102. Peter Martyr Vermigli

How did a devout monk become a Protestant on the run from the authorities because of his faith? Today on our journey back through the archives, Dr. Stephen Nichols introduces us to the life and work of Peter Martyr Vermigli, a daring Reformer.

Thanks for tuning in to 5 Minutes in Church History, I’m Steve Nichols. What you’re about to hear is one of my favorite episodes from our archives. We’re taking a short break from releasing new content, but we will be back with all new material in January 2023. Make sure you subscribe to the show so you won’t miss any favorites. I hope you enjoy this archival episode of 5 Minutes in Church History.

Welcome back to another episode of 5 Minutes in Church History. On this episode, we are returning to one of my favorite times in church history, the time of the Reformation. This is a figure we don't often hear a lot about, but he was a significant figure in the Reformation. His name is Peter Martyr Vermigli. He was born in 1499 in Florence. He was not born with that name, Peter Martyr, but when he became an Augustinian monk, he took that name, Peter Martyr, as a name that represented a medieval figure that he looked up to and that he wanted to aspire to.

Before he became an Augustinian monk, he was educated at the very prestigious and rigorous University of Padua. He taught himself Greek and Hebrew, and he found himself at Naples as the prior of a monastery. While he was there in the late 1530s, he came into contact with the Reformers through their books. He was reading the commentaries on the gospels and on the Psalms by Martin Bootser. This was the great Exogen Theologian at Strasbourg. This is actually the person that Calvin wanted to go and study under, but Calvin never made it there. He stopped first at Geneva, and then he made it to Strasbourg, but he was back at Geneva. But this is the figure that also influenced Vermigli through his books.

He also read a book by Ulrich Zwingli, and the book he read by Zwingli was entitled On The True and False Religion, and this compared the thought of the Reformers to that of the Roman Catholic communion. Well, Vermigli was convicted by these books and he came to Christ. He found himself in significant trouble and from 1540 to 1542, he was dodging the authorities and eventually he fled to Zurich, spent some time there at Zurich and then he went on to Strasbourg.

At Strasbourg, he was appointed a professor and in 1547, he was invited by Thomas Kramer to go to Oxford, and he was appointed the Regis Professor of Divinity at Oxford. Vermigli just flourished at Oxford, was very influential on Thomas Cramer, and then Mary came to the throne. Well, Vermigli goes to Strasbourg. Once again, he has to flee and he's on the run. So he goes back to Strasbourg.

It's during this time that he makes some significant contributions to two doctrines. One of those is our understanding of the Lord’s supper. Vermigli initially sided with Martin Luther on this and thought Luther's view, that Christ is around and beneath and beside and with the elements, was the right view, but he switched over to Calvin's view and began to see the real presence view of the Lord's supper as the better view.

The other contribution he makes is regarding our doctrine of scripture. Now, there's a lot of debate over the doctrine of scripture. It goes all the way back to Genesis, doesn't it, when the serpent says to Eve, "Did God say?" And ever since then, there have been debates about the doctrine of scripture and how we're to understand scripture and the authority of scripture and the inerrancy of scripture.

Well, this issue for Vermigli was settled by two words. Now, these are Latin words. We need four words to say this in English, but two Latin words, Dominus Dixit, “thus says the Lord.” Technically, it's just “the Lord says,” but ever since Tyndale translated it in his English translation, as “thus says the Lord,” that's the phrase that sticks in English.

For Vermigli, it was very simple. The doctrine of God leads us to the doctrine of scripture. And so we start with the Lord and then we move from there, that's the doctrine of God. Then we move from there to “the Lord says,” that's the doctrine of scripture. Vermigli called this the primum principium or the first principle of reading the Bible to see it as God's word to us. And therefore, it has authority over us and we submit to it. And what is the end of all scripture and of our reading of scripture? Well, Vermigli has something to say about that too, and what he says to us is scripture points us to Christ. That's Peter Martyr Vermigli, and I'm Steve Nichols. Thanks for listening to 5 Minutes in Church History.