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?

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. 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 for help from Heaven above, and if received, 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. These are all facts we can learn from the Reformation. But what is the significance of the Reformation for us? That’s a deeper question to consider. One answer concerns the need for right doctrine.

The Need for Right Doctrine

Scripture testifies to the importance of doctrine. Paul sent Titus to the island of Crete, and he described the people as, 1:16, detestable, disobedient, and unfit for anything good. What did Paul want Titus to do given their wretchedness? Create a Behavior Intervention Plan? Send them to Corporate Sensitivity Training? Titus 2:1, Paul said, teach what accords with sound doctrine, because Bible truth is what God uses to transform lives.

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 wickedness, and he saw God only as the righteous punisher of sin. When Luther conducted his first Mass, he was so overwhelmed with the mysterium tremendum, “the mystery that repels,” he spilled the wine—problematic for a 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, “Grace is found 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 met the God of grace at the foot of Christ’s Cross.

Over time, Luther saw acceptance with God not as based on grace-empowered deeds, but as a declaration by God grounded in Christ’s work on behalf of the sinner. Eventually, Luther saw how ‘being justified by God’ was not determined through 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. The Believer was ‘declared righteous,’ all because of Christ. Saving grace was received by God-given faith.

For Luther, this was doctrine people needed, because this was doctrine that would change lives. That’s what Bible truth does. By the power of the Spirit, doctrine changes us. Let us receive what “accords with sound doctrine” and be transformed.

—Pastor Clif