Page 82 - God's Church through the Ages - Student Textbook
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Study Section 14:  The Great Reformers - continued


              14.1 Connect


                         One of the greatest contributions of the early reformers was their willingness to painstakingly
                         translate the Bible into the language of the common men.     Martin Luther translated the Bible into
                         German and John Calvin into Swiss.   It took enormous efforts for these men to do this and many
                         years of their lives.  Before their day, a common person had absolutely NO access to able to read the
                         Bible.  They were all written in Latin and the church services were held in Latin.  The common people
                         had no idea what was going on in the church and certainly did not know how to be saved from their
              sin.  By this time, the church was telling them that salvation was granted from the church as a result of their
              good works.  People were ignorant of even the basic stories in the Bible.  As we continue studying, we will see
              that God raised up key men and women who paid the price to bring God’s Word to the people.


              14.2 Objectives

              1.   The student should be able to state Phillip Melanchthon’s contribution to the Reformation.

              2.  The student should be able to identify with Heinrich Bullinger in his quest to make Jesus Christ know to the
                      people of Germany.


                      3.  The student should understand and be able to describe how John Calvin influenced the
                      understanding of major doctrines in the Bible which even today are a source of contention in the
              Church.


                                                  69
              14.3 Phillip Melanchthon 1497-1560
                        Melanchthon distinguished himself from his contemporaries not only through
                        his works as a humanist and his extraordinary gift for Greek, Latin, and Hebrew,
                        but also through his outstanding achievements as a reformer, politician, and
                        educator

              Melanchthon played an important role during the Reformation, not only as Luther's friend
              and confidant, but also as the negotiator for the Protestant side during Congresses and
              Religious Talks. Moreover, he contributed to the systematization of Reformation thought with his "Loci
              Communes."  Melanchthon provided Luther with the decisive impulse for translating the Bible.


                                                                          70
                                        Sebastian Franck, c. 1499-c.1543 –

                                        Franck was a German Protestant Reformer and theologian who converted
                                        from Roman Catholicism to Lutheranism but departed from Martin Luther’s views,
                                        emphasizing a mystical attitude in place of dogmatic belief.

                                        Franck combined the humanist’s passion for freedom with the mystic’s devotion to
                                        a religion based on the inner illumination of the spirit. He believed the Bible was full
                                        of contradictions in which true and eternal messages could be unveiled only by the

              69  https://www.britannica.com/biography/Philipp-Melanchthon
              70  https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sebastian-Franck
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