In response to the abuses and apostasy of the Roman Church in the Middle Ages, 16th-century Protestant reformers Luther, Calvin, Zwingli and others protested the sale of indulgences (tickets to escape hell). They insisted upon several fundamental principles expressed in well-known Latin phrases:
□ Soli Deo Gloria rightly honored God's sole wisdom and power over all man-made religion and papal authority.
□ Sola Gratia rightly insisted upon the reality of eternal salvation granted by the grace of God through faith alone, not faith plus good works.
□ Sola Scriptura rightly emphasized the sole authority of the Bible for faith and practice, thus disengaging the church from the authority of tradition and the Roman magisterium.
The movements these men generated developed into Lutheranism and Calvinism. These did not abandon Roman Catholic child baptism and the Roman church's view of eschatology (the doctrines of future things).
A more radical group of reformers sought to re-establish all the principles of the 1st century church. They were called the "Anabaptists" by the other reformers, who openly persecuted them. Anabaptism argued for the biblical practice of believer's baptism and a local church composed of believing members. Anabaptism also rejected the idea of a state church, which Lutheranism, Calvinism and Anglicanism retained.
CCC owes much to all the Reformers, but stands most in the Anabaptist tradition in regard to believer’s baptism.
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