Why Church History Matters
Apr. 24 2007
The church is often criticized for being out of touch, irrelevant, and outdated. But God provides us with a very different picture of the church in his Word. In the next few blog posts we’re going to talk about the local church and why it matters. We’re going to start our study with church history and why it should matter to us today.
Robin Boisvert, a pastor at Covenant Life Church, is one of the most passionate people we know about church history. In this post he helps us humbly hold on to orthodoxy.
It’s humbling to study church history. First of all, because it shows us that we are just as prone to error as our forbears. But also because most of the blessings we enjoy and take for granted were gained at great cost by those who have gone before us. To take just one instance, reading the Bible in our own language may not seem like such a big deal. But people like William Tyndale (early 16th Century) died a martyr’s death so that the Bible could be translated into English.
Church history is the story of God’s providential dealings in the lives of His people and their response to Him. And since human nature has not changed, the drama and flow of the church’s history has relevance for us today. For example, there is a long tradition as to how the church has understood the Bible. How did we get the New Testament? Which books were considered canonical? On what basis? Church history can help us understand.
It also helps us understand the roots of today’s church. Why do some churches have confessions while others don’t? Why do some churches have elaborate liturgies and others prize the simple and the plain? Why do some baptize infants and others only believers who made a personal profession of faith? There is a fascinating history behind each of these questions.
There are additionally very valuable lessons we can learn from the mistakes of those who have gone before us. And there were plenty of them. Errors are easier to see in hindsight. And to learn how to avoid them, we can study church history in light of Scripture. For example, the error of Christology that makes the Jehovah’s Witnesses heretical today was present in the Arianism of the 4th Century. Knowing this can save us from a similar error.
So, where to start?
Start with what interests you. I started over 30 years ago with what interested me—the Anabaptists of the 16th Century, who were the radicals of the Reformation period. I went on from there to study the Reformation itself with the great figures of Luther and Calvin. Since they were influenced greatly by Augustine a millennium earlier, I went back to read about him, his times and some of his works, especially the Confessions. Biographies of great leaders are not hard to come by. They are a great way to begin. And for a more general overview, a good place to start is Church History in Plain Language by Bruce Shelley.