On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed 95 theses to the door of the local church in Wittenberg, Germany, 95 reforms he believed necessary to revitalize the universal church and restore Jesus to His rightful place as Savior and Lord in church doctrine and life.

In effect, Luther grabbed the church by the throat & shook it with its own need of God.

That the church convulsed against Luther’s attempt at life saving is true. Twice in my life I have stood on the very ground in Worms, Germany where Martin Luther stood trial before the political and ecclesiastical powers of his day, attacked for his search and rescue mission of the church, his life saving efforts that almost cost him his life.

For What Was Luther So Willing to Risk His Life?

The Gospel. The Good News of Jesus Christ. 

The Good News of Jesus Christ come to earth to be the sole payment for the sins of all peoples in all places and times, a payment that cannot be earned, but is freely given by God.

For this, Luther was not only willing, but in fact, did risk his life

Luther’s passion for Christ & the church can be expressed in 5 great statements of truth:

1. “Sola Scriptura” – Only Scripture

The Bible is our authoritative rule of faith & life.

In 1517, the Bible was virtually unknown to the church. The people of God could not  read the Bible because it was not available in the language of the every day. Pastors did not teach the Word to God’s people, instead teaching the dictates of church authorities. In principle and in practice, church teaching superseded the Bible as authoritative.

To this, Luther said “NO!” when he hammered home his 95 theses in Wittenberg. 

He stood trial and put his life on the line for the doctrine of “only Scripture:” the Bible, not men, is our final authoritative rule of faith and life.

2. “Sola Gratia” – Only grace

It is only by God’s grace we are saved from sin.

In 1517, the church taught that salvation and eternal life were not the gift of God but the gift of the church, given to whomever the church deemed worthy. The “worthy” were those who had done good works for, or given good gifts to, the church.

To this, Luther said “NO!” when he hammered home his 95 theses in Wittenberg. 

Luther stood trial and put his life on the line for the doctrine of “only grace”: it is only by God’s grace that we are saved from sin, and not by anything that we have done or ever could do.

3. “Sola Fide” – Only Faith

It is only by faith in God that we are justified before God.

In 1517, the church taught that justification before God was not received by faith in Jesus, but by the purchase of indulgences: if people gave money to the church, either for themselves or for departed loved ones, they would spend less time in purgatory and go more quickly to heaven, justified.

To this, Luther said “NO!” when he hammered home his 95 theses in Wittenberg. 

Luther stood trial and put his life on the line for the doctrine of “only faith”: it is only by faith in God that Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us as the only possible satisfaction of God’s perfect justice. Our justification before God does not rest on any merit to be found in us or by any good work that we perform: we are justified by faith and by faith alone.

4. Solus Christus – Through Christ Alone

Salvation and eternal life are possible only through Jesus Christ.

Michael Horton writes:

”Not too long before the Reformation, … many Renaissance minds were convinced that there was a saving revelation of God in nature and that, therefore, Christ was not the only way. The fascination with pagan philosophy encouraged the idea that natural religion offered a great deal–indeed, even salvation–to those who did not know Christ.”

To this, Luther said “NO!” when he hammered home his 95 theses in Wittenberg. 

Luther stood trial and put his life on the line for the doctrine of “through Christ alone:” there is one mediator between God and man, and that mediator is Jesus Christ.

Horton continues: 

“The Reformation was, more than anything else, an assault on faith in humanity, and a defense of the idea that God alone reveals Himself and saves us. We do not find Him; He finds us. That emphasis was the cause of the cry, “Christ alone!” Jesus was the only way of knowing what God is really like, the only way of entering into a relationship with Him as father instead of judge, and the only way of being saved from His wrath.”

Related is the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers: because all believers have access to God through Christ, all believers then have ministry to God and a ministry for God to others.

5. Soli Deo Gloria: For the Glory of God Alone

Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

There is no “sacred vs. secular,” no “personal religious beliefs vs public secular life”: all of our life is given to us by God to glorify Him. In I Corinthians 10:31, Paul writes, “Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God”: the Christian consecrates every thought, word, and deed of every day to the supreme task of glorifying God and God alone.

Whatever we do: worship on Sunday and work on Monday.  Preaching and plumbing, teaching and tailoring. We do not work first for monetary gain but for the value of the work itself, the good it produces, the expression of God it brings into the world. 

Even the joys of music.

Johann Sebastian Bach said, “The sole purpose of music is to glorify God,” actually writing “Soli Deo Gloria” on every piece of music he wrote.

Stephen J. Wellum writes,

“Soli Deo Gloria functions as a capstone for all Reformation theology, connecting its various parts to God’s one purpose for creating this world and humanity in it.”

The 1517 Reformation & The 2020 Reformation Inversion

Five hundred years after the Reformation, it is clear that, in many ways, the Evangelical church of the 21^st century has reverted to a pre-Reformation life and doctrine: we have retreated five hundred years in practice. And an eternity in our understanding. 

Historically, Evangelicals have been those who believe the following four statements:

1.  “The Bible is the highest authority for what I believe;”

2.  “It is very important for me personally to encourage non-Christians to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior;”

3.  “Jesus Christ’s death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of my sin;”

4.  “Only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior receive God’s free gift of eternal 

A 2018 LifeWay Research study demonstrates that there are large cracks, even gaping holes, in the “Sola Wall” of evangelical life and doctrine today. We won’t list all of the study’s findings, but consider these – again, allrespondents self-identify as evangelicals:

1. Sola Scriptura:

55% agree with the statement, “The Bible contains helpful accounts of ancient myths but is not literally true.” 

50% agree with the statement, “The Bible is 100% accurate in all that it teaches.” 

53% agree with the statement, “The Bible has the authority to tell us what we must do.” 

61% agree with the statement, “The Bible is the highest authority for what I believe.”

2. Sola Gratia:

52% agree with the statement, “By the good deeds that I do, I partly contribute to earning my place in heaven.” (2016)

3. Sola Fide:

23% agree with the statement, “Even the smallest sin deserves eternal damnation. 

53% agree with the statement, “God counts a person as righteous not because of one’s works but only because of one’s faith in Jesus Christ.”

60% agree with the statement, “Religious belief is a matter of personal opinion, not about objective truth.”

4. Solus Christus:

78% agree with the statement, “Jesus is the first and greatest being created  by God.”

57% agree with the statement, “Jesus Christ is the only person who never sinned.”

62% agree with the statement, “Jesus Christ’s death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of my sin.”

66% agree with the statement, “Biblical accounts of the physical (bodily) resurrection of Jesus are completely accurate. This event actually occurred.”

5. Soli Deo Gloria:

51% agree with the statement, “God equally accepts the worship of all religions.” 

Other Miscellaneous Results:

44% agree with the statement, “The Bible’s condemnation of homosexual behavior doesn’t apply today.”

51% agree with the statement, “Sex outside of traditional marriage is a sin.”

And, among participants aged 18-34 only: 

46% agree with the statement, “Gender identity is a matter of choice.”

Unmarked Doors & Empty Courtrooms

A substantial portion of today’s evangelical church would not join Luther in nailing his 95 theses to the Wittenberg church door much less stand trial with him at Worms and risk their lives for the Gospel. 

As Os Guinness has so aptly written, 

“A great part of the evangelical community has made a historic shift. It has transferred authority from Sola Scripture (Scripture alone) to Sola Cultura (culture alone).” 

Many speak of the church’s great need for revival, and I would agree. But before the church can experience revival, the church first needs Reformation – a reformation that goes back to our biblical roots and renews our commitment to them in doctrine, worship, and practice

We need to do in our day what Luther did in his day: nail critical reforms, not to the doors of the church, but to the door of our own hearts – reforms in the four passions that obsessed the early church so much that Luke says they “devoted” themselves to them in Acts 2.42f:

1. Our commitment to the Word of God

Whatever our view on the authority of Scripture, the overwhelming majority of evangelical Christians did not read their Bible this week.

What is the difference between Christians in 1517 who couldn’t read the Bible and Christians in 2020 who won’t read the Bible?

Yes, we need revival, but before revival, we need a reformation in our pursuit and possession of the Word of God.

2. Our commitment to the fellowship of the Body of Christ

The American church today has largely abandoned the biblical truth that we are the body of Christ. Instead, we are soothed by church attendance and a spectator mentality.

We wonder why “love” does not define the church in the eyes of the world, but it stands to reason that we won’t love the world if we don’t even love one another in the church.

What is the difference between church of 1517 that was not allowed to live as the body of Christ and the church of 2020 that chooses not to do so?

Yes, we need revival, but before revival, we need a reformation in our shared life as the body of Christ.

3. Our commitment to the breaking of bread.

The early church addicted itself to the Lord’s Table. In 2020, we add as an afterthought to the end of Sunday morning service. We tack on grace to our life and doctrine as an afterthought to all of our religion and relationships.

We practice this form of godliness but with a lack of godly fear that denies the power thereof.

What is the difference between the church of 1517 that never taught God’s grace and the church of 2020 that no longer trembles at God’s grace, that grace so pointedly expressed in the Lord’s Supper?

Yes, we need revival, but before revival, a reformation in our understanding of God’s grace given us in the Cross where the body of God’s Son was broken and His blood shed to save us, the undeserving, from our sins.

4. Our commitment to prayer

Jesus said, “My house shall be a house of prayer,” but the American church is too busy to pray because the American Christian has grown cold to his need of God. Our self-sufficiency, or our trust in others, is evidenced in our prayerlessness, personal and corporate.

What is the difference between the church of 1517 that did not know it could pray in faith to God and the church of 2020 that can pray in faith to God but chooses not to do so.

Yes, we need revival, but before revival, a reformation in our understanding faith & how much we really need God.

Forget “Devotion,” It Was “Addiction” 

The English translation of Luke’s Acts 2.42 description of the church’s passion for the Word of God, the fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer is as sterile as a nodding nursery rhyme: “And they ‘devoted’ themselves to . . ”  It reads almost like, “Now I lay me down to sleep.”

But the Biblical sense of Luke’s intent is far more confrontational. Like Luther striding up to the door of the Wittenberg church – hammer, nails and theses in hand – Luke writes that early Christians addicted themselves to the four actions of Acts 2.42 not “as if” their life depended on them, but “because” their life did indeed depend on them.

Luke writes about a church forged with hammer and nails in hand because of a Lord and Savior who had taken a hammer and nails in His very body for their – for our – salvation.

Luke writes about a church formed by trials and for trials because of a Lord and Savior who had stood the greatest trial of all time to give us life for all time.

Reformation Version 2020:  It’s Hammer and Nails Time 

The Holy Scriptures, grace, the body of Christ, and prayer . . .

These are the four holy addictions of those who know Jesus Christ. It is these four addictions that we must once again nail to the door of His church, a door constructed of five historic planks: Sola Scriptura, Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Solus Christus, and Soli Deo Gloria.

Four hundred years after Reformation 1, it’s time for Reformation version 2020.

Soli Deo Gloria!

(Publisher’s Note: This article is an updated version of one published by JPC in October 2016. The study [see above] of evangelicals’ fidelity to traditionally-held evangelical beliefs have been updated to reflect the most recent research by Ligonier Ministries)

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