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But “that glorious work of God” was not a reference to the millennium itself but “to a long period of intermittent revival that would lead up to the millennium” (Sam Storms, “The Eschatology of Jonathan Edwards,” SamStorms.com, posted on May 2, 2009). That said, Edwards did write, “And there are many things that make it probable that this work will begin in America” (Edwards, Works of President Edwards, 3:313).
13. Much of this can be found in two of Edwards’s books, Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God and A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God. Both books detail Edwards’s theology on the supernatural and support the statements I’ve made regarding emotional outbursts. Excerpts can be found at radicalresurgence.com/edwards.
14. See Phil Roberts, Lessons from the Past—The Discernment of Signs: Jonathan Edwards and the Toronto Blessing, paper presented to the Evangelical Theological Society in Philadelphia, November 17, 1995.
15. Henry Sheldon, History of the Christian Church, vol. 4 (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1895), 245.
16. The rest of the quote is as follows:
I have many times had a sense of the glory of the third person in the Trinity, in his office of Sanctifier; in his holy operations, communicating divine light and life to the soul. God, in the communications of his Holy Spirit, has appeared as an infinite fountain of divine glory and sweetness; being full, and sufficient to fill and satisfy the soul; pouring forth itself in sweet communications; like the sun in its glory, sweetly and pleasantly diffusing light and life. And I have sometimes had an affecting sense of the excellency of the word of God, as a word of life; as the light of life; a sweet, excellent life-giving word; accompanied with a thirsting after that word, that it might dwell richly in my heart. (Jonathan Edwards, The Works of President Edwards, vol. 1 [New York: Leavitt & Allen, 1843], 25, emphasis mine)
17. Roger Olson, “Why Is Jonathan Edwards Considered So Great?” Patheos, July 31, 2012. For details on this point and other objections Olson has with Edwards’s theology, see Roger Olson, The Story of Christian Theology (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 1999), 504–19.
18. Olson, Story of Christian Theology, 512.
Chapter 8 The Shocking Beliefs of Martin Luther
1. Stephen E. Whicher and Robert E. Spiller, The Early Lectures of Ralph Waldo Emerson, vol. 1 (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 1966), 119.
2. Christian History 11, no. 2: 15. In Luther’s Works (LW) (Philadelphia: Fortress; St. Louis: Concordia, 1958–86, 2008– ), 34:336–37, the great Reformer stated that he “meditated day and night” on the righteousness of God. So the revelation didn’t appear to come to him all at once.
3. Erwin Iserloh, The Theses Were Not Posted: Luther between Reform and Reformation (Boston: Beacon Press, 1968); Kurt Aland, Martin Luther’s 95 Theses, with the Pertinent Documents of the History of the Reformation, trans. P. J. Schroeder et al. (St. Louis: Concordia, 1967); and “Martin Luther’s 95 Theses Are 500 Years Old. Here’s Why They’re Still Causing Controversy,” Time, October 31, 2017.
4. LW, 54:311.
5. Gotthelf Wiedermann, “Cochlaeus as Polemicist,” found in Peter Newman Brooks, ed., Seven-Headed Luther (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983), 198; Christian History 11, no. 2: 28.
6. Christian History 11, no. 2: 28; Roland Bainton, Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther (New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1950), 296.
7. Cited by Bainton in Here I Stand, 298, as well as Preserved Smith, The Life and Letters of Martin Luther (London: Forgotten Books, 2012), 284; Christian History 12, no. 3: 3.
8. For an interesting new biography on Luther, see Brad S. Gregory, Rebel in the Ranks (New York: HarperOne, 2017).
9. LW, 45:229.
10. The reason is because he had had some negative interactions with the Jews over the interpretation of Scripture. He also became convinced they were proselytizing Christians to convert to Judaism.
11. This remark was part of a rhetorical argument in which Luther accepted the negative Jewish stereotypes of his day. Luther, in responding to what he believed the Jews were saying and doing to Christians (kidnapping and killing Christian children), says, “We lodge them, we let them eat and drink with us. We do not kidnap their children and pierce them through.” Luther then argues,
So we are even at fault in not avenging all this innocent blood of our Lord and of the Christians which they shed for three hundred years after the destruction of Jerusalem, and the blood of the children they have shed since then (which still shines forth from their eyes and their skin). We are at fault in not slaying them. Rather we allow them to live freely in our midst despite all their murdering, cursing, blaspheming, lying, and defaming; we protect and shield their synagogues, houses, life, and property. In this way we make them lazy and secure and encourage them to fleece us boldly of our money and goods, as well as to mock and deride us, with a view to finally overcoming us, killing us all for such a great sin, and robbing us of all our property (as they daily pray and hope). Now tell me whether they do not have every reason to be the enemies of us accursed Goyim, to curse us and to strive for our final, complete, and eternal ruin! (LW, 47:267)
12. Bainton, Here I Stand, 379.
13. LW, 47:269ff.
14. Quoted in Kirsi Stjerna and Brooks Schramm, Martin Luther, the Bible, and the Jewish People: A Reader (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2012), 179. The primary source is the Weimar edition of Luther’s works, also known as the Weimarer Ausgabe (WA) (Germany: Weimar, 1883–2009), 53:580.
15. James Swan points out,
In Luther studies there have been a number of researchers who conclude Luther’s later anti-Jewish tracts were written from a position different than current anti-semitism. Luther was born into a society that was anti-Judaic, but it was not the current anti-Judaic type of society that bases its racism on biological factors. Luther had no objections to integrating converted Jews into Christian society. He had nothing against Jews as “Jews.” He had something against their religion because he believed it denied and blasphemed Christ. If one frames the issues with these two categories (anti-semitism, anti-Judaic), Luther was not anti-semitic. The contemporary use of the word “anti-semitism” though does not typically consider its distinction from anti-Judaism. The word now has a more broad meaning including anti-Judaism. The current debate centers around whether the evolved use of the term is a significant step towards describing previous history or if it’s setting up an anachronistic standard for evaluating previous history. As I’ve looked at this issue from time to time, I’m beginning to think more along the lines of evaluating Luther with the current understanding of the word anti-semitism. (Luther, WA, 53:502, quoted in James Swan, “Luther: The Jews Deserve to Be Hanged on Gallows Seven Times Higher Than Ordinary Thieves,” Beggars All: Reformation & Apologetics [blog], Dec. 8, 2016, http://beggarsallreformation.blogspot.com/2016/12/luther-jews-deserve-to-be-hanged-on.html)
16. LW, 45:25.
17. Cited in James Swan, “Martin Luther’s Attitude toward the Jews,” Internet Archive, June 2005, sec. 3.
18. LW, 45:33.
19. LW, 36:105.
20. Quoted in M. Audin, History of the Life, Writings, and Doctrines of Luther, vol. 2 (London: C. Dolman, 1854), 184. Note that Luther’s final position on polygamy was, “Anyone who . . . takes more than one wife, and thinks that this is right, the devil will prepare for him a bath in the depths of hell. Amen.” WA, 53:195–96.
21. Luther’s opinion on the book of Revelation changed and his views on Hebrews fluctuated.
22. LW, 35:362. Swan notes that Luther later deleted this paragraph. It no longer appears in editions after 1522. (See James Swan, “Luther’s ‘Epistle of Straw’ Comment,” Beggars All: Reformation & Apologetics [blog], June 20, 2008). John Warwick Montgomery points out: “Few people realize—and liberal Luther interpreters do not particularly advertise the fact—that in all the editions of Luther’s Bible translation after 1522 the Reformer dropped the paragraphs at the end, of his general Preface to the N
ew Testament which made value judgments among the various biblical books and which included the famous reference to James as an ‘Epistle of straw.’” John Warwick Montgomery, “Lessons from Luther on the Inerrancy of Holy Writs,” Westminster Theological Journal 36: 295.
23. LW, 35:395–96.
24. LW, 46:50. See also LW, 46:54, 65–66, for more alarming quotes on this topic.
25. Herbert Albert Laurens Fisher, A History of Europe, vol. 2 (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1935), 506. Durant includes more shocking quotes from Luther on the peasants’ revolt. See Will Durant, The Reformation (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1957), 389–95.
26. Martin Luther, Luther’s Correspondence and Other Contemporary Letters, trans. and ed. Preserved Smith, vol. 2 (Lutheran Publication Society, 1918; repr., Ithica, NY: Cornell University Library, 2012), 321.
27. LW, 54:180. Note that this is a comment from Table Talk, thus something Luther is purported to have said. It is not something he wrote.
28. Bainton, Here I Stand, 376.
29. Roland H. Bainton, The Travel of Religious Liberty (Eugene, OR: Wipft & Stock, 1951), 64. See also Peter Hoover, Secret of the Strength (Shippensburg, PA: Benchmark Press, 1999), 59, 198. It should be noted that Luther changed his position on the death penalty for Anabaptists later in his life. His position evolved to where only seditious Anabaptists were to be executed. For details, see James Swan, “Here I Stand: A Review of Dave Armstrong’s Citations of Roland Bainton’s Popular Biography on Martin Luther,” Internet Archive, July 2004.
30. Mark U. Edwards Jr., Luther’s Last Battles: Politics and Polemics 1531–46 (London: Cornell University Press, 1983), 6. The primary source for both quotes are Table Talk utterance, Trischreden (WA TR), 2:455 (no. 2410a) and D. Martin Luthers Werke (WA) (Weimer: Böhlau, 1883–1993), 30.2:68, LW, 59:250, respectively.
31. Ewald Plass, What Luther Says: An Anthology, vol. 2 (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959), 1058. Plass took this quote from Briefswechsel [Correspondence] (WA BR) 2:44f.
32. LW, 41:308.
33. WA, 53:580. Luther refers to “Judas Piss” on page 636. See also Christian History 12, no. 3: 35.
34. LW, 39:207; Plass, What Luther Says, 2:1059. The “goat” was a reference to Jerome Emser.
35. Masterpieces of Eloquence: Famous Orations of Great World Leaders from Early Greece to the Present Time, vol. 4 (New York: P. F. Collier & Son, 1905), 1336–37.
36. Quoted in Harry Gerald Haile, Luther: An Experiment in Biography (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1980), 119.
37. Christian History 12, no. 3: 37.
38. Roland Bainton put it this way: “The volume of coarseness, in his total output is slight. Detractors have sifted from the pitchblende of his ninety tomes a few pages of radioactive vulgarity.” Bainton, Here I Stand, 232.
39. Christian History 12, no. 3: 20–21.
40. Christian History 12, no. 3: 41.
41. LW, 54:73.
42. Christian History 12, no. 3: 43.
43. LW, 54:48.
44. Luther, “Concerning the Ministry,” LW, 40:35.
45. John Milton, The Poetical Works of John Milton (London: Edward Churton, 1838), 453.
46. Emil Brunner, The Misunderstanding of the Church (London: Lutterworth Press, 1952), 15–16.
Chapter 9 The Shocking Beliefs of John Calvin
1. The Autobiography of Charles H. Spurgeon, vol. 2 (Chicago: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1899), 372. The second Spurgeon quote is often attributed to a footnote in Ian Murray’s book The Forgotten Spurgeon (Morgan, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1998), 79. Murray says the quote is from G. Holden Pike’s biography of Spurgeon, The Life and Work of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, vol. 6, p. 197. It appears to be a recorded statement that Spurgeon made at “the annual college picnic,” not something he actually wrote. An extended version of the quote appears as follows: “The longer he lived,” said Mr. Spurgeon, “the clearer did it appear that John Calvin’s system was the—nearest to perfection; for, if all other divines stood on each other’s shoulders they would not reach up to the reformer’s toes.” Dublin University Magazine 90, July–Dec. 1877, 634.
2. Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, vol. 7 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1907), 834.
3. Schaff, History of the Christian Church, 7:277. Schaff’s quote of Voltaire is a truncated version. Voltaire actually said,
This religion of Geneva was not absolutely the same as that of the Swiss: but the difference is inconsiderable; and it never altered their communion. The famous Calvin, whom we look upon as the apostle of Geneva, had no share in this change: he retired some time after to this town; but was soon expelled, his doctrine not being in every respect conformable to the established religion; he came back again, and became Pope of the Protestant party. (Voltaire, The Universal History & State of Europe, vol. 2 [Edinburgh: Sands, Donaldson, Murray & Cochran, 1758], 240)
4. Will Durant, The Reformation: The Story of Civilization (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1957), 472.
5. For a helpful overview of the multitude of theological errors of Servetus, see Schaff, History of the Christian Church, 736–57.
6. Servetus wasn’t just condemned by Calvin. He was universally condemned as a heretic according to the basic Western worldview of the sixteenth century. The Roman Catholic Church had previously captured and condemned Servetus; he received a death sentence, but then managed to escape. This, of course, was before he was eventually burned to death in Geneva.
7. Jules Bonnet, Letters of John Calvin: Compiled from the Original Manuscripts and Edited with Historical Notes, vol. 2 (Edinburgh: Thomas Constable and Co., 1857), 19. Some have argued that statements like this were hyperbolic, not literal, on Calvin’s part. But the historical facts comport with the overall point that Calvin did approve of Servetus’s death. For two solid biographies of Calvin, see Alister McGrath, A Life of John Calvin (New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell, 1993) and Gordon F. Bruce, Calvin (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009).
8. This quote is from a letter Calvin wrote to William Farel, August 20, 1553. Lorraine Boettner, The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination (New Jersey: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1932), 417; Bonnet’s translation of the letter reads, “I hope that sentence of death will at least be passed upon him; but I desire that the severity of the punishment may be mitigated.” Jules Bonnet, Letters of John Calvin, vol. 2 (Edinburgh: Thomas Constable and Co., 1857), 399.
9. Quoted in Schaff, History of the Christian Church, 690–91.
10. Schaff, History of the Christian Church, 791.
11. Perez Zagorin, How the Idea of Religious Toleration Came to the West (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2003), 116.
12. Durant, Reformation, 486.
13. This brings up another point. Consider for a moment if execution for heresy was legal in our time. If it were, I think we’d have a lot of dead Christians who lost their lives at the hands of other Christians over doctrinal trespasses. If you think I’m wrong, just watch the vitriol and hatred in many “Christian” online forums as they verbally bludgeon one another over theological interpretations.
14. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1960), 4.17.32. Calvin wrote, “If anyone should ask me how this takes place, I shall not be ashamed to confess that it is a secret too lofty for either my mind to comprehend or my words to declare.” 4.17.31–32. For Calvin the Lord’s Supper was a means of feeling a sense of assurance that Christ died for us and that we are now risen with Him, and will rise with Him in the future “immortality of our flesh.”
15. William Manchester, A World Lit Only by Fire (New York: Sterling, 2014), 190. Keep in mind that sixteenth-century polemicists routinely treated their opponents contemptuously as the common method of debate and disagreement. Luther felt his harsh language was simply following the example of Christ. Luther asked rhetorically if the Lord used abusive language against his enemies, saying: “Was he abusive when he ca
lled the Jews an adulterous and perverse generation, an offspring of vipers, hypocrites, and children of the Devil? . . . The truth, which one is conscious of possessing, cannot be patient against its obstinate and intractable enemies.” Martin Luther, cited by Eric Gritsch, “The Unrefined Reformer,” Christian History 12, no. 3: 36.
16. The Mennonite Encyclopedia comments, “Calvin’s judgment of Menno Simons is incomprehensible; he knew him, to be sure, only through a letter from Martin Micron. In an opinion sent to Micron he said, ‘Nothing can be prouder, nothing more impudent than this donkey (Calv. IV, 176; HRE XII, 592).’” Cornelius J. Dyck and Dennis D. Martin, The Mennonite Encyclopedia, vol. 1 (Mennonite Brethren Publishing House, 1955), 497.
17. Durant, Reformation, 473. For information on Calvin’s role in Geneva, see Robert M. Kingdon, Registers of the Consistory of Geneva in the Time of Calvin, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996). This latter book contains a record of the Genevan Consistory, and how Calvin’s voice and will functioned during the proceedings.