On Tuesday, Oct. 31, many Christians will celebrate the anniversary of the Reformation. It was on All Hallows' Eve, the eve of All Saints' Day, in the year 1517, when a German monk and university professor named Martin Luther nailed 95 theses for debate on the door (the bulletin board of the day) of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. These statements for debate, which challenged the sale of indulgences and the authority of the Roman papacy to establish doctrine and practices contrary to the Holy Scriptures, sparked the Lutheran Reformation and similar reformation movements in other European lands.
Through this reformation, the Lutheran Church was born, with its emphasis on salvation by God's grace alone for the sake of Christ and His innocent sufferings and death upon the cross, justification by faith alone without the works of the law, and Scripture alone as the source and judge of all Christian teaching.
True Christians cherish these blessings handed down to us through Luther and the reformers. They still hold fast to these Reformation principles, proclaiming Christ and His cross as God's only means for our salvation. They point out the sinfulness and shortcomings of human works and proclaim salvation through faith alone in the completed work of Jesus Christ. And, they use the Holy Scriptures -- the Bible -- as the only source and judge for all Christian doctrine. They preach what the Bible teaches, nothing more and nothing less, even in a society and culture which views such teaching as outdated and less than loving.
On Oct. 31 -- or the Sunday before or the Sunday after -- many churches around the world will celebrate the Reformation and give thanks to God for the work He accomplished through Luther and others like him to restore to us the true doctrine of the Bible.
But questions which come to my mind today are: "What would happen if Martin Luther were alive today? How would he be received by the churches who honor his name?"
In rebuking the scribes and Pharisees of His day, Jesus said (Matthew 23:29-31): "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.' Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets."
Jesus continued (Matthew 23:32-35): "Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt. Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar."
The New Testament tells us of the persecution faced by John the Baptist, Jesus and the followers of Jesus, often at the hands of the same men who adorned the tombs of the prophets killed by their fathers. And why were many of the prophets killed? Because they pointed out the sin of the people and called upon them to repent and look to God and His Messiah for mercy. Why were John the Baptist, Jesus and Jesus' followers persecuted and killed? Because they pointed out the sin of the people and called upon them to repent and look to God and His Messiah for mercy!
If Martin Luther were alive today, how would he be received in those churches which are, so to speak, adorning his tomb? To be honest with you, I expect he would be defrocked, kicked out, removed from clergy rosters and not allowed to preach.
Why do I say this? Because it is happening today to those who preach and proclaim nothing other than the doctrine Luther proclaimed and probably with a lot less graphic and abrasive language. Of course, the same applies to other Biblical theologians who held fast to the Scriptures, proclaimed sin as sin and championed the grace of God in Christ Jesus.
And so many churches today -- especially Lutheran -- proclaim these men as heroes of the faith, founding fathers of church bodies and synods. Yet, if these men were to preach in the pulpits of today the sermons they preached long ago, or teach the strict Biblical doctrine they taught and proclaimed in times past, they would likely be viewed as a scourge to be removed and silenced lest they disrupt the tranquility of sleeping and lukewarm churches. Such men most certainly would not be regarded as politically correct or sensitive to the views of modern society, but then the same thing could be said of Jesus.
The scribes and Pharisees were leaders in the visible, outward church of Jesus' day. And what did Jesus tell them? He called them whitewashed tombs (beautiful on the outside but full of death and uncleanness on the inside), hypocrites (saying one thing but doing another), serpents (in the likeness of the serpent in the Garden), and said they were headed to hell. Yes, Jesus said it like it was, with the desire that His hearers would repent and look to Him for mercy and forgiveness!
And so, how will we as Christians remember Luther and his Reformation doctrine? And how will we honor others who have walked in the steps of Luther and proclaimed true Biblical doctrine? If we just adorn their tombs and memories, it's a sham and will do us no good. But, if we return to the Scriptures and teach all that the Bible says (nothing more and nothing less), if we proclaim salvation by God's grace alone for the sake of Christ Jesus who died for our sins and rose again, and if we proclaim justification through faith alone and apart from human works or merits, then our observance of Reformation Day and the blessings God has given us through it will be genuine and a blessing of God upon us.
If we repent of our sinful ways and look to God for mercy and forgiveness solely for the sake of the atoning sacrifice of His Son, Christ Jesus, then we will indeed be blessed!
Randy Moll is the managing editor of the Westside Eagle Observer. He may be contacted by email at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Editorial on 10/25/2017