Question: [The reformers] Wycliff, Hus, Luther, Calvin, and others failed...the RCC stands ...

Question: Wycliff, Hus, Luther, Calvin, and others were truly reformers in the sense of what they undertook to do, to reform the Roman Catholic Church. They failed to accomplish this; the RCC stands unreformed to this day, so why do we refer to their era as the Reformation? What did they reform? Was it the thinking of the people?

Response: It is true that there was no reformation of the Roman Catholic Church. The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent make it very clear that the Church remained firm in its rejection of everything the Reformers desired, and damned them to hell for their beliefs. There was, however, a “reformation” of the thinking of millions in that day and subsequently. While we can- not agree with all that the Reformers taught, at least they succeeded in challenging the Pope and his magisterium and Church to the extent that multitudes were delivered from bondage. From believing that only through the Roman Catholic Church and its interpretation of Scripture and its sacraments could one get to heaven, multitudes began to study the Bible for themselves and were saved through faith in Christ through the true gospel. That would seem to be reason enough to call the leaders of this movement of deliverance from Rome “Reformers.”