We have seen the original condition of the church and how the church became degraded. Now we need to see the recovery of the church. We must realize that the original condition of the church on earth did not last long. The church was established around A.D. 30, but near the end of the first century, after only fifty or sixty years, when the apostle John was about to depart from this world, the church began to have a little degradation. At that time the desolation of the church was limited to its inward content; it remained more or less the same in its principle and ground. At the beginning of the second century, however, the degradation of the church in its principle set in; some of the basic principles began to go awry. In the first part of the fourth century, even though the church had existed on earth for only a little over two and a half centuries, the degradation became quite serious when the Roman Emperor Constantine accepted the Christian religion. Finally, in the fifth century, when the Roman Catholic Church was officially formed, it became the imperial religion of the Roman Empire in complete union with the world. It also unified the religious organization and produced the pope as the highest authority. At this stage it might be said that the degradation of the church was complete. Both in regard to its nature and principle or its testimony and ground, every aspect became completely degraded; nothing was left that had not become degraded. It could be said that the church at that time could no longer be considered the church. This situation of degradation continued for approximately one thousand years until the first part of the sixteenth century when Martin Luther brought in the Reformation. In these one thousand years, the church may be said to have been in a period of total darkness. Students of history know that this was also the darkest period in the history of Europe. History books contain a considerable record of the situation of darkness.
In the fifteenth century there were some people in the church who rose up to recover and to correct the situation. We all know that reformation of the church began formally with Martin Luther. The Reformation was brought in through Martin Luther. However, before Martin Luther, there were some who were quite enlightened and who rose up to speak for God in protest to degraded Christianity. Two of the most powerful ones were John Wycliffe on the British Isles and John Huss on the Continent. Both of them were very strong, and the light they received from the Bible was also quite clear. Before the time of Luther, they rose up and told people that the Roman Catholic Church was an apostate church, that she had left the revelation of God, and that her actions were completely against God; under her, they said, the church had become completely degraded. They gave numerous illustrations and released much light, and their words were received by many people. In their time, they laid a very good foundation for the Reformation.
In the first part of the sixteenth century, Martin Luther, who was still a monk in the Roman Catholic Church, was raised up by God. Once he stood up, many others responded, and the well-known Reformation in history exploded. At that time, the explosion of the Reformation not only had spiritual power, it also had political strength because the kings of European nations did not want to be controlled by the pope. They took the opportunity and joined the Reformation, hoping to gain political freedom. Therefore, the Reformation had a political element mixed into its nature; it was not a purely religious movement. Nevertheless, there were still many who came out of the Roman Catholic Church. Gradually, they formed the so-called Protestant churches of today. We may say that today’s Protestant churches are products of Luther’s Reformation.
From that time to the present, a period of almost four hundred years, Christianity has been divided into two great branches on the earth. One great branch is the Roman Catholic Church with the Greek Orthodox Church and a remainder of the sect of Nestorians. The other great branch is the Protestant church, which includes thousands of sects and denominations. The Reformation can be reckoned as the first step, or the first part, of the recovery. Now let us briefly look at the important points of this recovery from a spiritual perspective.
First, the open Bible was recovered through the Reformation. When God gave the Bible to man, it was for everyone. But in the degradation of the church, the Bible was locked up under the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church did not allow believers to read the Bible themselves. The Scriptures were read only by the clergy, a group of people specialized in holy service. Sometimes they selected some portions from the Bible and explained them to the believers, but they never entrusted the believers with the whole Bible. Therefore, at that time the Bible was locked up; the word of God was sealed. In the Reformation the first thing Luther did was to open the Bible to the public. He released the Bible completely so that everyone had a Bible in their hands to read. This is the most worthy thing of the Reformation, and it is also the most beneficial thing to later generations. Some have said that justification by faith was the first thing recovered in Luther’s Reformation, but justification by faith is not the center of the Reformation. The most important item of the Reformation was the recovery of the open Bible. Luther’s recovery of justification by faith was based upon what he found in the open Bible. Therefore, the most precious item given to us by the Reformation was the open Bible. The second item was justification by faith, which was derived from the first.
Although the Bible was made available to the public, not much of it was opened up, interpreted. Opening the Bible to the public is one thing, but opening up the Bible is another. Reading the Bible is one thing, but reading it with light is another. In the Reformation, the Bible was opened to the public, but not much of the Bible was opened up. The Bible in black and white was placed before people to read, but not much light came out of their reading. Of course, this is not speaking absolutely but relatively.
Furthermore, even though some truths were opened up, they were not obeyed absolutely. There were certain truths which even Martin Luther did not obey. For example, after some achievements were made through the Reformation, the state churches still were produced. Although the Reformation rescued the church out of the Church of Rome, it did not rescue the church out of politics. Martin Luther saw this light from the Bible. He was clear concerning this, and he told people that the church’s fall into politics was a matter not according to the Scriptures. However, he also said that he did not have a way to reform this matter at that time and wished that others would rise up to do it at a later time. During that time there were other truths which were opened up but which were not kept. This is still the case with the Protestant churches produced by the Reformation; many truths in the Bible have been released, but they have not been obeyed diligently.
Therefore, in the Protestant churches, the Bible is still not the highest authority in many matters. For example, in today’s Protestant churches there is still the human headship and the resolutions of councils, which are frequently considered higher than the teachings of the Bible and thus have control over the churches. In many instances the opinions of their leaders and the resolutions of their councils are more authoritative than the teachings of the Bible. On many matters the teachings of the Bible are not the highest judgment; rather, the opinions of their leaders and the proposals of their councils are the final decisions. Therefore, even though the Bible has been unlocked, it seems as if there has not been much effect. It has not been opened up sufficiently, and what has been opened up has not been honored sufficiently. This is the situation regarding the recovery of the Bible in the Protestant churches.