Views from an Evangelist

In the study of Rev. George Whitefield and the Church of England as it was constituted in the 16th Century the Word of God was central to their faith and views of God. The 16th Century reformation was a movement from the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church to the Word of God or as it’s typically referred to the Bible.

In ‘The Theology of the English Reformers’ by Philip E. Hughes he writes in the first sentence of the first chapter entitled ‘Holy Scripture’:

“In England, as in other countries, the Reformation of the sixteenth century was in its essence a spiritual movement which, in its internal as well as its external development, flowed from the rediscovery of the Gospel of divine grace to which the pages of Holy Scripture bear testimony. ” (pg 11)

Here’s an example of the magnitude of this reality:

Thomas Bilney, one of the first English martyrs, a Priest who lived in Cambridge, England obtained a new version of the Bible written in Latin around 1519. Though Bilney was dedicated to his office as Priest of the Roman Catholic Church he did not know God and lacked the peace and assurance from knowing of God’s salvation as it is written in Holy Scripture. (pg 11)

Bilney recalls his first reading, “At the first reading, as I well remember I chanced upon this sentence of St. Paul (O most sweet and comfortable sentence to my soul!), ‘It is a true saying and worthy of all men to be embraced, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of who I am the chief’ (I Tim 1:15) (pg 11)

Bilney then realized salvation was by divine grace instead his works. “The transformation by this means of his life and the lives of others led to the reformation of the Church”. (pg 12) This reformation led ultimately to the formation of the Church of England under Archbishop Thomas Cramner and the codifying of the statement of faith known as the 39 Articles and the development of the Book of Common Prayer for the Church of England.

Rev. George Whitefield inherited this reformation to the Scriptures and there by was dedicated to the Church of England and its teachings including the centrality of Holy Scripture. More to come.

[Hughes, Philip E., The Theology of the English Reformers, 1980. Baker Book House: Ann Arbr, MI.]