1. In 1512, Jacques Lefevre published a commentary on Romans.
2. He wrote that man is justified by faith and not by good works.
3. He translated the New Testament into French in 1523.
4. Lefevre and his followers had no desire to split with Rome.
5. But, as Luther's views became more well known in France, things changed.
6. Some of Lefevre's writings were condemned, but he was protected by Francis I, king of France.
7. However, the reform movement grew. Even Margaret, the sister of the king was a friend of the Reformation.
8. John Calvin greatly influenced the reformation in France with his Institutes.
9. In 1559, the French Protestant churches adopted the Gallic Confession.
10. After this, French Protestants were known as Huguenots.
11. In the Netherlands, the Dutch published their confession of faith, the Belgic Confession, in 1561.
12. Two years later, the Dutch adopted the Heidelberg Catechism, which was written by Zacharias Ursinus.
LINKS
Jacques Lefevre: A Reformer Before The Reformation