Remembering October 31, 1517
Our nation celebrates and mourns the days that shape our national character. We remember sorrowful days like December 7th, 1941 or September 11, 2001, and joyful days like July 4th, 1776. The danger of forgetting is serious. The more we are separated from our past, either by "new history" or a careless obsession with the present, the more we lose our identity as a nation.
This article is not about losing our national identity through reinterpretations of the past or through the growing academic hatred for America's history and heroes, as serious as that may be. My concern regards the lost identity of the evangelical church in forgetting the Reformation.
On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther, a devout Augustinian monk, nailed his Ninety-five Theses to the church door at Wittenberg, Germany. Luther was still Roman Catholic, but his responsibility for teaching the Bible at the University made him aware that something was terribly wrong with the church. The more he studied the Scriptures the greater the dissonance he felt between Catholicism and Christianity.
What Luther discovered that initiated the protestant movement has been summarized by the five solas, the five Latin mottos of the Reformation. I would ask all my evangelical readers to consider, "Have we forgotten these truths?"
"Sola Scriptura" means Scripture alone has the authority to bind a person's conscience. All ideas, traditions, creeds, councils, and practices must be judged by the authoritative Word of God. This is the basic presupposition of all protestant doctrine.
"Solus Christus" reminds us that Christ alone is Savior. Man's sinful condition renders him condemned and guilty before God's law. By Christ's death and resurrection, He accomplished all that is necessary for salvation, and there is no salvation apart from trusting Christ alone.
"Sola Gratia" means grace alone is our only hope for salvation. Our sinful and rebellious inclinations against God pollute our thoughts, emotions, and will. We are spiritually dead and incapable of any actions that could gain justification or acceptance before God. Only the undeserved goodness of God communicated through the gospel opens the door of reconciliation.
"Sola Fide" expresses the wonderful truth of justification by faith alone. Justification is the act of God whereby He declares the sinner righteous on the basis of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Luther called this doctrine "the article by which the church stands or falls." When the gospel is explained, the Spirit of God convinces sinners of the truth. Only by trusting in Jesus Christ can a sinful man receive the gift of eternal life.
Finally, "Soli Deo Gloria" teaches us that the purpose of God's saving grace extended to guilty sinners through faith alone in Christ alone is for God's glory alone. This becomes the life focus of the true Christian. The gospel shows us that we exist to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.
Evangelical churches share this common heritage of doctrine; but sadly our pulpits and pews have shaken off the beautiful Reformation garment in favor of trendy and more novel pursuits. Reformation Sunday, the last Sunday of October, arrives and departs scarcely noticed, and the doctrinal intelligence of the church ebbs away, replaced by the shallow "pop" gospel of the religious market with no Reformation roots.
The five solas remind us that we live in God's universe; a moral universe where God, the Creator, is absolute and man, the creature, is dependant and accountable. Perhaps if the church would remember, study, preach, and live the gospel heritage passed on to us as heirs of the Reformation, then the conscience of our national life would be pricked to recall the transcendent truths that birthed a free nation.