What triggered the Reformation and does it trigger you?
As a member of a confessional reformed church, you are perhaps enamored
by the various developments since the day Martin Luther put his 95 theses on
the door of Wittenberg’s Castle Church on October 31st, 1517. I, for
one, am encouraged by the faithfulness of the martyrs in the wake of the
recovery of the gospel in Europe and beyond. My favorite reformation hero is
Thomas Cranmer, who wrote the 39 articles firmly rooting the Anglican Church in
the English Reformation. He was burned in the same place in 1556 where Hugh
Latimer and Nicholas Ridley were martyred just six months earlier. I submit to
you that while knowing the historical development and associated reformed
doctrines, which are wonderful testimonies of God’s goodness that ensures that
gospel is never eclipsed, it is of little use to you if you are not triggered
in the first place just like Martin Luther was when he finally understood the
Gospel as given in Romans 1:17.
Let’s see if you resonate with Martin Luther by looking at the Trigger
Statement, the Trigger Cause. Is the Reformation relevant to you and does the
recovered gospel trigger you?
The Trigger Statement
What is the Trigger Statement of the great 16th century
protestant reformation that gave birth to thousands of protestant denominations?
What is the Trigger Statement that led Martin Luther to put up his 95 theses on
October 31st, 1517? Perhaps this is the Trigger Statement from the
mouth of the Dominican Johann Tetzel in his famous jingle used in marketing the
indulgences to the masses as authorized by Pope Leo X.
“As soon as
the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.”
At that time, to fund the building of St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Leo X
began selling indulgences that promised the “full remission of sins, one
that would return the sinner to the state of innocence first received in
baptism. Even the horrors of years in purgatory would be removed”. The Roman Church taught then—and now, , that
punishment due to sin committed after baptism can be remitted by drawing on the
“collective spiritual good” entitled “Christ’s Treasury” and
administrated by the Roman Church through the issuance of indulgences. This “collective
spiritual good” is attributable to the merits of God’s people. This teaching
of indulgence is part of the Roman Church’s doctrinal system of salvation by
good works, that Christ’s death on the Cross is not enough, and that one must
do good works to merit salvation to offset their sins. If one sins, as everyone
does, one has to be subjected to temporal punishment on earth or in purgatory
in order for his or her sins to be cleansed as Christ’s death would not benefit
him or her.
By the providence of God, the gospel truth slowly dawned upon Luther as
he started to preach against the doctrine of indulgences in 1516. So being
triggered by Tetzel’s claims, he wrote the 95 theses in 1517 as a form of
protest and pasted them on the door of the castle church. What were the 95
theses all about? Luther’s biographer Roland Bainton summarizes the 95 theses
as follows.
“There
were three main points: an objection to the avowed object of the expenditure, a
denial of the powers of the pope over purgatory, and a consideration of the
welfare of the sinner.”
We need to note that at that time in 1517 when Martin Luther protested against
what he deemed as erroneous, he did so as a good catholic seeking to reform his
beloved mother Church and with absolutely no intention of breaking off from
her. This, by God’s grace, would turn out to be otherwise. Let’s look at the
Trigger Cause of the great 16th Century Protestant Reformation.
Trigger Cause
From the time Luther’s document containing the 95 theses was pasted on
the castle door, things began to develop very quickly as the document was
translated into the vernacular and distributed throughout Germany. It became the talk of the town. A series of
events then ensued, starting with Tetzel calling for Luther to be burned
culminating in the debate with the Catholic debater Johann Eck in 1519 in which
the penny dropped for Luther with regard to the final authority of the Church.
Through the debate, Luther became convinced that Scripture is indeed the final
authority.
In the meantime, Luther’s view on salvation had also begun to change as
he grappled with the idea of the righteousness of God. Deeply entrenched in the
doctrinal systems of salvation by good works, Luther hated God because he
deemed that the “righteousness of God” as found in the gospel (Rom 1:17) spoke of
God’s righteousness that damns a sinner such as him regardless of how ardently
devout he was.
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as
it is written, The just shall live by faith[1].
Romans 1:17
He could not be more wrong! While meditating day and night on the second
part of verse 17 “He who through faith is righteous shall live” and its context,
Luther finally understood that the righteousness of God as revealed in the
gospel, is not one that damns the sinner, but rather a righteousness that one
can receive and hence be declared righteous by God through believing in Jesus.
This is because Jesus’ righteousness, through his perfect life and death on the
cross, is given or imputed to the believer through faith in Him. When he
understood this, he felt that he was “altogether born again and had entered
paradise itself through open gates”[2].
Luther understood this as a “joyful exchange”, as taught by the Apostle Paul in
2 Cor 5:21. It was not a case of Christ becoming morally sinful, or believers becoming
morally perfect. In fact, Luther had a phrase that perfectly sums up a believer’s
position - “Simul Justus et Peccator”[3],
which means one who is simultaneously just and a sinner. In other words, a
believer is justified “not by our works and merits but rather by grace alone
(sola gratia) through faith alone (sola fide)”. This broke Luther free from
the crutches and enslavement of salvation by works and set him on a course of
writing like a madman in 1520. He wrote three books, namely, “Christian
Nobility of the German Nation”, “The Babylonian Captivity of the Church”
and finally “The Freedom of a Christian” delineating the joyful
exchange whereby our sins are given to Christ who bore our punishment, and we
receive Christ’s righteousness.
So, when in 1520, Pope Leo X issued a Bull (decree) calling him to
recant or be excommunicated giving him 60 days to consider, Luther was then
ready to repudiate the Roman Church as a false church, by publicly burning the
pope’s bull saying.
“Because you have confounded the truth of God, today the Lord confounds
you. Into the fire with you!”
So, are we ready to answer the question: What is the Trigger Cause or
material cause of Reformation? It is indeed justification by faith or sola
fide! In fact, Luther referred to Justification alone as “the article upon
which the church stands or falls” (articulus stantis et cadentis ecclesiae).”[4]
The Gospel is the good news of something that happened, viz-a-viz, the finished
work of our Lord Jesus as the sinless, incarnate son of God living the perfect
life that we cannot live and dying the death we ought to die. Given this, how then
can we appropriate the benefit of His completed work? The Scripture is clear
that only through faith in Christ that we appropriate this benefit and thus be
declared righteous by God!
RC Sproul put it succinctly in the article “Reformation Rescued the
Gospel”,
“Since the gospel stands at the heart of Christian faith, Luther and
other Reformers regarded the debate over justification as involving an
essential truth of Christianity, a doctrine no less essential than the Trinity
or the dual natures of Christ. Without the gospel, the church falls. Without
the gospel, the church is no longer the church.”
Does it trigger you?
All the above, would just be intellectual or historical knowledge if you
are not triggered by the Gospel. What do I mean? You see, Luther had a lifelong
struggle with how one can be right with God. The enslaving teaching of the
Roman Church of salvation by good works gave him no peace. He finally found
peace when he knew that the righteousness of Christ can be appropriated through
faith in Jesus and God will receive anyone who does so! In other words, Luther
experienced the power of the Gospel, but have you? Is the Gospel truth just
something intellectual in your mind, not having moved your heart?
It is quite prevalent even in Evangelical churches that we believe that
we are accepted by God through our good works, and diligence in keeping of the
law. We are very much motivated by duty and not by gratitude for what Christ
has done; it never touches our heart. Why do I say so? If you like the musical
the “Sound of Music”, you would have come across this stanza sung by the
lead characters ruminating their good fortune of meeting each other.
“Nothing comes from nothing, Nothing ever could. So somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good.”
In just the past week, I heard such sentiment expressed by a bride in a
church wedding in the face of the bridegroom! In other words, God is pleased to
reward you based on your good works; there is something good enough in us. But
the Scripture speaks of salvation and all of life as being the result of the
Grace of God as given in Eph 2:8-10. There is nothing we can do to merit God’s
goodness—our righteousness are filthy rags. I think Martin Luther was on the
same page based on his writing in “The Freedom of a Christian” as
alluded to earlier. This quote[5]
would perhaps offend you and if so, perhaps you have not tasted the power of
the Gospel! Read on.
“He said the good news he had found was like the story of a wealthy king
(representing Jesus) who marries a debt-ridden prostitute (representing one who
trusts him). The girl could never make herself a queen. But then the king comes
along, full of love for her. And on their wedding day he makes his marriage vow
to her. With that, she is his, and the prostitute becomes a queen. He takes and
bears all her debts, and she now shares his boundless wealth and status.
It is not that she earned it. She didn’t become a queen by behaving
royally. Indeed, she doesn’t know how to behave royally. But when the king made
his marriage promise, he changed her status. Despite all her backstreet ways,
the poor girl is now a queen.”
Luther is clear, we are bereft of any goodness. Negative! We are like the
debt-ridden prostitute in his imagery of the wonder of the Gospel having seen
the beauty of the Bridegroom, our Lord Jesus. Only when you see that in your
heart, will you sing like John Newton.
“Our pleasure and our duty, though opposite before; Since we have seen
his beauty, are joined to part no more: It is our highest pleasure, no less
than duty’s call: To love him beyond measure and Serve him with our all.”
John Newton
And if you do, the Gospel would have triggered you, like it did to
Martin Luther! Then you are ready to
carry the torch of Reformation. Amen.
[1] Can also be translated as “The one
who by faith is righteous shall live”.
[4] https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/reformation-rescued-the-gospel/
[5] https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/3-things-every-christian-should-know-about-the-reformation/
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