When people think of “the Reformation,” typically the name of Martin Luther comes to mind. After all, it was in 1517, 500 years ago, when he began his campaign against the sale of indulgences. But Luther was not the only player. In fact, there were a number of other key personalities, that made the Reformation happen.
I have taken a list of twelve historical figures, four of them prior to the Reformation, and eight of them during the 16th century, that interested Christians need to know about, in order to understand the story of what the Reformation was all about, and why it happened (Links and images via Wikipedia).
If you want to discover more about some of the other leading players, of the Protestant Reformation, I would highly recommend listening to the Here We Stand podcast, by DesiringGod.org, for a 31-day set of short, podcasts, six-minutes long each, for a different Reformer each day. Continue reading
What are the great principles that guide historically Protestant, Evangelical Christianity? They can be summarized by considering the “five solas,” five Latin phrases, that define the very heart of the 16th century Reformation.
Five hundred years after the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, the place of the Gospel in the church is just as tenuous as ever. Every generation must diligently seek to recover the Gospel anew, lest it be lost in a sea of religiosity, theology “fads,” and the indifference of hearts calloused towards the Truth. The first three “solas” were watchwords of the 16th century, and the last two “solas” have been adopted over time.
What do you believe?
Sola Scripture: Scripture alone is the final authority, in all matters of Christian faith and practice. The Western medieval church tended to rely on church leaders and councils, that sometimes obscured the teaching of Scripture. Folks like the German Reformer, Martin Luther, have placed the Bible, and the Bible alone, at the fountainhead of all spiritual authority, over against human traditions. Church tradition does play a role in our understanding of the Bible, but it should never cancel out the Bible itself.
Sola Fide: Salvation is experienced through faith, and faith alone, and not through works. Yet as John Calvin, the 16th century French/Swiss Reformer, is said by some to have remarked, “Faith alone justifies, and yet the faith that justifies is never alone.” Good works will always accompany genuine faith in Christ.
Sola Gratia: By “grace alone” we are saved. The Western medieval church, over a period of centuries, was drawn to the idea that while salvation is indeed through grace, that grace could only be mediated through the sacraments of the institutional church. The 16th century Reformers contended that while the sacraments, instituted by Christ are indeed important, the church, as an institution, does not control the means by which people receive the grace of God. The Gospel is bigger than that.
Sola Christus: Christ is the sole mediator between humans and God. Martin Luther championed the idea of the “priesthood of all believers,” that human beings can have direct access to God, through Christ, without having to pass through a human, priestly go-between.
Sola Deo Gloria: When it comes to salvation, who gets the glory? Does God alone receive it, or does human effort dilute the praise that belongs solely to God? The Reformation endeavored to see that God, and God alone, is supremely honored.
My Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox friends might prod and question some, if not all, of the “five solas.” But the discussion is an important one for all Christians to have.
Are these “five solas” hallmarks in your life? Do they define for you, the basic theological principles supporting the truth of the Gospel? What do you believe?
Well, to tell the truth, the “nailing” of Luther’s document to the church door was no big deal, in and of itself. It was like stapling a poster up at a college bulletin board, or posting a message on Facebook. As a university theology professor, Luther wanted to hold a discussion with church leaders and other academic colleagues, coming up with 95 propositions for debate. Like most university academic discussions, such debates rarely, if ever, “go viral,” even today. Academics normally can not compete with ESPN. However, the big deal was what happened in the following four years, after Luther posted his theses.
In Luther’s day, the Western church was riddled with corruption, and everybody knew it. Initially, Luther objected to the sale of indulgences, whereby church officials would urge people, who had no access to the Scriptures in their native language, to give money to the church, in exchange for lessening the punishments of loved ones, who were suffering in purgatory. In 1517, Luther still believed in the doctrine of purgatory itself, as acceptable Christian doctrine.
So, Luther was originally tapping into the widespread frustration with the medieval church. For example, from proposition 82, Luther argued that the papacy was more concerned about making money, than actually helping people who were suffering in purgatory:
“Why does not the pope empty purgatory for the sake of holy love and the dire need of the souls that are there if he redeems an infinite number of souls for the sake of miserable money with which to build a church?
Or even from proposition 86:
“Why does not the pope, whose wealth is today greater than the wealth of the richest Crassus, build this one basilica of St. Peter with his own money rather than with the money of poor believers?”
But there were hints that Luther was pressing against something deeper, within the medieval Catholic system, than simply corrupt church practices. Consider the first three propositions:
When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, “Repent” (Mt 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.
This word cannot be understood as referring to the sacrament of penance, that is, confession and satisfaction, as administered by the clergy.
Yet it does not mean solely inner repentance; such inner repentance is worthless unless it produces various outward mortification of the flesh.
Here, Luther shows how he was influenced by Erasmus’ Greek edition of the New Testament, published just a year earlier, before Luther’s famous 1517 date. “Doing penance,” according to the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible, is not the same thing as “repentance.” It was Luther’s study of the Scriptures that forced him to look at reality anew and afresh.
And this is what rattled church leaders.
Luther was hoping for an opportunity to express his views, and defend them. But he soon learned that certain church authorities, who benefited so much from corruption, refused to engage him in authentic debate. One of the few times Luther was allowed to debate his views, almost led to his undoing. At the Leipzig disputation in 1517, his brilliant opponent Johann Eck, forced Luther into a corner. Luther finally had to admit that he was calling into question the infallibility of the church, through its popes and councils.
Now Luther was in trouble. The problem was that Luther’s ideas were starting to catch on with folks outside of the academic community, both among the nobility, and the peasant poor. Luther was a master of the new technology of the printing press, and he put it to use. Luther fought back.
The church leadership simply could not tolerate such dissension. For if Luther would not be silenced, they were concerned that Luther would open the floodgates of false doctrines and heresy to proliferate, and destroy the unity of Christendom through schism. Their fears were not without some warrant. For church authorities, Luther had to be stopped.
But Luther was held captive to the teaching of the Holy Scriptures. Luther was far from perfect, but he knew his cause to be just. To him, the very message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ was at stake. If he could be persuaded that he had erred, in interpreting the Bible, he was open to correction. But by the time of his grand appearance before the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, at the Diet of Worms, in 1521, he had become convinced of the Bible’s teaching, of justification by faith alone, and salvation by grace alone.
His answer to the Emperor, though scholars are not convinced of the actual wording, nevertheless still echoes throughout the course of history:
“Here I stand, I can do no other, God help me. Amen.”
The church and world have never been the same since.
…And now… Duh-duh-dahh!! ….. For a rather happy take on Martin Luther and the Reformation, you will not want to miss the “Reformation Polka,” by Baylor University professor of history, Chris Gertz:
A warehouse at Auschwitz, storing clothes of camp victims, after liberation in January 1945. How much did Martin Luther’s rhetoric lead to the Holocaust? (Credit: National Archives)
Martin Luther is one of my theological heroes. But like any other fallen human, Luther was far, far from perfect. He was the Reformation’s chief champion of salvation by faith, and faith alone. But he also had a dark side… (NEWS FLASH)… just like you and me.
As we remember the 500th anniversary of when this obscure monk, turned bible professor at a university in Wittenberg, famously nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the church door, on Halloween, we mainly think of Luther’s attack on the abuses of the medieval Western church, a corrupt institution that instilled fear and anxiety among the people, and financially profited from such abuses. We also think of Luther’s famous stand for the Scriptures alone (sola scriptura), as the ultimate source of truth. I could go on with praises for Luther. We all owe an immense amount of gratitude to God for raising up a Martin Luther.
Luther was also a man who enjoyed life. He enjoyed good food, and having a good time with friends and family. He was comparatively more jovial than his later Reformed counterpart in Geneva, John Calvin. You could count on having a fun night, out on the town, with Martin Luther. With John Calvin? Well, you would probably be in bed before 9pm.
Luther preached a Gospel of grace, and grace alone…. and for the most part, he lived it.
I am a Martin Luther guy.
But this does not tell the whole story about Martin Luther. Luther had his blind spots, his dark side, if you will. To ignore these shortcomings is to fail to tell the whole story. There are possibly three elements to Luther’s legacy that still haunt the great German Protestant Reformer. Continue reading
The Reformation gave the church a renewed confidence in the authority of the Scriptures. However, the Reformation also shows us that the interpretation of God’s Word requires diligent study, a hunger for truth, a love for our fellow believers, and humility. Here is why…
“This is my Body… This is my Blood.” Matthew 26:26-28. Literal or symbolic interpretation?
Zwingli, with tears in his eyes, extended the hand of fellowship, but Martin Luther steadfastly refused: “Yours is a different spirit from ours“. Luther walked out. The split was final. The unity of the Protestant Reformation movement was in tatters.
Marburg, Germany. 1529. Martin Luther’s attempt to reform the Roman Catholic church and restore confidence in the Bible “alone” was in full swing. Years earlier, he had nailed his famous 95 theses to the Wittenburg church door, protesting abuses within the church. Four hundred miles away, in Zurich, Switzerland, a young renegade priest, Huldrich Zwingli, was beginning to do the same thing Luther had started in Germany. Both Luther and Zwingli felt that the Church of Rome had lost its way. Christianity needed to return to the Holy Scriptures as the pure…
Veracity 