Reformation Thoughts

It’s October, the month when Lutherans look back to that day in 1517 when Dr. Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg. But that was only the beginning. Debates, diets, councils, conflicts and wars were quick to follow. People were martyred for their confession. Others were driven away from their homes.

What was the big deal? Why has so much struggle followed a seemingly insignificant religious debate? What the Lord did through Luther and the other reformers was so much more than simply ask some questions of the Roman Catholic Church. When the pure preaching of the Gospel, which had been abandoned and hidden under the devilish teachings of indulgences, papal infallibility, pilgrimages, and relics, was brought back to light, it didn’t just threaten the authority and power of the Pope. It shook the very gates of hell itself and raised the fury of the devil. For so long, Satan’s forked tongue had lured countless souls into the false security of thinking that salvation could be earned or bought. The work of Christ was replaced by our works. His death didn’t pay for the sins of the world. There was still work to be done and it had to be done either by you or by those who were supposedly holier than you. When the sinner doesn’t see Jesus, the devil holds the field.

But when the preaching of Christ and Him crucified began to sound forth, when the full and free forgiveness of sins through the death and resurrection of Jesus was held up like a light in the middle of a dark room, Satan and his minions took up arms. They couldn’t stand that the jaws of death were slammed shut, that terrified sinners finally knew peace. That was the problem. That is why the bloodshed. That is why the continual fighting, even to this day, among those who would be called Christians. It isn’t an argument over minutia. It isn’t about ceremonies. It isn’t about the freedom of religion. It is the battle for

the souls of sinners. It is the ongoing battle between the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ and the poisonous venom of Satan. Either Jesus has made full payment for sin and gives that forgiveness freely or the sinner still has work to do – by decisions, by living a holy life, by love, by praying to the right saints. Wherever the Gospel is preached, we can be sure that Satan wage war and try to silence it, adulterate it, and destroy it because he wants nothing more than for all of us to perish in our sins, apart from Christ.

Thanks be to God that through our Lutheran forefathers He has and continues to hold forth the Gospel for us to hear and believe. Thanks be to God that He has continued to defend the pure Gospel and provide for its proclamation among us so that we may hear and believe and be comforted by the glorious news of the full and free forgiveness of all our sins for Jesus’ sake. There is nothing more precious more valuable than the Word Jesus speaks “I forgive you all your sins.” Those words, that declaration made from the cross, is life because, as Luther wrote, “Where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.” Forgiveness conquers death and gives life. That’s what Lutherans are all about. That’s why we would rather give up everything than have the Gospel taken away from us.