Luther

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”  Romans 1:16,17

Today is an important day.  And it has nothing to do with the aberration we call Halloween.  No, almost 500 years ago an Augustinian monk by the name of Martin Luther almost inadvertently started a movement in Germany that just could not be stopped. He didn’t mean to; he simply wanted some reform to happen within the Roman church at the time; reform that would bring it back, in his estimation, within the boundaries of what Scripture teaches.

What instead happened was the offshoot of what came to be known as Lutheran churches, and later Reformed churches and various movements that sprang from them.  All attempting to be Jesus’ church in a more biblical manner.  We can argue back and forth about how successful the reform movement was; and if indeed any of the churches and denominations that exist now because of the Reformation are really what Luther was aiming at.  We need to be reminded that Luther did not wish to create a splinter church at all; he was attempting to reform the existing part of the Body of Christ.

But for a moment, I want to point the single most important thing Martin Luther did for, not just those of us that have been irrationally labeled “Protestant,” but for all people in the church, including trusters and believers that are in the Roman Catholic church today.

He gave us back the freedom of the gospel.  He took what was becoming an increasingly convoluted path to salvation and reminded us all that salvation in Christ is simply ‘the power of God…to everyone who believes.’  That ultimately God’s righteous live simply by faith.

I think it is human nature to make things more complicated than they need to be.  Too many branches of the Christian Church continue to sprinkle human tradition and unnecessary formality to what is a most unpretentious concept.   That salvation lie in the power of God; that to receive it you simply live by faith in Jesus.

This is true for a Presbyterian like me.  It is also true for my Baptist, Assembly of God, Methodist, independent, Holiness and Roman Catholics friends.

And let us not be ashamed of the gospel, for it truly lies simply in the power of God to save.  On this day, let us enjoy the freedom.  And give thanks for those in the past who have reminded us of how doggone simple it is.