Studying to become a pastor was dependent on my having — what was then known as — a Matriculation Certificate. My handicap was that I only had three years of High School. I had commenced work at 15 to help the family out of some financial difficulties. One of the subjects I took for ‘Adult Matric’ was European History (The Renaissance and The Reformation). As part of my College education I had to take Church History. One of the units was on The Reformation. I therefore thought that I had a pretty good grasp of that event that was kicked off by Martin Luther in the 1500s known as The Reformation.

Many years later I was rather taken aback to have one of my perceptions about The Reformation overturned. I was under the impression that The Reformation had been responsible for a new emphasis on Bible reading among the Christians of Europe. So in my mind The Reformation triggered a renewed interest in the reading of God’s Word. But I was surprised to find that it was actually the other way around. According to historian, Bernard Cottret, “It was not the Reformation that created the need to read Scripture, but the reading of Scripture that brought about, partially at least, the Reformation.” Cottret points out that in the decade from 1520 to 1530, the Bible was a “frontier of expectation”. Leading up to that decade some twenty-two editions of the Bible had been printed in German. The publication of Luther’s New Testament therefore simply augmented what was a growing move to put the Scriptures into the hands of the common people. Similar things had been happening in other countries as editions of the Bible appeared in Italian, Dutch, Spanish and in various other European languages. The point Cottret makes is that change began to take place as people read the Scriptures.

I should have known. On a personal level I have often experienced God’s Word to be an agent of change in my own life. I read from Ezekiel where the prophet is speaking to the exiles in Babylon. God, through Ezekiel spoke of the idolatry in the human heart. Heart idolatry is when we still outwardly appear faithful to God while our real concerns are with things from which the Lord is effectively excluded. That leads me to examine my own heart and resolve to serve my God more faithfully... not just externally where my life is visible to others, but also inwardly, where only God sees what is going on. Over the years the ‘sword of the Word’ has often pierced areas of my life for the better.

I have also seen this happen repeatedly in the lives of others. Over more than forty years of ministry it has been most humbling to see lives changed as the Lord has used a Bible reading, a sermon or a Bible study to bring about change in someone’s life.

Perhaps the most telling instance was a young couple I took through a Christianity Explained course. Both these young people had been previously married and were now living in a de-facto relationship. I said little about their lifestyle but encouraged them to keep reading the Bible. In the lesson on repentance we also spoke about the need to surrender more and more areas of our life to the Lord. Some weeks after we finished the course I again visited them and the young woman blurted out: “God has really messed up our lives!” When I expressed my surprise they told me of friends from out bush who used to come into town every other month to visit them. They would then arrange for a baby-sit and go on a pub-crawl. On the last visit their friends had asked which pub they would go to first. They responded by suggesting that they go bowling instead, since they weren’t into pub-crawls any more. Their ‘friends’ left in a huff when they discovered that their hosts had “gone and gotten all religious”. A few months later this couple also got married because they believed God wanted them to get serious about the way they were living.

It’s awesome to think how the reading of The Book brought about the momentous change in church and society that we call The Reformation. It is awe-inspiring to see how God still changes lives through The Book. It is wonderful how we ourselves are transformed from one degree of glory to another as God shapes and moulds us through The Book.

John Westendorp