The Reformation: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Not everyone is gung-ho about church history. And yet, there is much to learn from it.  Hebrews 12:1 tells us we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. Rom. 15:4 and 1 Cor. 10:6 teach us how these witnesses from Scripture, and by extension outside of Scripture, are given for our instruction. Therefore, we can gain much from history, especially periods like Reformation. What do we learn? Certainly, we might benefit from facts such as Martin Luther died in the same city he was born. His first and last breaths were taken in Eisleben. He did not live there at the end of his life. In poor health he committed himself to mediate a conflict in the city. We also might learn how Luther had multiple near-death experiences. In 1503 he almost died from a severed artery caused by a sword he was carrying. And two years later, he was nearly struck by lightning in an awful storm. In that moment, he cried out to St. Anne to save him and that if she did, he would become a monk. Be careful what you promise in lightning storms.

We might see how Luther’s first set of theses was one with 97 not 95. It was called A**Disputation on Scholastic Theology. Luther’s hymn A Mighty Fortress is Our God was not sung to the tune of a popular pub song. Luther wrote it between 1527-1529 as the plague was bearing down on Wittenburg, with him composing the tune himself. These are all facts we can learn from the Reformation, and in various ways they teach us something. But what is the significance of the Reformation for yesterday, today, and tomorrow? That’s a deeper question to consider. Over the next few weeks, we will explore it. And we will do so through one theme that connects the past, present, and future importance of the Protestant Reformation—doctrine.

The Need for Doctrine

In the Reformation doctrine was central, and rightly so. Paul sent Titus to the island of Crete. And he described the people as, 1:16, detestable, disobedient, and unfit for anything good. They were some ‘bad folks.’ What did Paul want Titus to do given their wretchedness? Create a Behavior Intervention Plan? Send them to Corporate Sensitivity Training? No, Titus 2:1, Paul said, teach what accords with sound doctrine, because sound doctrine is what God uses to transform lives. And Martin Luther understood that.

Think about Luther as a young man. In the late Middle Ages, a Latin phrase had become the primary theological model of the day—Facere quod in se est. Literally it means, “Do what is in you.” And the idea was, ‘do your best and God will take care of the rest.’ Do what you can in obedience to God, and he will grade your efforts on a curve, and you will be saved. Luther was theologically raised with this ‘works-righteousness’ perspective, and it nearly killed him. Luther struggled to know ‘what was his best.’ He wrestled with his own sinfulness. And he saw God only as the righteous punisher of sin. When he conducted his first Mass, he was so overwhelmed with the mysterium tremendum, ‘the mystery that repels,’ he spilled the wine. A major no-no for transubstantiationalist, who believed the wine was the literal blood of Christ.

Luther said of himself during this time, “I did not love, yes, I hated the righteous God.” What changed? Doctrine. He agonized over, “Is there a gracious God?” The answer he learned was, “Yes, in the incarnation and crucifixion of Christ.” Specifically, Rom. 1:17 impacted Luther. For in it (that is, the Gospel of Jesus Christ) the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” After meditating on Paul’s words, the lights went off in Luther’s mind and he said, There I began to understand that the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God, namely by faith … namely, the passive righteousness with which the merciful God justifies us by faith … Here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates.” (Luther’s Works, vol. 4, see introduction) Luther met the God of grace at the foot of Christ’s Cross.

Over time, he saw acceptance with God not as based on grace-empowered deeds, but as a declaration by God because of Christ’s work on behalf of the sinner. Eventually, Luther saw how ‘being justified by God’ was not determined by the culmination of works at the end of life. Justification was an act of God’s grace to bring the sinner into a new position, one of being ‘declared righteous,’ all because of Christ, and received by God-given faith. For Luther, this was doctrine people needed, because this was doctrine that would change people’s lives. That’s what Bible doctrine does. By the power of the Spirit, it changes our lives. Let us receive what ‘accords with sound doctrine’ and be transformed. We will see how in the weeks ahead as we explore the Reformation yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

—Pastor Clif