Better Things To Think

About!

Rev Rodney A Gray

 (Themes from the Reformation)

To the shame of many who call themselves Christians, the only thing they know about
October 31 is that it is Halloween. Not only that, they believe it is an unforgivable injustice to
children if they are deprived of the full enjoyment and experience of it. They spend money, dress
their children up in freakish costumes, scare them with devils, witches and monsters, and fill
them up with candy, all in the name of good parenting. People get involved in Halloween home
decorating contests with their neighbors, much as they do for Christmas. Doubtless these same
Christians would say they are concerned about children. They want to protect their children from
harmful influences and dangerous situations. Yet they have a holiday that is dedicated to death,
demons, destruction, witchcraft, fear, and unspeakable violence of every kind. Some of their
homes and front yards betray the fact when they are strewn with symbols of death and mutilated
human bodies. In front of one home a figure of the grim reaper stood over a row of three
crosses.

To say that Halloween is the devil’s holiday is no joke. It celebrates what the devil loves
to use to keep people in spiritual darkness. He is the prince of darkness, and what the devil loves,
if he is capable of loving anything, God hates. This is a serious problem for Christians. It puts
them in the middle of a contradiction and demonstrates the worst hypocrisy. On the one hand
they supposedly believe, and want their children to believe, that Jesus Christ came into the world
to destroy the devil’s work (I John 3:8). They know that the Bible identifies the devil as a liar, a
destroyer, and a murderer from the beginning. Every form of fear, evil, and suffering that exists
in the world today is the result of the activity of Satan. On the other hand, they deliberately give
the impression that the devil and everything associated with him can be lots of fun if they just
create the right conditions.

God’s expectation for his people can best be summed up in the words of Philippians
4:8,9.”Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about
such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me – put it into
practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” My purpose in these pages is to give you some
better things to think about. Many Christians do not know or care about anything that happened
before their lifetime, let alone events that took place 500 years ago. Many are not even aware
that there was such a thing as the Reformation. It is all but impossible to persuade them that it
was an event that is far more important to them today than whether their children go trick or
treating.

By the time of the sixteenth century in Europe, the feast of All Saints’ Day on November 1 had
long been a Roman Catholic observance. In England it was known as All Hallows, and the night
before the feast was All Hallows Eve, from which has come “Halloween.” Catholicism
celebrated all “the saints” in keeping with its other superstitious ideas about how people became
saints. It had nothing to do with what is associated with Halloween today. But it was on that
evening, October 31, 1517, that a thirty-something preacher and theologian posted a list of
ninety-five statements on the church door in Wittenburg, Germany. They were propositions he
believed God had taught him in Scripture, and he wanted to talk about them. This is what is
usually considered the beginning of the Reformation. It became a mighty movement that turned
on the lights all over Europe and Great Britain.

Luther lived in a world in which Roman Catholicism had been dominant for a thousand years.
Only one out of fifty people could read or write during the Middle Ages. Even powerful political
leaders were often uneducated and had to depend on bishops and priests for help. The result was
rampant superstition and idolatry. Priests and bishops wielded power not just in religious matters
but even in the social and political world. When the dawn of the Reformation broke across the
continent of Europe, it dispelled much darkness and superstition and gave countless people the
first opportunity they ever had to understand the gospel. Can anything be more ironic than using
the same day to celebrate the darkness that the Reformation set about to remove?
1. “Soli Deo Gloria”
(Glory To God Alone)

One of the things the reformers were concerned about was that the glory of God was being
overshadowed by the ideas and practices of men. Nothing was more powerful in convincing
Luther of this trend than his visit to Rome. Construction on the church of Saint Peter’s had begun
a few years earlier at great expense. It took over one hundred years to complete and it stands
today as a monument to its stupendous price tag. This all came home to Martin Luther in a
concrete way when he discovered that indulgences were being sold to the people in his own town
for the express purpose of paying for this project. The pope and the upper echelons of Catholic
power were the embodiment of greed for wealth and luxury. It was largely the indulgence
practice that ignited in Martin Luther the conviction that he had to take action.

But what is an indulgence? An indulgence is based on the notion that even though you confess
your sins to a priest and he grants you forgiveness, your sins still must be punished in some way
either in this life or in purgatory. Purgatory is for the temporal, not the eternal, punishment of
sins for those who die in a state of grace. Catholicism makes the distinction between mortal and
venial sins. If you die with an unconfessed mortal sin, you are finished. You go straight to hell
for eternity. Venial sins are the common ones. Purgatory is where you pay your debt for
unforgiven venial sins and suffer the punishment still coming to you for the forgiven ones. An
indulgence is like a parole. It reduces the time you have to serve in purgatory. The amount of
time by which the sentence is reduced is determined by the priest on the basis of works of
penance he gives you to do.

Another important doctrine in the Catholic scheme is the so-called treasury of merit. This means
that the priest functions like a banker. People make deposits in his bank, and other people make
withdrawals. The trick is to make sure the deposits keep ahead of the withdrawals. Roman
Catholicism teaches that it is possible to perform good works that can earn salvation and eternal
life. In the case of some people, they have more good works to their credit than they need. They
have built up a surplus, and that surplus of good works is deposited in the “church’s treasury” to
be dispensed to those who come up short. This treasury includes the good works of Christ, but
also of Mary and all the “saints.” This is how certain people achieve “sainthood” in the Roman
Catholic system. They have performed works of “supererogation.” These are works that are
above and beyond the call of duty. It means they have done more than God required of them.
These are not simply good works in contrast to bad works, but better works in contrast to good
works. The priest has the power of administering this treasury of merit. He can dole out the merit
of those who had too much to those who don’t have enough, in exchange for prayers and good
works that the priest assigns. In this view, the “communion of the saints” means that Roman
Catholics can not only merit their own salvation, but they can contribute something to the
salvation of others.

These ideas and practices were very deeply entrenched in peoples’ minds by the beginning of the
sixteenth century in Europe. Popes had promised complete indulgences to those who made a
pilgrimage to Jerusalem or joined the crusades. Partial indulgences were being granted in
exchange for almost anything else that would increase peoples’ dependency on the Roman
Catholic authority. Technically they were not supposed to be sold for money, but in Luther’s day
it was an open and common practice. People were promised that as soon as their money rattled in
the collection box, the soul of their loved one would fly out of purgatory. The pope in Rome and
his colleagues thought they were completely justified in these practices, because in their view it
was God’s purpose to exalt these Roman Catholic institutions in the world. Who was Martin
Luther or anyone else to challenge them? They were building for the glory of God. For this
reason they believed that the external pomp and splendor of ecclesiastical institutions were
completely warranted. Martin Luther’s protest against all this was motivated by his conviction
that the glory of God was not being promoted, but rather shrouded in darkness, superstition, and
unbelief. He believed the papal system was exalting man and robbing God of his glory. He was
becoming possessed by the truth of Romans 11:36 – “For from him, and through him, and to him
are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen!”

God is glorious in Creation.

God does everything for his own glory. This is his great end, purpose, and goal for creating all
that exists. It means that the greatest and highest good is not centered on man, but on God
himself. The creation exists for God, not God for the creation. Applied individually, it means that
no one can find true fulfillment in his life unless he finds it in giving glory to God. Applied
institutionally, it means that no human organization is entitled to exalt itself above God. The
Reformation set about to recover and reassert this fundamental truth of Christianity. It is the
nature of the theology of the Reformation to emphasize the supremacy of the glory of God, just
as it is the nature of all false gospels to turn this emphasis upside down. Every departure from
biblical Christianity tends to portray God as a utilitarian God. He is there for us. He can and must
be manipulated to do the things we want him to do for us. Biblical creationism, however,
immediately puts you on notice that God does all things for himself. It is both the premise and
the conclusion of the entire word of God. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the
earth’ (Genesis 1:1).

“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all
things, and by your will they were created and have their being” (Revelation 4:11).

It is the theme of spiritual and true worship, the sum and substance of the songs of praise that
God’s people love to sing.

“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the
heavens. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which
you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for
him?” (Psalm 8:1,3,4).

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Psalm 19:1).
“Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth” (Psalm 57:5,11;
108:5).

The Reformation called in question the tendency of human institutions, even in the name of
Christianity, to eclipse God’s glory in the creation.

God is glorious in Providence.

This means that the Creator provides for what he created. He preserves all his creatures. The
creation continues to exist by virtue of the ongoing exertion of his almighty power. It cannot
exist apart from its Creator. He is actively involved in everything that comes to pass. He directs
everything to its appointed end. He is the God who works all things according to the counsel of
his own will (Ephesians 1:11). The doctrine of divine providence is rooted and grounded in the
character of God, and the Scriptures bear witness to it in a variety of expressions.

“The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all”(Psalm 103:19).

“Why do the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’ Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases
him” (Psalm 115:2,3).

“All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be “ (Psalm
139:16).

“The Lord works everything for his own ends, even the wicked for the day of disaster” (Proverbs
16:4).

Everything in the physical world, the so-called world of nature, is under God’s sovereign control
(Psalm 65:9-13; 104; 135:5-7). The affairs of nations and empires fulfill his sovereign will
(Psalm 22:28; Acts 17:24-26). It is God who brings one man down and raises another man up
(Psalm 75:6,7). God is not absent, distant, or removed from what he has created. He has not
abandoned it to take care of itself. He is the God who is “infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in
his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.” He continues to uphold,
preserve and direct everything in keeping with his own character and purpose (Isaiah 40:21-26).

“I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all
these things” (Isaiah 45:7).

“His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. All
the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven
and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: ‘What have you
done?’” (Daniel 4:34,35).
It is not that Roman Catholicism overtly denied the providence of God, or that God is glorious in
his providential care of his creation. They would admit that God was in control of things in a
general way, but they insisted that God had left it up to the bishops and priests to take care of the
details. Man has a free will to do the good, but he needs the Roman church to tell him what is the
good.

God is glorious in Salvation.

Many continue to stumble over this biblical theme, even though they profess their indebtedness
to Reformation doctrine. The Reformation set about to declare once again that salvation is of the
Lord. Catholic dogma, tradition, and practice had detracted from this truth more than anything
else. Martin Luther found peace with God only when he came to understand that salvation is
entirely the work of God. He realized that any other view amounts to a denial of the glory that
belongs to God alone. Romanism had promoted the idea that salvation can be purchased or
merited by the sinner. The Reformation asserted once again the biblical truth that God’s grace in
salvation is sovereign, free, and unmerited. The gospel plan is not pay-as-you-go, but “by grace
you are saved.”

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift
of God – not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8,9).

The doctrine of Rome had convinced many that the grace of God is infused into people by way
of infant baptism and the other so-called sacraments. God’s grace was therefore under the control
of the priest, and the only way to receive it was through the priest’s dispensing it to you through
the sacraments. Salvation was based on something God did in you rather than on something that
God did outside of you. The Catholic view of justification is not based upon the imputation of
the righteousness of God that the sinner receives by faith. It is based on the infusion of grace that
becomes the sinner’s own and makes it possible for him to do the works that will move him in
the direction of salvation. The reformation was an effort to recover the biblical gospel. The
gospel plan of salvation is that God declares the sinner to be righteous in his sight by crediting to
him the righteousness of Christ, and charging his sins to Christ as the sin-bearer (Romans
1:16,17). It is in the biblical gospel that the glory of God’s grace receives its highest praise and
leaves the sinner nothing in which to boast. God’s method of salvation is “to the praise of his
glorious grace” (Ephesians 1). The biblical gospel declares that “the zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this” (Isaiah 9:6,7). The work of salvation is all “for the display of his splendor”
(Isaiah 60:21; 61:3). In anticipation of his completion of the work the Father had given him to
do, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him” (John 13:31). In
his prayer to the Father he said, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you
gave me to do” (John 17:4). God is glorious in salvation, because the ultimate goal of man’s
salvation is the glory of God.

“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the
earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”
(Philippians 2:9-11).

2. “Sola Scriptura”
(Scripture Alone)

Christians believe that the Bible alone is the word of God. Because of that, we say that Scripture
is our only authority for faith and practice. We appeal to nothing else – not to tradition, church
councils, priests, pastors, emotions, or experience – not even to the accumulated wisdom and
knowledge that men claim to have discovered apart from Scripture. The word of God gives us
our guidance for how to live. It tells us everything we need to know about God and ourselves. It
tells us what is wrong and how to put it right. It teaches us how to work, how to be good citizens,
how to marry and raise children, and how to be good stewards of the resources God has given us.
In fact,
“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge
of him who called us by his own glory and goodness” (II Peter 1:3).

The Reformation theme of “sola scriptura” is one to which true Bible-believing Christians are
committed. A lack of commitment to the word of God casts serious doubt on anyone who claims
to be a Christian. The reformers understood that God has spoken and he has not kept from us
anything we need to become holy and happy people. The scene in Martin Luther’s life when he
was called upon to renounce his beliefs says it all. “My conscience is captive to the word of God.
Here I stand, I can do no other.”

The Bible is a revealed book.

When it comes to the Bible, what matters most is not education, information, sophistication, or
communication, but revelation. Revelation is God making known to us what we could not
otherwise know. The Bible exists, not because men have studied God and recorded their findings.
In revelation, God has spoken. In revelation, God was active, not passive. God has made it
possible for us to know him because he has revealed himself. Were it not for God’s revelation of
himself, he could not be known. Moses said,
“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our
children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29).

In other words, there are things that God has revealed, and things he has not revealed. The
revealed things can be known because God has revealed them, and they could not be known any
other way. The prophets all bore witness to this when they prefaced their remarks with, “This is
what the Lord says.” They spoke because God spoke to them. Daniel’s ability to explain
Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was not due to superior wisdom on his part, but because God revealed
it to him (Daniel 2).
Paul, the apostle of Jesus Christ, was aware that the message he preached was a divinely revealed
message. He knew that, without it, he would have nothing to say. The wisdom and power of the
gospel was from “God [who] has revealed it to us by his Spirit”
(I Corinthians 2:8-10). He assured the Galatians that the gospel he preached was the gospel he
received “by revelation from Jesus Christ” (Galatians 1:11,12). It was the same revealed gospel
he preached to the Ephesians (Ephesians 3:2-5).

Weak and distorted views of revelation are the cause of endless mistakes in the beliefs and
behavior of many who say they are committed to the Bible as the word of God. Revelation is not
intuition. Revelation is not an impression. Revelation is not insight. Revelation is not
illumination. It is all too common for people to think that revelation is a journey of discovery that
leads them to an ever-developing understanding of God. But revelation happens from God’s end,
not ours. Revelation is an act of God. But it is an act of God that results in a product. That
product is the Bible, God’s revealed word. It is not sufficient to say that the Bible records
instances when God gave revelation. The Bible itself is that revelation. For this reason the Bible
is not subject to addition, subtraction, or correction. The Bible, because it is the revealed word of
God, is what gives us a correct, accurate, truthful, and authoritative view of God, the world,
ourselves, and everything else.

The Bible is an inspired book.

The apostle Paul wrote, “All Scripture is God-breathed, or given by inspiration of God” (II
Timothy 3:16). This means that the writings, called “Scripture,” have their source in God. They
came from God. Therefore, when Scripture speaks, God speaks. In Acts 4:24,25, when the
believers quoted the words of Scripture in Psalm 2:1,2, they said that God spoke by the Holy
Spirit through the mouth of his servant, David. But inspiration also means that when God speaks,
Scripture speaks. In Galatians 3:8 Paul referred to God’s word of promise to Abraham recorded
in Genesis 12:1-3. Even though it was the Lord who spoke, Paul said that the Scripture spoke.
The apostle Peter said that “men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit”
(II Peter 1:21). What they wrote came from God, and they were supernaturally guided when they
wrote it down. Inspiration means that the Bible is a supernatural book. The Holy Spirit saw to it
that human writers expressed divine thoughts.

It is important to remember that, while all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, all Scripture
is not necessarily given by revelation of God. Many things contained in Scripture can be known
apart from revelation, whether by personal observation, general knowledge, or historical records.
Special revelation from God was not necessary for eyewitnesses to know that the Babylonians
were sacking Jerusalem. But the meaning of it all could not be known apart from the revelation
of God. The same goes for, say, the crossing of the Red Sea or the life of Joseph. However,
inspiration applies to the whole of Scripture, and to every word of it. This is why the Bible is the
written word of God. Nothing else can compare with it, compete with it, or contradict it. It needs
nothing to complete it, because it is complete.

The reformers took their stand against the Roman Catholic doctrine that tradition is equally or
even more authoritative. The claim was that, along with the Scriptures, church traditions had to
be received with “equal affection, piety, and reverence.” Furthermore, the Roman church
claimed the sole authority to interpret the Bible. Their position was that no one shall “presume to
interpret [the Scriptures] contrary to that sense which holy mother Church, to whom it belongs to
judge of their true sense and interpretation, has held and holds, or even contrary to the
unanimous teaching of the Fathers.”

Jesus said, “The Scripture cannot be broken” (John10:35). Yet many who say they are Bible-
believing Christians have no convictions about the true nature of the word of God. For that
reason they are easily impressed with the claims of worldly wisdom. Many have been willing to
accept the falsehood that new things have come to light that can supplement or complete the
picture the Bible simply cannot provide. They may smile and pat you on the head if you still hold
to these quaint, old fashioned ideas about the Bible, but pity you because you have not seen the
full light of day. We may judge the Jehovah’s Witness for his “fresh” interpretation of the Bible,
and the Mormon for his additional revelation, but we expose ourselves to the same judgment
when we ignore revelation and inspiration.
The Bible is an authoritative book.

This became one of the central themes of Reformation teaching precisely because the reformers
understood that the authority of Scripture had been set aside in favor of the traditions and
teachings of men. Doctrines not found in the Bible, and contradictory to the Bible, had crept in
and become widely accepted. People no longer believed that it was possible to trust the Bible
alone as the sufficient guide for life and living. They turned aside from it because they had
become increasingly ignorant of it. They were willing to trust the professional priesthood to tell
them what to believe and how to behave.

The authority of the Bible is rooted in revelation and inspiration. “Your word, O Lord, is eternal;
it stands firm in the heavens” (Psalm 119:89). For those who believe in the revelation and
inspiration of the Bible, the authority of the Bible is self-evident. No one has to tell you that a
book that comes from God comes with absolute authority. You recognize in it your manual for
life and living and readily say, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path” (Psalm
119:105). If the Bible is the word of God, it is the authoritative word of God. It is not one
authority among many, but the only one. Its account of the beginning of the universe is the only
true one. Its perspective on the nature of reality is the only trustworthy one. Its explanation of the
history of mankind is the only reliable one. Its revelation of the origin and nature of man, the
human condition and how to improve it is the only valid one. Its guidelines about goodness,
truth, happiness, values, ethics, and morals are the only safe ones. And the Bible’s answer to
man’s most fundamental problem is the only one that has ever worked, and it works every time it
is tried. The reformers were intent on re-asserting the sole authority of the Bible. For them it was
not one authority to consult along with the popes, the church, the councils, and tradition. It was
not even the highest authority among them, but the only authority over them. The reformers did
not always live up to their own standard, as is the case with most men. They could not have done
so and still held, for example, to some of their views about the nature of the church and
ordinances or the role of magistrates. Nor could they have suppressed and persecuted the
Anabaptists who differed with them about these issues. But at least this was a cornerstone of
their understanding of Christianity. The Bible alone is the word of God.
The Bible is a practical book.

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in
righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (II
Timothy 3:16,17).

Timothy had been brought up on the Bible from his infancy. His mother and grandmother, armed
only with the holy Scriptures, had produced this man about whom Paul reported, “I have no one
else like him” (Philippians 2:20). How did they do it? All they had was the Old Testament Bible.
But they knew that what they had was revealed, inspired, and authoritative. Therefore, it had to
be practical, and they learned how to use it to raise Timothy for God. All Scripture is given by
inspiration of God, and is therefore profitable, useful, or valuable. How can we devalue the
usefulness of Scripture if we believe in revelation and inspiration? The psalmist said, “I have
hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11). How can we
distrust Scripture as if we need something more? The reformers wanted to give the Bible to the
people. They trusted the Bible with the people and the people with the Bible. It was no
coincidence that the Reformation produced great efforts to translate the Bible into the spoken
languages of their generation.

The reformers wanted people to know that the Bible is sufficient, and that they need not entrust
their lives to popes, bishops, priests, and sacraments. God has invested the Bible with life-
transforming power. It will accomplish the purpose for which God has given it (Isaiah 55:11).

“For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates
even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the
heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

It is “through the living and enduring word of God” that men are born again (I Peter 1:23). God
uses the Bible to bring men to faith, repentance, and life. It can teach, rebuke, correct, and train.
It can thoroughly equip a person for all of life. More than that, the Bible, and the Bible alone, can
prepare a person for the life to come. It explains how the lost can be saved. It tells how enemies
of God can be reconciled to him. It reveals how men can be brought from death to life. The
reformers believed that all people really need is the word of God, because they knew that the
Bible points them to Jesus Christ. They knew that all the Scriptures testify of Christ, that with
Christ they had everything, and that without Christ they had nothing.

3. “Sola Gratia”
(Grace Alone)

Reformation theology makes much of the fact that salvation is by grace alone, through faith
alone, in Christ alone. The reformers sought to exalt the grace of God in salvation. They were not
merely interested in abstract ideas. They had a pastoral concern for people who needed to know
how sinners are saved. The doctrines of grace were the mainstay of their ministries. They
brought renewed emphasis to the fact that the grace of God is the operative principle in every
aspect of God’s method of salvation.

By grace alone God arranged salvation.

In Ephesians 1:3-14, the Bible teaches us that everything God does is for the purpose of putting
on display the glory of his grace. He chose us in Christ before the creation of the world, to be
holy and blameless in his sight. He saved us “because of his own purpose and grace. This grace
was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time” (II Timothy 1:9). This means that the
creation serves the purpose of redemption, and not the reverse. God in sovereign grace made it
his purpose to create man, to permit him to become a sinner, and to glorify his grace by working
out a way by which sinners could be saved. Salvation in its arrangement is all of grace, and grace
alone. God’s purpose to save his people is not based in any way on anything man may do. People
contribute nothing to their salvation. It has all been arranged before the creation of the world
according to God’s will.

This means that in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, to the praise of the
glory of his grace. The heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array, to the praise
of the glory of his grace. God created man in his own image and according to his likeness – male
and female – to the praise of the glory of his grace. The temptation, the fall, the enmity between
the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, the banishment from the garden, and all
subsequent human history were to the praise of the glory of God’s grace. Noah and his family
were spared when the world was destroyed in the flood, to the praise of the glory of God’s grace.
The Lord God dispersed the people from Babel all over the earth, because salvation was to
extend to the ends of the earth, to the praise of the glory of his grace. The calling of Abraham and
the lives of the patriarchs, their entrance into Egypt and eventual enslavement there, the
deliverance under Moses, and the preservation of Israel down to the coming of Christ, all were
for the praise of the glory of God’s grace. It was because God had a plan, and in the arrangement
of that plan he made everything serve the purpose of bringing that plan to fulfillment. The story
of the Bible is the story of God’s grace, predestinating grace, grace that ordains “all things,
whatsoever comes to pass,” grace that works all things according to the counsel of his own will.
“Grace first contrived a way to save rebellious man, and all the steps that grace display which
drew the wondrous plan” (Philip Doddridge).

By grace alone God accomplished salvation.

God’s way of salvation is the way of grace, not only in its arrangement, but also in its
accomplishment. “’Twas grace that wrote my name in life’s eternal book; ‘twas grace that gave
me to the Lamb, who all my sorrows took” (Augustus Toplady). Salvation is accomplished in
such a way that the sinner has no grounds for boasting. It is accomplished completely by the
finished work of Christ. Salvation is entirely and exclusively the work of Jesus Christ. In God’s
way of salvation the sinner is left with nothing to do but submit to the lordship of Christ and be
saved by him, in his own way, on his own terms.

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the
riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding” (Ephesians
1:7,8).

The Roman Catholic view did not emphasize grace as God’s unmerited favor to sinners. It
taught rather that grace is created inwardly in the sinner through receiving the sacraments, and
that this infused grace enables the sinner to perform good works that earn merit with God.
Salvation was not accomplished solely by Christ, but with the merits of man’s good works added
on. John Calvin called this “a half kind of grace” in his commentary on Romans. The reformers
saw that if a man is saved “by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no
longer be grace” (Romans 11:6). In Romans 3:21-26, the apostle Paul explained that God’s way
of salvation is the way of righteousness, because in Christ God provides a perfect righteousness
that he is willing to credit to the sinner. It is the way of faith, because this righteousness can only
be received by faith. It is the way of redemption, because Christ purchased sinners for God
through his death. It is the way of propitiation, because God set forth Christ as a sin-bearer to
turn away his wrath from the sinner. But central to all this is that God’s way of salvation is the
way of grace, because the sinner contributes nothing to it. The apostles and elders in Jerusalem
declared, “We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they
are” (Acts 15:11). This is why the gospel is “the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). It is
pure grace that takes control of all who are in Christ (Romans 5:15-17,20,21). The reformers
believed with the apostle Paul that Christians are called solely “by the grace of Christ” (Galatians
1:6).

By grace alone God applies salvation.

When it comes to the application of God’s grace in salvation to the individual sinner, the doctrine
of Rome is that people are born again through the sacrament of infant baptism administered by
the priest. The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, formulated as a counter measure to
the Reformation, declared that the sacraments actually contain the grace they signify, and that
they do infallibly convey that grace to the recipient. In other words, infant baptism actually
makes the infant “born again.” The reformers saw that grace that can be managed and
manipulated by the priest, that can be channeled through the sacraments, and that thereby enables
the sinner to maintain himself in a state of salvation if he will, is no grace at all. They
remembered what Jesus was talking about when he explained to Nicodemus that the new birth is
the work of the sovereign Spirit of God (John 3:1-8). Those who belong to Christ have been
brought under the control of the Holy Spirit. Not only so, they are indwelt by the Spirit. They no
longer live under the reign of sin, death, and the law, but under the reign of grace. The
application of the gospel plan of salvation accomplished by Christ is the work of the almighty
Spirit of God. The reformers insisted that it is grace that opens the heart, transforms the life,
renews the mind, subdues the will, captures the affections, gives sight to blind eyes, and makes
deaf ears to hear. God’s grace in the application of salvation includes faith, and therefore
requires a conscious commitment of faith on the part of the believer (Ephesians 2:8,9). This
grace also includes repentance, a change of mind resulting in a change of life (Acts 11:18). Faith
and repentance result in people being converted, or turning to the Lord (Acts 3:19; 11:21). They
did so because they were ordained to eternal life (Acts 13:48). They were sheep who had been
given by God the Father to God the Son, and so they came to personal faith in Christ (John 6:37).
This is the work of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of grace.

“He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved
us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us
generously through Jesus Christ our Savior…so that those who have trusted in God may be
careful to devote themselves to doing what is good” (Titus 3:4-8).

“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your
salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit”
(Ephesians 1:13).
4. “Sola Fide”
(Faith Alone)

God’s way of salvation is the way of faith. The message of the Bible is, “by grace you have been
saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that
no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8,9). There is one salvation, one Savior, one righteousness from
God, and only one way to be saved. God’s way is not the best way; it is the only way, and it is
the way of faith. If there is a faith that saves, we should be interested in knowing this faith.
Many who think they are saved have never known or understood saving faith. Many have been
baptized and become members of churches, only to discover that they never had true, saving
faith. When the light of the Reformation dawned over Europe five hundred years ago, this was
the condition of multitudes under the influence of Roman Catholicism. The nature of saving faith
had become a fading memory.
By faith alone we believe the word of God.

Too often, people are working with definitions of things that are not according to the Bible. They
fail to realize that they cannot understand the word of God unless they understand the words of
God. “Faith” is a case in point. Sometimes faith is treated as simple-mindedness or ignorance.
Faith is for people who don’t know any better. Faith is for the intellectually blind and gullible.
Faith is for people who are uneducated, uninformed, and unsophisticated. Faith means that they
just accept things without thought or understanding. Sometimes faith means believing something
against the evidence. All the facts point you to one conclusion, but by faith you believe the
opposite. Your favorite team has lost every game all season, but you “have faith” that they will
win.

But Scripture uses words like “substance” and “evidence” to explain faith. “Now faith is being
sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). We can be sure of it
because it has “substance.” Faith is the substance of things hoped for, in the sense that those
things are not imaginary but real. They are the foundation or the substructure of faith. Faith,
therefore, is being certain of what we do not see. Biblical faith is not blind trust, wishful
thinking, or hoping for the best. Faith is the proof or conviction of things not seen. All of this
tells us that faith can never have itself for an object. Christians are not simply “people of faith.”
We do not have faith in faith. We do not have faith in ourselves. Biblical faith is what it is
because by faith we look away from ourselves to God. Biblical, saving faith is grounded in God
and his word.

Faith is therefore a relational word. It is the link that connects you to somebody else. The Bible
always urges people to have faith in God and in Christ. Faith is being sure and certain because it
is centered on Christ. Its foundation is not ignorance, but the knowledge of him who has called
us. Faith is not merely hoping everything will turn out all right. Faith is trusting completely the
God who works out everything according to the counsel of his own will. It is by faith that we
come to be in a right relationship with God – a relationship of trust, submission, and obedience.
The Reformation was as attempt to recover this biblical idea of faith, especially as it relates to
the salvation of the soul. God’s method of salvation is the method of faith – believing God and
taking him at his word. It is in no sense by way of works, lest any man should boast. Faith is the
gift of God. It is not something the natural man has in stock, so that the appeal of the gospel is to
persuade people to focus the faith they already possess on the right things. No one has saving
faith as a natural endowment. It must be given by God.

By faith alone we trust in Jesus Christ.

The Lord Jesus spoke with great clarity about the absolute necessity of believing in him for
salvation (John 3:15-18). He is the only one sent by the Father and authorized by him to save
sinners. Believing in him results in eternal life. Disbelieving him leaves you under the
condemnation of God. Salvation is found in no one else (Acts 4:12). “Believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). “God presented him as a propitiation through faith
in his blood” so that God can “be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus”
(Romans 3:25,26).

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now
stand” (Romans 5:1,2).

The apostle Paul said that the proclamation of the gospel is “the word of faith” because it
demands a response of faith in the one who is set forth in the gospel.

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised
him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified,
and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved” (Romans 10:8-10).

Faith includes knowledge and understanding, but knowledge and understanding in themselves do
not amount to saving faith. Those who know God’s righteous decree still do those things that are
deserving of death (Romans 1:32). Even the devils have some kind of faith (James 2:19). At the
same time, faith is not a substitute for knowledge and understanding. Faith is believing the
claims and trusting the merits of Jesus Christ, which can be known and understood.

Saving faith also includes agreement with or approval of the facts announced in the gospel. Faith
sees the facts and agrees that they are true. But agreement, assent, and approval alone do not
count for biblical faith. Nicodemus could not deny the facts, but he was not saved (John 3:2).
From what the apostle observed, it appears that King Agrippa was of a similar mind, but he was
not a Christian (Acts 26:27,28). There are many who have no argument with the facts about
Jesus Christ, and who think they are saved because of this alone.

Saving faith is personal trust in Jesus Christ for salvation – trust in him exclusively, and trust in
him entirely. Sinners are not saved because they believe in Christ like they believe the facts
about geography or mathematics. Such “belief” requires no personal commitment, no
renunciation of self-trust, and no complete dependence on someone else. The faith that saves is a
complete resignation of ourselves to Jesus Christ. It is trusting his person and work to do for us
what it is impossible for us to do for ourselves. Saving faith is the soul’s coming to Christ (John
6:35), receiving Christ (Colossians 2:6), laying hold on Christ (Hebrews 6:18), committing itself
to Christ (II Timothy 1:12).

By faith alone we receive God’s righteousness.

The gospel is the revelation of a righteousness from God for sinners who have none. That is why
the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Romans 1:16,17). The
great controversy that God has with men is over the issue of righteousness. Without it we cannot
be saved. The doctrine of justification by faith is the heart and soul of the gospel, because it
declares that God has designed a way to declare the sinner to be righteous in his sight by
crediting the righteousness of Christ to him. But the only means by which this transaction can
take place is by faith alone. God’s righteousness cannot be earned, merited, or deserved. It is
received by faith in Jesus Christ. The only works that have merit in God’s method of salvation
are the works of Jesus Christ. The sinner’s works count for nothing. In fact, mixing works with
faith cancels out faith and gives the sinner grounds for boasting. Therefore, “In him and through
faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence” (Ephesians 3:12). Justification
is through faith (Romans 5:1,2). What the apostle Paul taught, he also believed. All his legalistic
righteousness was a liability, not an asset. His standing with God depended entirely on “the
righteousness that comes from God and is by faith” (Philippians 3:4-9).

The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent teach that God’s righteousness is imparted to
the sinner through the sacrament and the sinner is thereby enabled to produce works that merit
salvation. The result is that justification is based on faith plus works. Even though these works
are said to be spiritual works, religious works, works of piety or something else, they are works
that contribute to the sinner’s earning favor with God. This amounts to a non-Christian,
unbiblical distortion of the gospel of grace. It takes the salvation of the sinner out of the hands of
Christ and places it in the hands of the sinner. In the end, it tries to rob Christ of his glory, and it
likely robs the sinner of his salvation. Be sure that the faith you have is the faith that saves. We
do not say that nothing but faith matters in the Christian life. A justified, regenerated, redeemed
sinner cannot be the same as he once was. Saving faith is a faith that saves. This is why James
could challenge the claim of a faith that produced no appropriate works. “Can such faith save
him?” (James 2:14).

5. “Solus Christus”
(Christ Alone)

We have seen that the Reformation was about the glory of God, especially in the work of
salvation. The salvation of sinners is for the praise of the glory of God’s grace. The Reformation
was also about the Bible. The Bible alone is the word of God and therefore the only authority in
matters of belief and behavior. The Reformation theologians and pastors insisted on a high view
of Scripture, and this alone was their source and standard of truth. Everything else had to be
examined and judged in the light of Scripture. It was in the Bible that they rediscovered the
gospel of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

Sinners are saved by Christ alone because he died as a real substitute for sinners.
The doctrine of the substitutionary atonement of Christ lies at the heart of Christianity. It defines
the nature and purpose of the death Christ died. When the gospel proclaims that “Christ died for
our sins according to the Scriptures” (I Corinthians 15:3), it means that he died in the place of the
sinner. He died as the sin bearer. “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
What the gospel announces is good news because it is describing a real substitution. It is the
substitution of “the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God” (I Peter 3:18).

The gospel proclaims Christ as a real substitute, not a potential, possible, or theoretical one. A
better word to explain it is the word “vicarious.” Many people think of Christ’s atonement as
available, but not actual. They believe he died potentially for everyone, but actually for no one.
He is like a substitute teacher, who is available, but only substitutes when called upon. But a
vicarious death is one that really accomplished something for those for whom it was intended.
Jesus actually took the place of certain sinners, made himself a sacrifice for their sins, and
rendered perfect satisfaction to God’s law on their behalf. “He himself bore our sins in his body
on the tree” (I Peter 2:24). “Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people”
(Hebrews 9:28). “The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” and “he bore the sin of many”
(Isaiah 53:6,12).

If in his death on the cross Christ was a real substitute, who offered to God a real sacrifice, and
accomplished a real satisfaction of God’s charges against the sinner, then it is in every sense a
full and complete atonement. Yet Romanism insists on what it considers the repeated sacrifice of
Christ in the mass, by which it claims the priest has the power to transform wafers and wine into
the literal body and blood of Christ. In the mass Christ is brought under the power and control of
the priest who sacrifices him again and again on the altar. The sacrifice of Christ in the mass is
believed to be just as capable of taking away sin as Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. The
Reformation doctrine is that Christ does not have to suffer many times, because “he has appeared
once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Hebrews
9:26).

Sinners are saved by Christ alone because God set him forth as the propitiation for our
sins.
“Propitiation” is another of the great doctrinal terms that has fallen out of favor with God’s
people, many of whom have no memory of what it means. A propitiation is a sacrifice that turns
away the wrath of God, and Christ is that propitiation. “God presented him as a propitiation
through faith in his blood” (Romans 3:25). The doctrine of propitiation is an indispensable
aspect of the atoning death of Jesus Christ, and without it we cannot understand what happened
on the cross of Calvary. In Christ’s death God was not announcing to the world that all is
forgiven and forgotten. Nor was God saying that he loves us anyway despite the fact that we put
his Son to death. The gospel is not preached simply by repeating the untruth that “God loves
you.” What happened on the cross was something that God did about man’s sin. He set forth
Christ as the propitiation to turn his wrath away from the sinner.

The writer of Hebrews used this same word to refer to the “mercy seat,” or the cover on top of
the ark of the covenant. This was an amazing Old Testament picture of the “propitiatory” work of
Christ (Hebrews 9:5). The ark of the covenant contained the manna, Aaron’s rod, and the tables
of the covenant, all reminders of Israel’s sin. But the mercy seat, or atonement cover, covered it
all from the holy presence of God. The blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled there as a token of
propitiation and the wrath of God was turned away. It reminds us that the great issues with which
the gospel is concerned have to do with an offended God. “The wrath of God is being revealed
from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men” (Romans 1:18). God’s wrath
hovers over the disobedient (Ephesians 5:6). Christ, and Christ alone, saves sinners from the
wrath of God (Romans 5:9). When God publicly set forth Christ as the propitiation for our sins,
he was declaring his one and only method for dealing with sin. In other words, it was God’s
action, not man’s, and a full and final atonement for sin was the result. Jesus is the propitiation
for our sins (I John 2:2; 4:10).

Sinners are saved by Christ alone because he is the only redeemer of God’s elect.

We “are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans
3:24). Redemption means that what came freely to the sinner cost Jesus everything. In
redemption, God regards sinners as slaves to sin (Romans 6:6,16,17). It is the business of
redemption to set the captive free. Christ Jesus finds us in the slave market of sin. When he
redeems us, we belong to him. He is the redeemer who actually redeems. “Christ our Redeemer
died on the cross, died for the sinner, paid all his due” (John Foote). Christ’s redemptive work is
not announced in the gospel as a potential or theoretical redemption, much less a partial one.
When God preached the gospel through Isaiah he promised that he would be a Redeemer for his
people (Isaiah 41:14; 43:1,14; 44:6,22-24; 47:4; 48:17,20; 49:7,26; 52:9,10; 54:5,8; 59:20). The
Book of Ruth tells us the story of a redeemer in action and thus provides a dramatic preview of
the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.

Why would we say, or in what sense do we mean, that our redemption cost Jesus everything?
The release from sin, death, and the condemnation of the law that Christ’s redemption
accomplished required the payment of a ransom. Jesus is that ransom price that was paid. He
came “to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). “Our great God and Savior, Jesus
Christ, gave himself for us to redeem us” (Titus 2:14). “Christ is the mediator of a new
covenant…now that he has died as a ransom to set them free” (Hebrews 9:15).

“For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were
redeemed…but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (I Peter
1:18,19).

The Bible insists that sinners can only be “justified freely by his grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus.” The gospel dispels the popular fiction that God has already forgiven
everybody just by saying so, and we must say so, too. In this view, people must learn to forgive
themselves and realize that if God has gotten over the sin problem, we should get over it. But if
sinners can be justified only through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, it is accomplished at a
staggering price.

Sinners are saved by Christ alone because he is the only mediator between God and men.

He is the mediator of the new covenant (Hebrews 8:6; 9:15; 12:24). God has never authorized or
qualified anyone else for this position. “For there is one God and one mediator between God and
men, the man Christ Jesus” (I Timothy 2:5). In another place the apostle said that a mediator
“does not represent just one party” (Galatians 3:20). Christ as the mediator intervenes between
the offending sinner and the offended God in order to accomplish reconciliation.

He stands in our place, as our representative before God (Romans 5:15-21). By his death and
sinless life he merits a perfect righteousness, so that all who trust in him are forever reconciled to
God. This work of reconciliation is the work of Christ alone. Through him sinners are as
reconciled to God as they can ever be and nothing remains to be done about it except to proclaim
it to sinners far and wide. We who have trusted in the finished work of Christ have been
entrusted with the ministry and message of reconciliation. In Christ’s name we preach, “Be
reconciled to God” (II Corinthians 5:18-21).

“For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son,
how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life” (Romans 5:10).

As the only mediator, Jesus “bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors”
(Isaiah 53:12). Not only that, “ he forever lives to make intercession” for us (Hebrews 7:25).

“Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at
the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (Romans 8:34).

But Jesus is the Mediator between God and man. Not only does he establish the sinner in a right
relationship with God, he also establishes God’s interests and requirements in the sinner. As the
Mediator, Christ alone is our prophet, priest, and king. As our prophet, he reveals to us the truth
about God and our relationship to him (Hebrews 1:1,2). As our priest, he continually applies to
us the benefits of his sacrifice and maintains and advances our sanctification (Hebrews 7:25). As
our king, he executes the saving purpose of God in us, establishes God’s kingdom in us, and
defeats the world, the flesh, and the devil in us (I Corinthians 15:25).

Christ as the sole mediator between God and man stands in direct opposition to the Roman
Catholic view that Mary and the saints also possess mediatorial powers. Roman Catholicism had
long since institutionalized the worship of Mary, elevating her to a position of mediatorial
authority greater even than that of Christ. People were taught that Mary was a more sympathetic
mediator. If they prayed to her she could influence Jesus to do for them what he might not
otherwise be willing to do. The use of the so-called “Ave Maria” was well established by the
time of the Reformation, so that people would hardly think of praying the Lord’s Prayer without
reciting “Hail Mary, full of grace…” Martin Luther did not shed all of the trappings of
Romanism all at once. He was not averse to referring to Mary as “Mother of God.” But his
purpose was not to glorify Mary, but to uphold the true deity as well as the true humanity of
Jesus Christ. In his exposition of the song of Mary in Luke 1, Martin Luther said that Mary is not
“a goddess who could grant gifts or render aid, as some suppose when they pray and flee to her
rather than to God. She gives nothing, God gives all…”

Sinners are saved by Christ alone because it is only his righteousness that saves.

The great controversy that God has with sinners is over the matter of righteousness. God is
perfect in righteousness and holiness. Man has neither and is incapable of producing either. No
supposed righteousness of the sinner contributes anything to salvation (Titus 3:5-7). In fact, “All
of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isaiah
64:6). But the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, because in it a righteousness from God
is revealed. “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who
believe” (Romans 3:22). In other words, without a righteousness that God approves, there is no
salvation. The gospel is about a righteousness that God not only approves, but that he even
provides. The apostle Paul preached the righteousness of Christ as the sinner’s only hope, and he
did so as one who knew the experience of finding no hope in any righteousness of his own
(Philippians 3:9). He wanted to “be found in him (Christ).” He knew that Christ is our
righteousness (I Corinthians 1:30) and that “in him we become the righteousness of God” (II
Corinthians 5:21). In fact, all who are joined to Christ by faith “are made righteous” by his
obedience (Romans 5:19). This means that, just as the disobedience of Adam placed all men who
are in him into the category of sinners, so the obedience of Christ places all who are in him into
the category of “righteous.” It is Christ’s righteousness, not ours, that saves.
It is said that after Pope Pius XII died in 1958, his personal physician wrote an article for a Rome
newspaper in which he recounted the pope’s final hours. He described an agonizing scene in
which the pontiff was overcome with fear and dread. He had no certainty about his future. Pope
Pius XII could not die with any assurance that he was a saved man, because he had not lived with
any such assurance. Yet he had held the keys to the kingdom of heaven, claiming to have
received those keys from the apostle Peter. But he could not use those keys to secure his own
salvation. As pope he was supposed to be able to speak infallibly from his papal chair, but he
could not be sure he was saved. He knew that great pomp and ceremony would attend his burial,
but he could not die in peace. As a faithful Catholic, he knew to his dying day that it was a
mortal sin to say, “I am saved.”

This pope, like all others before and after him, presided over a system that has brought countless
millions to their deathbeds in a similar spiritual condition. Faithful Catholics can have no real
assurance about what will happen to them when they die. Five hundred years ago the
Reformation reminded the world that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ
alone. Pope Pius XII, like all faithful Catholics, was entangled in a system that keeps people
from the simplicity of the gospel. It is a system that encourages people to add something to
Christ, or to put something in the place of Christ. It is Christ plus the adoration of and prayers to
Mary and the saints. It is Christ plus the sacrifice of the mass. It is Christ plus confession to a
priest. It is Christ plus the penance ordered by the priest. It is Christ plus indulgences. It is Christ
plus works of piety. And at the end of the day no one really knows if you have added enough
“plusses” to Christ. The Christ of Rome is not sufficient as a Savior. Someone once said that
Rome offers salvation on the installment plan. It is a plan that always leaves the sinner behind on
his payments, never allows him to make the final payment, and inevitably leaves him to die with
an unpaid balance that he then must pay in purgatory. But none of this is according to the gospel.
In fact, it is no gospel at all. It proclaims no good news to the sinner, and it gives no glory to
God. It denies to sinners the only Savior appointed by God. The Reformation has given
Christians better things to think about than witches and goblins, ghosts and devils. But do you
think about these things? What is your response to these Reformation themes? Do they describe a
Christianity that you know anything about? Do you see in them a rich heritage that has come to
you? Do you consider yourself uniquely blessed to know these things? These are the sum and
substance of biblical Christianity. These doctrines explain to us how, when Jesus came, he came
to destroy the works of the devil. Will you build up what Jesus came to destroy?

Prepared for Reformation Sunday, 2000.

Revised for Reformation Sunday, October 31, 2004.
“A mighty fortress is our God,
A bulwark never failing;
Our helper He amid the flood
Of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe
Doth seek to work us wooe –
His craft and pow’r are great,
And, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide

Our striving would be losing,
Were not the right Man on our side,
The Man of God’s own choosing.
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is He –
Lord Sabaoth His name,
From age to age the same –
And he must win the battle.

And tho this world, with devils filled,

Should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed
His truth to triumph thru us.
The prince of darkness grim –
We tremble not for him;
 His rage we can endure,
For lo! his doom is sure –
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly pow’rs –

No thanks to them – abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours
Thru Him who with us sideth.
Let goods and kindred go,
This mortal life also;
The body they may kill:
God’s truth abideth still –
His kingdom is forever.”

[Martin Luther]