As we begin the month of October, we focus our attention to fall colors, candy, football, and pumpkin spice…everything. Yet as evangelicals we would be remiss not to focus some of our attention on the recovery of the gospel through the reformation of the sixteenth-century. One of the best ways to do that is through a good biography. Too often, when we think of the Reformation we tend to think more about theological propositions and the five solas (fide, scriptura, gratia, Christus, and deo gloria). These truths are vital to our understanding of the Reformation tradition, for without them the Reformation would not have occurred. Yet too often we can get “lost in the weeds” and not fully appreciate the significance of this era.
When digging deeper into a certain period of time to better understand the zeitgeist of the period, it is best to view things through the eyes of those who had a front row seat. Biography is the best way to accomplish this task. There are many excellent biographies of the protestant reformers that have been published in recent years in the week of the 500th anniversary of the reformation. I will mention two in this article. One about Martin Luther, and the other about John Calvin. While, there are other reformers that we could discuss, these two men play a prominent role in the history of the reformation. It is no understatement to say that if it were not for Luther and Calvin, the Reformation would likely never have occurred. For all intents and purposes, Martin Luther is credited with launching the protestant reformation with the nailing of the 95 theses on the door of the castle church in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517. John Calvin, on the other hand, is largely credited for continuing the ideas of the Reformation to a wider audience through his preaching and writing. Most notably of which is his systematic theology titled Institutes of the Christian Religion.
Herman Selderhuis’ biography Martin Luther: A Spiritual Biography (Crossway, 2017) provides a unique perspective on the life of the Reformation’s most famous figure. Selderhuis provides the reader with a glimpse into Luther’s spiritual journey from childhood all the way through the most difficult days of the Reformation. He provides a gripping narrative alongside Luther’s own words that draw the reader into the story. Luther certainly underwent a major transformation and most it was of a spiritual nature. As a young man, Luther was mortally afraid of God and thought of God as a brutal tyrant. At one point in his life, Luther even hated God because of his misunderstanding of God’s nature and character. Yet by the end of his life, Luther was gripped by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He became the champion of this liberating truth of the gospel. Most certainly Luther was not a perfect man. Events and his writings regarding the Jews later in his life prove that fact. Luther was, however, one of the catalysts chosen by the Lord to bring about a renewal of the gospel that was desperately needed. Selderhuis’ biography tells that story in a marvelous manner.
The second noteworthy book on the life and work of John Calvin would more accurately fit into the genre of festschrift, rather than biography. Edited by Derek W. H. Thomas and John W. Tweeddale, John Calvin: For a New Reformation (Crossway, 2019) is a collection of essays by leading Reformed pastors and scholars on the life, work, and ministry of John Calvin. The book is roughly in chronological oder, but is more concerned with the content of Calvin’s legacy rather than strictly following his life’s events. Essay topics include Calvin’s role as a pastor/preacher, his personal relationships, his role in the city of Geneva, and the development of The Institutes. The second part of the book discuss Calvin’s teaching on the authority of scripture, Christology, predestination, the Christian life, the Holy Spirit, and eschatology, etc. Contributors include the editors along with Stephen J. Nichols, W. Robert Godfrey, Burk Parsons, Steven J. Lawson, and Guy Prentiss Waters, among others. John Calvin: For a New Reformation provides an in depth look into the life and work of Calvin with the aim of capturing the hearts of a new generation for the legacy of the Reformation.
The Reformation of the sixteenth-century is the most transformative periods in the life the Christian church outside of the first-century. Christians today stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us. If it were not for men like Luther and Calvin, flawed as they were, being gripped by the grace of God in the gospel, we would not be here today. The smoldering flame of the gospel was almost put out prior to the sixteenth-century. Yet we must be reminded of the words of Jesus to Peter in Matthew 16, that gates of hell cannot prevail against Jesus’ church. We have much to learn from the life of the likes of Luther and Calvin, who had a front row seat of the gates of hell that sought to prevail again the church. Yet even as we live in perilous and rapidly changing times, it is now our opportunity to ensure that the light of the gospel carries forward to the next generation.
Additional Recommended Reading:
- Martin Luther: Renegade and Prophet by Lyndal Roper
- Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World by Eric Metaxas
- Martin Luther: A Life by Martin Marty
- John Calvin: A Sixteenth Century Portrait by William J. Bouwsma
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