Reformation

TULIP

TULIP

One of my earliest memories is that of a family holiday in Holland. I have never been back since, but I can still recall the windmills, novelty clogs, the waterways of Amsterdam, a tour of an Edam cheese factory and the very friendly welcome which the Dutch people gave to us children. Most vividly of all though I can still picture the vast fields of  tulips. These seemed like a great sea of red, surging and rippling in the wind.

In 1618 in Holland, the Synod of Dort was convened by the Dutch Reformed Church. The lasting outcome of this Synod was five articles, easily remembered by the acrostic T.U.L.I.P. The articles are known as the ‘Five Points of Calvinism’ and they give a very succinct summary of the Faith of the Bible. The five letters in the TULIP acrostic stand for:-

 

T – Total Depravity

U – Unconditional Election

L – Limited Atonement

I – Irresistible Calling

P – Perseverance of the Saints

 

Let us then consider these five points–also known as ‘The Doctrines of Grace’–a little more closely.

 

1. Total Depravity

‘Total depravity’ gives a biblical diagnosis of the human condition. As descendants of Adam, we are sinners who need to be saved, and ‘total depravity’ refers to our total inability to save ourselves. We are helpless and hopeless apart from God’s saving grace.

Total depravity does not mean that every one is as evil as it is humanly possible to be, but rather that sin has infected and affected us totally: by nature our hearts are dead towards God, so we do not naturally love Him; by nature our minds are ignorant of God – they are spiritually blind – so that we do not naturally know Him; by nature our wills – subject to our sinful nature – are disobedient towards God, so that we do not naturally seek Him or obey His law. Sin then has affected us totally. We need to be saved, but being spiritually dead in our sins, we are unable to save ourselves and reach out to God for mercy.

Total depravity then is the first point of the five points of Calvinism. There is a reason for this. How and where we start determines where we go. Defective views of human sin will lead to a defective view – or non-view – of salvation. We have to dig deep into the dark soil before we can build up high into the light. A correct diagnosis always precedes a correct cure. The biblical diagnosis  of the human condition is ‘Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me’ (Psalm 51:5). ‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands, no one seeks for God. All have turned aside, together they have gone wrong; no one does good, not even one’ (Romans 3:10-12).

 

2. Unconditional Election

 Unable to save ourselves, God alone can save. Unconditional election reminds us that the initiative in salvation is God’s, not ours. He is a God of sovereign grace. Before the foundation of the world, the eternal, omniscient God saw all humanity. Out of these, He exercised His divine prerogative, and chose an innumerable number for eternal salvation from their lost, condemned plight. He chose – or elected – these for eternal blessing, and by-passed others. His elect had not yet been born, so their salvation was solely due to God’s unconditional choice of them, not to their own merit or demerit.

Divine election has never been a popular doctrine, as it is such a blow to human pride and self-sufficiency. But the Bible teaches divine election throughout its pages:- ‘He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world …’ (Ephesians 1:4). ‘We know, brethren beloved by God, that He has chosen you’ (1 Thessalonians 1:4). To those who object to God’s divine right of choosing some and not others, the Bible’s reply is ‘let God be God.’ Romans 9:21 asks the rhetorical question ‘Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for beauty and another for menial use?’

 

3. Limited Atonement

Limited atonement – also known as ‘particular redemption’ teaches that Christ died to procure and secure the salvation of God’s elect – the forgiveness of their sins and their eternal peace with God. Christ died, not for everyone – certainly not for those lost in hell – but for a particular people: God’s elect. His death was thus a purposeful, not a pointless one. His death did not make salvation potential or possible, but rather it actually procured the salvation of God’s elect. Christ’s death then – the central point of the five points in every way – and the redeeming benefits of His death was limited – or confined – to God’s elect. It was not for the world in general, for if so, it would have been for no one in particular. Christ’s death was neither vague nor in vain, for Scripture teaches that Christ’s death was with a view to the actual salvation of a particular people: ‘He was wounded for our transgressions …’ (Isaiah 53:5). ‘He will save His people from their sins’ (Matthew 1:21). ‘Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her’ (Ephesians 5:25) et al.

 

4. Irresistible Calling

Irresistible calling is the next step in the divine plan of salvation, and is both logical and theological. Irresistible calling teaches that those whom God has chosen, and those for whom Christ died to redeem, will most certainly be called to saving faith in Christ in time. God, by His Word and Spirit is active in applying the work of Christ’s atonement to His people. He overcomes all the barriers of human inability, hostility and apathy, and draws them to the foot of the cross and enables them to trust the crucified Saviour for full salvation. Jesus Himself said ‘No one can come to Me unless the Father Who sent Me draws him’ (John 6:44) and ‘All that the Father gives Me (that is, His elect) will come to me’ (John 6:37).

 

‘Effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit whereby convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of God and renewing our wills, He doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the Gospel’ (Shorter Catechism).

 

5. Perseverance of the Saints

The perseverance of the saints  refers to the divine preservation of God’s elect for eternal glory. They will not fall away, as God the Father does not cast out His children. The Bible teaches the eternal security of the Christian. Those chosen by God, redeemed by Christ and sanctified by His Spirit will never by lost but kept by God for eternal glory. Salvation is God’s work. It is He Who does the choosing, redeeming, calling and keeping, and nothing can frustrate, thwart, spoil or mar omnipotence.  ‘In Him, according to the purpose of Him Who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of His will, we who first hoped in Christ have been destined and appointed to live for the praise of His glory’ (Ephesians 1:11,12).

Christians have come to know the Lord Jesus as their Good Shepherd Who gave His life to save them. This Shepherd will never abandon His sheep. He stated ‘My sheep hear My voice, and I known them, and they follow Me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of My hand’ (John 10:27,28).

 

There then are the doctrines of grace – the so called ‘Five Points of Calvinism.’ With election in eternity past at one end, glorification at the other, and the cross of Christ in the middle, they are an all embracing statement of Christian doctrine:- Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Calling and the Perseverance of the Saints. C.H Spurgeon referred to these five points as ‘five great lamps which help to irradiate the cross; or, rather, five bright emanations springing from the glorious covenant of our Triune God, illustrating the great doctrine of Jesus crucified.’ He was right. When the five points of Calvinism truly grip the Christian’s heart, our response can only be that of praising and magnifying the grace of God and the God of grace as  revealed to us in His inerrant Word:-

 

Amazing grace how sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me

I once was lost but now am found

Was blind but now I see

The Lord has promised good to me

His Word my hope secures

He will my Shield and Portion be

As long as life endures

Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail

And mortal life shall cease

I shall possess within the veil

A life of joy and peace.

 

Timothy Cross

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Meet Mary, the Earthly Mother of Jesus

The Virgin Mary

MEET MARY : THE EARTHLY MOTHER OF JESUS

 

Sadly, Mary the mother of the Jesus is something of a controversial figure. The ‘cult of Mary’ which has grown up around her has no Scriptural warrant at all. There are those who worship and pray to the ‘Blessed Virgin Mary.’ This however is misguided at best and idolatrous at worst. Only God Himself is to be worshipped, and only the omnipresent God is able to hear our prayers. Mary was not and is not God. Mary also figures much in the artwork produced by Christendom She has been variously portrayed both in painting and sculpture over the centuries Scripture however gives us no indication as to her physical features, so such art is pure speculation – a representation by the art and imagination of man (Acts 17:29).

Perhaps to avoid the above errors, Mary does not feature much in Protestant thinking at all, if at all. Yet Mary cannot be ignored totally, as she does figure in the Bible, and in the creeds and subordinate standards which seek to distil the message of the Bible. The ‘Apostles’ Creed’, for instance, reminds us that the Lord Jesus ‘was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary …’ We must then seek a Scriptural balance, and neither overplay nor underplay the significance of Mary in the saga of redemption.

What then does the Bible teach about Mary? The answer is ‘Not a great deal’, for the emphasis of the Bible is not on Mary but on Mary’s Son – that in everything He might be pre-eminent (Colossians 1:18). The following four points however give us a Scriptural perspective on Mary, the mother of Jesus:-

 

  1. Mary’s Virginity

 

Mary’s main significance in the saga of redemption is that, of all the women in the world, Almighty God singled her out to have the honour of giving birth to His Son, the longed for Messiah and Saviour of the world. Scripture is adamant that Mary was still a virgin when Christ was conceived in her womb. At the time of Christ’s conception, Mary was engaged to be married to Joseph, but was not actually married to Joseph. Scripture is clear that whilst Christ’s birth by Mary at Bethlehem was normal, His conception in Mary at Nazareth was not normal. His birth was natural, whereas His conception was supernatural:-

 

Christ the Son of God became man by taking to Himself a true body and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary and born of her, yet without sin (Shorter Catechism).

 

                The eternal Son of God then entered the world supernaturally, just as he eventually exited from the world in a supernatural manner by ascending into heaven The only way to explain Christ’s conception is by using the explanation which the angel Gabriel gave to Mary herself. Puzzled as to how she could conceive a child without a human father, the angel Gabriel explained to Mary ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God’ (Luke 1:35).

The ‘virgin birth of Christ’ is one of the fundamentals of the Christian Faith. It is vital, as Mary’s virginity is bound up with Christ’s impeccability – that is, His sinlessness. Had Christ been conceived by the instrumentality of a human father, such as Joseph, He would have been born a sinner, having inherited Adam’s sinful nature. And had Christ been born a sinner, He would not have been able to offer up His life as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of others. Scripture however is clear. Christ had no human father. God was His Father. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and He thus had a sinless nature. He was like us, yet paradoxically unlike us, for He knew no sin (2 Corinthians 5:21), committed no sin (1 Peter 2:23) and in Him there is no sin ((1 John 3:5). Hence He alone was qualified and able to offer up His sinless life as an eternal and saving sacrifice like that of a lamb without blemish or spot (1 Peter 1:19). The four ‘building bricks’ of Christ’s ‘virgin birth’, sinless life, sacrificial death and victorious resurrection then are all apiece, and inextricably bound up with the Christian’s eternal salvation. Take one brick away, and the whole house falls down.

Mary then was a virgin when she conceived the Saviour. Her joy at being singled out by God for such an honour emitted from this godly young woman a peon of praise known as the ‘Magnificat.’ ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden …’ (Luke 1:46 ff.).

 

  1. Mary’s Normality

 

Her conception of Jesus apart, Scripture records that Mary was not untypical of the women who lived in Israel in that day. She married one Joseph, a carpenter by trade, and had several children by him (Mark 6:3). Mary thus knew the joys and trials of motherhood and family life. 1 Timothy 2:15 states woman will be saved through bearing children. The reference here is not to salvation from sin, but more to finding one’s true role and fulfilment in God’s world. The verse – contrary to modern feminism – suggests that womankind will find true happiness and fulfilment in motherhood – in cooperating with the way in which God has designed her – by bearing, birthing and bringing up children.

Luke 2 suggests that Mary was a devout Jewess, for there we see that she was regular in her attendance at the annual feasts of the Lord in Jerusalem, as laid down in the law of Moses. In John 2 we glimpse Mary’s attendance at a wedding celebration at Cana in Galilee. There she shared in the joy of the day, and also witnessed her Son’s first miracle of turning water into wine. Otherwise, Scripture is silent as to the details concerning Mary’s life and her rearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. The suggestion is that she was widowed fairly young, as Joseph has no mention after Jesus’ visit to Jerusalem aged twelve, whereas Mary does.

The silence of Scripture apart, can we not employ sanctified imagination? In Luke 13,20,21, Jesus told a parable about a woman making bread. As a child, He surely witnessed His mother Mary doing this. In Luke 15:8 ff., Jesus told a parable about a woman who had lost a precious coin – probably the coin in question was a ‘nuptial coin’, worn as part of a headdress.  The woman was almost frantic She lit a lamp, swept her house and did not give up until she had found her precious coin … The vividness of the parable suggests that the Lord Jesus was relating an incident which really happened to make His point. Was the woman in the parable based on Mary His mother?

Scripture then records Mary’s normality. She was a mother of children. She worshipped God. Her life was bound up with both divine and family obligations

 

iii. Mary’s Perplexity

 

When the infant Jesus was presented to the Lord by Mary and Joseph in the temple at Jerusalem, in obedience to the law of Moses, an aged man named Simeon was led by God’s Spirit to make a specific prophecy to Mary. Luke 2:34 ff. records Simeon … said to Mary His mother, ‘Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against, and a sword will pierce through your own soul also … Simeon thus predicted that a sharp sword of sorrow would, in a coming day, break Mary’s heart very badly. Mary must have wondered what Simeon’s prophecy meant. Thirty three years later however she would know only too well.

Thirty three years later, Mary witnessed her beloved, first-born son suffer the most unimaginable cruelty possible. She witnessed cruel men taking Him, nailing Him to a plank of wood and hanging Him up to die. Crucifixion was the ultimate as regards public humiliation and personal excruciation. ‘A sword will pierce through your own soul also …’ The sword prophesied by Simeon did indeed pierce Mary’s soul without mercy, as John 19:25 records that standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother and His mother’s sister … We cannot comprehend the sorrow, pain and perplexity of Mary’s heart as she witnessed the public crucifixion of her Son. Yet with our New Testament hindsight we know that the cross was no mere act of man but an act of God Himself. It was necessary for our redemption, for without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:22).

Paradoxically, the cross of Christ – that which lies at the heart of the Christian Faith – is both terrible and wonderful, for if we belong to Jesus, we have salvation from His suffering, atonement from His agony and life by His death. Mary watched the indignity and cruelty of her Son’s death at Calvary. But Jesus was dying there to procure her salvation as much as He was dying there to procure the salvation of every one of God’s elect. Redemption was wrought at Calvary!

 

Jesus was slain for me – at Calvary

Crowned with thorns was He – at Calvary

There He in anguish died

There from His opened side

Poured forth the crimson tide

At Calvary

 

Pardoned is all my sin – at Calvary

Cleansed is my heart within – at Calvary

Now robes of praise I wear

Gone are my grief and care

Christ bore my burdens there

At Calvary.

 

  1. Mary’s Christianity

 

Scripture records that Christ held His earthly mother in the highest esteem. The law of God commands Honour your father and your mother (Exodus 20:12). Jesus certainly did so. When He died at Calvary, all of God’s elect were on His heart. Yet this notwithstanding, He ensured that His earthly mother was well cared for, physically and emotionally. Whilst dying at Calvary, Jesus entrusted His mother to the care of the apostle John: When Jesus saw His mother and the disciple whom He loved standing near, He said to His mother ‘Woman, behold your son!’ Then He said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’ And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home (John 19:26,27).

Go forward now three days to Easter Sunday. Witness Peter and John’s running to the tomb of Jesus. They found it was empty! The grave clothes lay there undisturbed Christ had risen. He had defeated death and conquered the grave. John went in, and he saw and believed … Then the disciples went back to their homes (John 20:8,9). John then was one of the first witnesses to the fact of Christ’s resurrection. He saw and believed  and then he went back to his home. Who was now resident in his home? Mary was! Mary the mother of Jesus was now under John’s care, so John had the joyful task of telling Mary that Jesus of Nazareth, Who was crucified … has risen (Mark 16:6). Scripture however is as silent as to Mary’s ecstatic joy as it was to her deepest sorrow

Our final glimpse of Mary in the Bible is that of her being an ordinary – though no doubt highly valued – member of the Christian community which met together to worship their common Lord and Saviour. The early Christians in Jerusalem met in the upper room (Acts 1:13) – a place with so many sacred associations. Luke records that in that upper room, the early church with one accord devoted themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers (Acts 1:14). From this we see that Mary had no special prominence in the church at all. The prominence given to Mary in later Christendom can only be described as an unscriptural aberration. The early church did not worship Mary, but rather joined Mary in worshipping the Lord Jesus Christ. Mary was just an ‘ordinary’ Christian – if any recipient of God’s saving grace in Christ can be described as ‘ordinary’ – for Mary was a sinner saved by grace, and so she took her place in the Christian congregation to give thanks and praise to God for His mercy. The stress of Scripture is not on Mary but on Mary’s Son, for the Son of Mary is also the eternal Son of God. He alone is to be worshipped, trusted and adored.

 

 

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John Knox on Prayer

John Knox Wikipedia ImageWhen John Knox, the Scottish Reformer, was laid to rest in his grave, the Regent of Scotland said of him ‘There lies he who never feared the face of man.’ This reminds us of the paraphrase of Psalm 34: 9, which reads:-

Fear Him (that is, God) ye saints and you will then

Have nothing else to fear

Make you His service your delight

Your wants shall be His care.

I came across the following gem of a quote from John Knox. It concerns John Knox’s view of prayer. John Knox defined true prayer as:-

 

An earnest and familiar talking with God, to whom we declare our miseries, whose support and help we implore and desire in our adversities, and whom we laud and praise for our benefits received (cited in the Evangelical Times book review of August 2015).

 

Let us ponder and unpack this definition a little further:-

 

Talking to God

 

Prayer is ‘An earnest and familiar talking with God …’ said Knox. If that is true, it is indescribably wonderful and astonishing. If relatively few of us are granted the privilege of an audience with the Queen or the Prime Minister, how on earth can we ever get the ear of Almighty God – He who is the highest, unsurpassed and unsurpassable Authority of all? The Bible’s answer is that we can ‘through Jesus Christ our Lord’ – specifically ‘through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received our reconciliation’ (Romans 5:11). Jesus, by His death on the cross for our sins has reconciled all who believe in Him to God Himself. He has dealt with the enmity and alienation which separated us, namely our sin. ‘He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree’ (1 Peter 2:24). Amazingly, ‘through Him we … have access in one Spirit to the Father’ (Ephesians 2:18). Perhaps even more amazingly, through Christ, we are able to know and address God as ‘Father.’ ‘Adoption’ is one of the Bible’s many synonyms for Christian salvation:-

 

Adoption is an act of God’s free grace whereby we are received into the number and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God (Shorter Catechism).

 

One of the Christian’s ‘adoptive privileges’ is being able to talk to God in prayer, coming to Him confident in His love, just as an earthly child comes to its father.  Prayer then is, as Knox said ‘an earnest and familiar talking with God.’ Christians know Him as ‘Father.’ The word ‘Father’ connotes authority, and the word ‘Father’ also connotes dependence, intimacy, affection and love. The God of the Bible is never reluctant to hear His children’s prayers!

 

Receiving from God

 

Secondly, according to Knox, in prayer ‘we declare our miseries’ to God and ‘implore and desire His support and help in our adversities.’ John Know himself certainly lived through difficult – even perilous – times and circumstances. But he turned to God in his difficulties and knew His help, support and mercy in and through them. Every Christian will also know difficulty and experience troubles. Ease is guaranteed in the next life, but not this life! It is ‘through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God’ (Acts 14:22). Yet in all our difficulties and troubles, we have a God to whom we can turn for help and support. His wonderful invitation still prevails: ‘Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you and you shall glorify me’ (Psalm 50:15).

Our God and Father is more than able to deliver us from whatever ails us. If though, in His superior wisdom, He sees fit not to do so, He will surely give us grace to live within the boundaries of the providence He has ordained for us. He has promised ‘My grace is sufficient for you’ (2 Corinthians 12:9). Prayer is a chief means of ‘tapping in’ to the all-sufficient sustaining grace of God. Finally, according to Knox, true prayer is also a matter of:-

 

Giving praise and thanks to God

 

When Knox states that prayer entails ‘lauding and praising God for our benefits received’ he was reiterating the teaching and exhortation of Scripture. The Psalmist wrote ‘Bless the LORD O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits’ (Psalm 103:1,2).

If we were to write down on paper all the benefits which almighty God, the ‘fount of every blessing’ bestows on us, we would be in danger of clearing the world of trees! Our God has given us life. Our God has sustained our lives to the present moment. He has fed us, clothed us, protected us and led us. He has bestowed on us infinite earthly blessings – and if we are Christians, we know that He has bestowed on us eternal blessings: the ‘solid joys and lasting treasures which none but Zion’s children know.’ We refer here to ‘the unsearchable riches of Christ’ (Ephesians 3:8) – the benefits which accrue to us by the death of Christ at Calvary: the forgiveness of sins, His imputed righteousness, peace with God, the sure hope of eternal life ET CETERA! God Himself is the one ‘whom we laud and praise for our benefits received.’ And when we numerate our blessings, we realise that we have just cause for doing so.

John Knox then knew a thing or two about prayer. His definition is not the final word on prayer, but it is well worth weighing and pondering. Let us have it in full again. True prayer is, he said:-

 

An earnest and familiar talking with God, to whom we declare our miseries, whose support and help we implore and desire in our adversities, and whom we laud and praise for our benefits received.

 

© Timothy Cross

 

 

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Martin Luther: The Just Shall Live by Faith

MARTIN LUTHER: THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH

The 31st of October each year commemorates the Protestant Reformation, for it was on the 31st of October 1517 that Martin Luther nailed his famous 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany. His act was to prove the spark which ignited the Protestant Reformation.

 

Biblical Christianity

The Protestant Reformation was a rediscovery of the central message of the Bible: that salvation is by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone. And the Protestant Reformation – history shows – was the greatest revival of Biblical Christianity since the days of the Apostles.

 

Meet Martin Luther

The Protestant Reformation cannot be separated from the life and experience of Martin Luther. Luther had a brilliant intellect, but his life took a sudden change of direction when he was caught in a violent thunderstorm at twenty one years of age. The thunderstorm made him realise the fragility of life and the severity of the impending judgement of God. He was aware that he was not ready to meet God, and so he decided – much to his father’s displeasure – to change his career and become a monk.

Luther became a monk with a view to saving his own soul. With this goal in mind, he followed the usual route prescribed to achieving this in those days. Basically, this was a ‘gospel’ of self righteousness. He was meticulous in prayer, fasting and even self affliction. He took his monastic vows of poverty, chastity and obedience to his monastic order with the utmost of seriousness. The problem was that he found that this did not work. Luther had no peace of conscience. He was aware of God’s great holiness and righteousness, and he was aware of his own imperfection and sin. His religion was of no help to him. He knew that he was lost – incapable of achieving the righteousness which God demanded. It was a dark and difficult time for Luther. Light though eventually came!

 

Luther’s Salvation

Through a careful study of the Bible, Luther came to the remarkable, life changing  discovery that the righteousness which God requires is actually a righteousness which He freely gives to unrighteous sinners. And He does so when they trust in Jesus. Luther came to this glad realisation when he studied and pondered the truth of Romans 1:16,17. Here, Paul writes For I am not ashamed of the gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, ‘He who through faith is righteous shall live.’

 

Justification by Faith

Luther’s salvation occurred when he discovered the central message of the Bible: justification by faith. ‘Justification is an act of God’s free grace wherein He pardoneth all our sins and accepteth us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone’ (Shorter Catechism).

Justification by faith refers to being ‘right with God.’ The gospel of justification preaches that we may know that our sins are forgiven and may be certain of being declared ‘not guilty’ in God’s sight when we trust in the crucified Saviour Who died to save sinners at Calvary. Jesus lived a sinless life. Jesus gave His sinless life as an atoning sacrifice. Clothed in His righteousness – by faith – we are fit for God’s presence.

The discovery of the ‘gospel of justification’ was as revolutionary to Martin Luther as it was to prove revolutionary in human history. The message of the gospel had become buried over the years. Luther, however, unearthed it, and he did so, under God, to the blessing of the world at large. The key verse in Luther’s understanding of the gospel was, as we have intimated, Romans 1:17: The just shall live by faith. Listen to Luther’s own testimony concerning this:-

I clung to the dear Paul and had a great yearning to know what he meant. Night and day I pondered until I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement The just shall live by faith. Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through sheer grace and mercy God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took a new meaning, and whereas before ‘the justice of God’ had filled me with hate, now it became inexpressibly sweet in greater love. This passage of Paul became to me a gate to heaven.

 

The Protestant Reformation today

The question is: Is the message of the Protestant Reformation still relevant to us today, or is it merely a historical curiosity? The message of the Protestant Reformation is certainly relevant today, as the gospel is always relevant and always contemporary. We still need to know that we are right with God our Maker.  We need to know that we are saved and that all is well with our souls. And the way to gain this assurance is to heed the message of the Bible, for the Bible reveals God’s way of salvation for lost sinners – it is by His grace alone, through faith alone in the crucified Christ alone:-

The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe (Romans 3:22).

They are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24).

And to one who does not work but trusts Him Who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness (Romans 4:5).

The message of the Reformation will always be relevant, for everyone who has ever been born – Christ excepted – is a sinner who needs to be saved. The Reformation brought the perennial question of ‘How do we get right with God?’ into sharp focus. The Reformation was a great re-discovery of God’s gospel of salvation. Luther considered justification as ‘the mark of a standing or falling church.‘ Justification by faith became one of the touchstones of Christian orthodoxy. In a nutshell, justification reminds us that we are saved not by our works, but solely by trusting in Jesus:-

 

Not saved are we by trying

From self can come no aid

Tis on the blood relying

Once for our ransom paid

Tis looking unto Jesus

The holy One and just

Tis His great work that saves us –

It is not Try but Trust

 

No deeds of ours are needed

To make Christ’s merit more

No frames of mind or feelings

Can add to His great store

Tis simply to receive Him

The holy One and just

Tis only to believe Him

It is not Try but Trust.

 

© Timothy Cross

 

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