Wolfgang Musculus’s (1497-1563) Christological interpretation of Psalm 114 demonstrates an interesting interpretive strategy. As the psalmist appropriates the exodus as a story of God’s deliverance within his own context, Musculus extends this hermeneutic and adopts the exodus as an illustration of God’s ultimate act of redemption through Christ. God’s People Always Have an Exit “When…

As with most Reformation commentators, Philipp Melanchthon (1497-1560) finds Psalm 110 to be a prophesy about Christ’s eschatological kingdom. In his interpretation, he draws an interesting doctrinal inference, noting that Christ’s succession of David is different than earthly succession, pointing to the eternality of his roles as king and priest, which draw attention to his…

While our Reformation commentators readily found Christological meaning in the Psalms, whether typologically or more immediately, considerable care was nevertheless taken to understand the historical context of the text as well. In his interpretation of Psalm 98, English pastor and theologian John Downame (1571-1652) demonstrates this concern, as he sets forth both the historical and…

While Catholic and Lutheran commentators tend to find Christ more immediately in the Psalms, Reformed commentators generally prefer to use the language of typology. We can see this in Wolfgang Musculus’s (1497-1563) exegesis of Psalm 21. Reading this royal psalm, he argues that the text looks beyond its historical context and that through the lens…

For Martin Luther (1483-1546), as for most exegetes of the sixteenth century, the significance of the Psalms extends far beyond the historical events that occasioned their writing. While modern exegetes quibble over the extent of their prophetic meaning, in his preface to the Psalms, Luther shows no such hesitation. The Psalter, he states, is in…

Few topics have caused as much controversy throughout the history of the church as the relationship between the church and the state, and the era of the Reformation was certainly not immune to these conflicts. The sixteenth century opened as an era when church and civil authorities were closely wedded together, and this brought about…

The intimate relationship between the church and the kingdom presented in the Scriptures was a prominent theme in many sixteenth-century writings. In various ways, its final revelation was hoped and longed for, while its present, partial blessings were tasted and enjoyed. In this selection from her exposition of the Lord’s Prayer, German Reformed writer Katharina…

While the church exists in this world, its ultimate end is beyond the fallen world’s finite horizons. As Reformed theologian and pastor Wolfgang Musculus (1497-1563) reflects on the text from John 6 about Christ sitting down with his disciples immediately before the feeding of the five thousand, he sees and image of the coming kingdom,…

During the Reformation, few doctrines were as controversial as those of the sacraments. While the Roman church taught seven sacraments (baptism, confirmation, penance, the Mass, ordination vows, marriage, and the anointing of the sick), the reformers affirmed only two as having the scriptural mandate to be considered sacraments: Baptism and the Eucharist. As Basel Reformer…

Within the ecclesiology of the medieval church, the duties of deacons were broad, and their work as assistants to the priests extended from the stewardship of church funds and the distribution of alms to the administration of the sacraments and other liturgical roles. For many of the reformers, this role narrowed. As seen in this…

Throughout the history of the church, the biblical idea of “elders” or “presbyters” has been understood in numerous ways, and it has been used to justify levels of oversight stretching from the communal rule of single congregations to the supervision of a single bishop or archbishop concerned for the spiritual wellbeing of large territories. As…

In comparison to many modern exegetes, the Reformers had a broader hermeneutical lens when reading the Old Testament, and were more open to finding types, figures, and applications for their particular contexts in the Old Testament. This can be seen in the interpretation of Ezekiel 34:1-31, where Lutheran theologian Martin Chemnitz (1522-1586), like many of…