5. The Publication of Calvin's Institutes (1536)

First published in Latin, this very influential Systematic Theology of the Protestant Reformation had a profound effect on the development of Western Christianity, and the Reformed tradition in particular.

The work is organized in four "books" as follows:
BOOK FIRST - OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE CREATOR.
BOOK SECOND - OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE REDEEMER, IN CHRIST, AS FIRST MANIFESTED TO THE FATHERS UNDER THE LAW, AND THEREAFTER TO US UNDER THE GOSPEL
BOOK THIRD - THE MODE OF OBTAINING THE GRACE OF CHRIST, THE BENEFITS IT CONFERS, AND THE EFFECTS RESULTING FROM IT.
BOOK FOURTH - OF THE EXTERNAL MEANS OR HELPS BY WHICH GOD ALLURES US INTO FELLOWSHIP WITH CHRIST, AND KEEPS US IN IT.

4. The Life of John Wycliffe (1300s)

In the 1300s in England, a man was born… He live and he died. But 44 years after he died their were people so mad at him and what he stood for that a powerful man from another country ordered that his bones be dug up and burned.

John Wycliffe lived almost 200 years before the Reformation, but his beliefs and teachings closely match those of Luther, Calvin and other Reformers. As a man ahead of his time, historians have called Wycliffe the "Morning star of the Reformation."

What did he believe in?

1. Bible for the people
In 1382 he translated an English Bible--the first European translation done in over 1,000 years.
2. Believed that the Bible taught that Justification was based entirely on the life and death of Christ and was received by faith alone
“If a man believe in Christ, and make a point of his belief, then the promise that God hath made to come into the land of light shall be given by virtue of Christ, to all men that make this the chief matter.”

3. Belived that the Bible ought to be Preached
Wycliffe trained and sent out preachers – a group called the Lollards, who inspired a spiritual revolution.

The Church expelled Wycliffe from his teaching position at Oxford, and 44 years after he died, the Pope ordered his bones exhumed and burned. Intense persecution stamped out his followers and teachings, but we are still talking about him today and nobody really cares what the name of the Pope was who gave the order to do what was done to his bones.

3. The Council of Nicea (325 AD)

This important 4th century Council condemned Arianism - the belief that Jesus was a created being, rather than eternal God. This Nicene orthodoxy was not a new doctrine, but one that had to be more rigorously and carefully defended in the face of false teaching to the contrary. The truths of both the Nicene and Apostles' Creeds are easily defended from solid biblical proofs.

What makes a church apostolic is not the succession of leaders based on the hands of people, but the conformity of church doctrine to the teachings of the Apostolic generation as recorded in the New Testament under the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit. This is the touchstone by which all creeds must be tested.

The Creed that bears the name of the Nicene Council (in the modern form that we use) is printed below:

The Nicene Creed
We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father; by whom all things were made; who for us and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; he suffered and was buried; and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father; and he shall come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.

And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets; and we believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church; we acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.