Today is Reformation Day, the 500th anniversary of the day Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-five Theses to the door of the All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg. In honor of the occasion, our long-time reader Steven Davis sends this guest essay about the life and teachings of Martin Luther.
The Five Solas: Only Scripture / Only Grace
Only Faith / Only Christ / Only the Glory of God
The Five Solas, Then and Now
by Steven Davis
Martin Luther stated all that is needful for the person who would come to God and enter into a covenant with Him. That person comes by grace alone, through faith alone, through Christ alone, by the Word of God alone, to the glory of God alone. Man has neither place nor authority nor involvement in what God accomplished, which had its beginnings before creation.
Martin stated what he knew to be true. He questioned the Catholic Church’s ability to grant pardon for sin when it was Christ alone on the cross alone Whose blood alone paid the price for the ultimate plenary indulgence that freed all those born of a woman from the shackles of sin that would drag them to the grave and then onto hell for eternity.
How then could the Catholic Church sell what it did not own, nor had anything to do with? It couldn’t, and it had neither legal nor moral right to take money from its membership in exchange for a promise that it could not deliver. What the Church lacked in spiritual authority it made up in temporal authority, as the “Vicar of Christ” decided who would rule over its membership, which was compulsory for all who lived in Medieval Europe. Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, ruled Europe in Martin Luther’s day and did so with the Church’s blessings, as both were in agreement as to what the people should hear, believe, and obey. The Church and State were indeed married.
When Martin Luther stood before the assembled council of Lords at the Diet of Worms and refused to recant his statements regarding the clear message of Scripture and his position on the sale of indulgences, as well as church offices that were often sold to the highest bidder (Simony), he was excommunicated and was to have been burnt at the stake as William Tyndale had been in England by Mary, Queen of Scots. Martin would have died the death of a heretic had it not been for a German prince who saw the truth of what Martin was saying and spirited him away to his castle, where Martin remained under his protection for about ten years, during which time the New Testament and then the entire Bible were translated into German so that the volk could read and understand for themselves the truth of the Word of God, something the Catholic Church had forbidden for 325 years since 1198 AD.
In his quest for truth and righteousness, Martin Luther drew on the inspired writings of another monk who had also had extensive training as a lawyer and was well-studied in scripture, and had asked the same questions that Martin Luther had. Romans 1:17 had been Martin’s wake-up call, and it had also been Paul the Apostle’s wake-up call almost 1,500 years before. How can sinful unrighteous man stand before a holy and righteous God and not be immediately condemned to the fires of hell where he belonged with Satan and the rest of his demons for his willful acts of sinful disobedience? How could man repent or even find favor with God given his awful spiritual condition? What God showed Paul was the same as what God showed Martin Luther. It is by Grace (unmerited favor) alone, through Faith (taking God at his Word) alone, by Christ (the Way, the Truth, and the Life and the only path to God) alone, by Scripture (the Word of God, which is eternal) alone, to the Glory of God (whose sacrifice for us on Calvary was from before the foundation of the world) alone.
Paul also lived during a time when the Church of Roman pagan idolatry was married to the state. The Caesar was regarded as a son of the gods with divine authority. To believe otherwise was treason and to preach another divine authority besides Caesar was tantamount to fomenting sedition. Paul died the death of a traitor for preaching and teaching that Jesus Christ is the only Son of the true and living God. Martin Luther almost died a similar death at the hands of a Holy Roman Emperor for preaching and teaching the same Truth that Paul did.
Today, 500 years later, we see that nothing has changed. Interdict has been decreed by Rome, which has since moved to Brussels, against all who would preach and teach the whole counsel of God without compromise. As the State once again attempts to exalt itself above the knowledge of God and to be regarded as God with the authority to dictate right and wrong, the Martin Luthers among us are being rounded up and consigned to jails while the criminals and insurgents are allowed to run free and commit rape, pillage and murder upon a law-abiding citizenry. Unrepentant man (humanity) has not changed, and neither has God and His requirements for fellowship with Him. With heartfelt joy I declare that adoption into the family of God is by Grace alone, through Faith alone, by Christ alone, in the Word of God alone, to the Glory of God Almighty alone. Amen!
— Steven Davis MRICS
Thank you for such a clear, concise, true explication of the famous 5 Solas! Will have to copy and place in my “little blue book.” (In US, Luther’s Small Catechism always published in a blue cloth cover.)
‘Interdict has been decreed by Rome, which has since moved to Brussels, against all who would preach and teach the whole counsel of God without compromise.’
The direction of the World is clearly visible once you realise that
– feminists protest against menstruation and other weaknesses, as compared to men, because God clearly messed that one up
– LGBT protest sex roles, because God messed up this one also
– Leftists protest the righteous, because the righteous do so many ugly deeds, like working, sacrificing innocent lambs, not complaining about it, and minding their own business… So why has god made the righteous path so ugly? Why do we have to work when God could have made it differently? God messed up this one too…
– The law went into the world of allowing everyone to accuse just about anyone of everything. You try to dry your cat in a microwave oven, and it dies – hey, its the oven creator’s fault that he didn’t warn you, and he should pay for it!
All in all, Hell will be filled with people who have plenty of accusations against everyone else, people who deny the power of forgiveness.
So what do we teach the migrants by allowing them to complain about slow internet at the migrant centers?
What is being taught in schools, where teachers are terrified of being accused of ‘ being harsh at the pupils’?
What do the leftists strive for when they accuse White Western civilisation of single handedly messing up the whole world?
It is my contention that they are on the Broadway to hell, and don’t even recognize the danger, for lack of knowledge or straight forward denial.
Satan is the great accuser.
Interesting analysis.
However, I would posit several other “Reformations” beyond Luther’s. There was the state religion in England, which was Henry VIII’s desperate bid to have a son to inherit the throne. The populace, Shakespeare among them, were tempest-tost between/among Henry’s breakup of the English church’s wealth and Rome’s authority. Mary came along to return England to Rome only to be replaced by Elizabeth, determined to sever the ties with Rome for the sake of England’s cohesion. Thus we got the King James Bible, the Book of Common Prayer, and the sad destruction of those beautiful monasteries; they could have been repurposed. Not to mention the deaths of good people on both sides.
This – and other smaller Reformations – can be laid at the door of the printing press and the desire for ritual in the vernacular.
As Lord Acton, himself a Catholic put it several centuries later in another context: “power tends to corrupt and absolute power, etc”
All large organizations eventually corrupt themselves. We are seeing this with modern religion, i.e., Politics, as the organizations become unaccountable swamps. They differ little from Rome back then except in their aims.
It’s a wonder, though, that Luther needed 95 bullet points. Moses came down from the mountain with ten, and Christ reduced them to two. All three people were addressing an ossified chaos (that might seem an oxymoron. I don’t think it is).
George Weigel wrote a brief book review on Christian ReformationS:
https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2017/10/which-reformation-what-reform
Weigel’s review doesn’t mention it, but technology cut the cord of Rome’s grip: the printing press revolutionized common perceptions. Just the way the spin-offs of AI will produce changes we can’t begin to fathom.
Some might say that the reformation begun with Vicleff, and then went straight into Bohemia, where John Hus started preaching ‘The Lords truth shall prevail’ and ‘drinking wine they preach water’. It was during the time of papal schism, when Catholic bureaucracy couldn’t be taken seriously any more. Earning us a few crusades against Bohemia, but ultimately preparing the ground for Luther.
Hus’ death at stake on July 6th 1415 and ongoing centuries of cataclysms which Bohemia was a nexus nurtured our brazen realism and no-nonsense tack towards everyday life. It is no coincidence that the Czech national motto on our Presidential Standard reads “Pravda vitezi” (Veritas vincit) …
Im a Czech also, and a big fan of Hus at that 😉 But I do prefer the original motto ‘Veritas Dei Vincit’ – God’s truth shall win. I find it more fitting, after I went through records and chronicles of that era, it became apparent why the Bible is called ‘The Law’ in czech. It turns out that what the Hussites did was to stick to the old and new testament – aka ‘the law’, and that the papacy had a great trouble with that 😉
“God’s truth shall win”…and God, having a cosmic sense of humor, will ROTFL as we discover that.
I think it’s truer to say that the Reformation began when the Mass was abolished at Zurich in 1525. Until then, every local church celebrated the Eucharist on the basis that the doctrine of transubstantiation was true.
Luther and all the other priests who made the Reformation knew exactly what the Bible plainly teaches either for or against transubstantiation, as they were all highly educated men, well versed in Greek and Hebrew.
And they could never ever be in error.
What all of this accomplished Dymphna, was the setting of the stage for the Puritan. The Five Solas motivated those who would not conform to the Church of England any more than they had conformed to the Church of Rome to seek the “Pure Word of God” and the pure milk (Hebrews) upon which the soul could find its nourishment.
That I can study the writings of Thomas Manton, Murray McCheyne, Watchman Nee (to name but a few) while seeking the Whole Counsel of God is the debt of gratitude that I owe Luther, Hus, Tyndale etc. for the travail they endured knowing the fruit their labors would bear.
I would like to introduce one last Latin phrase that says it all for me, that is also the motto of the Webb Schools (no, they are not worldwide so no puns) and that is “Principes non Hominem,” principles, not men. We have been blessed with those divine principles revealed to us and preserved against all opposition. Happy Reformation Day!
My respects to all admirers of Luther, although I myself am not one of them. That said, may I say that, in my opinion, this is no time for Christians to fight each other; our enemies are many (indiferentism, cultural relativism, anti-religious secularism, and, above all others, Leftism and Islam). Let us stop discussing among ourselves, and may we be so wise as to let the grace of God guide us to the right path… May the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be always with all of us, even with those who dont’t believe (and perhaps specially with them for they are, probably, the ones who most need it…).
By the way, I am a Roman Catholic.
Please forgive any grammar or spelling mistakes; I am not a native English speaker.
I strongly disagree with your suggestion to stop discussing among ourselves. Reasoning is not fighting. Without good argument we, as Christians, may end up unprepared for the real thing when the Judgement comes. Without argument we may also end up among wolves, or pigs…
After all, our fight is not against the flesh, but against evil spirits in high places. Evil is often placid and comfortable, but we must be able to recognize the bad from the good, in order to choose good, even if good is ugly and painful.
Jesus Christ said: Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
36 And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.
37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
An interesting piece, but the Tyndale timescale is a little askew. William Tyndale 1494– 1536, was executed in the reign of Henry VIII.
Mary, Queen of Scots 1542-1587, was executed on the orders of Elizabeth I, Henry VIII’s daughter (by Anne Boleyn).
Sorry about that. Thank you for straightening up my time line. So Edward VII only reigned for five years? I wonder if he was poisoned by Mary as she was a fervent papist who wanted to return England to Rome.
He was a sickly child; possibly congenital syphilis?
Very likely.
I think you mean Edward VI. He was the son of Henry and his third wife Jane Seymour who died shortly after his birth. He was congenitally weak. Edward’s elder stepsister Mary was kept well away from the court, as was his other stepsister, Elizabeth. Both later became queen.
Edward named a Protestant 16-year-old cousin Lady Jane Grey to succeed him. She lasted only nine days before Mary’s faction seized power. Lady Jane was imprisoned for high treason but spared death by Mary. She was beheaded a few months later following a rebellion against Mary’s marriage to the Catholic king of Spain.
Henry VIII, it is said, died a Catholic. When his body was lying at an abbey prior to transfer to a tomb, his guts burst and his stinking entrails spilled out and were consumed by dogs. Make of that what you will
Looking at the English court at the time, it was full of intrigue, ruthless ambition and lust for power. Perhaps less about faith than elsewhere.
Error on death of William Tyndale. It wasn’t in England – in the Netherlands somewhere. If it had been in England, and it had been a Mary, it would have been Mary Tudor, daughter of King Henry VIII, not Mary Queen of Scots.
The Church of Rome left itself wide open to eventual undermining when those who formulated Catholicism at the Council of Nicea took to gathering together those works into the New Testament that cemented their view of what Christianity should be.
It was always going to be just a matter of time before someone or some many, got to studying better and more thorough, than those at that council.
Any establishment, particularly one that reputedly follows what Christ taught, will stand the test of time and the many inquisitions by those who take to challenge such authority and its authenticity, by knowing its roots and defending with knowledgeable argument, of what it stands for.
Mo mention of Luther’s hatred of Jews laying the foundation for the Nazi slaughterhouse? Then, there was the Thirty Years War so that even Martin regretted the fuse he had lit. Bavaria, reclaimed by St. Peter Canisius in the Counter-Reformation, remains the friendliest and most anti-Marxist part of Deutschland.
Erik Erickson’s book on Luther (1958) was an excellent psychobiography:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Man_Luther
That’s simplistic, Te Deum. The Nazis’ strongest support came from Catholic Bavaria and Austria; this is a generalisation, but I would suggest that the Enlightenment took a stronger hold in Protestant Europe than Orthodox and Catholic (except the Czech lands- see comments here re the Hussite Wars), and antisemitism has remained more persistent in the latter two.
Your response doesn’t mention that the strongest opposition came from Catholics, too. It was not either/or.
It is my belief that anti-Semitism in lands held by the Ottoman Empire arose in response to the cruel distinctions the Ottomans made between Jewish and Christian families for the purposes of selecting out boys for Janissary recruits. Only the healthiest of Christian boys were chosen; families who maimed their sons in order to save them were often killed. Yet the Jewish boys were left alone. This went on for hundreds of years until the process was gradually corrupted:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janissaries
How could a bereft mother not grow to hate the exempted?
Meanwhile, in England, the Jews were persecuted relentlessly, as I’m sure you remember from your A-Level studies. Our essayist, MC, left the UK because he didn’t feel safe there. So are many other Jews leaving Europe…once again.
Thanks for that; I’m not altogether convinced (eg antisemitism seems to have been more persistent in “Catholic” France than “Protestant” Britain).
I’m deeply sorry about the loss of many European Jews, whether or not due to Islamic antisemitism and the authorities’ failure to address it; it will also be our loss, as it was the Germans’ (in arts and sciences). I only hope they’ll be safe in Israel or elsewhere.
Ironically, only a century after Jan Sobieski, composers such as Mozart were incorporating “Janissary” themes into their works. I suppose it felt safe by then.
But Luther was actually quoted in Nazi propaganda…
Martin Luther was far from the heroic rebel he is portrayed to be here. His heresy contradicted scripture, sacred Tradition, and ruptured the unity of western Christendom at a time when the Mohammedan Turks were breaking through Europe’s eastern doors.
His sola fides contradicts scripture, which decrees that both faith and works are necessary for salvation. He assigns a passive role to man, denying him the means to seek first the Kingdom of God beyond mere sentiment.
His denial of man’s role in his own salvation contradicts sacred Tradition, and denies man the ability to choose God or Mammon.
His denial of the reality of the Eucharist reduced the Mass from a re-living of the sacrifice on Calvary to a communal meal, a veneer.
His denial of the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist blasphemed against the Christ, who declared ‘hoc est enim corpus meam’ (lit: ‘this truly is my body’)
His attacks on the priesthood removed the vital arbiter between god and man, whose roots trace back to Melchizedek, and were affirmed by Christ himself.
His attacks on monastic life led to theft and widespread confiscation of Church properties, and led to a destruction of communal life and an enrichment of the bourgeois.
His denial of man’s co-operation in salvation contradicts scripture and enabled Calvin’s nihilism to take root, and its subsequent focus on worldly affairs.
His denial of the Church’s authority as established by Christ denies scripture: ‘whose sins you forgive are forgiven, whose sins you retain are retained. Whatever you bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven. Whatever you loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven.’
In the name of attacking abuses of power, he removed the legitimate uses of power, particularly for indulgences.
His denial of the Church’s authority led to schism and division, wars and devastation, until finally the secular state emerged supreme and all-powerful, with no checks or challenges to its power.
His translation of the Bible was erroneous and cut out seven chapters arbitrarily. Translations in the common tongue had existed before him, and the printing press had existed for decades before his heresy came to be.
Luther attacked the authority of the Church but retained the sacraments. Later, the sacraments were cast aside, but the half-bible was retained. Soon the bible was cast aside in favor of a worldly Christian-ism. Secularism, atheism, and Islam followed as night follows day. One false prophet to another.
Today, Luther’s legacy is seen in Brussels, where the state acts with impunity, and the Church has been reduced to private life. Morality has become no more than legalism by force, and natural law is ignored. The bourgeois merchant class reigns supreme, a reward for their support of Luther’s cause. The Mohammedan, whose victory at the battle of Battle of Mohács(1526) left the Holy Roman Emperor impotent to stop Luther, or his princely co-conspirators, is now amply rewarded and poised to finish what the Turks had started.
Some hero.
wow, is that the complete list or are you only beginning?
I am not so knowledgeable about Luther but I know the Bible. So when you say: ‘His sola fides contradicts scripture, which decrees that both faith and works are necessary for salvation.’ I will have to tell you that God is the one who gives spirit into our bodies, and if you say you have faith, the faith is projected through the works of the body. But the problem is when someone requires works without faith, which is kind of what the Roman Church – known as mystery Babylon in some Lutheran circles – requires of its sheep. Do this, do that, and pay for forgiveness, and you’ll be ok… That’s unbiblical!
Or when you say: His denial of the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist blasphemed against the Christ, who declared ‘hoc est enim corpus meam’ (lit: ‘this truly is my body’), then I also disagree. Christ’s body is The Church, not a piece of bread or a cup of wine!
Or when you say: ‘His attacks on the priesthood removed the vital arbiter between god and man, whose roots trace back to Melchizedek, and were affirmed by Christ himself.’ then I, again, disagree: In the Bible Jesus Christ himself is our arbitrer before God! If we are his sheep, we don’t need any earthly man to talk to Jesus for us!
Jesus is single handedly our king and high preast, and he rests on Saturdays, because he is a Jew by the way.
Anyhow, what do you suggest? Drop the Vicclefs, Huses, and Luthers, and go back to Babylon and worship every Sunday through works (mandatory visiting of specified place, i.e. a church building), to hide our lack of faith?
Sorry, but Martin isn’t here to defend himself, so I’m trying to do it for him, but your list of accusations is so long I can’t handle it all at once!
It’s a succinct list that covers all the main points. To go further into detail would be 10x longer, lol.
The Church does not preach a schism of faith and works. Each enriches the other, and are as united as the body and soul. Remember the rule of St. Benedict of Nursa: Prayer and labor. Man is body and soul, therefore he must engage both. Separating faith from works, as Luther did, leads to faith becoming a passive sentiment, which will fade with time.
The sacraments are physical manifestations of God’s Grace, and they impart grace. Through the priesthood, acting in persona Christi, man cooperates in his salvation and is joined to the victory won by Christ, the new Adam. There is no separation between prayer and the sacraments.
Christ declared ‘hoc est enim corpus meum’ in reference to the bread and wine at the Last Supper. The original 12 understood it to be so, the early Church fathers documented it as being so from the very beginning, and a quick search of ‘Eucharistic miracles’ will provide plenty of modern evidence. Christ is the bridegroom, his Church is his bride. He does not have a harem.
Jesus is the messiah: priest, prophet, and king. Likewise, those ordained by him, and their successors, chosen like Matthias, act in his name and in his person. The priesthood of the Levites has become the priesthood of Christ, an unbroken continuity. Christ did not abolish the priesthood, he empowered it beyond what the Levites were permitted to do. No Levite could forgive sins or bind as Christ told his followers to do.
Catholicism is not a regressive step, Protestantism is. Protestantism is a revolt. Beyond the tearing down of traditions, it goes nowhere. Its veneer of puritanism, biblical fanaticism, and oriental-style ‘ism’s has not withstood the test of time. Only the complete package, the universal Church, will survive.
While you argue over what parts should be dropped, I argue that we need them all together. Every piece of doctrine is important, and lacking one is like a small leak that can let in tremendous amounts of water.
Outspoken like a true catholic 😉
As a Hussite iconoclast, as I am, I don’t really follow any catholic saints, but use the Bible as the Law.
Therefore:
regarding prayer, Jesus said: pray always, so I do, or at least I try to…
regarding labour, I listen to James:
Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
Regarding faith as a passive sentiment: Why is that Lutheran and protestant countries were blessed with the industrial revolution, while Catholic countries stagnated? Could it be that Lutherans had more faith, followed by better works, than the Catholics? Why is it that now, that protestantism is finished, the same protestant countries are losing their cultural lead in the world? Could it be that they lost faith, and consequently are losing the good works?
The sacraments are, in my view, just another form of idolatry. ‘Don’t make yourself an image…’ the Bible says.
The body of Christ, I repeat, is not bread and wine, but the Church. The Church is made of the bodies of its members, and therefore it is good to have holy communion with your brothers, eating bread and drinking wine! As you can see, I don’t believe Jesus was adressing the bread and wine, but his apostles, when he said: This is my body.
The priesthood of Israel had Jesus crucified. Are you really implying that the Roman Catholic Church draws its origin from the Israelite priesthood?
Protestantism is a regressive step only from the Roman Catholic point of view: Catholic seem to never forgive apostasy, just like Islam doesn’t forgive apostasy. So much so that Catholics often went and killed Protestants for their daring move out of Papal Babylon. Should I be afraid of yous Catholics, are you gonna come after me for my heresy and kill me like you did to John Hus and others?
Because as sure as hell, I will not go after you, my fight is not against the flesh, But I don’t think Roman Catholics are capable of letting us protestants go, why else would they have Jesuit Order? The Devil is a proud spirit, incapable of just ‘letting go’.
Tearing down traditions? Who was it that said: In vain do they worship me through traditions of men?
To conclude: I don’t argue which parts should be abandoned. I argue that the Roman Catholic Church is a worldly system, which goes contrary to the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. With its icons and idols, and ‘dead body parts’ worship, with its caesar on the top of the pyramid, and great wealth unmatched by anything in the world: The Roman Catholic Church is Babylon.
Now don’t take me wrong, Babylon was a great tree giving shadow and nest for many heavenly birds, but as every worldly system, it is corrupted, and will die sooner or later:
And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
Oh those glorious hussites. Visit Jasna Gora monadtary sometime…see the damage they attempted to make on the Black Madonna…they failed of course. Huss led many into hell. But you know that.
If they failed to make any damage to your graven image, then I take it no damage has been done and everybody is happy? That is good to hear.
I disagree, however, that Hus led anyone to hell. A guy condemned to death by the priesthood and executed by the executive branch of the Holy Roman Empire? From where Im sitting his fate closely resembles that of another guy, condemned by the priesthood, and executed by the Romans.
Bravo. Thank you.
“burnt at the stake as William Tyndale had been in England by Mary, Queen of Scots”
What the hell did Mary Queen of Scots (Mary Stuart) have to do with the death of Tyndale? They weren’t even contemporaries. Are you thinking of Mary I of England (aka Mary Tudor, aka “Bloody Mary”), who did persecute protestants in England? Even that isn’t right, Tyndale was killed when Henry VIII was king, before his daughter Mary.
And thus were created all those bolt holes for Catholic priests in England. Look at England today and it almost makes you believe that the sins of the great-great-great-great grandfathers are indeed visited on their descendants.
It was never my intention to begin any strife with my essay on Martin Luther, but it was only to point out the two sides of what October 31st has become, Reformation on the one side and sin and darkness on the other.
As to the points you have made I would like to quote a passage from the New Testament that opened my eyes as a former Catholic to the real character of the Salvation Jesus Christ has provided us and then be done.
Ephesians 2:8-10 “For it is by Grace you have been saved through Faith and that not of yourselves; it is a gift of God not of works lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
It is therefore Salvation first, being filled with the Holy Spirit second, presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1-2) third, and then walking in (doing) the works that YAH has prepared for us. As long as we worship the Lord in Spirit and in Truth it doesn’t matter with whom and where. We were saved as individuals and we are loved by God as individuals, which is a great deal more than what the State considers us to be (worker-bees in its hive).
It may not have been your “intention” but as soon as I saw your post I knew we’d have a Christian dogma war. And so we have. People of faith always disagree on the content of their beliefs, and will do so endlessly.
As Gabriel Marcel, who converted to Catholicism as an adult put it (I’m paraphrasing), it’s enough to profess belief; going into the dogmatic aspects of faith inevitably, always and everywhere, leads to endless, tiresome bickering. In this secular age, the religion of Politics has taken the place of religious belief systems but they’re both lost in the content rather than the process.
One of my theology professors described it this way: “being a Christian means that love is possible, evil is reversible, and I can live freed from my past”.
So you’re “freed” from Catholicism and don’t mind that your fellow Christians – Catholics, in this case – would find your dogma which insults their beliefs to be offensive?? Sad.
‘Tis truly is. Sniff.
Well there are far less flattering portrayals of Luther that indicate that he was less virtuous than outlined above. One may even think he was a retrobate. Ecumenism between the rebel (and all the souls he led to Hell) and the one true Church is possible but not fruitful. Look elsewhere as your protestant mainline church is fading fast.
Stephen lowe: Judge not or you’ll be judged! All I see from you is judging other souls, long time dead protestants. You who are without sin, throw the first stone!
My dear friend: God is love, and forgiveness, and family and brotherhood, so don’t end up on the highway to hell, where everyone will have plenty of bad things to say about everyone else, everyone will have some witness material to use against someone else, and at the last judgement, they will all condemn each other into eternity! Watch out, and repent!
BTW, the fighting between the author of Ephesians, Paul, and the Jerusalem Church under Peter was fierce and on-going. Had Rome not sacked Jerusalem in 70 AD, who knows if the Christian church would have survived as it did? The Church began in strife and it will be so until the last breath.
Not accurate at all. Disregard this hopeful projection.
What does this mean? Do you think that somehow we’re going to morph into beings without any conflicts??
“Projection” – now there’s a loaded word.
Jesus warned his Church beforehand ‘If you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, flee to the hills.’ As it turns out, when Romans came, their army surrounded Jerusalem, but had to leave for some internal reasons, so that the Christians in Jerusalem had plenty of time to flee. When the Romans came second time, they genocided the place, but none true Christians would had been there, because they listened to Jesus.
Thus, it is better to listen to Jesus than to follow any worldly authority 😉
Oh my: with your black/white description of your intention, Reformation on the one side and sin and darkness on the other, you didn’t know such an inflammatory assumption wouldn’t raise hackles? Seriously??
Luther was a resentful man and a lazy catholic. His soft balling of the Turks and islam as well as his utter hatred of the jews is revealing; a natural coward and bully-boy. He was wary of the strong but willing to attack his own and the weak. If the jihad wins we can count him as one of the great traitors.
“When I have time I must put it into German so that every man can see what a foul and shameful book it is.”
Martin Luther
https://libertygb.org.uk/news/book-reviews-koran
Were the lutherans at the Gates of Vienna? If they were I am not entirely sure which side they were on. I have not read of their contribution, just mainly the Polish timely arrival singing the Te Deum and other Catholic hymns. I guess it would be considered ‘works’.
Yes, they were. It took some negotiation, but the king of Catholic Poland led the army, with Protestant German principalities contributing major contingents of troops. The French, under a nominally Catholic King, stayed out, and picked up some of the spoils afterwards (some Rhineland palatinates, if I recall correctly). Some of the Catholic Italian states (e.g. Venice, I think) supported the Ottomans at various times for commercial reasons.
Oh yes, I am sure there were ‘ major’ contingent’ of troops supplied. Give me a break. I dare you to read the history of Jasna Gora…where the swedish lutherans were defeated by a small but heroic group of Polish Catholics with Mary’s help. Fascinating stuff. Lutherans have been a boil on the [gluteus maximus] of Europe since the rebellion. Reformation led to French revolution and Reign of Terror and on to the world wars. Yeah let us dialogue…that will work. Errors beget errors
From the Wiki (which is accurate; it agrees with Stoye):
Look up which ones of those German states were Protestant; I don’t have time at the moment.