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The Reformation
The Lord’s recovery took a definite form with Martin
Luther’s stand for the truth concerning justification by faith. Luther was a
great defender of salvation, of justification by faith, but he also made some
big mistakes. On the one hand, he defended the truth. On the other hand, he
made the mistake of becoming affiliated with the German government. This
affiliation with the government was the source of the so-called state
churches, or national churches. Do not think I am criticizing Luther. I
realize that we all are human. On the one hand, we can be used by God to a
great degree. On the other hand, we can be weak in other areas. Luther was
strong for justification by faith even at the cost of his life. In his stand
for justification by faith, he stood against the pope, the greatest power on
earth at that time, but when he came to the question of the church, he was
weak. This is according to the historical record. The first state church was
the state church of Germany. Then many other European nations followed Germany
such as Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Eventually, the state church of England,
the Anglican church, was formed. The Church of England is mingled with the
government of England. Even today the queen of England is the head of the
Church of England. The king of Denmark is the head of the Lutheran state
church of Denmark, and the king of Sweden is the head of the Church of Sweden
today. This came from Luther’s mistake. Even Luther himself admitted that he
was weak in this point. All the defenders of the truth made some mistakes.
There is hardly one exception to this. All these mistakes were due to one
great lack—the vision, the proper unveiling, of God’s goal. God’s goal is the
church. By the Lord’s mercy, the vision of the church, the revelation
concerning God’s corporate goal, is so clear today. We all need to be clear
about God’s unique goal—the church.
(Witness Lee, History of the Church,
12)
Protestantism did not give us a proper church. As a
result, wherever the doctrine of justification by faith and the open Bible
went, a state church was established. The Lutheran sect became the state
church in many countries. Later, in England the Anglican Church came into
being, which is also a state church. Beginning with Rome, the nature of the
church was changed. By the time of justification by faith and the return of
the open Bible, the Protestant churches had not yet seen what the church
should be. Although there were justification by faith and the open Bible, the
Protestant churches still followed the example of Rome and did not return to
the church in the beginning. During the Reformation the problem of the church
was not solved. Luther did not reform the church. Luther himself said that we
should not think “justification by faith” is enough; there are many more
things to be changed. Yet the people in the Protestant churches stopped right
there. Luther did not stop, but they stopped and said that it was good enough.
Although they went back to the faith of the beginning, the church herself
remained unchanged. Formerly, there was the international church of Rome; now
it is the state church of England or the state church of Germany—that is
all.
Brothers, do you see? The Reformation did not bring
the church back to the condition of the beginning; it only caused the world
church to become state churches.
(Watchman Nee, Orthodoxy, 58-59)
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