The Protestant Reformation At 500: So Much Recovered, So Much More To Reform

Happy Reformation Day!

So many others have written far more comprehensively and eloquently about the significance of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation that I don't feel the need to embarrass myself by rewriting more poorly what others have already written. What I mostly am today is thankful.

Thankful that I have the Bible translated and readily available in my own language (which coincidentally is not 17th century Olde English). Thankful that because of that I can know that I don't need to impress God with my own self-serving and feeble attempts to be righteous. Thankful that I know the church is the community of the redeemed being equipped for the work of ministry, not a dispenser and controller of "grace". Thankful that no human being has the right or authority to stand between me and my Lord. Thankful that salvation is freely offered to all and is not something to be purchased by the rich. Thankful that the Lord Himself is allowed to be the head of His own church.



It was an imperfect, incomplete Reformation led by imperfect and often deeply flawed men but then again the apostles were flawed men as well. There was so much accomplished and recovered and renewed by the Reformers, Magisterial and Radical alike, but there remains much work to be done before the Lord returns and nowhere is that more true than in the church. It is the task of every believer, and especially the brethren, to continue to reform the church to restore her to a family of God that is ready for the harsh days which are to come.

We must never lose sight of what was once almost lost and what was recovered at such great cost during the Reformation and never trade that for a false ecumenical unity or abandon it at the demand of the world. Far from being irrelevant today, the principles of the Reformation are every bit as desperately needed today as they were in Wittenberg 500 years ago.

Sola Gratia 

Sola Fide 

Solus Christus

Sola Scriptura  

Soli Deo Gloria

Let that be our battle cry. By grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone under the authority of the Scriptures alone for the glory of God alone.

Thank you Lord for that obscure monk Martin Luther who five hundred years ago took a bold if unwitting step and in doing so changed the world forever. May we who are in our own ways his successors live lives worthy of the sacrifice of Luther and so many others to hold fast to the truth of the Gospel over this half millennium.

Ecclesia reformata semper reformanda

"the reformed church must always be reformed"

A Reformation Day Hymn For Your Listening Pleasure

I love the sight and sound of Anabaptists singing a hymn penned by Martin Luther.

Post tenebras lux

The words Post Tenebras Lux form the Latin phrase which is roughly translated "After darkness, light". The phrase is often considered to be the "motto of the Reformation", a recognition that after centuries of the light of the Gospel being shrouded in religious darkness it at long last burst forth once more as the Reformation took hold of Europe. The Reformation may have "officially" started this day in 1517 but it didn't end there and I would say is just as relevant today as it has ever been since the 16th century. Watch this brief video from John Piper in Geneva, home of John Calvin and one of the centers of the Reformation.

Happy 499th Reformation Day!

Good All Hallows Eve to you and happy Reformation Day! We stand today 499 years after the seemingly innocuous event that started a chain reaction across the world and began the arduous and I would say incomplete work of restoring the Gospel to the light of day. With October 31st, 2017 looming as the 500 year anniversary of the events of that final day of October, 1517 I expect to hear a lot over the next twelve months about Luther and about the Reformation in general. I think this is good and necessary and even desperately needed. While in the past few years I have focused on the faults of the Reformation on Reformation Day, the general failure to reform the church and the often brutal response of the magisterial Reformers toward the radical Reformers, better known as the Anabaptists, and others who didn't walk in lock-step with the magisterial Reformer's teachings. This year I am more interested in just being thankful for the brave men, men who often paid with their lives, who stood boldly in the face of man-made tyranny dressed up in pseudo-Christian religious garb. I believe God raised these flawed men up for the purpose of proclaiming the Gospel of His Son and in doing so bringing honor and glory to His name.

Lest we forget, what is taught from pulpits and books and in Sunday school classrooms across the Christian world would have been dangerous in the extreme to utter when Luther was alive and many, many Christians were martyred in those days by Roman Catholic authorities who burned alive and otherwise tortured and murdered Christians with the approval of the charlatans who blasphemously declared themselves the Vicar of Christ and the Holy Father. To do what Luther and others did, Calvin and Zwingli, Grebel and Sattler, was to invite torture and death and they are braver men than what you find today.

We live in an era that is increasingly similar to the early days of the 16th century. While Rome still teaches false doctrine, fewer and fewer people care what the "Bishop of Rome" has to say on issues of theology unless he is spouting off bad economics. That is especially true for many or even most Roman Catholics. Today the new false religion is headed by a priestly caste made up of cultural opinion makers and illiberal academics. People are more likely to form an opinion based on a tweet from Kim Kardashian than a well reasoned argument from a theologian. Most quarters of what was considered the church in America are folding up like a cheap umbrella. Many who have grown influential and wealthy from pumping out vacuous religious books and talks full of empty platitudes are seeing the religious gravy train coming off the rails and are jettisoning any hint of that embarrassing Biblical orthodoxy like sailors on a sinking ship (I know I am mixing my metaphors there).

We need men like Luther today, bold men with conviction who trust in God and in His Holy Scriptures. The clowns, showmen and huckster who populate so many pulpits in this land need to be called out as the wolves they are, even if they are wolves with million dollar smiles and impeccably tailored suits (or skinny jeans and v-neck t-shirts). Most importantly we need more men who are not Luthers, larger than life figures but instead are simple men of faith to lead our churches and our families. The Kingdom needs bold men of faith locally as well as globally. Men who humbly open God's Word in out of the way places are just as important as men with a national platform to speak.

So to all my Christians brothers and sisters, happy Reformation Day!

Happy Reformation Day

Today is October 31st and in many circles of the Protestant world it is Reformation Day. On this day 498 years ago a nobody named Martin Luther posted a series of questions known as his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg, What followed is known as the Protestant Reformation and depending on where your loyalties lay it is either a date for celebrating as the Gospel was reclaimed or an infamous date when the supposed unity of the church was forever shattered.

For me it is a day of mixed emotions. On the one hand this marks the days of Post Tenebras Lux, after darkness, light. The Biblical gospel of justification by faith alone was recovered and spread like a wildfire. In spite of the tragic violence that sprang in part from the Reformation, on balance the saving Gospel was worth all the strife and division. What value is there in peace when it comes at the cost of men's souls? On the other hand, the Reformation left much un-reformed, specifically the church. Protestantism retains much of the structure and organization of Rome: a professional clerical class, a tendency toward institutional self-preservation, a largely passive laity, ritual and tradition. On and on. So it was at best an incomplete reformation. I don't accuse the Reformers of being too radical but not being radical enough. Thus my affinity for the Anabaptists who suffered from persecution and murder at the hands of those who allegedly were their brothers in Christ.

Today? Is the Reformation complete and over? Not hardly. Within the church there are as many false teachers and false teachings as at any point in church history. The church needs bold men to shout from  the rooftops the Gospel of Jesus Christ and at the same time calling to account the flase teachers and the wolves among the sheep for they are plentiful. As we near the half century mark there are still many Christians who seek an unequal partnership with Rome based on politics, especially now that Jorge Bergoglio has become the religious equivalent of the Beatles for many on the left of the religious spectrum. Many on the political right seek to minimize the differences with Rome in order to secure a partner in worldly battles. Now more than any time in my life or the life of anyone reading this we need to reclaim the godly heritage and the boldness of the great Reformers, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Menno Simons. Remembering that they were men with feet of clay just like us but blessed by God with a powerful boldness that stands in stark contrast to the weak and flaccid faith of so many today,

God send reformation on your church in these days of growing darkness and great turmoil. We need reformers for our day who will not preach compromise and capitulation but who will stand firmly on the Gospel of your Son revealed and preserved for us in the Bible. Let that written Word be the only place we stand and let the teachings therein be boldly and without apology be declared.

Watch the video below of John Piper talking about Post Tenebras Lux and have a happy Reformation!

Soli Deo Gloria!

Repost: Happy What Could Have Been Day!

Today is October 31st and in many circles of the Protestant world it is Reformation Day. Below is my annual reposting of my Happy What Could Have Been Day post, a remembrance of what could have been but was not reformed starting on that day. While the soul saving doctrines that had been suppressed for so long of the free justification of sinners by the grace of God were rediscovered in the church this day there was so much that was "unreformed". So celebrate the rejection of the papacy, the denial of the false priesthood, the renouncing of the abomination of the mass, the overturning of the endless pursuit of righteousness by works but remember was well that there is much that was retained in form and practice, and that has weakened the church in the hundreds of years that have passed since that fateful day on October 31st, 1517.

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October 31st is often celebrated as "Reformation Day", especially in local gatherings more in tune with the Reformation and confessional Christianity. October 31st, 1517 was the day that Martin Luther (in)famously nailed the 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg, "officially" launching what is known as the Protestant Reformation.

I used to look forward to this day as an exciting day in the church, a day when we should redouble our focus on the "Five Solas of the Reformation" and cherish the memory of the giants of the faith who came before us and laid the foundation for the Reformed, confessional wing of the church: Calvin, Luther. Zwingli.

Now? Now I look back with regret at this time, regret over what might have been. In those days when the shackles of Rome were first cast off there was a very real chance to reform the church in practice as well as in doctrine. Instead institutional inertia won the day. The doctrine got better (at least some of it) but the practice stayed the same. Pastors replaced priests but the machinery of organized religion kept chugging along. When a group of Christians started to ask questions and reject Protestantized Roman Catholic practices like infant baptism they were met with essentially the same response that the Roman Catholic church gave to the Reformers: persecution, imprisonment, torture and murder.

Today is as always an important day in the history of the church but rather than looking back at the Reformation as a golden era in the church to be emulated, let us instead use that period as a launching point to go even further back, all the way back to when the apostles were leading the church through service, sacrifice and imitation. Our foundation for church practice and doctrine in not found in the 16th century, it is found in the 1st.

Repost: Happy What Could Have Been Day!

October 31st is often celebrated as "Reformation Day", especially in local gatherings more in tune with the Reformation and confessional Christianity. October 31st, 1517 was the day that Martin Luther (in)famously nailed the 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg, "officially" launching what is known as the Protestant Reformation.

I used to look forward to this day as an exciting day in the church, a day when we should redouble our focus on the "Five Solas of the Reformation" and cherish the memory of the giants of the faith who came before us and laid the foundation for the Reformed, confessional wing of the church: Calvin, Luther. Zwingli.

Now? Now I look back with regret at this time, regret over what might have been. In those days when the shackles of Rome were first cast off there was a very real chance to reform the church in practice as well as in doctrine. Instead institutional inertia won the day. The doctrine got better (at least some of it) but the practice stayed the same. Pastors replaced priests but the machinery of organized religion kept chugging along. When a group of Christians started to ask questions and reject Protestantized Roman Catholic practices like infant baptism they were met with essentially the same response that the Roman Catholic church gave to the Reformers: persecution, imprisonment, torture and murder.

Today is as always an important day in the history of the church but rather than looking back at the Reformation as a golden era in the church to be emulated, let us instead use that period as a launching point to go even further back, all the way back to when the apostles were leading the church through service, sacrifice and imitation. Our foundation for church practice and doctrine in not found in the 16th century, it is found in the 1st.

Happy Reformation Day!

October 31st is a day for the annual reminder of the traditional start of the Protestant Reformation and a reminder of how important these issues are still today. It is also crucial that we remember that the men so many revere as "heroes" and "great men" of the faith were no less flawed than any other Christian and that the Reformation itself only went part if the way to restoring Biblical Christianity.

Sola Fide! Sola Gratia! Solus Christus!
Sola Scriptura! Soli Deo Gloria!

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October 31, 1517

On this day in 1517, a German monk nailed his 95 theses to the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany and launched a movement that would change the world. While much of the world celebrates Halloween, we will celebrate Reformation Day with popcorn and a private home viewing of Luther.

The issues with Roman Catholicism are as true and pressing today as they were then. Justification by faith alone, one of the cornerstones of the Gospel, still stands anathematized by Rome. In other words the Gospel is declared anathema by the man who styles himself to be the Vicar of Christ on earth. The words of the Council of Trent still stand, and until Rome rejects those teachings there can be no reconciliation between Rome and Christianity.

Today is a day we should celebrate our Lord raising up flawed men like Martin Luther who He used mightily in the propagation of His Gospel against those who would reject it. It is also a day of sober reflection on the constant assault against the Gospel and the perpetual need to guard the faith delivered once for all, and entrusted to the church for all time. Pray that God will continue to raise up men like Martin Luther. We certainly could use some today.

Happy Reformation Day!

October 31st is the day for an annual reminder of the traditional start of the Protestant Reformation and a reminder of how important these issues are still today.

Sola Fide! Sola Gratia! Solus Christus!

Sola Scriptura! Soli Deo Gloria!

-----

October 31, 1517

On this day in 1517, a German monk nailed his 95 theses to the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany and launched a movement that would change the world. While much of the world celebrates Halloween, we will celebrate Reformation Day with popcorn and a private home viewing of Luther.

The issues with Roman Catholicism are as true and pressing today as they were then. Justification by faith alone, one of the cornerstones of the Gospel, still stands anathematized by Rome. In other words the Gospel is declared anathema by the man who styles himself to be the Vicar of Christ on earth. The words of the Council of Trent still stand, and until Rome rejects those teachings there can be no reconciliation between Rome and Christianity.

Today is a day we should celebrate our Lord raising up flawed men like Martin Luther who He used mightily in the propagation of His Gospel against those who would reject it. It is also a day of sober reflection on the constant assault against the Gospel and the perpetual need to guard the faith delivered once for all, and entrusted to the church for all time. Pray that God will continue to raise up men like Martin Luther. We certainly could use some today.

Happy Reformation Day!

October 31, 1517

On this day in 1517, a German monk nailed his 95 theses to the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany and launched a movement that would change the world. While much of the world celebrates Halloween, we will celebrate Reformation Day with popcorn and a private home viewing of Luther.

The issues with Roman Catholicism are as true and pressing today as they were then. Justification by faith alone, one of the cornerstones of the Gospel, still stands anathematized by Rome. In other words the Gospel is declared anathema by the man who styles himself to be the Vicar of Christ on earth. The words of the Council of Trent still stand, and until Rome rejects those teachings there can be no reconciliation between Rome and Christianity.

Today is a day we should celebrate our Lord raising up flawed men like Martin Luther who He used mightily in the propagation of His Gospel against those who would reject it. It is also a day of sober reflection on the constant assault against the Gospel and the perpetual need to guard the faith delivered once for all, and entrust to the church for all time. Pray that God will continue to raise up men like Martin Luther, we certainly could use some these days.

Semper Reformanda

It was good to see so many Christian ministries still recognizing the anniversary of the nailing of the 95 Theses by Martin Luther to the church door in Wittenberg on October 31st, 1517. Reformation Day is something I had never heard of or considered for the first four or five years of being a Christian, but it is certainly on my calender now. Click here for a great discussion by Dr. Albert Mohler and Dr. Carl Trueman on whether the Reformation is over or even as some suggest that it never should have happened in the first place.

One great quote from Mohler: “Evangelicals have so minimized what it means to be an evangelical that we hardly qualify to be understood as heirs to the Reformers.” Indeed. I sort of think that the issue of the Reformation never was specifically Rome, but more the general lack of respect and submission to the Word of God as solely and infallibly authoritative. Rome is hardly the only church that has lost it's way precisely because it abandoned His Word. The Reformation was not and is not about Rome, but about vigilance, being jealous of the name of our God and His will revealed in His Word.

As Dr. Carl Trueman puts it, the two big issues that sparked the Reformation are still alive and well, the issues of authority and justification by faith alone. Both get to the heart of mankind's problem, a false sense of self-reliance for salvation, a false gratitude towards God for creating us but a desire to go it alone, to make our own destiny, to chafe under the yoke of authority that goes all the way back to the Garden. Dr. Trueman is spot on in singling out those issues. The Reformation was not about relics or indulgences or immoral priests. It was about a church that had abandoned the Bible, taking it from the people and the Reformation was all about putting God's Word where it needed to be, in the hands of the people and the mouths of the preachers.

I pray that we never forget what drove Martin Luther, 490 years ago, to place his very life at risk in order to stand on the principles of salvation by faith alone, through grace alone, in Christ alone, revealed in His Word alone and for the glory of God alone. To God be the glory, great things HE has done.

Soli Deo Gloria!