Robert Barnes, One of the Cambridge Germans

Robert Barnes, who is in Foxe's Book of Martyrs, was one of the foremost Reformers in England.  He became the leader of the White Horse Inn, which was also called The Cambridge Germans.  They were called Cambridge Germans because they were Evangelicals (or Lutherans), not Calvinists (or radical reformers).

Here are some quotes of Robert Barnes, "the most troublesome heretic of that time", on Sola Scriptura while fighting for a bible in the common language:

"St. Augustine moves men to read holy scripture; and you command them not to read it.  St. Augustine says:  'They shall know in them what to do and what not to do,' and you say they shall learn nothing therefrom but heresies.  St Augustine says: 'a man without learning of scriptures,is no more than a brute beast'; are you not good fathers that will make all your children no better than beasts?

"If you wish that your children shall be obedient ... give them the words of God.  But you shall not say that it belongs only to religious men to study scriptures, but rather it belongs to every Christian, and especially to him that is wrapped in the business of this world."

"If you do not revoke the condemnation of the New Testament, and ordain that all Christian men may read holy Scripture, you shall have the greatest shame that ever man had in this world ... You worms' meat, you stinking carrion, you nourishment of hell fire, how dare you thus presume against your God omnipotent."

"Before the dreadful throne of God shall the council be judged by Christ's holy word, and Christ shall not be judged by the decree of the council, but shall be the council's judge."

Marcion of Sinope

Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.  Jude 1:3, ESV

Marcion of Sinope

Marcion of Sinope is a key figure in the early church.  Today, we have a good idea of what Marcion taught because of the writings of Tertullian.  Marcion’s canon consisted of 11 books.  He had problems with scripture, and decided to discard the parts that troubled him.  Marcion rejected the Old Testament, claiming that this God was a different God from that in the New Testament.  Marcion also believed that Paul was the only true apostle.  Yet, even to Marcion, Paul was too Jewish, so he edited Paul’s epistles.  Marcion’s legacy is to be declared as an heretic. 

E.H. Broadbent in The Pilgrim Churchsays, "Any error may be founded on parts of Scripture; the truth alone is based on the whole. Marcion’s errors were the inevitable result of his accepting only what pleased him and rejecting the rest".  Today, we can still hear the voice of Marcion crying out in disbelief, “God did not truly say that!”  It is the same doubt that we see in the Garden of Eden when the serpent whispered to Eve, “Did God actually say that?”(Genesis 3:1) 

Santa Cruz is a university town, so we have many speakers wanting to present us with their ideas.  We should never assume that because Jesus’ name is in the title of an event, that the speaker is presenting to you a biblical Jesus.  There are many groups today that hold similar views as Marcion.  I believe, teach and confess that Holy Scripture is God’s Word, unbroken and delivered to you for your life and your salvation. 

Theotokos

Mary is the Theotokos, the God-bearer. That term often brings up fear and knee-jerk reactions out of Protestants. The fear is borne of the thought that if we call Mary the Theotokos, it links Protestants to the apostate Roman Catholic Church. We need not fear that link when we call Mary the Theotokos. Affirming Mary as Theotokos does not equate to idolatry. To deny Mary as the Theotokos is an attack on the incarnation of Christ.

Jesus is fully God, fully man. Christ's two natures are united and inseparable. Therefore, Mary is the God-bearer.

The other aspect of Nestorian thinking is that only Christ's humanity died on the cross. Most Protestants today are Nestorian in their theology of Christ on the cross. Even very traditional, orthodox Calvinists are Nestorians. They do a bit of a jig to deny this, yet in reality the teaching is Nestorian. The teaching is that Jesus' perfect humanity died on the cross; not his divine nature. So the separation is made.

What is Nestorianism? In my own words, it is the separating of Christ's humanity from His divinity. As is usual in church history, it takes a heretic to come along for the church to codify orthodoxy. Nestorius was that heretic. He was a bishop in Constantinople, and he preached against Mary as Theotokos. As a result of this conflict, the church is left with the Chalcedon Creed.

Are Nestorians Christians? Yes, I believe so. We are saved by Jesus; not by correct doctrine. Dear Reader, this brief post is to encourage you to consider this topic further.