This coming Sunday will be October 31, 2010. In the minds of our culture, as my fellow blogger Ian Clary has so aptly described, children will be flittering from house to house collecting all sorts of tooth rotting rubbish in celebration of Halloween. Yet a scant 493 years earlier the date became associated with a fellow countryman whose courage, pluck and temerity forever changed the course of human history.
On that day, an obscure young Augustinian monk known as Martin Luther nailed the now famous 95 Theses to the door of the cathedral in Wittenberg, Germany. What was supposed to be a mere in-house discussion among Roman Catholic scholars concerning certain troubling practices of Rome’s bishops, within days became a cyclonic maelstrom bringing our young brother to the forefront of the Pope’s attention and acrimony.
The unintended consequence of Luther’s actions was to spark The Protestant Reformation. Luther’s immediate goal was to reform the Church from within. His 95 Theses were intended to draw attention to the fact that certain aspects of biblical doctrine were being ignored by Rome’s under shepherds. By drawing the Pope’s attention to these neglected areas, it was Luther’s naïve belief that the Church would return to biblical standards once the Pope became aware of religious malfeasance on the part of the under clergy.
Three primary doctrines captivated Luther’s mind. The first had to do with salvation. What must a person do to be reconciled to a Holy God? In the years 1516-1517, during a lectureship on the book of Romans, Luther rediscovered for himself the glorious doctrine that justification comes by faith exclusively through the finished work of Jesus Christ. The second was a critique of the diabolical practice of selling Indulgences. Tied very closely with the Roman doctrine of Penance and Purgatory; Indulgences were the equivalent of Al Gore’s carbon credit mantra. By paying a pre-determined amount of money to a Roman representative, the parishioner could obtain a paper document that would reduce or eliminate the years either the purchaser or a deceased loved one would spend in Purgatory. Purgatory was in effect a holding tank for the souls of humanity that had been unable to achieve enough merit points to enter heaven. The soul could sit there for thousands if not millions of years enduring torment in anticipation of a day of final release into Paradise. Indulgences accomplished nothing but it made the buyer feel really good that something eternally worthwhile had been achieved. However, the doctrine that ultimately drove Luther was the doctrine of Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone).
Luther understood that any program of theology and doctrine must ultimately be subservient to the Bible. Was the Bible merely a book of good suggestions or was it the very Word of God? Did the Bible only contain a partial record of Truth or did the Church need to look elsewhere for additional enduring Revelation? The Roman Church in Luther’s day and still today maintains two infallible lines of authority. One is the Bible and the second, Sacred Tradition, Papal Encyclicals, and Bulls etc. Brother Martin insisted that while there may be some good in the Church’s teaching, the Holy Bible authoritatively trumps any doctrines created by fallen human beings. It would be well for us to remember that famous statement made by Luther at the Diet of Worms when the powers of the day demanded, under threat of death, that Luther recant his assertions:
“Unless I am convicted by scripture and plain reason – I do not accept the authority of the popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other – my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen.”
While the Evangelical Church today does not face the prospect of Roman Catholic acrimony, the battle for ultimate authority is still being waged. It is stunning to see the abject ignorance among so-called Bible believing Protestants in North America. There are churches that have clowns officiating at Communion services. One of the newest cult fads to hit the market is “Jehovawanna”, where you can “Toke the Ghost” and one can even “do lines of Scripture”. The tag line for this religious craze is “gettin’ high on the Most High is the ultimate high”.
These are of course some of the more obvious and ridiculous perversions of the Faith. However, there is a more subtle doctrinal down grade that creeps ever so slowly yet relentlessly. It comes when in the minds of some; the Bible loses its canonical authority. Certain aspects and teachings of Scripture are questioned as irrelevant, out dated, unsophisticated and need to be interpreted in light of new scientific revelation. Pop-psychology, social studies, demographic surveys and cultural shifts are superimposed over the Scriptures. In other words Scripture no longer is the lens through which we interpret culture. Rather culture becomes the lens through which we understand The Sacred Text.
This rot has given us a culture where traditional family values are seen as old-fashioned and anachronistic. Mass gender confusion has women acting like men and men simply not knowing how to act. Women are being ordained into the Pastorate. Homosexuality is becoming rapidly an accepted life-style in some church circles. There were multiple simultaneous creations of Adam from existing primates. The Cross has become a symbol of divine child abuse. Salvation comes best by Jesus but not exclusively. Salvation through Jesus is not even necessary since you can create your own salvation.
We would do well as professing believers to once again examine all that we do in light of Scripture. Like the Puritans before us who understood that there is no aspect of life that is so small and insignificant to which the light of Scripture does not address, we need to recapture that longing to become like our Lord Jesus in every way. But this begins and ends not with good intentions but a wholesale return the only ultimate and final authority, The Holy Bible.
Sola Scriptura
Sola Fidei
Sola Gratia
Solus Christos
Soli Deo Gloria
