Two more reasons to read Oecolampadius' Sermons on the First Epistle of John

  

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(1) Oecolampadius has replaced Zwingli as the most important first-generation (Swiss) German Reformer. In case you missed it, Yale professor Bruce Gordon, in his recent biography of Zwingli, pronounces Oecolampadius the stronger theologian. Sadly, in recent centuries, English-speaking heirs of the German Reformed tradition — "German" referring to the language the first Swiss Reformers spoke; their reforming work, by and large, was not done in Germany per se, but in the Swiss cities and cantons along the Rhine — have been cut off from the tradition's most important founding father. But just last year several seminal works of Oecolampadiana (in addition to my own) appeared: a translation of his piece critiquing "the Paschal laughter" (i.e., preachers clowning it up in the pulpit), the complete collection of his correspondence with Zwingli, et al. Oecolampadius studies is a burgeoning field and not a moment too soon. (See below.)

(2) The Sermons on the First Epistle of John (preached in Advent 1523, published in the spring of 1524) represent the evangelical movement (i.e., early 16th c. Protestantism) at its most unified. Although the first-generation Reformers would gradually come to some strong disagreements over the sacrament of the Lord's Supper (1525-1528), resulting in a rupture at Marburg (1529), there was a time when the Lutherans in Wittenberg were applauding the Reformer of Basel for his lectures on Isaiah and his Sermons on 1John (both unfolding in 1523-24). There had even been talk of hiring Oecolampadius to join the faculty at Wittenberg. The cracks would begin to appear in late 1524 with debates over Karlstadt's tracts criticizing Luther on the sacraments, but those would take some time to develop.

These days, my social media feed is awash in attacks on Calvinism. Many of these are likely from bots, others from those who have little understanding of Reformed theology. I also see many good-hearted souls rushing to its defense. 

Behind Calvinism, of course, are not only the Westminster Standards, but Calvin himself and the Institutes. Behind Calvin himself (a second-generation Reformer) stands the first generation of Reformers, and prior to the disagreements that beset the first-generation at Marburg, the evangelical movement looked with unanimous approval on this "Handbook for the Christian Life." In many ways, the series on the First Epistle of John represents the most mature distillation of the Gospel from a unified evangelical movement: from Oecolampadius as the chief expositor of the (Swiss) German Reformed, with the unanimous endorsement and congratulations of the Lutherans in Wittenberg. It was a moment of notable Christian unity marked by the Spirit, when the Gospel was clearly distinguished from the corruption of the Roman church at the time. 

There is a lot to be said for going back to the source material, especially this source material, which epitomizes the very best of the Protestant tradition (no less than one third of the global church). More than that, it represents the critical moment when, homiletically speaking, the Reformation grasped the baton from the ancient church (from Chrysostom, in particular)—the Eastern and evangelical movements connecting for a brief moment to jolt preaching itself back to life. And yet, this pivotal series has only been available to English-speaking readers since 2017.