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The Text that Launched the Reformation
By
Rev. Todd W. Allen
Villa Rica October 30, 2005
Romans 1:13-17
Tomorrow marks the
beginning of the Reformation that began 488 years ago when Dr.
Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the door of the castle church
at Wittenberg, Germany on October 31, 1517, the eve of All Saints
Day. Philip Schaff the historian says that this act set in motion
the second most important event in human history, being second only
to the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem.
The Reformation of the 16th century ushered in an era of
unprecedented freedom and enlightenment. Martin Luther called for
the Church to repudiate the selling of indulgences for the remission
of sins. He translated the Bible into the German language and taught
that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus
Christ, thus freeing men from the yoke of bondage to papal authority
and the incrustation of non-scriptural traditions that made
Christianity nothing but a religion where salvation was dispensed to
those loyal and obedient to the priest craft and the decrees of
popes and church councils.
The German Reformation spread to all of Europe and launched a new
age of world evangelization. In spite of vigorous and bloody
persecution the gospel message of justification by grace through
faith in Christ alone planted thousands of churches and brought to
these shores pilgrims that sought to found colonies for Jesus Christ
where men would be free to worship God according to the Bible and
the dictates of conscience without fear of persecution.
Martin Luther was born November 10, 1483, an hour before midnight,
at Eisleben in Prussian Saxony, where he died on February l, 1546 at
the age of 63. On the day following his birth he was baptized and
received the name of the saint of the day. He was one of seven
children. He grew up as a devout Catholic, learning the creed, the
Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments. At age 18 he went to the
University of Erfurt, considered one of the best in Germany. He
studied law, which was his father's desire for him. But though he
studied hard and seemed to have the promise of becoming successful
in this field, he was not at peace within himself. When friends died
he faced the prospect of his own death with fear and trembling. He
had no assurance of his salvation, and following a violent
thunderstorm as he returned to the University from a visit home he
fell to the ground and cried out: "Help, beloved Saint Anna! I will
become a monk," and two weeks later he did just that, in spite of
the pleadings of his friends who tried to change his mind. His
father almost went mad when he heard the news.
In
the Augustinian convent at Erfurt he was the most sincere and devout
of them all. His sole motive was concern for his salvation. His
chief concern was to become a saint and to earn a place in heaven.
"If ever," he said afterward, "a monk got to heaven by monkery, I
would have gotten there." He observed the minutest details of
discipline. No one surpassed him in prayer, fasting, night watches
and self-mortification. He was held up as a model of sanctity. But
Luther found no peace and rest in all his pious exercises. The more
he seemed to advance externally, the more he felt the burden of sin
within. He had to contend with temptations of anger, envy, hatred
and pride. He saw sin everywhere, even in the smallest trifles. The
Scriptures impressed upon him the terrors of divine justice. He
could not trust God as a reconciled Father, as a God of love and
mercy, but trembled before Him as a God of wrath, as a consuming
fire. He could not get over the words:
“I, The Lord Thy God, Am A Jealous
God"
George Shadford
wrote, "One day a friend took me to see a hermit in the woods. After
some difficulty we found his hermitage, which was a little place
like a hog-sty, built of several pieces of wood, covered with tree
bark, and his bed consisted of dry leaves. There was a narrow beaten
path about twenty or thirty yards in length by the side of it, where
he frequently walked to meditate.
"If one offered him food, he would take it, but if money were
offered him, he would be angry. If anything was spoken which he did
not like, he broke into a violent passion. He had lived in this cell
seven cold winters, and after all his prayers, and separating
himself from mankind, corrupt nature was still quite alive within
him."
It
does not matter whether we live among mankind or retire into a
hermitage if we still carry with us our own hell, our corrupt evil
tempers. Without a new heart and a right spirit, no condition can
deliver a man from the powerful hold of his sins. Neither publicity
nor solitude avails anything until grace prevails with us. The devil
can tempt in the wilderness as well as in the crowd. We don't need
seclusion but heavenly-mindedness. -- Charles Haddon Spurgeon, The
Quotable Spurgeon, (Wheaton: Harold Shaw Publishers, Inc, 1990)
Martin Luther faced in that monastery his own depravity, a condition
common to all mankind. Original sin is inbred in us all. Neither a
monastery, a hermitage or a cloister will cure its insidious
effects.
Luther pondered day and night the meaning of
The Righteousness Of God
in Romans 1:17 and thought it must be the righteous punishment of
sinners. But by the aid of a mentor and confessor, John Von Staupitz,
an older monk and by his continued study of the apostle Paul's
Epistles, he found the peace of God in his conscience that he had
sought in vain by his monkish exercises. He came to the conclusion
that it is the righteousness that God freely gives in Christ to
those who believe in him. Man through his own exertions and merits
does not acquire righteousness; it is complete and perfect in
Christ, and all the sinner has to do is accept it from Him as a free
gift.
There is one text in the Bible which can be
termed the guiding light and force of all that Martin Luther did as
a Reformer: that text is Romans 1:17 --
17For
in it (the gospel)
the righteousness of God is
revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But
the righteous man
shall live by faith.”
Rom. 1:16-17
The question might
be asked, "Why didn't Luther understand this all along? The Roman
Catholic Church has a doctrine of justification by faith. Yes, but
in the catholic system justification is a gradual process, which is
conditioned by faith and good works. Luther discovered that
justification is a single act of God, followed by sanctification. It
is based solely on the merits of Jesus Christ, received by faith
alone. Sanctification flows out of justification, where by the
powerful operation of God's Spirit the believer is renewed in the
inner man after the image of God and is enabled more and more to die
unto sin and live in newness of life.
Luther’s text came from Paul’s letter
to the church at Rome. Paul got the text from Habakkuk 2:4 where
Habakkuk recorded, The
righteous will live by his faith.
16For
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. 17For in it the righteousness of God is
revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But
the righteous man
shall live by faith.”
Rom. 1:16-17
To understand this text one has to go
on to verse 18 and following to 3: 20 and recognize the picture Paul
draws of the human race. It is bad, very bad. He declares the whole
world guilty of sin. He includes both Jew and Gentile as under sin
and incapable of obtaining acquittal before the bar of God's
judgment by their own efforts and good works; then he adds in Romans
3:21: But now apart from
the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being
witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22even the
righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who
believe; for there is no distinction; 23for all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Rom. 3:21-23
The Gospel is the good news that God has done something for the
sinner that the sinner cannot do for himself. God has made His own
righteousness a covering and a cloak for the sinner. God does not
excuse sin. He does not rescind his own decree of death as the just
penalty for sin. No. What He did was to make one who knew no sin to
be sin for us. A sinless man offers himself in place of the sinner
and takes the punishment that sin deserves. Jesus is that man.
Jesus was born sinless. The Holy Ghost conceived him in the womb of
a virgin so that he bypassed the generations of Adam. He is termed
the second or last Adam. He does what Adam failed to do, live in
perfect obedience to the Law of God. Then he offers himself as an
atoning sacrifice for sin. By his death and resurrection he redeems
all who put their trust in Him as their Savior and Lord.
There are only two kinds of religion in the world
... You can list every "ism," every cult, every religion under one
category. They all say, "Do, do, do." Only Christianity says,
"Done." Christ has done it all.
Luther came to see that, as I hope you have, that God has revealed
that salvation wrought by Jesus Christ at the cross, which did what
only God could do, atone for sin by his voluntary sacrifice of
himself for his sheep. This is the good news. This is the gospel.
God imparts that when the gospel is preached. The necessary
knowledge of what God has done in Jesus Christ is what Paul means by
the gospel. This is the prescription for receiving remission of sins
and a righteousness that is of God Himself. This is not simply an
intellectual grasp of how God agreed with himself to be merciful.
This is imparting to you and me the requirement for having a
righteousness that God can approve. We must know the facts of the
gospel and must receive the gift of life in Christ by believing that
salvation offer in the gospel.
Look again at our text verses.
16For
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. 17For in it the righteousness of God is
revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But
the righteous man
shall live by faith.”
Rom. 1:16-17
It doesn't matter whether you have gone to church
or been religious. It doesn't depend on how slight or great a sinner
a person is. It says that the gospel has within it the power of God
to save anyone who believes. Believes what? That I am unrighteous in
myself and without any hope of God’s forgiveness and having a
righteousness acceptable and approved by God except it be the
righteousness that comes through the atoning sacrifice and
resurrection life of Jesus Christ. I must have his righteousness
imputed to me. The truth of his saving grace is imparted via the
gospel and it is imputed to me as I personally believe in Jesus
Christ as my Savior and Lord. I cease trying to achieve
righteousness as Martin Luther tried to do. I must stop looking to
what I am doing or will try to do, and I look only to Jesus for my
salvation. The gospel transmits to me a power to not only be
justified but to be sanctified too. This is a righteousness that is
like that energizer battery advertised on television that keeps on
going and going and going. I begin by believing in Christ and I keep
on believing. I live by faith, faith in his free offer of salvation,
faith in Him as the resurrected Lord of glory, faith in Him as my
coming again God who loved me and gave himself for me, who has
promised to never leave me or forsake me. I deepen in my love for
him because he is my dearest Friend, my constant Comforter and
Protector, my Lord and my God. It is not what I do. It is not what
righteousness I bring to God. It is what He has freely given to me
in Jesus Christ.
Luther found peace when he quit trying to produce a righteousness of
his own and simply received by faith what God gave to him
in Jesus Christ. Augustus M. Toplady said it right in the hymn "Rock
of Ages:
Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to thy
cross I cling;
Naked, come
to thee for dress;
Helpless,
look to thee for grace;
Foul, I to
the fountain fly;
Wash me
Savior, or I die.
Rock of Ages,
cleft for me.
Let me hide
myself in thee.
Only as you and I cease and desist from our own attempts at
righteousness and receive the righteousness that is offered in the
Lord Jesus Christ by believing in Him as he has been offered in the
gospel, can we know that we are right with God.
God declares that the sins of all who believe in Jesus have been
punished and atoned for in what he bore on that cross at Golgotha.
He freely imputes the righteousness of God, that perfect and holy
righteousness of the Son of Righteousness to all who believe.
Believe in Him today and be saved.
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