Posted by
ValiantForTruth on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 2:19:31 PM
The Reformation exposed the errors of pope and church councils. They demonstrated that they could not be trusted, especially with the doctrine of salvation. The only thing trustworthy was the Word of God revealed to men in the Bible.
The pre-Reformation structure of ecclesiastical authority would not withstand the Protestant idea of sola scriptura; the doctrine that the Bible alone is the authority for faith and practice in the churches. A Christian man with a Bible was superior to any pope or council or tradition without it. The Bible was translated into the common tongues so the people could read it in their own language and not be subject to the ecclesiastical ruling class and freeing the people from ecclesiastical totalitarianism.
The Bible was the written constitution of the church. It limited the power and authority of church leadership and made them accountable to the people. The people could now read for themselves the proper role of the clergy and the church.
Consider the origin of constitutionalism; a written covenant founded in revealed truth and agreed upon for the mutual good of lawful men. Did the idea of a written constitution exist before the Reformation? Consider that there is a direct connection between the Reformation cry of sola scriptura and the American idea of the Constitution. The rule of law is a Biblical idea applied to the state in the outworking of Reformed Theology.
Not any man or body of men are to be trusted without established and accepted bounds on their authority. As the Scriptures are the remedy against popery so the Constitution is a safeguard against tyranny.