Page 16 - Fall 2017 Magazine

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CeLeBratING oCtoBer 31, 1517
the stoRy of
the RefoRmatioN
movemeNt
by Dr. Whitney Gamble
ocToBEr 31, 1517 dAWnEd jUST lIkE Any oTHEr In WITTEnBErg, gErMAny – townspeople waking up that morning could hardly have suspected it would be a day unlike any other. And yet, 500 years later, we join with thousands around the world to celebrate the events of that day. We commemorate the actions of a young theology professor named Martin Luther. Luther nailed ninety-five points of protest, known as the Ninety-five Theses, to the door of the town church, and in doing so, he galvanized a worldwide movement, now known as the Protestant Reformation.
What is sometimes missed in Reformation celebrations is that Luther’s Ninety-five Theses were not about defending the so-called five solas of the Reformation; sola scriptura, sola fide, sola gratia, solus Christus, and soli deo Gloria, a summary of reformed teaching on scripture, faith, grace, Christ, and God. While these are essential aspects of Reformed theology and were important to Luther, they were not what he had in mind when he nailed his Ninety-five points to the door. Instead, Luther wrote with a specific and narrow focus: to invite dialogue over a church practice that he found extremely troubling, namely, the
sale of indulgences. Authorities in the
church had taken to selling pieces of paper that, if bought, guaranteed remittance of punishment due to sin. A little rhyme became written that summarized the practice: “As soon as a coin in the coffer rings, a soul from purgatory springs.”
Men and women in Luther’s city began spending all their money on indulgences so that their sins could be forgiven. Men stopped providing for their families, so they could instead buy indulgences. Luther observed this and was outraged. He composed the Theses out of pastoral concern, wanting to stop the abuse of his people by church leaders.
A careful look at the text of the Theses shows that concern played out in Luther’s love for the truth of God’s word, his passion for the gospel, and his tender desire that his people know the beauty of Christ. The Theses open with the claim that they were written “out of the love of truth and the desire to elucidate it.” As Luther studied the Bible, day in and day out, he came to the conclusion that a repentant sinner received forgiveness of sin by God’s grace, not by purchasing indulgences. He wrote in Thesis Thirty-six that: “any true Christian has a right to full remission of penalty and guilt, even without indulgence letters.” This