Will Protestantism Survive?

By Thomas V. Weills, Sr.

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     In the ecumenical movement of our day, many protestant denominations seem to be seeking unity at any price, and some appear to be willing to forego the gains for which their leaders vigorously fought. Many people are unaware of what is taking place. Few can even explain what Protestantism is and what it stands for.

     The apostle Paul said "I protest" (1 Cor. 15:31), and at the very outset we need to correct a great error as to the meaning of the word, namely, that it suggests a denial of error, rather than a positive declaration of truth.

     The word is from pro-tes-tari, the primary meaning of which is to testify for, or in behalf of. It was originally a legal term for the offering of evidence. Witnesses in court were expected to testify both pro and con, but the primary purpose of their evidence was the establishment of positive facts concerning the matter on trial. Hearsay evidence was ruled out. The witness was to testify to that which he knew, what he had "seen with his eyes and handled with his hands" (1 John 1:1-3). The strongest form of affirmation possible to the Greeks was in the word No, the particle of ajudication, rendered in the King James Version and the Revised Version, "I protest."

     In the last interview with Jesus, he said to the disciples, "You shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the world" (Acts 1:9).

     As witnesses, martyrs, and proclaimers of his gospel, our commission is to tell forth in a positive way, the gospel. The gospel is a case in court, we are the witnesses, and the world is the jury sitting in judgment on the evidence we offer to sustain it.

     The name "protestant" was first applied to Luther and his associates in the Council of Spires (A. D. 1539), when they presented a formal expostulation against certain errors (as others, for a like reason, are called dissenters or non-conformists in these days). But the negative form of the expostulation at Spires was merely incidental to the reaffirmation with tremendous emphasis of certain vital and positive facts.

     It was necessary at the outset that Protestantism assume a negative as well as a positive form. All truth is remonstrance against error. Every affirmation is bifrontal. I cannot say, "This is a fair day," without denying, by implication that it rains. The sun is a great protestant in the realm of nature. It confutes the night, and disease, and the owl, jackal, ghosts and specters, but even while it is confuting it affirms. The birds begin to sing, the heavens are livid with red and azure glow, the grass blades in the meadow are hung with diamonds, the wheels of commerce revolve and the roar of industry is heard in the great centers of life. Thus, the denials of Protestantism, however necessary, are but incidental to its great positive propositions. Its denials covered all false innovations. Its affirmations embraced the fundamentals of the gospel.

     The Reformation was not a revolution, since it introduced nothing new. It was distinctly a renaissance, or restoration, a getting back to the original and essential things. The church had forgotten the faith of the fathers, overlaid the scriptures with old wives' fables, and pushed Jesus aside to make way for the pope and hierarchy. They had substituted the "mint, anise and cummin" of formalism for the weighty matters of truth and righteousness. Lights in the sanctuary had gone out. There was a famine for the word of God. The abomination of desolation was reached when King Henry IV, under the pain of excommunication, crossed the Alps in midwinter and presented himself in sackcloth at Canossa, where after waiting three days at the threshold of the pope barefoot, he was absolved and permitted to kiss the feet of "His Holiness." The dark ages were at their darkest. It was time for reformation, for the dawning of a better day.

     Having won toleration from Constantine in 311 A.D., the Christian churches set about to unify their doctrines and organization. A series of councils followed: Nicea, 325 A.D.; Constantinople, 381; Carthage, 412; Ephesus, 431; Chalcedon, 451; and so on into the following centuries.

     Out of these councils came great formulations of doctrine for which all Christians are indebted, but out of them also came a centralized and politically oriented church. Monasticism arose as a protest against its increasing worldliness and political involvement, but it took a reformation to get Christianity back on the right track. History is repeating itself in the modern Protestant ecumenical movement under the leadership of Eugene Carson Blake, who stated at the Consultation on Church Union in Dallas, Texas, "We have turned the corner we were hoping to turn."

     Eight denominations gathered at Dallas to take steps toward creating a one-world church. When the merger of the Congregational Christian Churches with the Evangelical and Reformed Church was being debated in the 1950's, many of the merger advocates argued that the Protestants should get together to resist the political power of the Roman Catholic Church. Now, Dr. Douglas Horton, one of the leading planners of the merger, commenting recently upon possible union with the Roman Catholic Church, asserted that any united church would necessarily need a symbol of unity and the pope could serve as such a symbol.

     A Catholic priest took charge of the regular service of the Monteith Presbyterian Church in Detroit. A Roman Catholic theologian admonished a joint session of new students of Catholic Seminary of Indianapolis and Christian Theological Seminary to "get beyond the warm handshakes and glib statements and get to the level of living and growing together as Christians." Catholic Seminary of Indianapolis (formerly St. Maur's) is now conducting its academic program on the CTS campus, while two dozen CTS students are living in CSI dormitories.

     In the new student orientation meeting, Mario Shaw, speaking of the Foundation for Religious Studies, which is now forming on the CTS campus, said, "We hope to develop here a viable theological enterprise and bridge all those barriers which through the centuries have separated Christians." Father Shaw, the administrator for CSI, said, "We look forward to a Jewish rabbinical group joining the Foundation. We want to bring in the older brother of the faith." CTS president, Beauford A. Norris, is now giving major time to development of the Foun-

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dation, and is serving as its executive director.

     Can Protestantism survive in the light of the modern day ecumenical movement? When the Pilgrims were leaving Holland, Robison said, "There are new lights ever bursting forth from the word," but between the two abiding facts, Christ and the Bible, the church moves forward in new enterprises to ever greater conquests of faith.

     This, then, is Protestantism as outlined by divine providence in the logic of events. Its only pontiff is Christ, whose name is above every name which is named, in heaven or on earth. Its only hierarchy is the procession of torch-bearers who go about to illuminate the dark places of cruelty and the abode of death. Its only book is that which was written by holy men as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Its only creed is that which was framed from the scriptures by men sitting at the feet of Christ. Its grandest cathedrals are the lives of righteous men who realize their kingly birth and destiny, and who "know their rights, and knowing dare maintain." Its most fervid litany is, "From all tyranny of mind, heart and conscience, good Lord, deliver us." Its grandest music is the breaking of chains.

     I should like to say something as to the results of Protestantism as seen in the affairs of men and nations. There are those who say its tendency is to make a "free thinker." This may be admitted insofar as all truth has a negative as well as a positive pole. In every great movement there is danger that the pendulum swinging away from error, may swing too far the other way. The revolt against papal authority has not infrequently led to denial of all authority whatsoever, save that of the "inner consciousness," or infallible ego.

     Liberty lies very close to the borders of license. The man who thinks himself free must pause to consider that the only true freedom is "perfect obedience to perfect law," and the only true progress is that which is pursued along the paths of scripture, whose ultimate and judicial authority must be recognized by every disciple of Christ. It is not strange that men stumble at the great doctrine of Protestantism when we consider that Christ himself was "set for the rise and fall of many," and his cross is foolishness to some, while to others it is "the wisdom and power of God."

     Is Protestantism destined to survive? That remains to be seen. It must live or die according to the law of "the survival of the fittest." If the great principles which constitute the very life of Protestantism--the supremacy of Christ, the ultimate authority of the scriptures and justification by faith--are abandoned, there will be no good reason for its continuance. Then will come to pass the words spoken at the Council in Rome (1514), when the supposed extermination of the Lollards and Waldenses was celebrated in the proclamation beginning: "Nemo reclamat, nullus absistit," and announcing that the last of the Protestants is dead.

     The perspicacious Catholic sees in his church what he considers a move toward Protestantism, and the well-informed Catholic knows that other changes are to come. Non-Catholics, warned that Catholicism may now become "the Reformation Church," are in the "updating race." All across the nation, religious unrest is becoming evident at this time. Ancient doctrines are under assault as never before. Denominational lines are crumbling and trouble is developing over the role some churchmen are playing in political and social issues.

     What is taking place in the United States is seen as but a part of a major shift underway in organized religion throughout the Western world. This is a shift that some historians are describing as the greatest since the Reformation. No scripture has been more distorted by advocates of ecumenism than John 17:21, "that they all may be one." Certainly Christ was not praying for a body of Christians, organically united, who would use their corporate power for political purposes. Jesus was praying for a spiritual union.

     The author, Thomas V. Weills, Sr., may be addressed at 3350 McGregor Lane, Toledo, Ohio 43623.