Should the title of “reverend” be given to a church leader?
Question: “Should the title of ‘reverend’ be given to a church leader?” Answer: Psalm 111:9 (KJV) states, referring to God, “Reverend is his name.” Some interpret this as saying the title “reverend” is to...
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What is a bishop, biblically speaking?
Question: “What is a bishop, biblically speaking?” Answer: In the New Testament, a bishop is a person who functions as a teaching leader among a local group of Christians. The Greek term episkapos has...
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The Function of Bishops in the Ancient Church
There are people who think that in New Testament times, a bishop (episkopos, which has the literal meaning of overseer) and a priest (presbyteros, presbyter, elder; the ancient term for a Christian minister) did...
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William Tyndale c. 1494–1536
The Underground Translator In the early 1530s, an English merchant named Stephen Vaughan was commissioned to find William Tyndale and inform him that King Henry VIII desired him to return from hiding on the...
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Thomas Becon c. 1512–1567
The Monday Morning Protestant Though almost entirely overlooked in church history, Thomas Becon was a prolific pamphleteer, popular bestseller, and godly cleric in sixteenth-century England during the Reformation. Living through the turbulent reigns of...
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Peter Martyr Vermigli 1499–1562
The Phoenix of Florence From childhood, Peter Martyr Vermigli desired to teach God’s word. At age fifteen, he entered the Augustinian order in the Italian town of Fiesole, near his native Florence. After eight years...
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Menno Simons 1496–1561
The Fearless Pacifist If you are familiar with the contemporary Mennonites, you may be surprised to learn that the group’s founder started as a Catholic priest who had never read the Bible. A Priest...
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Wolfgang Capito c. 1478–1541
The Protestant Peacemaker “What is God like? Whom should we follow?” Many people must have been asking these questions during the turbulent times that we now celebrate as the Reformation. Reformers, counter-Reformers, humanists, and...
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Wibrandis Rosenblatt 1504–1564
The Bride of the Reformation In 1504, Wibrandis Rosenblatt was born in Säckingen, Germany. Over the next sixty years, she would marry and be widowed four times, inspiring one writer to describe her as the Reformationfrau —...
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Philip Melanchthon 1497–1560
The Gentle Lutheran He was not the kind who started revolutions, but the kind who brought order to the ensuing chaos. His mentor, Martin Luther, was brash, impulsive, and forceful. But Philip Melanchthon was...
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