REFORMATION – ANOINTED TO SERVE

PROTESTANT REFORMATION
October 31st marked the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. On that day in 1517, Martin Luther posted the Ninety-Five Theses in Wittenberg, Germany. Five Latin phrases (or slogans) summarize the Reformers’ basic theological principles in contrast to certain teachings of the Roman Catholic Church of the day. “Sola” is Latin meaning “alone” or “only” and the corresponding phrases are:

• Sola Fide, by faith alone.
• Sola Scriptura, by Scripture alone.
• Solus Christus, through Christ alone.
• Sola Gratia, by grace alone.
• Soli Deo Gloria, glory to God alone.

In the following article, South African pastor and author Andrew Murray (1828 – 1917) mentions the need for a continued reformation in Christ’s church.

ONGOING REFORMATION | Andrew Murray

According To The Grace of God

The apostle Paul declared, “According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3:10, 11).

“Not laying again the foundation…” These words of Hebrews 6:1 were certainly not applicable to the Reformation. In the course of centuries the Church of Rome in building had left the true foundation. Instead of justification by faith in Jesus Christ being the foundation of Christian life, the Church itself claimed power to forgive sin. Forgiveness could be obtained only through a priest; indeed it might be bought from a priest for money. The great work of Luther and Calvin was to lay anew the foundation of Jesus Christ, to the comfort of thousands of anxious souls. We can never thank God enough for the Reformation, when Jesus was proclaimed anew our righteousness–our peace with God.

That great work of Reformation was not accomplished in a day or a year. It took fifty years to establish the Reformation, and even after that time there were many priests whose conversion did not include the power of a holy life. Calvin himself said the Reformation was more in doctrine than in the lives of the people, and he felt deeply the need of the people to be taught and trained in the paths of righteousness. It was no wonder that so long as the foundation had to be relaid in the full truth of conversion and faith, there was delay in the building itself on the true foundation–a life of sanctification.

The Reformation is sometimes thought of as a return to Pentecost, but it was by no means that. Instead of brotherly love, separation from the world, and earnestness in preaching Christ by all who loved Him, there was much controversy among the Reformers. They trusted too much to the patronage of statesmen where these were kindly disposed towards them, and preaching was the work of ordained priests only, in contrast to the Pentecostal witnessing for Christ by all those who were constrained by His love.

“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving” (Col. 2:6,7)… As the roots of a tree receive life uninterruptedly from the soil, so the Christian receives his life and power moment by moment from abiding in Christ.

In the confessions of Faith drawn up by the Reformers, prominence is given to conversion, acceptance of Christ. “Justification” and “justified” are words in frequent use. But the word “sanctification” is rarely found. Emphasis is laid on the doctrine of forgiveness of sin, of faith in Christ as our righteous ness before God, but we find little about Christ living in us, and our life being rooted in Him. The Heidelberg Catechism gives the explanation of the Ten Commandments, but Christ’s commands in Matthew ch 5. and John 13-16 are hardly mentioned.

Let us thank God for the Reformation as a time when the foundation truth of a crucified Savior was laid, but at the same time let us go on to perfection, to a daily uninterrupted walk in Christ wherein we may abound in faith, experiencing the abundance of grace from the fullness there is in Christ for us to enjoy daily. The earliest description of true godliness is in the words: “Enoch walked with God” (Gen. 5:24). So Christians must learn to walk in Christ daily, established in the faith and abounding in it.

God’s Best Secrets, by Andrew Murray