Were Reformers Creationist Heros? No.

I was just receiving an update from The Bible Science Guy, in which he commemorates, in advance, Luther's 95 theses.

He is, correctly, considering Luther as a Creationist. Same goes for Zwingli with Oecolampadius, their "joint disciple" Bucer, his disciple Calvin and this one's associate or disciple Beza and his disciple Knox. It also goes for Luther non-Zwingli OWN dsciple Melanchthon. And for Bucer's non-Calvin disciple Cranmer. Here is what he says about all of these (perhaps not naming all of them, and the following points are direct quotes):

• They believed the book of Genesis was a book of actual history.
• They believed Yahweh created everything in six regular days only a few thousand years ago.
• They believed Adam and Eve were real people, the parents of the entire human race.
• They believed Adam’s sin brought death and a curse on all of creation.
• They believed a global Flood in Noah’s day destroyed the world and all life except for those in the Ark.

I am tempted to reply "well, so does Satan". James 2:19.

Seriously, none of these issues were controversial between this mainstream origin of Protestantism and Catholicism.

Pope Leo X who admonished Luther to retract certain theses (not all of the 95 and not only from the 95) by the bull Exsurge Domine and a few months later excommunicated him with the bull Decet Romanum Pontificem - he believed all these things too.

Thomas de Vio, known as Cajetan (from Gaeta, where he was bishop) and who before helping Pope Leo with Exsurge Domine had also already tried to admonish Luther in a debate - he did not doubt one of them.

Neither was any of these doubted by Pope St. Pius V, who excommunicated Elisabeth Boleyn as well as declare her a non-Queen, usurper and tyrant. Nor by St Robert Bellarmine : a modern day Jesuit who himself wants to take Genesis 1 - 3 non-literally looks back at St Robert as promoting a reading too close to Fundamentalism. And I could go on.

So, the mainstream Protestant reformers were not Creationist heros, while they were Creationists.

Some other reformers were less Biblical, like the uncle and nephew Sozzini. I am not sure whether they doubted any of these, except the part on original sin. But they did promote a liberal Bible reading in general.

Some of the mainstream reformers had been against "allegory". This did NOT concern putting any doubt on the literal truth of Genesis, it concerned whether the events in it (and in later parts of OT) also spell out prophetic allegories about Christ, the Church and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Four OT women are called blessed (three in Protestant Bibles) and two of them in a sense with some restriction added blessed among women (one in Protestant Bibles). The Catholic Church held, that while these literally lived and literally merited the word "blessed" in their own context, they were also allegories of the Blessed Virgin. And still holds so now.

Anything you have heard about Reformers fighting "allegory" is not about fighting for literal truth of six regular days, but fighting against allegoric truth of this or that OT type of the Blessed Virgin. The ones who did attack literal truth of the Bible were the Socinians, though not necessarily on text of Genesis, they considered Bible fallible and to be taken with correctives. And the Catholic Church condemned them as much as the Lutherans, at Trent. I am less sure how Biblical Thomas Münzer was, but I don't think he was for literal Bible truth either.

Hans Georg Lundahl
Nanterre UL
Vigil of Sts Simon and Jude
26.X.2017

It seems I misread the martyrology, yesterday when I wrote this. Today is the vigil. Tomorrow the feast. I should have stated the date as Pope St Evaristus, Martyr.

Mercator and Geert Groote (excursus)

Both Gerhard Mercator and Gerhard Grote were invoking one St Gerhard as patron saint. He is celebrated on October 3 - same day when I spotted and answered Russell Grigg's hagiographic outburst for Luther. He was the first saint on the day, until St Therese of Lisieux took that place.

Russell Grigg is here claiming that Mercator was suspected of Lutheranism:

In 1544, the Catholic Inquisition charged 43 Louvain residents with ‘heresy’. Mercator was accused of ‘Lutheranism’, and of having written ‘suspicious letters’ to the friars at Mechelen.6 At the time, he was temporarily in Rupelmonde as executor of his recently deceased Uncle Gisbert’s estate. Nevertheless, he was declared a fugitive, arrested, and imprisoned in Rupelmonde Castle.

Despite a search by the authorities at Mechelen, no incriminating letters were found. Mercator’s friends at the University of Louvain petitioned strongly for his release, which finally happened after he had endured several months’ incarceration.

Mercator’s Projections
by Russell Grigg
https://creation.com/mercators-projection

True enough. But that does not make him a Lutheran, he was cleared. It is very clear (!) that part of the reason for the charge is that Lutheranism was as fearful a threat as Communism in the McCarthy era. In other words, people were being suspected for sometimes somewhat flimsy reasons. As Russell Grigg noted, Mercator was cleared. Inquisition was not quite like McCarthy system.

I am reminded of another exponent of Devotio Moderna (after he started studies in Paris anyway) who was also suspected of heresy. His disciples were going to use Mercator's projection a lot as missionaries. I am speaking of St Ignatius of Loyola. Though, as he was less into devotio moderna previous to studies, and as these were the result of his deal with the Inquisition, he had instead been suspected of being an Alumbrado - a kind of Spanish, half Catholic, Quaker.

There is perhaps another reason why Mercator was suspected of Lutheranism. He was according to wikipedia associated with Geert Grote, whom I mentioned at the head of this article. Geert Grote being founder of the Common Brethren, in which Geert Mercator was going to school. (There had been a vandalism making him contemporary of Mercator, I recall, but it has been fixed). Er, correction, the one he was associated with was actually Franciscus Monachus. My bad, I must have looked up Groote as a side note. We'll be back to that.

Now, Dutch Protestants have for some time been claiming Geert Grote was a kind of "proto-Protestant" (you may guess I consider him at least as much as a proto-Jesuit).

Thing is, this is getting out of fashion.

Check these pages (taken by screenshot):



Source : Piety in Practice and Print: Essays on the Late Medieval Religious Landscape, by Koen Goudriaan, pp.209-210, via Google Books.

So, the Brethren of the Common life, as influence in the case of Mercator's childhood, will not cut it to make Mercator reasonably suspect.

What about anti-Scholasticism?

Young scholars of that era often Latinized their names, and Gerard Kremer chose to call himself Gerardus Mercator Rupelmundanus, under which name he enrolled at the University of Louvain, and received a Master of Arts degree in humanities and philosophy in 1532. These studies were based on the teachings of Aristotle: e.g. that all matter was composed of earth, air, fire, and water, that there was no divine purpose in the affairs of man or nature, and that the universe never had a beginning and would never end. This presented something of a crisis of faith for Mercator—not so much of his faith in the Bible, but in what he had been taught.

He corresponded with and then visited a group of Franciscan friars in Antwerp and Mechelen, which reinforced his strong Christian convictions. He later wrote: “When I saw that Moses’ version of the Genesis of the world did not fit sufficiently in many ways with Aristotle and the rest of the philosophers, I began to have doubts about the truth of all philosophers and started to investigate the secrets of nature.” Surely a commendable approach today for those who heedlessly imbibe the anti-God and anti-scientific philosophy of Darwinism.

Was the University of Louvain asking students to believe in the eternity of the world because Aristotle had done so? I very much doubt it. Even for the Master of Arts' course he had taken.

If we go back a few centuries, St Thomas was certainly aware of Aristotle, was certainly accepting the four elements, and was also aware of but not accepting the position that the world was eternal. He was just saying "ok, we can't prove the world had a beginning, otherwise Aristotle would have found that proof, so we must take it on faith of the Bible that the world had a beginning". Insofar as Louvain a few centuries later was still a Catholic university, it arguably was still having theology and not philosophy as "queen of the arts" or "queen of the sciences", and therefore was still accepting Aristotle was wrong.

It can have given the training in philosophy with some empathy for the Aristotelic viewpoint, requiring students to internalise that this is what rational inquiry, unguided by divine revelation leads to. Such creationists who not only prove the world CAN be within Biblical time frame, but presume to prove it MUST be young, would obviously beg to differ about this. Nevertheless, there is a point in teaching what science says by itself, without the aid of revelation, and it seems University of Louvain was saying this for what they considered the best scientist to date, in generalities. Aristotle.

I guess, to Geert Mercator this was actually an approach he could for some time accept (how would he otherwise have had his master of arts) and came later to consider sinful. Imagine Jonathan Sarfati or someone else lecturing on Creation University of Sydney a preliminary course on what evolutionists used to believe back when they were in charge. And imagine one impatient student not getting this, finally, but, while understanding the purpose, nevertheless turning his back on Creation University of Sydney and getting around with some of the ones who say one should not even study evolution at all. That would be a fair guess, from my side, on the change of mind in Mercator.

Now, to be fair to myself, I was probably tired from answering a lot of presumed arguments against Catholicism from the Bible quotes in Russell Grigg's hagiographical work on Luther - the answer to which I will resume, and Geert Groote was mentioned in the article on Mercator:

At no time in his life did Mercator claim to be a Lutheran but there are many hints that he had sympathies in that direction. As a child, called Geert, he was surrounded by adults who were possibly followers of Geert Groote, who placed meditation, contemplation and biblical study over ritual and liturgy—and who also founded the school of the Brethren of the Common Life at 's-Hertogenbosch.

This should be conferred with the words in above quote from Koen Goudriaan.

There are other reasons why it is difficult to know why Mercator came before the Inquisition.

Some have presumed his Inquisitors (one of which had also been involved with Tyndale before his burning) were cynics, who didn't consider it too important whether the one burnt was guilty or innocent, provided the public thought him guilty:

It is no great matter whether those that die on this account be guilty or innocent, provided we terrify the people by these examples; which generally succeeds best, when persons eminent for learning, riches, nobility or high stations, are thus sacrificed.

Thus Ruard Tapper, as quoted from reference Brandt & Chamberlayne (1740) ... which seems to be, let's see: Brandt, Geeraert; Chamberlayne, John (1740), The History of the Reformation and Other Ecclesiastical Transactions in and about the Low-Countries., T. Wood, links to a page where I can read this (screenshot):



Yes, it seems to be somewhat suspect of Protestant bias and of calumny against Ruard Tapper.

Perhaps the real deal is, some Protestant in 1740 thought "it is no great matter whether those that we blame on this account be guilty or innocent, provided we terrify the people by these examples; which generally succeeds best when persons eminent for high stations in Papism, for learning, or for sanctity are thus sacrificed." In other words, the source given by some wikipedian about the one Inquisitor of Mercator (who found him innocent) is worthless. It is a piece of ruthless Protestant Propaganda.

So no, we still do not know why Gerhard Mercator was suspected. We do know, however, thanks to this, I had to look up Jacobus Latomus - the other Inquisitor at Louvain back in the day of Mercator, he died the year after trying Mercator, in 1544. And thanks to my looking him up, we do know that to him, the chief fault of Tyndale was NOT translating the Bible:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobus_Latomus [Look it up.]

Either way, thanks, Grigg, for giving some time off from Luther. Mercator was a good Catholic, though briefly sucpected of the opposite, and I have known a man like Groote personally : Tom Zimmer, whom I met in Rome in 1986 (before the blasphemy in Assisi!) was certainly no Protestant. He was a pro-lifer, a creationist, very devout to some saints, and to certain promises given about certain post-Biblical prayers.

Hans Georg Lundahl
Nanterre UL
St Marcellinus, Pope and Martyr
25.X.2017

Was the Bible For or Against Luther's Work? (part 3 of series)

Continued from previous. Imputed only righteousness in Philippians 3:9?

7 But what things were gain to me, those I have counted loss for Christ.

8 But indeed I count all things to be but loss, for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ, my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but as dung, that I may gain Christ,

9 And may be found in him not having my justice, which is of the law, but that which is of the faith of Christ Jesus: the justice which is of God in faith,

10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable to his death:

Ver. 9. I may be found in him not having my justice, which is of the law; i.e. not pretending to be justified either by my own works or by the works of the Jewish law, but by that which proceedeth from faith in Christ, and by his merits. (Witham) --- St. Augustine expounds the sense thus: not that justice which is in God, or by which God is just, but that which is in man from God, and by his gifts. (lib. 3. cont. 2. ep. Pelag.)

Ver. 10. That I may know him. This knowledge of Christ the apostle prefers to all honours and advantages accruing from his adherence to the synagogue.

So, St Paul wishes to actually have the justice which is of God. Not to have it just imputed.

"Faith involves trusting solely in the promises of God and the finished work of Christ"

Romans 4:16 was the other reference.

6 As David also termeth the blessedness of a man, to whom God reputeth justice without works:

Sorry, that one was 4:6. Its sequel says sth about non-imputation of sins - a negative justice imputated. We agree in that one. But what about the positive one which is of God? The one which we have, which St Paul wants to have?

16 Therefore it is of faith, that according to grace the promise might be firm to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,

Ver. 16. There are two kinds of children of Abraham, to whom alone these promises are made; the one is according to the flesh, the other according to the spirit. The former of these had no more part in the promises made to him and his seed than the Gentiles, unless they imitated the fidelity and obedience of their father. (Calmet) --- It is in this sense of spiritual father, that the [Catholic] priest at the altar, speaking in the name of the faithful, calls Abraham our patriarch. (Estius)

This is not about imputed only justice, but about why Law of Moses is not a necessity.

Hebrews 11:6

6 But without faith it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God, must believe that he is, and is a rewarder to them that seek him.

Ver. 6. He proves the Henoch[Enoch] was translated by faith, or on account of faith, thus: Henoch was translated because he pleased God; now he could not please God but by faith; therefore by faith he was translated. (Menochius)

So, faith is our first duty. It involves a reward of one good action : seeking God.

"Luther expressed it thus: 'He [Christ] died for me, He made His righteousness mine, and made my sin His own; and if he made my sin His own, then I do not have it, and I am free.' Describing this culmination of his spiritual journey, as the burden of his sin lifted, Luther wrote: 'All at once I felt that I had been born again and entered into paradise itself through open gates.' For the first time in his life, he experienced the assurance of salvation and peace with God that only Jesus can give (Hebrews 2:14-15; 9:14)."

Is Jesus giving each individual a complete assurance of Salvation?

2:14 Forasmuch then as the children were partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner partook of the same: that, *through death, he might destroy him who had the empire of death, that is to say, the devil:

15 And might deliver them, who, through the fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to slavery.

Ver. 14. That, through death, he might destroy the power of him who had the empire of death, who, by tempting men to sin, had made them slaves to him and to eternal death; so that they lived always slaves to the devil, under a miserable fear of death, and liable to eternal death. (Witham)

Ver. 15. The devil, by exciting men to sin, made them liable to a temporal and eternal death; he was, therefore, the prince of death, both as to soul and body. Jesus Christ, the life and source of life, has by his death destroyed sin and vanquished the devil; he has, at once, triumphed over the prince of death, and death itself; and by the assurance which he has given us of eternal life, has delivered us from the terrible apprehensions of dying. To a good Christian, death is the termination of misery and the beginning of eternal happiness; why, therefore, should we be afraid to die? We ought rather, with St. Paul, to say: I desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ.

9:13 *For if the blood of goats and of oxen, and the ashes of a heifer, being sprinkled, sanctify such as are defiled, to the cleansing of the flesh:

14 *How much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the Holy Ghost, offered himself without spot to God, cleanse our conscience from dead works, to serve the living God?

Ver. 13-14. For if the blood of goats, &c. Another main difference betwixt the sacrifices in the old, and that of Christ in the new law. Those imperfect carnal sacrifices could only make the priests and the people reputed clean, so that they were no longer to be treated as transgressors, and liable to punishments, prescribed and inflicted by the law: but the sacrifice of Christ has made our consciences interiorly clean, and sanctified them even in the sight of God. Having offered himself unspotted to God by the Holy Ghost, the divine Spirit of the Holy Ghost moving Christ as man to make this oblation of himself, though free from all sin, and incapable of sinning. And being this oblation, made by him, who was God as well as man, it was an oblation of infinite value, which repaired the injury done to God by sin, and redeemed mankind from the slavery of sin. (Witham) --- Here we have an abstract of the passion of Jesus Christ, or of the sacrifice of the cross. We see who is the priest, and who is the victim; we see the virtue and efficacy of this sacrifice, and why it was offered; also by what signs we may know whether we partake of it, viz. if dying to sin and to the world, we live to God, and serve him in spirit and truth. Calvin makes Jesus Christ a priest and mediator, according to his divinity; but in that case Christ would be inferior to his Father, not only as man, but according to his divinity: for the priest is inferior to the God to whom he offers sacrifice, which is an expression of supreme excellence. See Dr. Kellison's survey of the Protestant religion.

"Luther had discovered that the biblical text from the Latin Vulgate, used to support the sacrament of penance, involved a mistranslation. St Jerome’s Latin translation of Christ’s command in Matthew 4:17 reads: 'Do penance (paenitentiam agite), for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.' But the Erasmus Greek translation says: “Μετανοεῖτε (metanoeite), meaning ‘repent’ or ‘change your mind’. That is, God demands a changed heart and mind, not the doing of deeds. ‘To do penance’ and ‘to repent’ are two different things, and thus doing penance is not what this passage teaches."

To do penances is a different thing from doing penance.

Doing penance, we do by recollecting and repenting sins, and bringing them to God through the priest. Doing penances we do over and above satisfaction, and we do it according to the penances imposed by the priest.

4:17 *From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say: Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Ver. 17. Jesus began not to preach till St. John had announced his coming to the world, that the dignity of his sacred person might thus be manifested, and the incredulous Jews be without excuse. If after the preaching of St. John, and his express testimony of the divinity of our Redeemer, they could still say: thou givest testimony of thyself; thy testimony is not true: what would they not have said, if, without any precursor, he had, all on a sudden, appeared amongst them. He did not begin to preach till St. John was cast into prison, that the people might not be divided. On this account also St. John wrought no miracle, that the people might be struck with the miracles of our Saviour, and yield their assent to him. (St. Chrysostom, hom. 14.) --- It may here be remarked, how different were the motives of the prophets from those which the baptist and Christ made use of to exhort to repentance. The former menaced evil, and held out a promise of good, but the good or evil was temporal. St. John begins his exhortations with the threat of eternal punishments---but Christ sweetens the hardships of penance by reminding us of the reward. "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Jansenius)

"He defended marriage of the clergy on the grounds that Genesis 2:18 was 'the Word of God by virtue of which … the passionate natural inclination towards women is created and maintained. It may not be prevented by vow and law. For it is God’s Word and work.'"

This is behind the wrong in the Nashville declaration, saying marriage is God's will for each and all.

2:18 And the Lord God said: It is not good for man to be alone: let us make him a help like unto himself.

Nevertheless, Jesus was alone, and so was Jeremias. He may have been counted as married so his widow could give him a son through levirate, but he was living alone.

In this sense, clergy can follow the higher example. If Pope Michael is the true Pope, priesthood is no longer reserved even in Latin rite for those who do so, but once this vow has been finally made, it must also be kept.

Now, to a new part by Russell Grigg:

Luther’s Legacy
by Russell Grigg, Published: 10 October 2017
https://creation.com/luthers-legacy

"Salvation is the gift of God, acquired through faith alone, received through God’s grace alone, (Ephesians 2:8–9; 2 Timothy 1:9), because of Christ alone."

8 For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: for it is the gift of God;

9 Not of works, that no man may glory.

Before looking at the comment : not OF works, but also not so as to live thereafter WITHOUT them either. Not of works, but to works, as far as Salvation begins in this life. Here is the comment:

Ver. 8. Faith is the beginning, foundation, and root of justification, and the first of all other virtues, without which it is impossible to please God. (Bristow)

Ver. 9. Not of works, as of our own growth, or from ourselves: but as from the grace of God. (Challoner)

I did not see any "faith alone", as if for instance Sacraments are not required to bring someone from a state of sin to a state of grace, normally.

I did see "through faith", and never without it.

"was not only necessary but was also both complete and sufficient to pay the total penalty for our sins and thereby discharge our sin-debt to God in full (Hebrews 7:25)."

If someone who refuses to believe is not saved, is it because Christ's death was not sufficient? No, but because he is not abiding on the terms by which it gives him life. Now, remitting the sin debt in full is done once : when you are baptised (unless you pose an obstacle). If we sin after baptism, we can still come back again, for any sin which leaves us any room to real and efficient repentance (a successful suicide by gunshot for instance does not give one time, taking the mark of the beast may well take away one's freedom).

But this second (or these many second) takings away of our sin-debt usually does involve some remaining duties on our part.

7:25 Whereby he is able also to save for ever them that approach to God by himself: always living to make intercession for us.

Ver. 25. Make intercession. Christ, as man, continually maketh intercession for us, by representing his passion to his Father. (Challoner)

The Confraternity Bible does not have "able also to save for ever", but "able at all times to save".

Latin has:

"salvare in perpetuum potest"

And you can parse it either way.

salvare in perpetuum | potest
He is able to save-for-ever.

salveare | in perpetuum potest
He is for ever able to save = He is at all times able to save.

Greek has:

καὶ σῴζειν εἰς τὸ παντελὲς δύναται

Which can also be parsed either way, since in Greek as in Latin, the normal place for an adverbial in relation to an infinitive is after, in relation to a finite verb before, however, less strongly so in Greek:

καὶ | σῴζειν εἰς τὸ παντελὲς | δύναται
"also, He is able to save-into-complete, entire, perfect, through all time" (Strong 3838)

καὶ | σῴζειν | εἰς τὸ παντελὲς δύναται
"also, He is able into-complete, entire, perfect, through all time to save" (dito)

Obviously, the words after δύναται are direct object to σῴζειν. Some Grecist better than I (how about giving me some slack, since I left off Greek in 1992!) would be better positioned than I to know if the word position is possible either way or favours one of the meanings.

However, we are not just at the mercy of diverse views of Greek syntax. We must take into account it is a Biblical teaching some do loose their salvation and need to get it back - and some even can't.

This is the drama which Luther sooner or later imagined or made others imagine was just a "Papist scare".

Note also very well, that residual duties after remission of sins are not against "σῴζειν εἰς τὸ παντελὲς" : a man who must fast on earth or who must go through Purgatory is already totally saved. He is, as long as he sins no more, in no risk of Hell, and those who are in Purgatory cannot risk Hell again, unless someone were to be resuscitated : but this God more usually does with people either firmly hoping to retain salvation, as having tasted it (St Lazarus had been in the bosom of Abraham) or with those who very seldom get a second chance after having been in Hell.

"This is the Gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1, 3–4), and there is none other that saves (Acts 4:12; Galatians 1:8)."

In the context of this panegyric over Luther, this sounds like a kind of rejection of the Catholic doctrine being thus buttressed by the Bible.

15:1 Now *I make known unto you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand,

2 By which also you are saved: if you hold fast after what manner I preached to you, unless you have believed in vain.

3 For I delivered to you first of all, which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins, *according to the Scriptures:

4 *And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures:

Oh, wait ... 1 Cor 1 - 4 is not about "faith not works", as in Luther's polemics against the Catholic Church, but about faith in resurrection needing to be kept inviolate, orthodox. Indeed, it is paramount : but other, less paramount things also need to be kept inviolate, orthodox.

Here are two general comments on the chapter:

This chapter is addressed to some among the Corinthians who denied the resurrection: St. Paul, therefore, in order to cure this philosophical opinion, gives them his counsel and advice in this chapter; and lest he might be thought to preach up a new doctrine, in the beginning of his admonitions he informs them that he is preaching no other gospel than what he has always taught, and wherein they believe. (Estius)

And Confraternity Bible:

Christ's resurrection was difficult for pagans to believe. When the Athenians heard it some began to sneer (Act 17, 32); Festus thought Paul mad when he spoke of it (Acts 26, 24). At Corinth some questioned the fact of our resurrection, others also the resurrection of Christ (12).

It also has a comment on verses 1 and 4:

1. Being saved: the process is continual from the first grace through perseverance to glory. 4. According to the Scriptures: Christ's death is foretold in Isa. 53, 4-9; His burial and resurrection in Isa. 53, 9; Pss. 6, 3; 15, 10; Jonas 2, 1 f (cf. Matt. 12, 40).

Acts 4:12

12 Nor is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name, under heaven, given to men, whereby we must be saved.

Salvation by Christ, not by the Old Law. If you look at the context.

Confraternity Bible has this comment:

8-12. Answering the assembled Sanhedrin, St. Peter again touches on the chief points in his previous discourses, insisting on Christ's crucifixion and resurrection and His present power and glory; salvation is to be found only in Him, not in the Jewish Law.

Galatians 1:8 But though we, or an Angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema.

Note, St Paul does not say "besides that which I have written", but "besides that which we have preached to you". In other words, all of the Apostolic Tradition needs to be kept inviolate. Any heretic, be it against an express proof text or against a general part of the Church's lore, is, in the terms of St Paul, anathema.

In context of previous verse, this is clearly in this context about Judaisers. People claiming that keeping the Ritual Law is required for Salvation.

Here is a comment on same with both surrounding verses, from Confraternity Bible:

7. Which is not another gospel: there is only one gospel of Christ, while the Judaizers were preaching among the Galatians serious doctrinal errors as if they were the gospel. 8. Anathema: cursed, excluded from the kingdom of God. 9. St. Paul reminds the Galatians of the warning he and his companions had given them before, possibly on his second visit, against false teachers.

Hmmmm ... against false teachers? All of them, not just in this particular context?

9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone preach a gospel to you other than that which you have received, let him be anathema!

But obviously, St Paul had said other words in preaching the Gospel than just that justice by Christ replaces justice by the Jewish law. So, in a sense someone might pretend to say the opposite of these Judaisers and also be anathema. Like, if Luther really preached the Gospel he had received from the Church of Christ, how come he was so advers against the Epistle of St James?

Luther: “The second step is this: If you want to be saved, your salvation does not come by works; but God has sent His only Son into the world that we might live through Him. He was crucified and died for you and bore your sins in His own body (1 Peter 2:24)."

Is 1 Peter 2:24 saying this second step?

24 *Who his ownself bore our sins in his body upon the tree: that we being dead to sins, should live to justice: by whose stripes you were healed.

Wait ... it says something about us being dead to sins. And living to justice. It says works.

24. He suffered for us. By his stripes you were healed: the scourging, so well known to slaves.

But the healing needs to be applied.

"God has purposed that we do not merit His grace by anything we do (Galatians 2:16; 3:3)."

Before looking at text : by anything we do of ourselves, by anything we do without already being in grace. True.

If you come to confession with insufficient repentance to be already justified, it is in confession that God gives you the repentance you need. And if your repentance was already sufficient, you still need to go and to take it as a gift : from God, though His Church. Now for the texts:

2:16 But knowing that man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ; we also believe in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law; *because by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.

Now, Galatians 2:16 does not even bother about this part, what I mentioned or else what Grigg imagines, it only reaffirms we are not saved by Judaising.

Works of the law is a technical term, it is not equivalent to good works, it is not equivalent to works of penance, it is not equivalent to works of mercy, it is not equivalent to keeping the commandments, all of which are required.

Works of the law are things like keeping the Hebrew Sabbath, like eating Seder on the even of 14th of Nisan, and these things.

Ver. 16. &c. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law. St. Paul, to the end of the chapter, seems to continue his discourse to St. Peter, but chiefly to the Jewish Galatians, to shew that both the Gentiles, whom the Jews called and looked upon as sinners, and also the Jews, when converted, could only hope to be justified and saved by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law. --- But if while we seek to be justified in Christ, by faith in him, and by his grace, we ourselves also are found sinners, as the false doctors teach you, and not to be justified but by the ceremonies and works of the law of Moses, this blasphemous consequence must follow, that Christ is the minister and author of sin, by making us believe that by faith in him, and complying with his doctrine, we may be justified and saved. For thus we must be considered transgressors, unless we renew and build again what Christ and we have destroyed. --- For by the law I am dead to the law. That is, says St. Jerome, by the evangelical law of Christ I am dead to the ancient law and its ceremonies. Others expound it, that by the law and its types and figures, and by the predictions contained in the law, I know the Mosaical law hath now ceased, in which sense he might say, by the law I am dead to the law. --- If justice. That is, if justification and salvation be to be had, or could have been had by the works of the law; therefore Christ died in vain, and it was not necessary that he should become our Redeemer. (Witham)

Note very well, in the following, what I took up spontaneously is there : a work needs to be done in a state of grace (i e not by my sole carnal initiative, but by Christ living in me) in order to merit before God. He says so in verse 20, and in verse 18 mentions it is possible and very regrettable to sin after receiving grace. Mortally, that is. A venial sin does not amount to building up what one tears down in penance.

Ver. 19. He here expresses the change which had been wrought in him. The law to which he had been attached, had passed away from him. Now he was so united to Christ and his cross, that he says: Not I, but Christ liveth in me. The strong expressions made use of by St. Paul with regard to the Jewish law in this chapter, may appear strange, and very capable of a wrong interpretation. But we must ever bear in mind that St. Paul speaks exclusively of the ceremonial part of the law, and not of the moral, contained in the decalogue: of this latter he says in his epistle to the Romans, (ii. 13.) the doers of the law shall be justified. But to effect this, was and is necessary the grace which Jesus Christ has merited and obtained for all, grace which God has shed on all, more or less, from the commencement of the world.

Confraternity Bible has this comment:

16. The precepts of the Mosaic Law were ceremonial, such as circumcision, and moral, such as the Commandments. The Judaizers insisted on the observance of the ceremonial precepts or works. Such prescriptions of themselves had no power to save, as salvation depends on faith in Christ.

This distinction should be kept in mind in the next passage:

3:1 O senseless Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been set forth, crucified among you?

2 This only would I learn of you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

3 Are you so foolish, that, whereas you began in the spirit, you would now be made perfect by the flesh?

Ver. 1. Before whose eyes Jesus Christ....crucified among you.[1] The common exposition is, that St. Paul had before described and set before them Christ crucified. Others, that it had been clearly foretold by the prophets that Christ was crucified for them. (Witham)

Ver. 2. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law? As if he said, you esteem it a great favour to have received those spiritual gifts of working miracles, &c. When you were made Christians, had you these favours by the works of the law, or was it not by the hearing of faith, and by the faith of Christ, that you had such extraordinary graces? and when you have begun thus happily by the spirit of Christ and his spiritual gifts, are you for finishing and thinking to make yourselves more perfect by the exterior works of the law, the circumcision of the flesh, and such like ceremonies? (Witham)

And Confraternity Bible:

1. Who has bewitched you: as if by an evil eye. Through Paul's teaching Jesus Christ crucified was made to appear before their eyes as if actually existing in the flesh. some Vulgate codices and the Clementine edition after bewitched you add "that you should not obey the truth." 2. They had received the Holy Spirit with His sanctifying grace and His special gifts through Paul's preaching, and their believing in Christ crucified. 3. Are you so foolish, that beginning your salvation by the reception of the Holy Spirit you seek the completion of it in the carnal ceremonies of the Mosaic Law (the flesh)?

So, supposing that the Catholic Church into which Luther was received by baptism was no longer the Church of Our Lord Jesus, the Church wherein ministered St Paul, supposing Luther were right on Galatians condemning Catholicism like Judaisers, one could ask: who has bewitched us Catholics?

In the case of the Galatians, the Bible does not tell, perhaps some Church historian does. It does not matter, as I suppose, since Galatians took heed of St Paul's word. And that very quickly.

But supposing we Catholics had for centuries been mishearing St Paul, not just Luther himself during a few failed attempts at living as a monk, supposing we had merited St Paul's charge?

If so, who had bewitched us? A man who made a deal with the devil to be called "Pope" as in Jack Chick's The Death Cookie?

Jack Chick does not dare name which Pope he considers to be the first Antichrist (unlike Sedes who will debate whether John XXIII as false Pope came after Pius XII as true Pope and so on : the range is not very wide, and "John Paul II" can no longer be a Pope, while St Pius X very certainly was). Some may say it doesn't matter. It does. A several centuries long misdemeanour, it does not happen without someone responsible for it. Even for Paganism in general, while it is difficult to trace the roots of each individual Paganism fully, both for better and for worse, the general misdemeanor is brought down to either Nimrod or Ninus.

We Catholics dare name Luther, Zwingli and Oecolampadius, Sozzinis and Münzer as origins of the misdemeanours of the Reformation and its daughters. St Paul by his question does not suggest that this is idle curiosity. On the contrary, if you know the witch or warlock, you may know the spell, if you know the spell, you may know the exorcism. So, supposing we really and truly were lapsed, who made us lapse? Not speaking of the Vatican II lapse, now. I am speaking of the one you try to trace, by considering Luther as taking the role of St Paul.

If and when you get to grips with who bewitched us, on your view, next question would be what was his spell? At what time was it a novum?

For Luther and a few more, the forbidden words, the evil spell, are given in both Exsurge Domine and in the divers sessions of the Council of Trent. If you ask us. And we identify Luther and a few more as authors of, inter alia, confusing "works of the law" with "good works".

Hans Georg Lundahl
Nanterre UL
St. Francis Borgia SJ
10.X.2017

On to: Mercator and Geert Groote (excursus)

What Luther Got Wrong More (pt 2 of series)

Today, on St Francis' day, I will link to Russell Grigg's article, because I answer more fully.

Martin Luther: the monk who shook the world
by Russell Grigg, Published: 3 October 2017 (GMT+10)
https://creation.com/martin-luther-shook-world

Now, to some passages, which I will answer. Here is first a jumble of good and bad, from Russell Grigg:

"The Church of that day taught that good works were a necessary part of salvation. This involved people participating in sacraments, doing penance, praying to deceased saints and/or worshipping their relics, going on pilgrimages to holy places, buying indulgences, and (most effective of all) withdrawing from the world to the ascetic life of a monastery to escape the sins of the world."

And, this jumble needs breaking down and detailed answers.

"The Church of that day taught that good works were a necessary part of salvation."

Yes. So does the Church now, so did Our Lord and St James.

"This involved people participating in sacraments,"

Which were instituted by Christ. Note John 3 for necessity of Baptism. Proof texts for all sacraments in Gospels, Acts and Epistles.

"doing penance,"

Which is recommended all over the Bible.

"praying to deceased saints and/or worshipping their relics,"

Honouring, not worshipping. Relics are recommended in the Bible, e g body of Elisaeus and handkerchiefs having touched the clothes of Sts Paul and Barnabas (I think the other one was). The garment of Our Lord is of course also a relic, it cured one woman who had faith - in relics.

The rich man prayed to a deceased saint. The reasons he was not granted either request had nothing to do with the saint not being able to intercede for anyone, but the rich man was already damned (the gulf between Hell proper and Bosom of Abraham or limbus Patrum in Sheol - those souls being now in Heaven), and his brothers were already impenitent, on their way to damnation : they correspond extremely well to the general description of Pharisees (having Moses and the Prophets and not believing them, hence not going to believe if a dead man rose from Sheol and the grave either), and if the poor Lazarus was the same as the four days dead one, this was a very exact prediction of how Pharisees behaved when he was himself raised for the conforting of his sister.

The relics we do worship are those of Our Lord : cross, crown of thorns, lance, shroud, shirt.

"going on pilgrimages to holy places,"

Yes, recommended in the Bible, like the pilgrimage made by the wise men to Bethlehem, by Naaman to Jordan and to Elisaeus, and every year up to year 70, most famously Holy Family when Our Lord was twelve years, and many of the Jews converting on Pentecost day, to the Temple in Jerusalem. Not to mention that God made Abraham a pilgrim, as well as making the people of Israel such for forty years between Egypt and Holy Land.

"buying indulgences,"

False. Indulgences are not bought or sold. One can speak improperly of buying an indulgence, as one can speak of buying a pearl of great price. But indulgences are for :

• acts of prayer
• acts of fasting (a pilgrimage counts as prayer and fasting in combination)
• acts of almsgiving (recommended as indulgenced acts in the case of feeding poor on the funeral of someone, in order to win an indulgence for him, in the book of Tobit).

It was one specific form of almsgiving which was misnamed "buying indulgences".

"and (most effective of all) withdrawing from the world to the ascetic life of a monastery to escape the sins of the world."

It is most effective, but it is not needed for everyone - only that those who do so persist. As mentioned yesterday, I am not under such a vow, and I don't think I need to make one either to be saved.

For some, making such a vow is indeed the last chance to escape damnation, for many more it is more simply the call of a loving father : yesterday I mentioned St Therese "of Lisieux" or "of the Child Jesus" (her locality of Carmel, her "title of nobility" within Carmel). Today we celebrate St Francis of Assisi.

"All this caused Martin to despair of ever being able to do enough to satisfy God, and to fear God’s future judgment."

Was it that, or keeping commandments, like the specifications given in Matthew 5? Was he even, documentedly, in despair about his salvation all through his youth?

"However, that year a lightning bolt struck near him during a fierce storm. In dread of sudden death and the imminent prospect of divine judgment, he cried out in terror to his father’s saint, Saint Anna, promising to become a monk if he survived."

Note very well that good Catholic theologians told him he did not owe the Grandmother of God to become a monk if he did not feel inclined. It was his personal bent of a certain exactitude perhaps, or perhaps overestimation of his responsibility in that moment (that would be a very common opinion among Catholic clergy today), which drove him to the monastery. NOT Catholic Church men telling him he absolutely had to after doing such a promise.

"Here he engaged in long hours of prayer, fasting, whipping himself, and prolonged daily confessions of sin, but none of this brought him the peace with God he was seeking."

Long hours of prayer and fasting are part of what monasticism is about. Like vigils. St Jerome had something to say about one Vigilantius who was not a friend of vigils (and St Jerome nicknamed him "dormitantius" : sleepy instead of wakeful). He probably quoted St Peter's wake and pray (I have not read St Jerome's contra Vigilantium, I only looked it up when a "Berean Beacon" apostate Irish priest considered Vigilantius as part of the "Apostolic succession" - in reality non-extant, at least in documented reality - from "Ambrose" to Valdensians), and he probably mentioned something about the disciples of Gethsemane.

Whipping oneself is a somewhat harsh, but a sometimes effective way of dealing with temptations of the flesh. St Francis used it, I think - he certainly used a hair shirt, like St John the Baptist.

Prolonged daily confession of sins? My experience with confession is, a father confessor considers a prolonged confession even if once a week or rarer a nighmare : confession is not to raise unnecessary doubts, is not to tell stories, but to tell succinctly how one has sinned, especially mortally, and in cases one has avoided mortal sins since last confession, one must either be careful to really repent of a venial one, or one must confess an older mortal one which one truly repents of.

But someone who shilly shallies over whether he really has the good intention or not, and whether last confession was valid or a sacrilege, well, that is a real nightmare to a priest. If he put someone through that on a daily basis, perhaps that priest actually did in his heart hope for his damnation rather than more and more and more of this nightmare.

"He later remarked: 'If anyone could have gained heaven as a monk, then I would indeed have been among them. … I lost hold of Christ the Saviour and comforter and made of him a stock-master and hangman over my poor soul.' "

While Our Lord is not exactly hangman, He is judge. And losing hold of Christ as Saviour is not the least commendable for someone trying to save one's soul in any way, whether as monk or as married man or as single in the world.

He judges with mildness in the confessional, through the priest who has, through REAL apostolic succession (not the faked one of Valdensians or Albigensians) inherited the power of forgiveness Christ on the even of Easter Sunday gave His eleven Apostles. One day, He will judge otherwise, for those voluntarily not availing themselves of confession. But for now, confession is there:

John 20:[21] He said therefore to them again: Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you. [22] When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost. [23] Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.

John twenty, twenty-one, -two, -three. Is the reference simple enough? I quoted from a Douay Rheims with Challoner comments, and there is one to verse 23:

[23] "Whose sins": See here the commission, stamped by the broad seal of heaven, by virtue of which the pastors of Christ's church absolve repenting sinners upon their confession.

A very broad seal indeed. Here is Exsurge Domine, last words of introduction, followed by first error of Luther:

"In virtue of our pastoral office committed to us by the divine favor we can under no circumstances tolerate or overlook any longer the pernicious poison of the above errors without disgrace to the Christian religion and injury to orthodox faith. Some of these errors we have decided to include in the present document; their substance is as follows:

"1. It is a heretical opinion, but a common one, that the sacraments of the New Law give pardoning grace to those who do not set up an obstacle."

Well, if perhaps daily prolonged confessions were not winning Luther pardoning grace, perhaps it is because he set up an obstacle?

"8. By no means may you presume to confess venial sins, nor even all mortal sins, because it is impossible that you know all mortal sins. Hence in the primitive Church only manifest mortal sins were confessed."

Well, not only was Luther wrong (both on history and on the principle), but one can nearly hear the confessor he had been going to shouting to him "YOU (brother Martin) stop confessing venial sins NOW!" And Luther missing the personal part, and erecting it to a common and general principle. One can of course ask, if he had pestered his father confessor so much as to make him useless and pernicious, was he STILL obliged to confess to him? Especially if my imagination is wrong, if the father confessor actually misinformed him so as to be spared some of the prolonged confessions. But a man being for such reasons absolved from the common duty of confessing of course does not mean everyone else is.

"9. As long as we wish to confess all sins without exception, we are doing nothing else than to wish to leave nothing to God’s mercy for pardon."

One can consider it could have been a very true remark of a father confessor to him to tell him "as long as YOU want to" etc. But there are clearly other situations, and a generous will to confess all sins without exception, either effectually, or, conditionally if it were possible, is something which the Pope had to safeguard against Luther's turning the very personal and rare admonitions of his father confessor (as I suppose he did) into a general principle.

It is not something to be thrown out along with Luther's prolonged daily confessions.

"10. Sins are not forgiven to anyone, unless when the priest forgives them he believes they are forgiven; on the contrary the sin would remain unless he believed it was forgiven; for indeed the remission of sin and the granting of grace does not suffice, but it is necessary also to believe that there has been forgiveness."

On the second one, I imagine his father confessor misinformed him, on occasion, so as to be spared being asked next day "was my sin really forgiven yesterday?!" Or, rereading, on the whole. What I was thinking of was another error. Or, if he was not misinformed, the priest might have tried to explain something which he misunderstood.

"12. If through an impossibility he who confessed was not contrite, or the priest did not absolve seriously, but in a jocose manner, if nevertheless he believes that he has been absolved, he is most truly absolved."

Do we overhear Luther conforting himself against the fear he had so pestered the father confessor that this father confessor had no real wish left to save his soul by absolution?

Do we, for the first part, overhear a confessor telling him "if, by an impossibility, you were not contrite, if you believe you were absolved, you were"? There are some confessors who will find it impossible that a man so anxious for his soul was not contrite. Hence someone might have begun a consolation of The Hysteric in the Augustinian Convent with "if, by an impossibility, you were not contrite". And the other part would obviously fit the desire for some peace and quiet of a confessor. Hence, I think it is possible to overhear this. Or, more seriously and less "thought reading", to probably interpret this.

"14. No one ought to answer a priest that he is contrite, nor should the priest inquire."

Why?

St Matthew and Zacchaeus answered Christ, they were contrite of the economic fraud, which was arguably a mortal sin. Sorry, checked, Saint Zacchaeus : Apostle Zacchaeus? For the moment, I find no Catholic source. In the Latin rite, he is not April 20. Either way, both answered Our Lord that they were contrite. As did the peintent woman, usually identified with St Mary Magdalene.

"In 1510, Luther visited Rome. Here, in the Church of St John Lateran, there is a 28-step marble staircase that Jesus allegedly climbed at the palace of Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem.5 According to Roman Catholic teaching (then and now), pilgrims ascending these ‘holy stairs’ (scala sancta) in an appropriate manner procure an indulgence for themselves or for some deceased person(s) to reduce the time their souls spend in purgatory6 after death as punishment for their sins.7

"Luther climbed the stairs to obtain this benefit for his dead grandfather. Two memoirs survive concerning this event:

• 1.At the top he is reputed to have said to himself, “Who knows if it is really true?”,8 a concern which became the basis for his future evaluation of church doctrine.
• 2.Many years later, Luther’s son, Paul, reported that in 1544 his father told him that as he climbed the stairs the Bible verse flashed into his mind: “The just shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4).

"Luther was aware of Psalm 22, and that Christ on the Cross had quoted v. 1, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.” As he pondered why Christ felt this, Luther realized that it was because Christ was bearing his—Luther’s own—sin on the Cross. And he came to see that God gives forgiveness to those who repent of their sins, because Christ, the Perfect Substitute, paid the full penalty for sin by dying on the Cross and rising again."

It is very possible, that realisation was a first fruit of the indulgence he had won.

And the just living by his faith has some implication for the scala sancta:

• It is likely - despite Valla drawing much into doubt - that the Church was perfectly right about St Helen bringing the Holy Stairs to Rome. We ought not gratuitously to doubt this.
• It is also likely, if by any chance the Church had been wrong in so considering the stairs in question, that by the indulgence granted by the Church nevertheless the full indulgence is given, for the pious attempt, even if it had been misplaced (I don't think it was) to walk on the stairs where God had walked before the unjust Pilate.

"Likewise, he came to see that God gives righteousness to believers by imputing (crediting) the perfect righteousness of His own Son, Jesus Christ, to them (2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 3:9).11 Faith involves trusting solely in the promises of God and the finished work of Christ (Romans 4:16; Hebrews 11:6)."

God gives righteousness. Sure. But as a legal only imputation, or as a life principle? Would the proof texts here really prove a legal only imputation?

II Corinthians 5:

19 For God indeed was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing to them their sins, and he hath placed in us the word of reconciliation.

20 We are, therefore, ambassadors for Christ, God as it were exhorting by us. For Christ, we beseech you, be ye reconciled to God.

21 Him, who knew no sin, he hath made sin for us, that we might be made the justice of God in him.

Haydock comment:

Ver. 19. Not imputing, i.e. truly taking away our sins, blotting out the handwriting of the decree which was against us,...fastening it to the cross, as it is said, Colossians ii. 14. And to us, who are his apostles and the ministers of his gospel, he hath imparted and committed this word of reconciliation, by the preaching of his doctrine, and the administration of his sacraments, &c. In these functions we act and we speak to you as the ambassadors of Christ; we speak to you in his name, we represent his person, when we exhort you to be reconciled to God. "He that heareth you, heareth me." (Luke x. 16.) (Witham)

Ver. 20. Be not deaf to this voice, harden not your hearts, suffer yourselves to be moved to the charity of God: it is immense, it is infinite. (Bible de Vence)

Ver. 21. Him (Christ) who knew no sin, (who had never sinned, nor was capable of sinning) he (God) hath made [4] sin for us. I had translated, with some French translators, he hath made a sacrifice for sin, as it is expounded by St. Augustine and many others, and grounded upon the authority of the Scriptures, in which the sacrifices for sins are divers times called sins, as Osee iv. 8. and in several places in Leviticus, by the Hebrew word Chattat, which signifies a sin, and is translated a victim for sin. But as this is not the only interpretation, and that my design is always a literal translation of the text, not a paraphrase, upon second thoughts I judged it better to follow the very words of the Greek, as well as of the Latin text. For besides the exposition already mentioned, others expound these words, him he hath made sin for us, to signify that he made Christ like unto sinners, a mortal man, with the similitude of sin. Others that he made he reputed a sinner; with the wicked was he reputed; (Mark xv. 28.) God having laid upon him all our iniquities. (Isaias liii. 6.) --- That we might be made the justice of God in him; that is, that we might be justified and sanctified by God's sanctifying grace, and the justice we receive from him. (Witham) --- Sin for us. That is, to be a sin-offering, a victim for sin. (Challoner)

Own comment : there is a difference between our past sin no longer being imputed legally and our new justice (or that of those of us who are saved, for instance after a good confession) only being an imputed one. To Luther, this seems to have been obscured by his incapacity of seing sins as past. Or obsession of seeing sin as an allengulfing and never ending human condition.

Tomorrow, this may be continued, for now, I wish a blessed day of St Francis!

Hans Georg Lundahl
Paris III
St Francis of Assisi
4.X.2017

Continue to: Was the Bible For or Against Luther's Work? (part 3 of series)