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
In quoting Romans 1:16, 17, what Bible version are you using?
Very impressive thought, on Justification, which themed the Protestant move of Martin Luther, against Catholicism.
Profound and liberating truth, thank you