On imputed righteousness and the Waldenses:
Because Abraham BELIEVED God, Abraham’s belief was counted unto him for righteousness.
Agreed. But that is not “imputed righteousness” in the sense of Christ’s righteousness being imputed to Abraham. These are two different concepts. Of course you can develop the one from the other, but Luther was the first person I know of who did so.
It depends on which side of the fence you are on.
No, it doesn’t. No serious historians think the Waldenses believed in imputed righteousness.
Many protestants admire the faith of the Waldensians.
Yes, I admire them very much.
The Waldensians were so strong in faith. They faced death at the hands of the Roman Empire and did not concede.
Do you mean the “Holy Roman Empire” (which was one of the persecutors of the Waldenses) or are you repeating the discredited myth that the origins of the Waldenses go back to the early Church?
There are many horrifying stories they lived through but their faith remained. When they found out that the RCC had a reformation movement, they sent people to find out if it was true. The Waldensians and the reformers “joined” up.
Yes, but it was a bumpy process because their beliefs and practices were by no means identical. I am reviewing a book by the Italian Protestant scholar Gabriel Audisio talking about the Waldensian pastors (it’s called
Preachers by Night–he also wrote a more general history of the Waldensians), and he discusses this encounter in some detail. In one meeting (1532), the Reformers appear to have accused the Waldensians of being “more concerned and troubled by your ceremonies and external works than those in the Roman Church” (Audisio,
Preachers, 213, citing Pierre Griot’s account as printed in Audisio’s earlier work
Le barbe et l’inquisiteur, 108-9; admittedly Audisio says that this account may be a bit muddled, but the shock of the Waldensian narrator at hearing the Protestant doctrine of justification by faith seems pretty clear). The Waldensian pastor Georges Morel visited Basle and Strasbourg in 1530 and asked them about the doctrine of justification and the role of good works, citing many Scriptural passages that seemed to teach that works were necessary for salvation (Audisio, Preachers, 210). The historical evidence is squarely against you here–it has nothing to do with which “side” you come at the matter from.
There were even accounts of many Waldensians that committed to memory many books of the New Testaments.
Very true. But, again following Audisio, it’s interesting to note which books they memorized–they seem to have focused on the Gospels and the pastoral epistles, the books richest in practical, moral instruction (Audisio, Preachers, 102-3).
