Happy Reformation Day to All…..

It was this day in the year of our Lord 1517 that Martin Luther posted his Ninty-five theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, thus beginning the Reformation.

The Reformation was a rebirth if you will of a full knowledge of salvation by grace through faith alone.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; [it is] the gift of God. Ephesians 2:8

A firm acknowledgment that as sinners we could in no way secure salvation by anything we did of ourselves.  All our works are but filthy rags.

But we are all like an unclean [thing], And all our righteousnesses [are] like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away. Isaiah 64: 6

For many years the Roman Catholic church had been plagued by false doctrine and corruption. In an age where very few could read and even fewer had access to a Bible. The people depended on the clergy for religious instruction and thus were not exposed to the Good News of God’s grace for them through faith alone.

Christians were told they had to perform works for their salvation and more works to atone for the very same sins our Lord Jesus Christ died for. Never knowing when they had done enough unless told by a priest.

“In 1517, Luther (now a Doctor of Theology and a respected professor) was drawn into a controversy over the sale of indulgences.  Indulgences were certificates sold by the Roman Catholic Church that promised people release from works of penance for absolved sins, both in life and in purgatory.  Although Luther would in a few years repudiate the entire Roman Catholic system of works righteousness, he was not ready at this early stage in his ministry to completely reject the prevailing teachings on purgatory and indulgences.  But even prior to 1517 he realized that corrupt practices connected to the sale of indulgences were a blasphemy against Christ and a cruel deception on penitent Christians seeking God’s grace and forgiveness.

It was the sale of a particular indulgence that spurred Luther to action.  Pope Leo X had authorized the sale of special jubilee indulgences in the cities and principalities of Germany.  Half of the money raised was to help finance the building of Saint Peter’s Cathedral in Rome; the other half was to go to Albrecht, the new archbishop of Mainz (who needed the cash to pay off a loan he had taken to buy his archbishopric).  These indulgences were plenary, meaning that all sin and eternal and temporal punishment would be forgiven to those who purchased them.  Elector Frederick the Wise, prince of Saxony and patron of the University of Wittenberg, had prohibited the traffic of these indulgences in his territory, but they were sold in towns and villages just across the Saxon border.  When some members of his parish purchased indulgences and brought them to Luther for his assessment of their validity, he felt compelled act.

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 31, 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 blog or web site.  By posting his document on October 31, 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.

Luther intended the Ninety-five Theses to initiate an academic discussion, not serve as the agenda for a major reform of the Catholic Church.  However, events soon overtook him.  Within weeks, the Theses were translated into German, reproduced using the new moveable-type printing press, and circulated throughout Germany.  It wasn’t long before they 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 excommunicated by the pope and declared a heretic and outlaw.  This was the beginning of the Reformation, the culmination of which was the writing of the Augsburg Confession of 1530, the first official Lutheran statement of faith.” from St Pauls Kingsville site.

On Reformation Day we celebrate a return to the gospel and salvation by grace. We praise God for what He did through the death and ressurection of His son Jesus Christ and through the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

The following hymn declares the essence of the Reformation.

By grace God’s Son, our only Savior,
Came down to earth to bear our sin.
Was it because of your own merit
That Jesus died your soul to win?
No, it was grace, and grace alone,
That brought Him from His heav’nly throne.

By Grace I’m Saved, Free and Boundless, by Christian L. Scheidt and Kornelius H. Dretzel

Martin Luther and his colleagues came to understand that if we sinners had to earn salvation by our own merits and good works, we would be lost without hope. Through the working of the Holy Spirit, the reformers rediscovered the gospel — the wonderful news that Jesus Christ lived, died, and rose again to redeem and justify us.  As Luther wrote in his explanation of the Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed:  I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, even as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. 

So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. John 19:30

When Christ said, “It is finished!” He did not mean it would be finished after we had posted 1,000 hours of prayer to our heavenly account, or when we had reached $ 10,000 in tithes and offerings.

He meant… “It is finished!” 

Dear Father in heaven may we never forget the gift of free grace given to us by the blood of Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. A gift granting to us eternal life as your children. Knowing this that it was You who began a good work in us for Your glory and it is You who will perfect in the day of Christ Jesus.  Amen