The Importance of History

A Protestant Approach

Christianity is a complex and varied tradition that has spanned over thousands of years in following and worshipping Jesus. The Protestant reformation brought a central emphasis on the importance of the Scriptures in understanding and guiding us in this practice. However, because of this, sometimes the importance of history is lost on us. Some claim that we don’t need to care about Church history because the Bible is all we need. This is not true at all, because as Christians we are called to read the Bible as a community of believers, not isolated and alone.

Why Should I Care About Church History?

It opens us up to new ways to understand the Bible. We are not the first people to read the Bible. Many, many people, past and present, have read the Bible and considered what it means. There is so much to learn from others who have come before us. Sometimes this brings a clarity to the text that we couldn’t see before. Sometimes this challenges our assumptions, as our cultural biases can distort the meaning. Sometimes this edifies us and builds us up. There is so much to learn from the many Christians who have come before.

It provides us with resources to lean on. Many of the issues we face today have already been faced in the past. The Church has gone through thousands of years of debates about who Jesus is, how we are to live Christian lives, and responding to those who criticize the Church. We are not the first people to struggle with deep and complex questions, and we can rightly rely on people who have struggled with these questions too.

It gives us a safety net to think within. Finally, we want to make sure that when we interpret the Bible that we are not making up something completely out of line or heretical. We are not the first people to think about a passage, and we want to make sure that we believe things that are true. If someone all of a sudden comes up with a completely new doctrine not found in Church history, we ought to be suspicious that they are making it up. It is very unlikely that 2000 years of countless Christians thinking about passages has missed something completely.

A Protestant Approach to History

The Bible serves as a filter for accepting doctrine. A key principle for Protestant thought is that the Scriptures alone are trustworthy for doctrine to lead us into salvation. This does not mean that Scripture is our only source of doctrine, but rather that it serves as the metric by which we measure other doctrines. We can use history, philosophy, science, and more to develop our understanding, but we test all things against the Scriptures.

Being Protestant gives space for criticism. Protestantism is rooted in the idea that over time, doctrine changes, and we need to be able to analyze whether that change is good or bad. Through humility of mind and love for Christ, we can analyze the traditions handed down to us and be critical about their claims. Although there are some things we hold to be true no matter what, it gives us breathing room to thinking freely about things. The other two traditions, Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, requires that we accept the doctrines they have stamped their approval on regardless of whether there are issues Scripturally and historically. Being Protestant allows us to respectfully critique and disagree in parts where the tradition has gone wrong.

Faithfulness to Christ

In all things we are to be faithful to Christ. Whether we are Protestant or not, we are called to love one another and serve the poor. Reading the Scriptures and reading the history of the Church, we see that these two things are imperative. If you are Protestant as I am, I seriously encourage you to read and respect important figures throughout history. If you don’t know where to start, check out my book recommendations and the articles I have written on the councils. As we learn, let it not just sit in our heads, but draw us to deeper love and affection of Christ and our fellow humans.