Happy Reformation Day 2016
As
others are knocking on doors offering a “trick or treat?” we could remember how
the courage and faith of Martin Luther, 499 years ago, caused him to nail his
message to a door, changing the world.
I wonder if you knew that the 31st of October is also,
along with ‘Halloween’, Reformation Day.
It was on 31st
October 1517 that Martin Luther wrote his letter of ‘protest’ against the Catholic
Church, which has become known as The 95 Theses.
Luther objected to such theological error as that written by Johann Tetzel,
"As soon as the
coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs."
The Protestant
Reformation reflected the theological journey that Luther had made toward
embracing salvation by faith alone.
Martin Luther and
righteousness as a gift
We owe a huge debt to Martin Luther for making a stand and helping
the church to embrace salvation by grace through faith alone.
After
a thunderstorm in 1505 struck the fear of God into him, the young 21-year-old
Martin Luther became a monk.
Luther
became more and more fearful of God’s holy wrath. According to the teaching of
the Catholic Church at the time, he was struck with impending judgement when he
read texts like Romans 1:17, ‘For in the
gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith
from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”’
Luther initially understood these words as meaning that one had to become
righteous in order to live the life of faith and thus be acceptable to God.
Luther
remarked, "I hated that word, 'the
righteousness of God,' by which I had been taught according to the custom and
use of all teachers ... [that] God is righteous and punishes the unrighteous
sinner."
Things
changed whilst teaching on the Psalms and studying Romans during 1513-15:14, "At last meditating day and night, by
the mercy of God, I ... began to understand that the righteousness of God is
that through which the righteous live by a gift
of God, namely by faith… Here I felt as if I were entirely born again and
had entered paradise itself through the gates that had been flung open."
On
the 31st October 1517, Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the door of
All Saints Church in Wittenberg. The Thesis was copied, translated, and
‘modern’ printing technology spread the message and sparked the Protestant
Reformation.
You
too can know that you are accepted by God; not by your efforts of
righteousness, but by putting your faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection for
your sin, you obtain the gift of His
(Jesus perfect) righteousness.
Maybe
as others are knocking on doors offering a “trick or treat?” we could remember
how the courage and faith of Martin Luther caused him to nail his message to a
door. Let’s, like him, in a day of compromise, continue to protest for the
truth of the gospel (Sole fide) and the authority of Scripture (sola scriptura).
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