

Prayer for the Dead?

We should not pray for the dead. As the Westminster Confession of Faith puts it, "Prayer is to be made for things lawful; and for all sorts of men living, or that shall live hereafter: but not for the dead..." (WCF 21.4).

Prayers for the dead in the teaching of the Roman church are offered for those deceased Christians who are imperfectly purified and therefore in purgatory, that they might be purified by making satisfaction for their sins and be forgiven the temporal penalties of their sins, achieving the holiness necessary to enter heaven. It commends prayer, Eucharistic sacrifice, almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1031-1032, 1414). 

The Roman church appeals to 2 Maccabees 12:39-46 for the support of this practice. First, we Protestants deny that this is inspired and canonical Scripture, not being among those oracles of God that was delivered to the Jews before Christ's coming (Rom. 3:2), nor part of the apostolic New Testament. It, along with the rest of the "Apocrypha," was not received by the Jews as canonical during the time of Christ, and was of disputed authority in the early church. The apocryphal writings were only dogmatically received as canonical by the Roman church at the Council of Trent in 1546, in response to the Reformation. Second, the author of 2 Maccabees probably misunderstands the intention of the prayers and sacrifice that he records being offered. The prayers and sacrifice that were made on that occasion were probably offered for the pardon of the living, not the dead. Third, the author of 2 Maccabees does not even hint at the idea of purgatory, but claims that Judas Maccabees sought forgiveness for the dead so that they would share in the resurrection on the last day. Judas' belief in the resurrection is what the author especially commends.

But prayers for the dead naturally developed along with the belief in purgatory, prompting various traditions and practices. Throughout medieval Europe, there were priests who were paid to say mass for people who had died so that they would reach heaven. One tradition of Allhallowtide in Ireland and Scotland was to go door to door to collect “soul cakes” - each house would give you cakes so that you would pray for the souls of their loved ones.

Both purgatory and prayers for the dead are without biblical warrant. The Bible never teaches us to pray for the dead, nor does its doctrine support or imply such a practice. The practice is an invention of man, an expression of man-made religion.

The idea of further suffering for sin after death contradicts the doctrine of justification. When we are forgiven, both guilt and punishment is removed. We are not liable for a debt that has been canceled (Col. 2:14). We no longer need to make satisfaction for sin. Christ has satisfied divine justice by his single sacrifice, offered once for all, and he is the propitiation for our sins (Rom. 3:24-25, Heb. 9:14, 25-28, 10:10-14). While we demonstrate and follow through on our repentance by our good deeds, these are not satisfactions to God's justice. While we are sanctified through the trials of this life, this suffering is not a satisfaction for sin, but a fatherly discipline that belongs to this life, that we might run its race to the end. Those who die in the Lord are blessed and rest from their labors (Rev. 14:13). As Jesus told the believing criminal on the cross, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43). When believers die, their souls are made perfect in holiness and immediately pass into glory, being blessed in Christ for his sake. There they await the resurrection from the dead on the last day.

Not only is prayer for the dead a superstitious practice, without biblical basis, but it also leads people astray from a firm confidence in Jesus Christ for their salvation, obscures the hope of glory we have through faith in him, and it leads us from the right use of prayer. Believers who have died do not need the prayers, for they have entered into glory. The wicked cannot be helped by your prayers. We, the living, are the ones in the arena. The living and the generations yet to come are in need of your prayers.

Prayers to the Dead?

We should not pray to dead saints. As the Westminster Larger Catechism puts it, 

Q. 179 Are we to pray unto God only?
A: God only being able to search the hearts, hear the requests, pardon the sins, and fulfill the desires of all; and only to be believed in, and worshiped with religious worship; prayer, which is a special part thereof, is to be made by all to him alone, and to none other.

You might think that with the biblical prohibitions against necromancy (Deut. 18:10–12), prayers to the saints in heaven would not even be considered by those who profess Christ. We should not seek help from the dead, including the saints in heaven. But the Roman church teaches that "we can and should ask them to intercede for us and for the whole world" (Catechism of the Catholic Church). They might argue that it does not count as necromancy since the saints are not telling us anything, although many who pray to the saints will also claim that on rare occasions the saints have appeared to people and told them things.

While I do think that seeking help from the dead saints in heaven at leasts contradicts the principle of the command against necromancy, another argument against prayer to the saints is that it is without biblical warrant. Holy Scripture does not teach us to pray to the saints in heaven. Prayers ought to be offered with faith, but there is no grounds for faith in prayers to the saints. As Philip Melanchthon said, “And since prayer ought to be made from faith, how do we know that God approves this invocation? Whence do we know without the testimony of Scripture that the saints perceive the prayers of each one?”

Those who pray to the dead argue that the Bible teaches that the saints in heaven pray to God. I am willing to grant that (Rev. 6:9-10), but that still does not mean that we can or should pray to them.

They also argue that it is no different than asking your friend to pray for you. It is true that Scripture does teach us that we can and should ask other members of the church militant on earth to pray for us, even as we pray for them (Eph. 6:18-20), struggling and persevering together, as the apostle Paul asked the living saints to pray for him, while he also prayed for them. But this is not the same as asking dead saints, members of the church triumphant, to pray for us, praying for their intercession. There are differences. For example, your friend is alive and with you. Prayers to the dead treat the saints as omniscient, able to hear the words and thoughts of people throughout the earth. But the saints in heaven remain human, finite, and limited. If I began praying to my living friend, while I was alone in my room without technology connecting us, we would think that odd behavior. There is some equivocation on the word "prayer" in this argument.

In fact, prayer is a part of religious worship. In Scripture, prayer is directed to God alone. It is wrong to "spread out our hands to a foreign god" (Ps. 44:20). God is the one who hears prayer (Ps. 65:2). God describes to us the worship in which he delights by saying, "Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me" (Ps. 50:14–15).

Additionally, this practice of praying to dead saints detracts from the office of Christ, the only mediator between God and man (1 Tim. 2:5). The Son of God became man so that he might be a merciful and compassionate high priest. He deals gently with the humble and intercedes for sinners. Jesus "is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them" (Heb. 7:25). Resting upon our merciful high priest, we are taught to draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Heb. 4:16). 

So do not pray to the saints in heaven. Neither trust in their merits or rest on their achievements, but trust in our merciful Savior, Jesus Christ. Prayer to the dead is a superstitious practice that leads people astray from the way of true piety, defined in God's word. God would have us to call upon him, to come to him with confidence, relying on the meditation of Jesus our only priest and mediator. 

John Chrysostom on Reading Scripture at Home

John Chrysostom (347-407) was a noted preacher of the early church, first in Syrian Antioch and then in Constantinople. In his preaching he exposited Scripture, verse by verse, with lively and bold application. He also exhorted the people to discuss and read Scripture at home. Below is one example, taken from a sermon he gave in Antioch (the full sermon can be found here). The sermon is the third in a series of four sermons on the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, but the first part of this sermon is taken up with an exhortation to study Scripture. 

"This, also, I am ever urging, and shall not cease to urge, that you give attention, not only to the words spoken, but that also, when at home in your house, you exercise yourselves constantly in reading the Divine Scriptures. This, also, I have never ceased to press upon those who come to me privately. Let not any one say to me that these exhortations are vain and irrelevant, for 'I am constantly busy in the courts,' (suppose him to say;) 'I am discharging public duties; I am engaged in some art or handiwork; I have a wife; I am bringing up my children; I have to manage a household; I am full of worldly business; it is not for me to read the Scriptures, but for those who have bid adieu to the world, for those who dwell on the summit of the hills; those who constantly lead a secluded life.' What dost thou say, O man? Is it not for thee to attend to the Scriptures, because thou art involved in numerous cares? It is thy duty even more than theirs, for they do not so much need the aid to be derived from the Holy Scriptures as they do who are engaged in much business. ... They rest far from the strife, and, therefore, escape many wounds; but you stand perpetually in the array of battle, and constantly are liable to be wounded: on this account, you have more need of the healing remedies. For, suppose, a wife provokes, a son causes grief, a slave excites to anger, an enemy plots against us, a friend is envious, a neighbour is insolent, a fellow-soldier causes us to stumble----or often, perhaps, a judge threatens us, poverty pains us, or loss of property causes us trouble, or prosperity puffs us up, or misfortune overthrows us;----there are surrounding us on all sides many causes and occasions of anger, many of anxiety, many of dejection or grief, many of vanity or pride; from all quarters, weapons are pointed at us. Therefore it is that there is need continually of the whole armour of the Scriptures. ...

“Many other such things there are that beset our soul; and we have need of the divine remedies that we may heal wounds inflicted, and ward off those which, though not inflicted, would else be received in time to come----thus quenching afar off the darts of Satan, and shielding ourselves by the constant reading of the Divine Scriptures. …

“‘But what,’ say they, ‘if we do not understand the things we read?’ Even if you do not understand the contents, your sanctification in a high degree results from it. However, it is impossible that all these things should alike be misunderstood; for it was for this reason that the grace of the Holy Spirit ordained that tax-gatherers, and fishermen, and tent-makers, and shepherds, and goatherds, and uninstructed and illiterate men, should compose these books, that no untaught man should be able to make this pretext; in order that the things delivered should be easily comprehended by all----in order that the handicraftsman, the domestic, the widow, yea, the most unlearned of all men, should profit and be benefited by the reading. For it is not for vain-glory, as men of the world, but for the salvation of the hearers, that they composed these writings, who, from the beginning, were endued with the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

Pentecost (Part 3): Abiding Effects

This is the final part of a three-part series on the day of Pentecost. The previous installments can be found here: part 1 and part 2. In this post, I would like to speak to the abiding effects of Pentecost. While what took place on that day was unique, it was the beginning of a new era that continues today. The Spirit came to stay. He continues to be poured out. 

In this new covenant era, the baptism of the Holy Spirit takes place at conversion. All believers have been baptized in the Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 12:13, Paul tells the church, “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.” In Titus 3:5-6, he says we are saved by the renewal of the Holy Spirit, “whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ.” 

This baptism with the Spirit occurs once and it is our initiation into salvation under the new covenant. The baptism of John looked to this as a future reality, but Christian baptism symbolizes this as present reality for Christians. The water is a sign and seal of the pouring out of the Spirit, of the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Spirit. This is why it administered once, and to every member of the visible church, at the beginning of their Christian life, and is of use to you for the rest of your life.

It helps to distinguish between the baptism of the Holy Spirit and being filled with the Spirit. Every baptism of the Spirit is a filling with the Spirit, but not every filling with the Spirit is a new baptism. 

To be filled with the Spirit can refer to that initial baptism (Acts 2:4), as well as the continuing work of the Spirit in the believer (Eph. 5:18). A person who has been filled with the Spirit is filled with the Spirit and can be further filled with the Spirit as the Spirit works within him. For example, the Christians who pray in Acts 4 were already filled with the Spirit, but in response to their prayer it is said that “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” with the result that they continued to speak the word of God with boldness, just as they had asked. The Spirit works through the means of grace, like prayer, to further strengthen the saints.

It is helpful to remember that “filling” is a metaphor. The Spirit is not literally a fluid to be poured. This is a metaphor for the activity of the Spirit in a person’s heart, a metaphor for his empowering, comforting, enlivening, and sanctifying influence. In Ephesians 5:18, Paul commands the saints to be filled with the Spirit. As Richard Gaffin puts it,  “As an imperative reality in the lives of believers, being filled with the Spirit is to be (1) controlling, (2) continual, and (3) comprehensive.” It is controlling. Note the contrast and comparison between being filled with the Spirit and being being drunk with wine, both in Ephesians 5:18 and in Acts 2: “filled with new wine” or “filled with the Spirit.” The Spirit is a different kind of controlling influence (one that produces virtues like self-control). It is also continual. The tense of the verb describes something continual or repeated, not merely a one time event. And it is comprehensive. It is manifested in worship, in all of life, and in social relations (Eph. 5:5:19-21).

A similar term, used twice in the New Testament, is that of being “led by the Spirit.” This phrase is often misused by Christians today. When you look at the context of this phrase in Scripture, you will see that being “led by the Spirit” does not refer to following your instincts and impulses. That is how many use the phrase today. But it refers, in context, to practicing Christian virtue and putting to death sinful ways and desires by the power of the Spirit (Rom. 8:13-14, Gal. 5:16-26). Hopefully these virtues become more and more instinctual, but your instincts can also be foolish and sinful. You can “feel led” by many things, and not all of them good! Your impulses are not infallible. To be led by the Spirit is to be sanctified by the Spirit, to be effectually led into the ways of holiness. He works in the saints, both to will and work for God’s good pleasure. And this is not a passive thing, as both Romans and Galatians indicate. By the Spirit, you must put to death the deeds of the flesh and walk by the Spirit in the fruit of the Spirit.

The Spirit is also described as the "guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it" (Eph. 1:14), the first fruits of glory. By the Spirit, we receive a sense of God's love, peace of conscience, joy, and the hope of glory (Rom. 5:1-5, Gal. 4:6).

The Spirit equips the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:7). The Spirit empowered the apostles as witnesses to Christ, as is seen on the day of Pentecost in the preaching of Peter. The Spirit does not give the same gifts to every individual, but works in each one for the good of the body. Nor does he give all the same gifts to people today as he gave during the days of the apostles - some gifts were particularly for that foundational age. But the principle remains the same, that you all have one and the same Spirit in common. You are bound in the unity of the Spirit, which you are told to maintain in the bond of peace. You are given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good of the body. You have been blessed to be a blessing to the rest of the body.

Conclusion

The Spirit has been poured out by Christ and is given to all flesh. Therefore, receive Christ, that you might be blessed in the Spirit. Call upon the name of the Lord. All who do so shall be saved. 

If you are in Christ, then be filled with the Spirit. Be led by the Spirit, walking by the Spirit. Attend to the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Sing and pray to God in the Spirit and for the Spirit. Put to death sinful ways and desires, and walk by the Spirit in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 

Maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Be a good member of the body. Keep yourselves holy, as members of the temple of God. Do not defile or destroy the temple.

Go forth boldly and confidently in service to your Lord by the power of the Spirit, as a light to the nations. Jesus Christ has ascended on high and has poured out the Spirit as he promised. Give thanks to him. Unto him be the glory, with the Father and the Spirit, now and forever. Amen.