Spanish Reformer Juan de Valdés
Walton Padelford
Juan de Valdés (1500-1541) lived the greater part of his life in Naples, Italy. There he taught the doctrine of justification by faith to a circle of disciples taken from the upper socio-economic class in Naples. From there his writings and conversations circulated to many other parts and stimulated a desire among many for a reform in the church. Even though Juan did not break with the Catholic Church, he maintained the doctrine of man’s salvation by faith in Christ and not by works.
Juan studied at the University of Alcalá de Henares en Madrid. He read liberal arts and maintained a correspondence with Erasmus of Rotterdam and used his Greek edition of the New Testament, the same one that Martin Luther used in his studies. In 1528, Juan published his first work anonymously, the Dialogue between Mercury and Charon. The book attacked the corruption which was in the roman church, and, for this reason, Valdés moved to Naples in 1530 out of fear of the Inquisition. In the year 1533, Naples became his permanent residence.
While in Naples, Juan de Valdés continued his studies in the Scriptures and in the doctrine of justification by faith and not works. He also continued his literary activity with the publication of Dialogue on Language, a work dealing with the Spanish language.
In his circle of students was the beautiful widow, Giula Gonzaga, the countess of Fondi, to whom Valdés dedicated his book, The Christian Alphabet, in which he described the first steps in the Christian life. Valdés continued his evangelistic work by translating the Psalms from Hebrew to Spanish; he also wrote a commentary on the Psalms. Afterward he wrote commentaries on Romans, 1 Corinthians and Matthew. He counseled Señora Gonzaga that as she was reading the Psalms or the epistles of Paul; “You should follow David as he followed God, and Paul in the measure that he followed Christ. But it is not enough to have David and Paul as models; the final objective, the highest example, is God, is Christ.”
His manner of commenting on the Scriptures is sane, clear and profound. His method is an example of restraint and profundity at the same time.
For example his commentary on Matthew 24:23-28 speaks to us in these days of prophetic speculation about the second coming of Christ.
Then if any one says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe him. For false
Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if
possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told you in advance. If therefore they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in
the inner rooms,’ do not believe them. For just as the lightning comes from the east, and flashes even to the
west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be. Wherever the corpse is, there the eagles will gather.
Valdés continued his commentary on these verses in the following words:
These words pertain to the time of the judgment and the end of the world in which we learn five things.
The first, that we shouldn’t give credit to any man that presents himself as Christ, even though we should
see him doing greater miracles than we read that Christ did.
The second, that those who know inwardly their vocation which is knowing that they are chosen by God,
can be sure that, even though men of the world aided by the demons of hell are working to trick them, they
won’t be able to do it.
The third, that the deception for the chosen of God consists in going to search for someone passing for
Christ, being in the desert or hidden in the secret places of the house, because they run the risk of following
him and in following him they could depart from Christ.
The fourth, that the coming of Christ will be sudden, renowned, clear and manifest in all the world,
compared to the lightning bolt that shows itself from one point in the east to the west.
The fifth, that in the day of judgment the elect of God will be joined with Christ just as the eagles gather
where they see a dead body. The phrase: “so as to mislead if possible” etc. seems to correspond to the
saying that because of the elect those days of persecution will be cut short; this being the remedy for it, the
soon coming of Christ. The phrase: “in the desert and in the secret places,” helps us understand all other
places where false Christians will call out to the true ones, attempting to carry them to Antichrist but finally
pushing them toward Christ.
Juan de Valdés died in the summer of 1541, concluding his life of active service for Christ as a translator, commentator, teacher, and Christian leader.
