Today is October 31. Many people, including many professing believers in Christ Jesus, will celebrate Halloween. This blog is not one in which we will address the wisdom or folly of celebrating “All Hallow’s Eve.” Instead, we want to address something worth celebrating in the life of every believer.
October 31 is also known as Reformation Day. It was on this date in 1517 that Martin Luther posted his 95 theses to the door of All-Saints Church in Wittenburg, Germany in protest to the practices and teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Church had distorted the Gospel of Christ and insisted that salvation, justification, was by faith plus works. Along with the despoiling of the Gospel, the Church also had practices and traditions that were no where to be found in Scripture, most notably the selling of indulgences to “buy” your dead loved ones entrance into heaven.
Luther insisted that the Lord’s true church was formed by Christ Jesus and He, as Head of the Church, laid out how the church is to be run. The Roman Church had deformed the Lord’s church, and Luther insisted that things needed to be reformed. Thus, his actions on October 31, 1517 led what came to be known as the Reformation. His protests against the Roman church became the Protestant movement.
Luther led the Reformation efforts in Germany. John Calvin led the Reformation in Switzerland while John Knox picked up the mantle in Scotland. All these men insisted that the foundation of the Church is Christ Jesus as revealed in Scripture. Thus, sola Scriptura became the rallying cry of the Reformation: Scripture alone will lead one to salvation. Nothing needs to be added from the pope or the bishops in Rome. The Reformers believed that salvation is by God’s grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone (sola gratia, sola fide, solas Christus). And they believed this was all for God’s glory alone (sola Gloria deo).
We can boil the protests of the Reformers down to two main points: who has the authority to say what is true and how can sinful man be reconciled to Holy God? The Reformers concluded that God’s Word is the ultimate authority; not the Church at Rome, not any human tradition. Sola Scriptura! And reconciliation between God and man comes only through Christ and His atoning sacrifice on the cross: Solas Christus!
As we celebrate October 31st this year, let’s remember the Reformation and give thanks to God for those who paved the way for us to hold the truth of God’s Word in our own hands. We aren’t dependent on any one person or a council to tell us what it says. We can read God’s Word for ourselves thanks to men like William Tyndale, John Wycliffe and Myles Coverdale. We can read for ourselves how to be reconciled to God through Christ alone. Soli Deo gloria!
That You May Know Ministries 