When Protestants Protested

WHEN PROTESTANTS PROTESTED: RECONSIDERING THE HISTORIC REFORMED REPUDATION OF ROMANISM

Abstract: A major change has occurred in the spirit and relationship of evangelicals with the Roman Catholic Church (RCC). Its dramatic nature appears more readily from a review of the historic Protestant antipathy against Romanism and modern Protestant appreciation for the RCC. This old antipathy crystallizes in a provocative statement generally held by earlier Protestants: “The Pope of Rome is the Antichrist,” a statement with nuances and a rich exegetical and historical defense rarely understood or appreciated today. The fact that so many Protestant leaders have affirmed this for so long challenges us to reexamine our own position. A recent modern poll shows that the spirit of historic Protestants has not become altogether extinct. One’s attitude toward the RCC may well be an accurate measure of how well the label “Protestant” really applies to him. As long as the RCC continues to oppose the distinctive Protestant and biblical doctrines of sola Scriptura and sola fide, a fundamentally positive Protestant-Romanist relationship is ill-advised and quite impossible. Will the Protestant reader stand boldly against the RCC?