The Reformation

Whoop! The moment many of my fellow nerds and I have been waiting for is finally here. No… not Halloween. Today, October 31, 2017 marks the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses to the church door which set in motion the Protestant Reformation. Many readers are now asking themselves “Why should I care?” “Why waste a post talking about an old German guy with a bad taste in hats?” Here are a few of the numerous reasons why: 

Foremost, he demanded that the Catholic church end the sale of indulgences. Indulgences or “good works” (primarily monetary donations) were said to be a supplemental element in salvation; however, this is contrary to what the Bible teaches, which is that we are saved by faith in Christ alone. After being sent a copy himself, the Archbishop Albert Albrecht called for the Church to convene a year later, where they attempted to convince Luther to recant his Theses. Upon his refusal, the meeting ended in a shouting match and ultimately led to his excommunication from the church. Without Luther’s bold stance, the public would not have learned the necessary doctrine of justification by faith alone (sola fide), and in consequence, would not have a right understanding of Christ’s sufficient work on the cross.

Second, Luther stood up for our Holy Scripture (sola scriptura). He believed that the 66 books of the Bible contain no error and are entirely sufficient. He went further to say that the Bible was the only authoritative text to be used by the Church, which was controversial among church leaders who taught that their word/revelation was essentially on the same level as the Bible (prima scriptura).

Third, Luther is known for his dedication to translating the Bible to languages accessible to common people. During Luther’s time, Mass was held primarily in Latin and the Scriptures were almost exclusively in the original Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic and then Latin; however, the commoners did not understand what was being read, which allowed for corruption to seep into sermons such as the false gospel of a faith and works-based salvation. Luther worked to translate the Word from its original languages into German to make it accessible to the common man. This would go to inspire men such as William Tyndale to translate the Bible into new languages.

So what have we learned about our German Monk? Martin Luther risked his life as well as his career to ensure that the Gospel of Christ dying for our sins was conveyed accurately to all people. He did this through translating the Bible into a common tongue for his people and debating with the heads of the Church. Also, he did not come up with, but rather reinstated the doctrines of Faith Alone Scripture alone, and Christ alone (as well as Grace and God’s Glory alone). Martin Luther allows the Church today to pursue after the scriptures with a ferocity lost over the church’s long history and began what we know now as the Protestant Reformation.