Oct
31
Reformation Day
Filed Under Christian History
On October 31, 1517 Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the Castle Church in Wittenburg, Germany. In those days, the Church door served the same function as what is now a bulletin board or web forum. It was a place to raise questions and start discussion. The discussion that Martin Luther began that day would ignite the continent of Europe aflame in controversy centered around the question: “How can a man be saved?”. Luther had no intention of creating a new church but rather wanted to reform the church. It was this focused desire for reform that earned Luther and the men who would follow him the title of Reformers. The theology that flowed from their pens would be named Reformed Theology. First Presbyterian Church, Kosciusko certainly would not be here were it not for the work of Martin Luther calling the church back to the inerrant, infallible, and holy Word of God in order to revive the doctrines of grace. And so, on this day, October 31, we’ll take a brief look at the results of the Reformation.
As we consider Reformed Theology we can summarize the basics under five alone-statements or “solas” which flowed out of the Reformation. These “solas” form the basics of biblical Christianity and particularly the basics of salvation.
We are saved by:
Christ Alone
There is no other mediator between God and men. There is no other name by which a man may be saved. Jesus is the only way to the Father. This is the benchmark of the gospel - the work of Jesus Christ alone to provide atonement for all those who are saved from their sins and ushered into the Kingdom of God. None of our works can add to our salvation. No matter how sincere you think your religious works are, they do not add in any way to God’s acceptance of you. No matter how zealous your works of charity to men are, they do not add in any way to God’s acceptance of you. No matter how much money you give to the work of the church, it does not add in any way to God’s acceptance of you. You cannot appeal to any other person, living or dead, for any modicum of righteousness before God. Salvation is in Christ alone. It is important that we keep alive this word “alone”. To say today that there is salvation in Christ is a perfectly acceptable statement. After all, as the world says, anyone is welcome to find their own personal expression of “salvation” in whatever spiritual way they wish. But for us to say Jesus Christ alone is able to save is to make an exclusive claim to the deity and saving efficacy of Christ’s work on the cross. To make a statement like that is to call all men and women to find salvation in Jesus or not at all. That is exactly the kind of exclusivity that is at the heart of the gospel. The gospel is salvation in Christ alone.
Grace Alone
We are saved by grace alone. We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. In saying Christ alone we are saying by what person a man may be saved. In saying grace alone we are saying by what merit a man may be saved. Again it is important that we cling to the word “alone.” Grace is not the back up plan for those that can’t hack out salvation on their own. God’s law was never meant to be a means of salvation for fallen men, though many have taken it to be just that. The law was given to show us our depravity. The law was given to be a tutor to lead us to Christ. We read through the ten commandments and must confess ten times, “Lord have mercy on me a sinner.” We are defecient in every thought, word, and deed. We can only be saved if God, in his abounding mercy, has grace on poor miserable sinners like us. The grace of justification before God is the act of God in pardoning our sins and accepting us as righteous in his sight because of the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone. The grace of sanctification is God’s good work in us as we mortify sin, become alive to righteousness, and become more and more like Jesus. We do not need God’s grace less after conversion but continue to rely on it as our only standing before our holy God.
Faith Alone
We are saved through the instrumentality of faith. It is important to note that faith is not something that we do but that God does in us. This work is God’s convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds with the knowledge of Christ, renewing our wills, and persuading and enabling us to receive and rest on Christ alone for salvation as he is freely offered in the gospel. For by grace we have been saved through faith. It is not our work but the gift of God so that we are left to boast in God alone rather than ourselves. This is extremely important. Faith is commonly passed off today as moderate intellect combined with good decision making. Under this definition smart people with a decent education are those that are Christians if they are wiling to acknowledge themselves smart enough to “believe” in Jesus. This takes the work of salvation out of our hands and roots it in our rationality and intellect. Faith is the work of God in our hearts. AW Tozer defined faith as, “the gaze of the soul upon a saving God.” This is the kind of sight that God gives when he makes spiritually blind people to see. Faith alone is the instrument by which we are saved. It is the work of God and it is marvelous in our sight.
The Scriptures Alone
What fueled Luther’s reformational outrage was that the church, who was supposed to be the guardian of God’s Word, had ceased to regard it as solely authoritative in the life of the Christian. Luther himself was a language scholar and had spent countless years in the study of the Scripture of the New and Old Testaments. He not only found that the Bible spoke much differently about salvation than the church but that the Bible spoke much differently about itself than the church. The Catholic church had developed an idea that church tradition and specifically the pope was supremely authoritative in the life of the believer. They held that the church established the authority of the Bible. Luther found the Bible saying something different. He found in the Scriptures incredibly fallible men and an incredibly infallible Word of God rather than the opposite. Luther found the Word of God to be what it said it was: God-breathed and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness that God’s people might be equipped for every good work.
To God’s Glory Alone
To anyone who has grown up with even a hint of the Westminster Shorter Catechism in their church, this last “sola” is very familiar. What is man’s chief end? Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever! God’s glory is the ultimate message of the Bible and the ultimate message of creation. It is what Jesus Christ was, is, and will be about through His sovereign rule over history. This was applied by the Reformers to every area of life. Is was not just the priestly and monastic communities that brought glory to God. It was not just acts of supererogation that glorified the name of Jesus Christ. Rather, every person is given the privilege and responsibility with every thought, act, word, and affection to do all things to the glory of God. The elderly, the young, the banker, the farmer, the homeless, the man, the woman, the outcast, the affluent, all of these are to order their lives to do all things to the glory of God.
These are the doctrines that would come out of putting a nail through a theological essay into a church door. Certainly Martin couldn’t have known what lay before him. But because the Lord prospered Luther’s work and ministry we all are the beneficiaries. It is therefore incumbent upon us on a day like this to thank God for his mercy to us in the gospel and for the men that have defended that gospel from error through the centuries. To God be the glory now and forevermore!
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