How can we bring the great truths of the Bible, including the glorious doctrine of Justification by Faith Alone, to the people?
This was the question that Archbishop Thomas Cranmer and the other English Reformers asked during the time of the Protestant Reformation of the 1500’s.
Before the Reformation, the gospel was largely hidden and obscured. Church services were in Latin, the Bible in the vernacular was illegal and unavailable, and, as a result, people lived in deep, spiritual darkness.
During the English Reformation, each church was directed to have a copy of the new, English (Great) Bible – usually chained to the pulpit. An official Book of Sermons was also published, in English, and mandated to be read in the churches each Sunday to proclaim the recently rediscovered truths of Grace alone, by Faith alone, in Christ alone. All grounded in the ultimate authority of Scripture alone.
Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, the leader of the Church of England at the time, believed that Scripture (used by the Holy Spirit) had three functions:
- Telling: Scripture, as a supernatural document. reveals and embodies God’s truth.
- Turning: Scripture is God’s instrument to bring repentance, faith, and a new God-orientated, fruitful life.
- Tethering: As we remember and digest Scripture, we are tethered to God and his promises.1
The English Reformers expected that as people were more and more exposed to Scripture, they would be more and more exposed to the Holy Spirit’s supernatural power to tell, turn and tether.
Below are some challenging extracts from “A Fruitful Exhortation to the reading of Holy Scripture”, the first sermon in the Book of Homilies:
“For a Christian there can be nothing either more necessary or profitable than the knowledge of holy scripture, since in it is contained God’s true word, setting forth his glory, and also our duty. And there is no truth or doctrine necessary for our justification and everlasting salvation except what is, or may be, drawn out of that fountain and well of truth. Therefore, those who desire to enter into the right and perfect way with God, must apply their minds to know holy scripture, without which they can neither sufficiently know God and his will, nor their office and duty.”
Therefore,
“Let us diligently search for the well of life in the books of the New and Old Testament, and not run to the stinking puddles of people’s traditions, devised by human imagination, for our justification and salvation.”
The usefulness of Scripture
“For in holy scripture is fully contained what we ought to do, and what to avoid, what to believe, what to love, and what to look for from God’s hands…In these books we may learn to know ourselves, how vile and pitiable we are; and also to know God, how good he is of himself, and how he makes us and all creatures partakers of his goodness.”
The power of Scripture
“The words of holy scripture are called words of everlasting life (John 6:68), for they are God’s instrument, ordained for that purpose. They have power to convert, through God’s promise and they are effectual through God’s assistance. Being received in a faithful heart, they always have a heavenly spiritual working in them (Colossians 1:5-6, 25-28). They are lively, active, and mighty in operation, and sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow (Hebrews 4:12).”
The great benefit of Scripture
“There is nothing that so much strengthens our faith and trust in God, that so much keeps up innocence and purity of heart, and also of outward godly life and conversation, as continual reading and meditation on God’s word.”
However, for those who merely read the Bible to tick boxes:
“In reading of God’s word, it is not the one who is most eager to turn the pages or who recites it from memory who profits the most. Rather, it is the one who is most turned to God by it, the one who is most inspired with the Holy Spirit, most in their heart and life altered and changed into that thing which they read…”
The neglecting of Scripture
“What excuse shall we therefore make at the last day before Christ, if we delight to read or hear human fantasies and inventions more than his most holy gospel, and will find no time to do that which chiefly above all things we should do? What excuse is there if we would rather read other things than that, for which we ought to drop every other book?”
The danger of Scripture
“Read it humbly, with a meek and lowly heart, to the intent that you may glorify God, and not yourself, with the knowledge of it. And read it not without daily praying to God, that he would direct your reading to good effect. And take upon you to expound it no further than you can plainly understand it…Presumption and arrogance is the mother of all error; and humility needs to fear no error.”
The difficulty of Scripture
“For God receives the learned and unlearned, and casts away none, but is impartial to all. And the scripture is full of low valleys, plain and easy ways for everyone to use and to walk in, as well as of high hills and mountains, which few can climb up.”
The sermon ends with this inspiring, last paragraph:
“And let us pray to God, the only Author of these heavenly studies, that we may speak, think, believe, live, and depart hence, according to the wholesome doctrine and truths of them. And, by that means, in this world we shall have God’s defence, favour, and grace, with the unspeakable solace of peace, and quietness of conscience; and, after this pitiable life, we shall enjoy the endless bliss and glory of heaven: which, may he grant to us all, who died for us all, Jesus Christ: to whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be all honour and glory, both now and everlastingly. Amen.”
Are we humbly, regularly, and expectantly reading God’s book?
Are we, thereby, giving the Holy Spirit the means by which to tell, turn and tether us?
All extracts are taken from: Gatiss, Lee. The First Book of Homilies: The Church of England’s Official Sermons in Modern English. Lost Coin Press for Church Society. Kindle Edition.
Any comments or queries can be sent to andre@christchurchtygerberg.org.za
- Thank you to Bishop Ashley Null for this alliterated summary of tell, turn and tether. ↩︎