WHAT IS REFORMATION DAY?
Reformation Day is celebrated on October 31st. It commemorates Martin Luther’s posting of his Ninety-five Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. This act triggered the movement in world history known as the Reformation.
WHAT WAS THE REFORMATION?
While it had profound and lasting impacts on the political, social, literary, and artistic aspects of modern society, the Reformation was at its heart a Christian movement. The Reformation was the great rediscovery of the good news of salvation by grace alone through faith alone through Christ alone. This is all to the glory of God alone.
WHY WAS THE CHURCH IN NEED OF REFORM?
For centuries, the Roman Catholic Church had been plagued by false doctrines, superstition, ignorance, and corruption. Since most ordinary Christians were illiterate and had little knowledge of the Bible, they relied on their clergy for guidance. Tragically however, monks, priests, bishops, and even the popes in Rome taught unbiblical doctrines like purgatory and salvation through good works.
Spiritually earnest people tried to justify themselves by charitable works, pilgrimages, and all kinds of religious performances and devotions, but they were left wondering if they had done enough to escape God’s anger and punishment. The truth of the gospel – the good news that God is loving and merciful, that He offers forgiveness and salvation not because of what we do, but because of what Christ has already done for us was largely forgotten by both clergy and laity. The Holy Spirit used an Augustinian monk and university professor named Martin Luther to restore the gospel to its rightful place as the cornerstone doctrine of Christianity.
Luther drafted a series of ninety-five statements in Latin discussing indulgences, good works, repentance, and other topics, and invited interested scholars to debate with him. According to Dr. Philip Melanchthon, Luther’s university colleague and author of the Augsburg Confession, Luther nailed his Ninety-five Theses on the door of the Castle Church on October 31st, 1517. (This was not an act of defiance or provocation as is sometimes thought. Since the Castle Church faced Wittenberg’s main thoroughfare, the church door functioned as a public bulletin board and was therefore the logical place for posting important notices. Today, a professor might publish an article in a journal or post it on a web site.) By posting his document on October 31st, the eve of the All Saints’ Day mass, Luther ensured that his Theses would come to the attention of the throngs of literate Wittenberg residents and educated visitors who filed into the Castle Church for worship the next day.
It wasn’t long before these statements were the talk of Europe. The publication of the Ninety-five Theses brought Luther to international attention and into direct conflict with the Roman Catholic hierarchy and the Holy Roman Emperor. A little over three years later, he was brought before the Cathoici leadership and asked to recant his beliefs that men were justified by faith alone apart from good works.
Luther thought about it for a day and when brought before the church leaders stated the famous words:
“Unless I am convicted by scripture and plain reason – I do not accept the authority of the popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other – my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. God help me, Amen!”
Luther was excommunicated by the pope and declared a heretic and outlaw. This was the beginning of the Reformation. For those of us who have come to trust in Christ alone for our salvation, we thank God for this tremendous truth that He revealed to Martin Luther and to each of us who believe. To God be the glory!
We just rented Luther on DVD… I highly recommend it! I’m no Lutheran scholar, but it seemed like a faithful treatment. Even better, there’s a scene in which Luther preaches a faithful presentation of the Gospel!
I shudder to think where we would be if God had not raised up men like Luther (and Wycliffe, and John Huss, and all the other figures in the Reformation)…
I spent last night greeting the ‘trick or treaters’ with:
Happy Reformation Day!!
I encoraged them to ‘google’ Martin Luther and 1517 if they didn’t know what I was talking about.
Sad…. most of the teens thought I was talking about Martin Luther King, Jr.
Personally, I think someone needs to come up with a new 95 Theses for the modern evangelical church and go post them up on all the doors early one Sunday morning at the mega churches and mega church wanna-bes. What a concept.
In many ways the reformation was a partial reformation in that they got much of the doctrines and theology right, but kept most of the traditions and setup of the Catholic church. A church based on the book of Acts was not to be found or discussed.
An example is that the Catholic priest was replaced with the Senior Pastor.
Then there are the giant buildings to go along with the giant egos ruling those buildings, and a focus on numbers and money instead of the people inside.
I read a great book years ago by Dean Rusk called “The Open Church”. This books goes back and analyses where the reformation really missed the mark, but how we can complete the reformation by eliminating the traditions of men that originated from the Catholic church.
Check it out here. http://www.openchurch.com
The vision of the leaders at GF is a step in the right direction to having a “complete reformation” with a church based on Acts.
Sounds radical? So was the early church.
Any things you can think of to add to this modern 95 Theses?
Here is a more specific link.
http://www.openchurch.com/disastrous.mhtml#reformation
Hugh…that was a great movie. I loved it and recommend it as well.
Hugh:
I join you in praising God that He raised up people like those in the reformation. I pray that He will continue to raise up people who desire to stand strong in proclaiming the truths of God’s Word.
C.A.:
In a lot of ways these blogs are a modern day place to post ideas. Today, Luther may very well post his Theses to a website.
I agree that much of what Luther sought to reform has sadly been abandoned in many circles today.
If we were going to have a modern 95 Theses I would start with a version of Luther’s number 62 which said:
62. The true treasure of the Church is the Most Holy Gospel of the glory and the grace of God.
Might as well start with giving all the glory to God for what He has done through Christ.
What else would you post?
Thanks Kevin!
I just skimmed the full 95 over again more carefully and I never realized that so many of the 95 Theses deal with the buying of indulgences and pardons for the remission of sin from the Catholic church. Many comparisons too like it is better to give to the needy than to buy indulgences.
I think a good point of comparison is how the Catholic church lulled people into a false sense of security of their standing with Christ based on pardons and indulgences.
Today many churches lull people into a false sense of security that everything is OK because they go to this or that particular church, or even because they have become committed members. No care for what people do the other 6 days of the week, or the sin and hurts of the flock. No building up and encouraging.
There are also so many parallels to the power of the Pope and the role of the Senior Pastor in today’s churches. I could write more than just 95 issues I see with the Senior Pastor/CEO/Jesus Jr. mentality today.
The next two Theses after the one you listed above sum up everything to me as Luther discussed the ways the Catholic leadership must view the idea of the “62nd these” about the “treasure of the church”.
63. But this treasure is naturally most odious (disgusting), for it makes the first to be last.
64. On the other hand, the treasure of indulgences is naturally most acceptable, for it makes the last to be first.
Greed and arrogance. Me first! Making us famous and not for God’s fame. That sums up the curse of the modern evangelical church, and it starts from the top down.
I hope someone someday does something similar to what Martin Luther did, but this time on the doors of all so called evangelical, Institutional, numbers and money driven, one man ruled churches.
Our cry should be to Let God’s Fame be proclaimed in everything we do, and not our own egos or desires.
The senior pastor rule along with the hyper-focus on evangelism, numbers, growth, and money with little to no focus on the body of Christ is the curse of the church today.
My face is not red, and I am not venting I promise. 😉 I am just very passionate about this point you know.
We only had a two thirds reformation, but praise God for that, or we would all be worshipping the pope!
Let’s complete the reformation at Grace Fellowship! I think we are on the way, but only by God’s will and His Grace!