The Relevance Of The Reformation For Today’s Church

This year is the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Both Protestants and Catholics are asking: What relevance, if any, do controversies from hundreds of years ago have on us today? Some would say, “Let the past be the past and let’s concentrate on the present.”

But I maintain that the better we understand our past, the better we understand ourselves. Studying the Reformation is like finding a long lost relative who gives you insight into your family history and helps you understand who you are today. Whether we realize it or not, all of us have been influenced by the events of the sixteenth century.

Consider the major battle cry of the Reformation, “Sola Scriptura”—the Scriptures alone are the source of our authority for doctrine and practice. When Martin Luther debated with Church authorities, the question always came down to: What authority will settle our differences? The Catholic Church appealed to tradition and the pope to support doctrines such as the Treasury of Merit, the veneration of Mary, last rites, and the like. Luther insisted that since these traditions were not in Scripture, they should be discarded; official Christendom disagreed. “Sola Scriptura” still divides Protestants and Catholics today.

Luther also wisely applied this doctrine to the radicals of his day who, like many of our television preachers, claimed special private revelations from God. Luther, remembering that the Holy Spirit is characterized as a dove, replied, “I will not accept their revelations even if they have swallowed the Holy Ghost, feathers and all!” He insisted on what we call the sufficiency of Scripture; that is, that we should reject the validity of personal revelations.

“Sola Scriptura” undercut the authority of an exclusive priesthood because the Scriptures teach that we are all priests and saints before God. This revolutionized both worship and work. Now, ordinary people could worship God directly through Christ without the intervention of their priest, Mary, or the Catholic saints. No longer did the priests have the privileged authority to “make God” on the altar through the supposed miracle of transubstantiation. No longer could the Church hold a person’s salvation in its grasp by either granting or withholding the sacraments administered by a priest.

And, what is more, the priesthood of the believer meant that menial tasks were now just as acceptable as the rituals performed by a priest. At last, people understood that “whether we eat or drink, we are to do all to the glory of God,” or as Luther put it, “God milks cows but He uses a milkmaid to do it!”

Luther must also be credited with planting the seed of freedom of religion. When at the Diet of Worms, he declared, “My conscience is taken captive by the Word of God,” he was standing against 1,000 years of tradition. The idea that a monk’s conscience could counter the authority of popes, Church councils, and the exalted powers of the priests, was unthinkable. But courageously, Luther stood firm, even though he expected to be killed as a heretic, perhaps even burned to death as was John Hus, who died in the flames at the Council of Constance.

But Luther escaped martyrdom, broke his vow of celibacy, and married Katie. This is, in many ways, almost certainly the most influential marriage in the history of the Church.

How the Reformation Impacts You Today

In this insightful interview, Pastor Lutzer shares the fascinating story behind Martin Luther’s marriage, how we got the term “Protestant,” and why a “reformation” is needed, once more,  in America.

Q: Today we have many disputes about church/state issues. The reformers often faced the same conflicts. Is there anything in their writings that is relevant to us today?

A: A short answer that deserves a longer response: Luther believed that there were two spheres; one was the church, which is loving and merciful, and the seconds was the realm of the state, which is legitimately harsh and wrathful. For this reason it has the sword.

Critics say that his views gave the state “unrestrained power” (think Nazism). But all of us have to adopt some kind of a similar theory to realize that our government has the right to use force to secure social order and punish wrongdoers. On the other hand, the Church has a different mission; namely to love, care for, and share the Gospel with everyone regardless of race, immigration status, or religious issues. Without keeping these spheres distance, we get into trouble.

Q: We talk about the “Protestant Reformation.” How did that designation come about?

A: I’ll give you the thumbnail version. At the Diet of Speyer in 1526, the ardent Catholic emperor, Charles V, was forced to give an almost equal measure of freedom to the Lutherans because he needed a united Germany to fight the Turks. As a result, a number of cities turned Lutheran.

Charles was very displeased with this, so flush with some victories on the battlefield, he called a second Diet in Speyer in 1529 where he insisted that Lutheran freedoms be curtailed. Understandably, the Lutherans resented this and protested this injustice and hence acquired the label, “Protestants.”

Q: You made the statement that Luther’s marriage was “the most influential marriage in the history of the Church.” How so?

A: Katie was a nun who, with a few other nuns, escaped from a convent by hiding under the blankets of a wagon with herring barrels. So when this “renegade monk” married a “runaway nun,” their marriage broke with hundreds of years of tradition. Luther had railed against celibacy for many years, arguing that it was unnatural; marriage was ordained by God. At the time of their marriage, Luther had already become famous for his Ninety-Five Theses, his debates with Church leaders, and his stand at the Diet of Worms. He was under a ban because the emperor said that he had to be killed for his heresies. So word of their marriage was widespread and paved the way for priests and pastors to marry.

More than that, because of their openness and candor, the people got a glimpse of how Katie was given great latitude. Despite their conflicts, she was honored in ways unheard of in those days. The ceremony itself, taking place at the front of the church (sometimes erroneously called the altar) became a pattern for weddings performed even today.

Q: What if there had been no sixteenth century Reformation?

A: Only God knows, but we are thankful that the Reformation uncovered the Gospel after years of conflicting, stifling, and empty traditions.

Q: You have written a book on the Reformation, Rescuing the Gospel. Does the Gospel have to be “rescued” in America today?

A: Absolutely. We have to rescue the Gospel, not just because of Catholicism, but because of all kinds of aberrations even among evangelicals. Today, we have the gospel of “social justice” and the gospel of “love wins,” which teaches that everyone will be saved, and then there’s the “health and wealth” gospel, just to name a few of many.