2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Happy Reformation day friends! Today marks 507 years since Martin Luther sent his 95 Theses to his Archbishop as well as posting them to the door of the church at Wittenberg according to the custom of his day. Luther indeed caused quite a stir. He intended to reform the Roman church, and reform her we have. Indeed the road has been filled with much strife, division, and neglect of charity from all sides at times. However, there has also been beauty, wonderful doctrinal clarification, a greater knowledge of the Bible for everyone (lay and clergy alike), and in many ways (though some would claim otherwise) a greater opportunity for unity because of our commitment to Biblical theology.
Luther’s defense before the Diet of Worms in 1521 was eloquent and powerful. He stated clearly, “unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Holy Scriptures or by evident reason-for I can believe neither pope nor councils alone, as it is clear that they have erred repeatedly and contradicted themselves-I consider myself convicted by the testimony of Holy Scripture, which is my basis; my conscience is captive to the Word of God. Thus I cannot and will not recant, because acting against one’s conscience is neither safe nor sound. God help me. Amen.”
Why was the issue of Papal bulls and councils so important to Luther and others? Why does it still matter? First I must say that Luther was far from the first reformer. There were many others before him; men such as Jan Hus and John Wycliffe (among others). It could be said that the church has always experienced patterns of accretion (the addition of man made practices and doctrines), repentance, and reformation. Even before Christ established the church as we know it, this was a problem amongst God’s people. One of the main issues Jesus has with the Pharisees is that they had taken man made practices and doctrines and made them equal to God’s word, even treating the accretions as greater in some instances. Many of the later councils of the unified church deviated from the doctrine of Scripture. They began to move towards accretions and worldly politics (statements on icon veneration, various anathemas, and etc). A good number of leaders in those days fell back into the old Pharisaical pattern of elevating man made doctrines over God’s word.
Fairly early on in church history, the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed were both born from reformative impulses within the church. They were attempts to stamp out accretions and to be sure the church of Jesus roots itself in His word above all. Almost every line from the Nicene Creed is a quotation or paraphrase directly from Scripture. This is a wonderful example for us that reformation is both possible and necessary. When done well, it produces wonderful results though there may be growing pains in the moment.
Revelation 12 gives us a clear picture of Satan being always ready to pounce on and devour the church if possible. Often he does so by sowing tares among the wheat (Matthew 13:28). Reformation is the process by which the church recognizes doctrines and practices which originate from the philosophy of tares, rejecting what is not from God and returning to the true doctrine handed down to us by Christ through the Apostles and Prophets.
An instance which comes to mind regarding accretions in the very early church is found in Galatians 3. Here Paul warned the Galatian church against allowing accretions to be accepted among them which would draw them away from the pure faith. Even at that early stage of the church, drift from the pure faith was happening. Paul saw it as part of his Apostolic mission to correct these errors in order to preserve the church. We have the Scriptures because the Lord saw fit to be sure that these Apostolic truths and corrections would be preserved for future generations of believers. We do well to pay attention to these patterns and to the corrective exhortations of the Apostles.
By the time of Luther and the other reformers it had become clear that many of the various papal bulls and councils had become a problem. By them corrupt popes and bishops were using authority which was really not appropriately theirs to shape the church in their image rather than in Christ’s. They were also profiting personally at the expense of everyday church people, even having no qualms about exploiting the poor. Of course not all of the popes and bishops were corrupt. Many of the leaders and councils were good, but the bad ones had to be addressed. I am myself by no means anti-Catholic. There are many people within the Roman and Orthodox Catholic traditions that I greatly respect. Like many reformers who came before me, I consider all true believers in Christ from every Christian tradition to be brothers and sisters in the Lord. I also believe that it was the Lord’s will that we return to the realization that Scripture must be our ultimate rule to test all other rulings. Even the rulings of the greatest among us must be subject to the Apostles and Prophets. My own teaching and leadership as a pastor are subject to the Scriptures also, and I hope that my church pays attention and that they would lovingly confront me if I were to bring some unholy accretion into our life and our practice of the faith together. My prayer is that my Roman Catholic and Orthodox Catholic friends as well as all Christians everywhere might embrace the primacy of Scripture above human tradition. That sentiment truly is the heart of the Reformation.
Paul’s charge in 2 Timothy 3 makes it clear along with many other passages in Scripture, that we are to build our doctrine upon the revealed truth of God’s Word first and foremost. Councils and creeds are helpful to the extent that they summarize the teaching of the Scriptures and help us articulate the gospel more effectively. I believe that we should greatly appreciate them, yet where any of them depart from Scripture in any way, they must be thrown out. On a very relevant side note, this is a good summary of what is meant when we say we affirm the doctrine of Sola Scriptura.
The Reformation still matters today for many reasons. It has had a great impact upon the church, producing much good fruit over the centuries. Perhaps it’s greatest meaning though, is that it reminds us that the capital city of Christ’s Church is not Rome, not is it Constantinople, or any human city for that matter. The capital of Christ’s Church is the New Jerusalem where all who believe are considered priests but Christ is the singular Great Priest and He is also King. Whenever we find ourselves drifting in any way from the true faith once and for all delivered to the saints by Christ through the Apostles and Prophets, we have a standing mandate that we must put down all accretions and reform back to the pure faith of Christ (consequently, that desire and practice is what the term Puritan originally stood for). In other words, we aren’t done reforming. It is an ongoing work which we must all be involved with.
So a very happy Reformation Day to you. This is not a day to be prideful about one’s particular theological positions. Rather it is a day for humility and for introspection. What in me must be reformed to purity in Christ? We thank Jesus for men like Martin Luther throughout history. Luther and those like him had plenty of faults as we all do yet they refused to allow their own happiness, personal well being, or position to keep them from standing on God’s word no matter the cost. May we be like them in this way. It isn’t always comfortable to follow Jesus. Sometimes it means losing friends or even facing death, but it is always worth it in the end to follow Christ no matter what. May we stand upon His word and whenever necessary put pride aside, throw down our accretions, and lift up Christ and His word over and above all else.
Revelation 12:11, “And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.”
