Why Study the Protestant Reformation and Why Does It Matter?

This coming Sunday, September 13, we will begin a new Sunday School class on the Protestant Reformation. I look forward to walking through this period of church history in the months ahead. But before we get there, it’s good to consider why the study of church history is important for the Christian.

1. Church history bears witness to the faithfulness of Christ. Christ has declared that he will build his church, and “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt 16:18). These words are true, and the church continues to be built as new believers come to faith in Christ. Church history is the story of the work of Christ through the church in the work of the Great Commission. The preaching of the Gospel has gone out to the nations, passing down through time and generations until it has come to us. We should know this story, and the Protestant Reformation is a critical inflection point as the church is reformed by the Word of God.

2. We have a family tree of faith and church history is the story of our family. Since the founding of the church by Christ and the apostles (Eph 2:20), many brothers and sisters have been added to the church. We have received “a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions” (Mark 10:30). We should get to know our brothers and sisters from the Protestant Reformation, among whom are Martin and Katharina Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin, William Tyndale, Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley, John Knox, and Marie Durand.

3. Church history gives us examples to follow. “Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith” (Heb 13:7). We should learn from those who have led and taught the church in past ages. Observing their testimony and perseverance in times of suffering and tribulation should encourage and inspire us to be faithful. The courage of Protestant martyrs inspires and encourages us to be faithful in the present.

4. We have a theological inheritance. Pastors and theologians have guarded the truth with creeds and confessions, and we have a rich heritage of truth that has been passed down to us. We are blessed by the theological labors of the past and we stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us. We should understand the richness of our theological heritage as expressed in the five Solas of the Protestant Reformation.

5. Church history is essential in an age of dishonesty. We live in an age of revisionism where there is great dishonesty and misunderstanding about the history of the church. When it comes to the Protestant Reformation, misrepresentations describe it as a revolt that splintered a united church, and a movement that broke away from its historical roots. It is important to have a solid grasp of true history and not be led astray by false teachers who seek to discredit Protestant Christianity. We must know the truth of history so we can reject and repudiate bad readings and fabrications about the bride of Christ.

6. Church history strengthens our confidence in the faith once delivered to the saints. What trials has the church overcome through the ages? How did the Protestant Reformers peel away traditions and return to the teachings of the New Testament? How did this recovery of the Gospel bring transformation to the world? It is important that we equip ourselves with this history so that we might better understand our faith.

7. Church history increases our thanksgiving. When we observe God’s gracious providence, the power of the Scriptures through the last two thousand years of church history, and the sufferings of our brothers and sisters for the sake of the gospel, it is right that we respond with thanksgiving and praise to God.

If you’d like to do some reading about the Protestant Reformation, here’s a few titles to consider:
Why the Reformation Still Matters by Michael Reeves and Tim Chester,
Rescuing the Gospel: The Story and Significance of the Reformation by Erwin W. Lutzer
2,000 Years of Christ’s Power: Renaissance and Reformation by Nick Needham.

If you would like to review our last two years of church history classes, we looked at Early Church History in 2024, and Medieval Church History in 2025. Both of these are available in our media library. Some of these classes are particularly helpful in understanding the corruption of Roman Catholicism and the stories of the early reformers which leads us into the Protestant Reformation.

In addition to this new Sunday School series, I also look forward to our return to our sermon series in the book of Genesis.

Please pray for this new class and our series in Genesis, that they would be edifying and encouraging, and that the Lord would be glorified in our church family.

Blessings in Christ,

Pastor Ben