Reformation: Lesson 4

Overview

Revisiting Purgatory: Where the Doctrine Came From

The doctrine of purgatory took shape gradually in the early church but was solidified by Thomas Aquinas, who—at the command of Pope Urban IV—wrote against the Eastern Church on disputed doctrines including the procession of the Holy Spirit, the primacy of the Roman pontiff, the Eucharist, and purgatory. It was subsequently used against the Greeks at the Council of Lyons (1274) and the Council of Florence. Defined as a condition of "temporal punishment" for those dying in God's grace but still needing to account for sin, purgatory was defended from passages such as Matthew 12:32 ("neither in this world nor in the world to come") and 1 Corinthians 3:11–15, where Paul speaks of works being tested by fire. Read through the lens of Scripture interpreting Scripture, however, these texts do not support a purifying fire that finishes the work of Christ. Christ's righteousness, given by grace, leaves no remainder for us to "burn off."

The Reformation as a Political Earthquake

The Reformation was not only a religious renewal—it reshaped Western political life. The medieval church had accumulated enormous secular authority: it regulated marriage, tried clergy in its own courts, enforced fasting by law, and even dictated how Christian rulers could wage war. Luther observed that Europe was suffering an identity crisis in which "the princes wanted to be bishops, and the bishops wanted to be princes." Against this entanglement he developed his two kingdoms doctrine: God governs the world through two distinct authorities. Civil government exists to preserve order; the church exists to proclaim the gospel. Each is established by God, and each must be kept in its proper place. Mixing them—whether the church seizing political power or the state coercing belief—distorts both. This conviction later helped seed the American experiment, in which both citizens and the church remain free.

Language, Literacy, and the Word for All

Building on John Wycliffe's earlier work and aided by the Gutenberg press, Luther translated the Bible into common German and, in doing so, helped unify the German language itself. The conviction was simple and profound: God's people should not need a doctorate to read God's Word. Scripture belongs in the hands and on the tongues of ordinary believers, who are called to engage it directly. This remains a precious inheritance—and a continuing responsibility—for every Christian.

Grace at the Center of the Arts

The Reformation also transformed the arts. Where medieval art tended toward the law and Renaissance art toward the human self, Reformation artists, composers, and dramatists sought to be theocentric—God-centered—with grace as their starting point. Bach's music, Rembrandt's paintings, and hymns like Luther's "A Mighty Fortress" exemplify this vision: art that interprets Scripture, distinguishes law and gospel, and proclaims the goodness of God in Christ. The pastoral takeaway is that every sphere of life—politics, language, scholarship, beauty—comes under the lordship of Christ and is rightly ordered when grace stands at its center.

Transcript

Let's open in prayer. 3s

Heavenly Lord, we thank You so much for this morning. 5s

We thank You for calling us and gathering us here to worship You and to learn more from You and about You and to know You better and better. 7s

We ask that You would use this time together to show us how Your reformers brought about the truth of Your gospel and how that changed. 17s

All of history for the betterment of Your people and for all people. 28s

Lord, we ask that we too can go forth every day speaking the truth of Your law, speaking the truth of Your gospel and continuing to stand firm under the authority of Your Word. 34s

Lord, we lift this all to You in the holy, precious, and truthful name of Jesus Christ. Amen. 46s

Okay, so purgatory came up again, so we get to talk about purgatory a little bit more, which is totally fine. 54s

If you think about it, purgatory and the indulgences was a huge, huge part of the reformation. 62s

So it makes sense that it continually comes up. 71s

And I love that it continually comes up with us because everyone, you know, we talk and we study and then a couple minutes later we go, wait a second, explain this purgatory thing again because it does not make sense. 74s

It doesn't seem to jive, which it shouldn't. That's good. 88s

So last week someone asked, how did purgatory even come about? 93s

And it was in the early church, like in the 400s-ish. 98s

And so it was in earlier theologians and church fathers, but it was Thomas Aquinas who really solidified it. 105s

And it was, he was commissioned by or commanded by Urban the Fourth to write down three works or to produce three works for the church. 114s

And one of them that he wrote, oh my goodness, I should have practiced saying this, the Apostleum Contra-Aeros, Gregorium. 131s

Good Chorium. We're going to edit that out. 142s

It, nope. 149s

It refuted the errors of the Greeks on doctrines in dispute between them and the Roman church. 152s

So remember we had those two churches, the Church of the East, the Church of the West that had these disputes. 158s

And so the Church of Rome, Urban the Fourth, who had that really volatile personality, so he demanded that there are doctrines written in order to prove that the Greeks or the Eastern church is wrong. 162s

And a few of those things were the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son, the primacy of the Roman Pontiff, surprise surprise, he wanted to make sure that everyone knew that Rome, the Rome Pope was really in charge. 183s

The Holy Eucharist and purgatory. 199s

So purgatory was right up there with something that had to be written out and really developed and proven that the Greeks were wrong in their dismissing of it. 202s

So it was used against the Greeks in the Council of Lions in 1274, the Council of Florence in 1493. 214s

And so St. Thomas had written on there. 224s

So that is where, who, I can't remember who asked that question last, we, okay, you asked that question. 229s

Yes, so, so St. Thomas was the one to really put it down into doctrine so that it would be set there. 235s

And it's interesting because again, I found myself going down that rabbit hole and they used, or he used, passages from the New Testament to, that he claimed point to this purification after death, that this purgatory time was a time to be purified after death. 245s

And I thought it was really interesting that a couple of the verses that were used was, one is Matthew 12, verse 32, when Jesus says, 270s

"'Whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him, but he that shall speak against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world nor in the world to come.'" 281s

So this was proof for some that some sins will be forgiven and purged away by a certain purifying fire in the next life, so that there's this time in purgatory 294s

where sins get to be worked off through a purging fire. 309s

Then the other one that's used is from St. Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verses 11 through 15. 314s

For other foundation, no man can lay, but that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus. 322s

Now if any man built upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be manifest. 329s

For the day of the Lord shall declare it, because it shall be revealed in fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. 336s

If any man's work abide which he has built upon, he shall receive a reward. 345s

If any man's work burn, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire. 351s

So again, using those verses to say that in this time in between there will be fire, and that's where those sins get to be worked off or purified. 358s

We can find purity through that time of fire. 374s

So purgatory itself means to make clean, to purify, and it's a condition of temporal punishment for those who are departing life in God's grace. 379s

So they are believers, they have God's grace, but they are dying, and they still have sins that they need to account for. 391s

And so that's where that afterlife, or that purgatory time, which is so interesting that you think about life this side of heaven, and there seems to be plenty that we get to deal with, that we deal with as consequence of our sin. 400s

And so to say, well you are in the grace of God, but, and that's a huge but, that's a huge but. 422s

So it's really interesting that these verses are used to uphold purgatory when reading it and hearing it through our Lutheran lens, 433s

and through our scripture lens, in the whole of scripture, using scripture to interpret scripture, that does not jive. 447s

So as purgatory continues to rear its head, we'll just keep on keeping on and having fun with that. 459s

And the other thing, I did more research into Luther as the Swan, and I had a great printup of it, I do have a great printup of it, on my desk at home. 468s

So, unless Keith wants to let you all in, to get it. 480s

So I will have that with me next week, but there is more story to it that, that, that, that, Yonhus had a dream of the Swan. 486s

And so it's a great story, I don't want to butcher it, and so I'm going to stop there, but I will have it for you next week. 497s

It was very interesting. 506s

So today, we are going to talk about the Reformation. 508s

We know that the Reformation absolutely had an effect on the Christian Church, and that's very clear, I think everyone knows that. 514s

But we also have to look at the historical effect. 524s

It had, the Reformation affected all of history. 529s

It affected the entire world. 533s

It was, it was really a political event as well as a religious event, because think about how the medieval church had really come into political power as well. 537s

Like the, the two were so intertwined. 552s

The, the, the popes claimed authority over the secular rulers, the church owned so much property, so much land, and, and didn't have to answer to anyone. 556s

So there's no question that there is going to be a political shift and a political issue. 571s

This is very, very interesting. The church, the church had its authority over a faith life, right? 578s

It had its authority over religion, but it also really wanted to get authority over daily life, over matters of this world. 586s

So these are a few examples of church legislation that marriage was regulated by the church. 600s

Any lawsuit that involved a member of the clergy was tried in a church court. 607s

Fasting during Lent was enforced by law, and the Pope ordered that the crossbow not be used in war against other Christians. 615s

Okay. So, so medieval Christianity, it was, it was a matter of faith, it was a matter of devotion, but it also was a matter of political power, and, and pushing forth the political side, and that earthly side of, of the church. 628s

And so Martin Luther, one of the things that he did with the Reformation, was really set out to change that. 651s

He said that the European rulers were suffering from an identity crisis, that the princes wanted to be bishops, and the bishops wanted to be princes. 660s

And so he really pushed and rejected the Roman church as a political power. 669s

He pushed against it, and he rejected that that should be. 677s

He didn't like that the Roman church owned a lot of land. 682s

He didn't like that the Roman church had a lot of power, and that it got to make the rules for itself, and for the people it ruled over, then no one is holding them accountable. 686s

He also rejected the idea that secular rulers should enforce matters of belief by coercion. 705s

So there was, there was an actual punishment, so there was daily mass that would happen. 714s

And in mass, you have the Eucharist, you have the, the body of Christ, and remember in Catholic teaching, it's transubstantiation where that bread is no longer bread, but it is actually the body of Christ. 726s

And so when someone was at mass, once the clergy held that up, you could not take your eyes off it. 742s

If you took your eyes off of it, then you were taking your eyes off of the body of Christ, and you would be punished. 753s

You would get in trouble. That's just one matter. 762s

Breakfast, that's breaking fast, because you fast before daily mass. 767s

So there were a lot of rules that were attached to everything, and so the church would hand down demands and orders, and the secular leaders would follow them through, and they would punish in matters of faith. 774s

So he did hold up, Martin Luther did say that secular government, secular politics, the government was established by God, and the church fought against that. 795s

The church said that secular leaders couldn't be Christians, because they would enforce things with violence. 809s

They would enforce laws with violence. And so it's very, I don't even know, hypocritical, just very back and forth kind of too sighted, because the church demanded all these things, all these rules, and punishment for breaking the rule. 820s

But the secular leaders who would have to carry out the punishments, where they couldn't even be Christians in the mind of the church, because they would carry out punishment of the law with violence. 841s

Luther, as he is combating this, as he is pushing against this, and saying, no, no, no, we have the secular government is there by God, is established by God. 857s

This is where he's coming out with his two kingdoms theology, with his two kingdoms theology. 872s

Yes, there you go. So this is that the world is still governed by two powers, and each has its mission, each has its place. 884s

The government is to preserve order in the world, and the church is to proclaim the gospel. 893s

The rulers were freed from the overreach and the oversight of the church in political matters, but were also to allow the church its own freedom to preach and teach. 899s

So we have these two kingdoms in power, and each serves its own purpose. 910s

And when we try to mesh the two, regardless of how we're meshing it, that's where we come into some issues. That's where we see a lot of problems. 919s

And that is why we really try to hold up and keep at the forefront his argument or his doctrine of the two kingdoms, because it's very easy for us, even today, to try to mesh the two. 930s

Instead of allowing and wanting and striving to hold each in its proper form, proper function. 954s

The American experiment, really, you could say and could bring it right back to Luther's doctrine of two kingdoms, right? 964s

That there was a nation, the people were free or are free, but the church is free also. 976s

So it's trying, the American colonies were established on really the roots of Luther's two kingdoms. 988s

And I like that he believed that resistance to a ruler by private individuals was always sinful. 998s

So how does that work? How does that work? Because we certainly can't let the government overrule us, but we have to respect the government. 1006s

So it's this interesting tension that comes up for us as even modern-day Americans. 1021s

But that's where I had encouraged you to go back and look at the two kingdom doctrines and see how we're holding both the church and the government, the secular government, in tension, and in their proper place, tension not fighting against each other. 1031s

But as both kingdoms that have their place in our lives and have their place to function in our lives. 1050s

Does that make sense? Isch kind of sort of... Okay, good. Yay, awesome. 1061s

Okay, so another, so we've got this whole shift in politics. 1067s

And all of a sudden within Germany itself, the different states in Germany could decide if they were going to be Catholic or Lutheran, and you see it spread throughout Europe where the church or the secular governments, the states are breaking from the state. 1074s

And it's not the rule of the church. And it's not whole and complete, but you see this separation starting to happen after the reformation. 1096s

Another major shift and major change that happened due to the reformation was language. 1108s

Language, Luther really pushed. And remember, this is all... I mean, we talked about John Wickliffe a little bit ago, a couple of weeks ago, and how he translated the Bible into the English language so people could understand it in their own language. 1117s

Well, Martin Luther took that and ran with it to his advantage, and to really the people's advantage, the Gutenberg printing press had been invented. 1136s

And so all of a sudden you could get out materials much quicker with much more ease. 1149s

And so Martin Luther spent a lot of time translating the Bible into the common German language. And actually he is instrumental in forming the German language as it's known today, because if you go anywhere in the United States, you can go to the northeast, and if you're going to talk about a group of people or two group of people, it's used guys. 1155s

And then if you come to the south, it's all y'all. And then in the Midwest, it's you guys. So, you know, we have different ways of speaking, even in America, in the different parts of America, the same thing with Germany, that there were different dialects, different ways of saying things. 1184s

And so Martin Luther really uniformed or made uniform the German language, and he's not the only one. So then that continues to spread out. And so all of a sudden you've got these cohesive languages in these parts all around Europe where people are starting to speak the same and be able to communicate more and more. 1203s

And so Martin Luther, who is a teacher, with one another, and be able to dig into God's word, and to hear God's word, and to read God's word, and to study God's word without the expectation of having a doctorate degree. 1233s

Can you imagine having to earn a doctorate in order to read God's word? It's sad. 1251s

Sad. I mean earning a doctorate, that's wonderful. Yay, do it, I'm pro it. But, reading God's word, what a blessing that we have, that Wickliffe on down to Luther, just put forth that we need to hear it. 1262s

We need to read it. We need to communicate with God's word, engage with God's word for ourselves. 1281s

Another huge aspect that changed was the arts, music, and art. It really changed. So there was, the Renaissance had been coming about medieval art, and I think you could talk a lot more about this. 1290s

Medieval art was very, very religious, and would depict different scenes in, out of scripture or out of the stories of God. 1309s

But the Reformation rejected that form of art, and it rejected the Renaissance form of art. Because remember the Renaissance was emerging, and you had a lot of humanist thinking, and a lot of own personal ideas coming forth, and it was a rebirth of the Self, 1326s

rebirth of humans. So, Renaissance art has a very particular look to it, and it's much brighter than the medieval art, the Catholic art. But the Reformation changed that. 1353s

The Reformation as a whole, or as a whole people, artists, they rejected both of those, because they wanted to be theological in the root, or at the root of their art. 1373s

It was theacentric, so God was the center of the artwork. It was the emphasis of all of the artwork, whether it is visual art, or music. 1388s

It was something interesting, if you ever have a chance to go back and find different different dramatic works from the medieval times, fascinating. You have all these stock characters, and it is all, my favorite one is called Every Man. 1403s

Every Man is the main character, and he goes through, and he meets these allegorical characters of sin, of sloth, of who are tempting him. It's similar to Pilgrim's progress, as far as these stock characters, and then Every Man, who is the sinner, and who is trying to escape having to burn. 1422s

It's interesting to go back, but all the drama at that time was geared towards this overarching theme of, don't be bad, or you will burn. 1449s

It's just fascinating to go back and read those. I'm much more familiar with the medieval drama than the other art. 1464s

The emphasis in the Reformation, or with the Reformation artist, was grace. It was grace, which what an interesting starting point for art, regardless of its music or visual arts, 1478s

or the theatrics, the starting point was grace. The artist, what he or she would do, was put out from his or her perspective the interpretation of Scripture, and just like with what we do in reading Scripture, 1503s

and we read, we seek out the law, we seek out the gospel in order to determine what is being shared with us from God's word. This is where the artist would want a realism to it, and would want to seek out or put forth the grace and the emphasis of God within this piece. 1531s

God within the story that is being depicted on Canvas, on stage, in the orchestra. 1559s

I've started down this rabbit trail. I think we are going to have to do a class on medieval art or on Reformation art, because it's so cool. Or a small group, we'll do one of the other. 1571s

I forgot my pen. Any questions or thoughts? Thank you. 1587s

Okay. Nothing, nothing. Okay, yeah. 1597s

When was the King James version written? Oh my goodness. No, I don't believe so. I'm going to ask Fast Rival if he knows. 1605s

Oh, sorry, the question. You missed that day? Shoot. That was the one day he played hooky from seminary. Okay, I will get the date on that one for you. 1617s

Yeah, I think it was, I thought it was a little bit later, but I'm going to double check on that one. Thank you. 1637s

So Keith went to seminary for me on that day. So did Google. You said 1611? Okay, 1611. Excellent. Thank you. Marital teamwork. 1646s

Okay, so she's asking if Mike Langello was part of the Reformation artwork. I thought he was part of the Renaissance. He was part of the Renaissance because he was doing the artwork in the Basilica. 1665s

Yeah, right. And so that was all being funded by the people. Yeah, the coffers. So 1508 to 1512. Do you want to come up here and just, we'll get a stool. This is helpful. Yes. 1678s

It was God-centered. Okay, yes. Well, and think about the Medieval art was it had a God-centered, but it was not the, if the Reformation art is an emphasis on God, it was the emphasis was on that gospel because the Medieval church was not about the gospel. 1707s

The Medieval church was about the law. It was about the emphasis on God was it was kind of harsh and and fear inducing. 1731s

Well, I know. Okay, so I know Bach was a Reformation musician, right? Or that's where that Reformation sound would come from. And Rembrandt was a Reformation artist. 1751s

Oh, yes. Who's that guy? Oh, my goodness. Yes, Martin Luther did write some hints. So Amide Fortress is a really good example of Reformation music. 1769s

Oh, my goodness. Questions are done. Yes, Jeff. 1784s

Okay, so he's asking why it took, why it took so long for a country like America for that experiment of a separation of church and state. But think about Henry VIII, a huge reason or the reason why he broke as a government. 1814s

I mean, okay, so people don't want to give up their power, right? So you can separate the church from having power over the state or the state having power over the church. And that's different than a separation of the two. 1834s

As far as so Henry VIII broke from the Catholic religion as the state religion because he wanted a divorce. And under the Catholic church, he could not have that. And so he said, okay, we're not part of the Catholic church anymore and got something, got the church of England going. 1852s

The states would choose their religion. So in Europe, you still have state religions. We used to have a neighbor that was from Norway. And we were talking about Lutheranism and she said, well, yeah, I'm Lutheran because that's the country's religion. 1874s

So in America, it was, it's different because it's not a matter of having a state religion. But you, Jeff, can go to a Lutheran church while your brother, what's his name? 1896s

Neil, while Neil can go to a Baptist church and neither of you are going to get in trouble for that. And then you're going to share Lutheranism with Neil and he's going to say, I love it. 1918s

I love this Luther guy. Yeah, Brent. 1936s

I'm going to share this with you. 1941s

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. And we will get to, we have one week left. Oh my gosh. Okay, so, all right. We need to get to Luther being saved. 1952s

What else do we need to get to for sure? I cannot believe I'm not going to forget the dates. Don't worry. I'll get all the dates. I've not forgotten that. It's just a matter of sitting down. 1968s

I'm going to get Keith right on that. 1982s

Okay, is there anything else that we absolutely need to cover? If there's something that during the week, you go, I really want to know this about the reformation. 1989s

Email me and I will write it down or if you have my, I think my number is in the directory. It's my cell phone so you can text me and I will, I'll write it down and I will, I want to make sure that we get covered what you really want to get covered in this last class next week. 1999s

So, let me know. Is there anything else right now? Yes, silly question. Do Catholics still believe in purgatory? Well, we answered that silly question. You can go back and listen. No, I'm just giving you a hard time. Yes, they do. Yes, yes. It is still part of the Catholic... 2020s

It is still part of the official Catholic doctrine. This is kind of interesting. Okay, really quick. So, this is where you can go and you can look up different doctrines. It's the same in almost every single Christian faith or faith out there. 2043s

We can look in the doctrine, the official doctrine. I bet there are things in the Lutheran church and the Lutheran, the book of Concord where you might not know. I mean, I read it and I still go, oh, okay, cool. 2067s

I mean, that's part of where not every practicing Catholic is going to believe in purgatory because it isn't necessarily taught in their parish. That's going to depend a lot on the parish priest. 2082s

And so officially, it is still in the Catholic doctrine. Most Catholics that I know do still believe in uphold purgatory. But there are going to be some that don't or aren't quite aware of it. 2100s

They got... Okay, so they officially got rid of indulgences. But they still have a lot of... Okay, okay. Right, all right. So, oh, yeah, go ahead. 2127s

So, my friends that are Catholics still practice the pinterest for... Yeah? 2143s

Yeah? Yeah? 2150s

They still practice having master's at home, where they pray for those in public purgatory and the rosary where they do that. 2151s

Yeah. So, they are still more of the Mexican families actually still practice field ways. 2158s

Yeah, they pay tributes. 2167s

That's a problem, I don't know. 2171s

I don't know. I think there are some lines that... Yeah, very fine lines. 2176s

So, she... Hope was sharing that she still has friends that do the daily rosary pray to and for those who are in purgatory and do keep with those traditional Catholic teachings. 2184s

So, okay, we are out of time and so I'm not going to talk anymore. But... 2198s

But I hope you have a blessed rest of your day and I am so excited to worship again in this next... Well, in 15 minutes. 2207s

So, if you already worshiped, excellent. It was wonderful. It's a great word today as always. Pastor Abel's amazing. So, anyway, God bless. 2215s

Thank you. 2233s