Page 30 - Ecclesiology Textbook Masters

As time passed, the church’s favor with government resulted in entanglements between the church and
state. The power of the state began to pass to the leaders of the church. Many in the church became
politically powerful and proposed all sorts of compromises and variations from the Scriptures. The
church began to incorporate pagan ideas and practices within its doctrines. By the 1200’s, the church
had basically abandoned Christ’s teachings about what the church was to be in the world.

One idea that was so detrimental to the populist was the idea that the common man could not
understand spiritual things, so the Scriptures were limited and available to only those educated in the
church. Church services were conducted in Latin, a language that most could not understand. The Bible
was not available to most people to read and the doctrine of salvation was perverted into a works-
oriented effort. This period of church history is called the “Dark Ages” because mankind was for the
most part, in spiritual darkness. The doctrine that man is justified by grace through faith was
abandoned, until the great reformation of the 1500’s.

As time passed, some faithful believers sought to translate the Word of God into the common languages
of the people. But most who did this suffered great persecution and even martyrdom. A Catholic priest
named Martin Luther finally stood up to the Roman Church and declared that people are justified by
faith alone and not by the works of the Church. Many great reformers rose to prominence and people
began to believe in the Gospel.

As true Christianity spread throughout Europe, again the church joined forces with the various realms
and kingships. Again, various groups declared religious war on those who do not believe as they do, and
true believers suffered persecution and loss of free movement.

“Protestant scholasticism” was academic theology practiced by Protestant theologians using
the scholastic method during the era of Calvinist and Lutheran orthodoxy from the 16th to 18th
centuries. Protestant scholasticism developed out of the need to clearly define and defend church
doctrine against the Catholic Church and other Protestant churches. It refers to both Lutheran
scholasticism and Reformed scholasticism. Anglicanism never developed a scholastic theology; however,
Anglican writers in the 1600s studied early Christian writings to prove that Anglicanism had faithfully
followed the teachings and practices of the early Church.

Protestant scholasticism "became the dominant organizational approach to teaching theology in the
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academies" before its influence began to wane in the 17th and 18th centuries. Lutheranism and
Calvinism differed greatly on the doctrine of predestination. Lutherans affirm neither “double
predestination” (some chosen for salvation and others chosen for damnation) nor “limited atonement”
(Christ died for only the sins of the elect) as many Calvinists do. Lutheranism promoted a higher view of
the free will of man to make a choice about salvation according to God’s grace. During this period of
time, each Protestant group wrote to distinguish differences between their beliefs, giving rise to various
denominations.

There has always been a remnant of believers throughout church history that have remained faithful to
the Scriptures. But there has always been great opposition to the Gospel. Skeptics like Rousseau and
Voltaire have lead millions down the road away from God. But at points in time, spiritual awakening has
been recorded in various parts of the world. Evangelists like the Wesley brothers, George Whitfield, and
Jonathan Edwards brought many to the Cross of Christ. We find ourselves today in a situation where the

18 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestant_scholasticism

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