There’s much to be said about the Protestant Reformation considering all the rich Biblical Doctrines that were recovered and the leadership of Martin Luther, John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli, John Knox, and many others. After studying the Reformation for many years and looking at other parts of history, notably in the Bible itself, I see the main theme of this historic period is that God does not abandon His people and will always shine His light into darkness.
The Garden of Eden is a perfect example. After Adam and Eve’s disobedience, they recognized that they were exposed and decided to sow fig leaves to cover themselves and attempted to hide from God. There is double meaning here. For one, their attempt to cover themselves by their own devices proved futile just like any attempt we make to rectify ourselves before God. Second, it’s God who initiates redemption as He did by providing animal skins which we can conclude pointed to the need for atoning blood shed thus allowing Adam and Eve to stand before God.
A second example is the rescuing of God’s people from the clutches of Pharoah after 400 years of slavery. Through God’s sovereign hand and the cries of His servant Moses, Pharoah finally submitted to the demands to release the Israelites. God didn’t stop there. When the Israelites were on the run from Pharoah’s men, God parted the Red Sea to ensure safe passage for them.
Prior to Jesus’s coming, God had been silent for 400 years as this was the time that elapsed since the completion of the Old Testament. Many in Israel became disenchanted as they were under the clutches of the Roman Empire and consequently lost sight of the promised Messiah who would come to provide eternal redemption through His suffering as described in parts of the Old Testament including Isaiah 53.
By looking for a leader to rescue them from the rule of the Romans, the Jews of that day turned from the truth of the promised suffering Messiah predicted in the Old Testament who would die for their eternal redemption. They also looked for a victory that was only short term while Jesus spoke of a Kingdom that was not of this world and would be fully realized when He returned for His Second Advent.
Now, fast forward to the 16th Century. In prior centuries, deemed the Middle Ages society experienced significantly dark times on many levels. The arts, including music, were essentially nonexistent. Literacy rates were extremely low. Most importantly, the life of the Church was nearly dead. Each church had a Bible chained to the pulpit and the lay people were forbidden to read it in their own language. Masses were said in Latin, whether it was people’s native language or not, and corrupt priests were known to shorten Masses to create more opportunities for the church to bring in money.
The most sinister thing, however, was that the saving truth of the Gospel which Paul and the other Disciples labored in the First Century to spread throughout Asia and parts of Europe was essentially suppressed. Instead, people were taught that the Church through sacraments was the intermediary between them and God though 1 Timothy 2:5 declares: “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” The Mass was the central focus of worship as it is for most Roman Churches today. The intent of the sacrament was and still is for partakers to maintain, increase, or regain God’s favor by feasting on the bread and wine which according to tradition, were elements of a new and repeated offering of Christ and literally transform into Jesus’s body and blood.
The Protestant Reformers saw the sacrament differently. While they too saw the need to feast on Jesus, they saw this as an exercise in faith for one whose heart has been transformed for Jesus while acknowledging the unity shared with Christ. Furthermore, the Protestants also viewed the sacrament as a periodic remembrance of the one sacrifice by which Christ offered Himself on the cross once for all.
Objection to Rome’s approach to the Lord’s Supper also centered around the question, did Jesus’s death on the cross accomplish salvation or merely open the door to its possibility? The Protestant Reformers with texts like Romans 6:10 and Hebrews 9:26, 28 in mind insisted that Jesus’s death was a once-for-all sacrifice that through faith brought a believer into a perpetual and eternal state of Grace. Contrast this with the Mass, which according to tradition brought a person back into a state of Grace did not guarantee eternal standing despite Paul’s words in Philippians 1:6, “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Closely related to the principle that Jesus’s death accomplished salvation is the doctrine of justification by faith alone. Martin Luther, who wrote extensively on this matter was excommunicated from the church for refusing to recant his stance. In recovering truth on the principle of imputed righteousness he found scriptures in Romans 3-4 that stressed righteousness apart from the law and that the righteousness of God comes through faith in Jesus for all who believe. In 2 Corinthians 5:21, the Apostle also speaks to a believer’s justification: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God.” Based on scriptures like these, the Reformers stressed that we have an ‘alien’ righteousness meaning it comes from an outside source which is Christ. As noted from Romans, a believer’s righteousness comes through faith in Christ. According to Ephesians 2:8-9 faith is a gift, so it too is from an alien source. John 6:44 teaches that we are not inclined to seek God without an ‘alien’ source: “no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”
What the Protestant Reformers concluded from our need for an outside source is that we humans, because of our fall in Adam, became totally corrupt and, as indicated in John 6:44 we have no inclination on our own to pursue God. Psalm 14:2-3 says: “The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.” Ephesians 2:1-2 further explains our depravity: “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.”
In conclusion, from these truths about fallen man, we find that no matter how much a person participates in the various means and sacraments administered by the church they cannot be made right with God. A person’s only hope is to be born again as Jesus stressed to Nicodemus in John 3. Our rebirth must come from God through the Holy Spirit. He must remove our hearts of stone and give us hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26) thus leading us to repent of our sins and embrace Jesus by faith for salvation.
Many have said that the Church was reformed in the 16th Century and must always be reforming. While our Christian faith is not founded on the Reformation Era or on the leaders of that time, it is certainly founded on the Biblical truths they recovered. These truths are foundational and must be the lenses for evaluating movements and messages wherever they arise, whether in the present or in the future.
In His Image 