The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

XII. Spener-Pietist Founder Holds Same Prophetic Positions

PHILIPP JAKOB SPENER (1635-1705), learned father of Pietism, was born in Alsace and educated in Strassburg by Lu the ran teachers, in strict orthodoxy, but the food for his soul he found largely in books of pious writers, like Arndt’s True Christianity and Baile’s Praxis pietatis. Upon completion of his courses of study, he traveled in Switzerland, where he saw the life and institutions of the Reformed Church. He also came to Geneva, where he lived in the home of Leger, the pastor of the Waldenses. He served as pastor at Frankfurt am Main from 1666 to 1686, where his preaching was intensely practical and spiritual. He requested a thorough preparation before partaking in the Lord’s supper, especially the first time. Upon request, he instituted special devotional meetings for religious instruction and prayer, called Collegia Pietates. ⁸² PFF2 618.3

Here in Frankfurt he wrote, in 1675, the little work Pia Desideria: Oder Hertzliches Verlangen (Pia Desideria, or Deep Longing), urging that the reformation be completed, and insisting on regeneration. This book made a profound impression on all Christian circles, influencing many toward leading a better Christian life, but causing also storms of protest from the orthodox camp. Devotional circles and prayer groups were introduced in many churches. This book made Spener the father of Pietism. PFF2 619.1

In 1686 he was called to Dresden to become the first chap lain of the court, which was practically the highest position the Lutheran Church had to offer at that time. But inasmuch as Spener insisted on a Christian life even at the court and at the universities, his career became rather stormy, and when the elector Frederick III of Brandenburg and Prussia invited him to come to Berlin to be provost of the Nicolaikirche, he accepted. The Prussian monarch, opposed to all religious fanaticism, tried to establish peace between the warring factions of Protestantism, and he saw in Spener a useful instrument to that purpose. Spener had therefore the opportunity to exercise a tremendous influence on all ecclesiastical matters in Branden burg and Prussia. ⁸³ PFF2 619.2

Spener was one of the finest characters the German Lutheran Church has produced. He is considered to be the Reformer of the Reformation, standing foursquare on the basis of Luther, accepting all his basic positions, including his definite stand against the Roman church as it is revealed in the Scriptures He drew all his strength from these essential principles, and his chief burden was to bring to pass a real reformation of the heart in every church member. PFF2 619.3

He laments bitterly in his Pia Desideria that even though some Catholics understand and believe that the pope and his see are the Antichrist, and would like to join the real church, yet they do not see any change in our lives, no divine power manifested; therefore they conclude that no real church exists any more on earth but all are in Babylonian confusion. ⁸⁴ And on the following page he proclaims: PFF2 620.1

“We cannot be thankful enough for the great blessings which God has bestowed upon us through the work of the Reformation, in having opened Himself the doors of the Roman-Babylonian captivity and led us out into the glorious freedom. However, as the Jews should not have been satisfied with leaving Babel, but were commanded to build the house of the Lord and to establish His services, in like manner we should never be contented with having left Babel, but should carefully correct all still existing short comings.” ⁸⁵ PFF2 620.2

1. CHOSE PROPHETIC THEME FOR DOCTORAL DISSERTATION

Spener’s interest in the prophecies found expression already early in his life in his choice of Revelation 9:13 and onward as the topic for his doctoral thesis (1664). In preparation he read sixty commentaries, tabulating their contents. ⁸⁶ He saw pagan ism glossed over in the Papacy, Rome as the prophesied Babylon, with the pope and his clergy as the predicted Antichrist. Constantine’s recognition of the Catholic state church had caused the apostasy and had resulted in the Dark Ages. Spener deeply lamented the fact that the Reformation had not simply come to a halt but had retrogressed. Not everything was completed with the Reformation; many things had to be done still. The reformation of the doctrine is only the first step; the reformation of the life has to follow. ⁸⁷ PFF2 620.3

2. His CLEAR CONCEPTIONS ABOUT PAPAL ROME

Spener’s fundamental position toward the Papacy and his zeal for the pure doctrine, which he expressed in many sermons and writ ten statements, were later collected and compiled by Georg Pritius and appeared under the title D. Philipp Jakob Speners Gerechter Eifer wider das Antichristische Pabstthum (D. Philipp Jakob Spener’s Righteous Zeal Against the Antichristian Papacy). Among these statements are the following: PFF2 621.1

“In order that the Antichrist might rise, the power of the pagan authorities and of imperial Rome must be broken; only then the ecclesiastical profession could acquire the position which was adequate to its arrogance.” ⁸⁸ PFF2 621.2

“This beast has the appearance of a lamb. It has shaped itself outwardly in the similitude of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, the lamb; that means, that the form of true Christianity and of the power of Christ is found within it, but it speaks like the dragon and carries inwardly the characteristics of Satan in its disposition to lie and to kill. This beast is the Antichrist and is called also the false prophet. Revelation 19:20..., These beasts do not represent individual kings or men but entire kingdoms.” ⁸⁹ PFF2 621.3

“Therefore the judgments of God shall fall upon the Roman Papacy and especially upon that profession [ecclesiastical] which is utterly corrupted. We might well say (if we mean by it the papacy itself and not the hidden remnant of the children of God in it), it is real paganism brushed over with Christian paint. And as in olden times God laboured in vain with the Jews to lead them to repentance, in like manner he worked with the papacy but without avail. He roused again and again witnesses of truth to correct and to chastise it. He employed different means to let the light of truth shine into the eyes of the Papacy, so that, if it had willed, it could have accepted the light. Some 100 years ago complete new groups protested and separated-the Waldenses and the Hussites—and then the blessed reformation of Luther took place. And today we visualize how the Papacy fills its cup of iniquity by the persecution of the true believers and forced reformation. It uses all the violence foretold in Revelation 13:15; 14:12, 13; 17:6; 18:24. And that will be the last which will draw God’s vengeance upon it, since it has become drunken with the blood of the saints and true believers.” ⁹⁰ PFF2 621.4

In Revelation 14:8 the angel proclaims that Babylon is fallen. PFF2 621.5

“The downfall of the Papacy is evident, yet it will become worse. Up till now it is not a complete decline, because we see, that after this proclamation a number are left, who worship the beast and its image and receive its mark. Revelation 14:9, 10. It has still great power, because it is a time in which the patience of the saints is needed (v. 12), and many even have to expect death for the sake of Jesus (v. 13). Whereas Revelation 18:4 commands, even after the voice had proclaimed that Babylon is fallen, ‘Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. Therefore a remnant of the people of God is still left, after that first fall of Babylon who should come out, and then Babel has to expect more plagues.” ⁹¹ PFF2 621.6

3. HELD THOUSAND YEARS STILL IN THE FUTURE

When some in the pietistic circles began to develop eccentric ideas about the thousand years, and a storm was raised by the orthodox, Spener tried to tone the matter down, declaring that no vital portion of the faith was involved, but that he personally maintained that these thousand years of the Apocalypse had not yet begun, nor had they ended. ⁹² PFF2 622.1

In summation, it is significant that, irrespective of nationality or denominational affiliation, virtually all-except the few who yielded to Rome’s expositorial sophistries-held the Papacy to be the Antichrist of prophecy. PFF2 622.2