Of Lawful Oaths and Vows
In which respects, popish monastical vows of perpetual single life, professed poverty, and regular obedience, are so far from being degrees of higher perfection, that they are superstitious and sinful snares, in which no Christian may entangle himself.
Monasticism is an ancient Christian practice with laudable beginnings. Quoting Martin Luther:
“St. Antony, the very father of monks and the founder of monastic life, most wisely and in a Christian manner believed and taught that absolutely nothing should be observed which did not have the authority of Scripture. He knew absolutely nothing about monastic vows and ceremonies of this kind, but willingly chose to live as a hermit, and of his own will chose to live unmarried, after the pattern of the gospel. Pursuing human wisdom, his successors made this way of life into a vow, into a matter of obligation and compulsion. This way of life is but a specious copy and a mistaken observance of the rule of Antony, which is the rule of Christ.”
Antony’s decision to live as a monastic was personal, free and devout. Sadly over time, as Martin Luther (himself a former monk) observed, Antony’s successors “made this way of life into a…matter of obligation and compulsion”. Beyond this, some regarded monasticism as a way of “higher perfection”, a way to ensure one’s justification before God. This blurring of the soteriological lines between divine grace and human effort raised the ire of the reformers.
On balance, we are called to be and to make disciples of Christ. A disciple is one who is disciplined, focused, oriented. The church is to be a gathering of disciples who share life together, who exhort each other, a kind of cenobium if you will.
“The restoration of the church must surely depend on a new kind of monasticism, which has nothing in common with the old but a life of uncompromising discipleship, following Christ according to the sermon on the mount. I believe the time has come to gather people together to do this.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer
