Editor’s note: This article was originally published on October 31, 2017 and is part five of a five-part series. 2023 marks the 506th anniversary.

2017 is a special year, marking the 500 year anniversary of a world-changing event: the start of the Protestant Reformation. It’s really not fair to mark one point alone for this revolution of faith and practice in Europe and the world because it was the product of forces that developed over many decades.

But Martin Luther’s October 31, 1517, declaration of 95 complaints against the practice of selling reductions to the penalty of sin is a pretty good place to say, “Here it started.”

The great men of the Reformation—Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin and those associated with them—declared their beliefs in a series of solas (in Latin, one would say the plural as solae). Sola means “alone” or “single.” We get our words “solo” and “solitary” from this Latin root. The classic sola statements of the Reformation were and are:

Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone)
Sola Fide (Faith Alone)
Sola Gratia (Grace Alone)
Solus Christus (Christ Alone)
Soli Deo Gloria (Glory to God Alone)

In this article we want to consider the final aspect: Glory to God Alone.

Overview of the Previous Four Solas

In most lists of the five solas, this comes last for a good reason. It’s because it’s the logical result of the previous four solas. If we properly understand the first four sola statements, they will lead us to the final statement, “giving glory to God alone.”

If we let scripture alone be our guide, we listen to God’s voice above all others. We understand that what God says matters more than anyone or anything else. This gives God the glory He alone deserves, as the heart, voice, and mind that should be regarded above all others.

If we let faith alone be our reception of God’s rescue, we understand that we don’t deserve any credit for what God does for us. We simply receive by faith what He so generously gave to us. This gives God the glory because we understand that we can’t save ourselves; Jesus must rescue us.

If we let grace alone be the grounds on which God rescued us through the person and work of Jesus, we understand that it’s not by grace and faith, not by grace and good deeds, not by grace and a good heart and not by grace and human initiative. It’s by grace alone. This gives God the glory because He alone gets the credit for the past, present, and future of our salvation.

If we let Christ alone be our salvation and center of life, it means that it isn’t through a mere man or institution that we’re made right with God. It’s by the person and work of Jesus Christ alone. This gives God the glory because it properly puts the focus on Jesus and takes it off everyone and everything else.

Putting the Focus on God and His Glory

In this we see that one of the great works of the Reformation was to once again put the focus on God and His glory.

Because we are made in the image of God, we’re capable of astonishing achievements of many kinds. We see what men and women can accomplish in art, science, engineering, athletics, and intellect and so easily put our emphasis on man instead of God. Yet, mankind at his best and greatest is still far short of God. He alone deserves the glory and honor that the first four sola statements illustrate.

This leads us to a practical point. We should resolve that, God helping us, we will give greater interest, care, and effort to advance the glory of God instead of the glory of self, of our congregation, or of our particular group in God’s greater family. As many men and women of God have warned, “don’t touch the glory”; let the honor and credit go to God and no one else.

Everyone should have this sentence over their life and work for God: Glory to God Alone.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published on October 26, 2017 and is part four of a five-part series.

On October 31, 1517, the German monk, pastor and seminary professor, Martin Luther, published 95 complaints against the church practice of selling reductions to the penalty of sin. The iconic figure we cherish is of Luther nailing a paper with these 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, but historians aren’t completely confident that he did this.

We have no record of Martin Luther himself referring to the event.

Whether or not he actually nailed that paper to the church door, he certainly wrote it, sent it to some important leaders, and it was soon published and distributed widely across Germany and much of Europe.

There were many complaints against, and objections to, the theology and practice of the Roman Catholic Church in those days, but Luther’s complaint had an effect like none before it.

There were many reasons for that, but one important reason was because Luther put his finger on a point of great corruption: the practice of selling indulgences.

The Practice of Selling Indulgences

As mentioned before, the selling of indulgences was essentially giving something to the church (usually money) so the church (through its leader, the pope) would reduce the penalty one had to pay for their sins in purgatory. I strongly object to the idea of purgatory altogether and can’t find it anywhere in the Bible. But in the Roman Catholic idea, purgatory is the place where after death a person is cleansed from their spiritual and moral impurities by painful fires before they can be admitted into heaven.

What is more, in classic Roman Catholic thinking, the pope has the authority to release tormented souls enduring the cleansing fires of purgatory. In Martin Luther’s time slick, high-pressure salesmen sold these releases from purgatory. They promised people that for a generous donation to the church, the pope would grant them or a loved one release from some or all of purgatory’s fire.

Near where Martin Luther lived, there was a Dominican monk named Johann Tetzell, a successful salesman for indulgences. Tetzell’s slogan was, “As soon as the money in the basket rings, the soul from purgatory springs.” Tetzell used to say, “Listen to the voices of your dear dead relatives and friends, beseeching you and saying, ‘Pity us, pity us. We are in dire torment from which you can redeem us for a pittance.’ Do you not wish to?” Tetzell raised a lot of money for the church by selling these indulgences.

Luther’s protest against indulgences developed into the movement we know as the Protestant Reformation.

The ideas of the Reformation are often summarized in a series of statements called the five solas:

Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone)
Sola Fide (Faith Alone)
Sola Gratia (Grace Alone)
Solus Christus (Christ Alone)
Soli Deo Gloria (Glory to God Alone)

The first three solas were discussed in previous articles, and this short piece looks at the fourth of the list: Solus Christus. That idea of Christ Alone is vitally connected to the original protest Martin Luther made on October 31, 1517.

The Fundamental Problem With Indulgences

As the ideas of the Reformation matured and deepened, it was understood that one of the fundamental problems with the whole idea of indulgences was that it put humanity’s rescue into the hands of the pope. The idea was something like this: “Men and women are not saved by Jesus, but through the pope and the institution of the Roman Catholic Church.”

Against this wrong and dangerous idea, it’s important that we emphasize the truth: Christ Alone. At the end of it all, we are not saved by a mere man, whether that be a pope or a pastor. We aren’t saved by an institution, whether it be Catholic or Protestant. We aren’t saved by our own good works or even our good faith. We are rescued by Christ alone and He alone gets the honor, glory and credit for rescuing us from sin and self. It’s true that what He gives by grace must be received by faith, but the work is done by His giving, not our receiving.

The principle of Christ Alone should remind us that Jesus is always the center of the Christian life. As the New Testament says, in Him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). The core of the Christian life is Jesus Christ, and Christ alone.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published on August 4, 2017 and is part two of a five-part series.

More on the Five Sola Statements

Most historians mark the start of the Protestant Reformation to the 1517 publication of Martin Luther’s list of 95 complaints against a practice known as selling indulgences. This year (2017) marks the 500th anniversary of that great event. Tourists are flooding the great cities and sites where Luther’s reformation unfolded, and people are thinking and talking about the great ideas of the Reformation.

Those ideas are often expressed in a series of five statements called the five solas. The classic solastatements of the Reformation were and are:

Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone)
Sola Fide (Faith Alone)
Sola Gratia (Grace Alone)
Sola Christus (Christ Alone)
Sola Deo Gloria (Glory to God Alone)

A previous article discussed the idea of sola scriptura (scripture alone). Here are some thoughts on the second statement, sola fide – “faith alone.”

What is Faith?

Christians of every background understand the value of faith and know that in part, being a Christian means believing in Jesus Christ and what He did for us. Yet the cry of the Reformation was not faith, but more specifically, faith alone. The idea was that we receive forgiveness of sins and are made right with God on the basis of our faith alone.

This means that the only thing we contribute to the receiving of our rescue is faith.

Not faith and our good deeds. Not faith and our promises to do better in the future. Not faith and ceremonies, but faith alone. This was one of the things that set the preaching and writing of Martin Luther and the other reformers apart from the Roman Catholic Church and even the Eastern Orthodox Church. All Christians believe that faith is important and has a place in our salvation; not all believe in faith alone. Some believe in faith plus something.

It’s important to remember that faith is not some kind of great work that makes God in debt to us. We don’t deserve salvation because of our faith. In this sense, faith is simply believing what God said is true and trusting that He keeps His promises.

Think of it like this: Faith is not calling God a liar.

It means that when God says something or makes a promise, we believe He is true and can be relied on.
So, when God tells me that I am a sinner who needs a Savior (Romans 3:23), I believe Him. When God says that my sin will lead to eternal death (Romans 6:23), I believe Him.

When God says that Jesus died for me and for my sins while I was still a sinner (Romans 5:8), I believe Him. When God tells me that if I put my trust in who Jesus is and in what He did on the cross for me I can be saved (Romans 10:9-10), I believe Him. I regard God as true and worthy of trust in everything He says and promises. Because of all this, I don’t deserve any credit for my salvation. My faith doesn’t actually rescue me; it simply receives what God promised by His grace. Believing God is true and is not a liar doesn’t make me a wonderful person; that’s just common sense.

Good Works and Commitment to God

We may also add that this does not mean that good works and our commitment to God are not important. The Apostle Paul (in places like Titus 2:14 and 3:8) and the Apostle James (James 2:14-19) and others in the New Testament told us how important our good works are. This idea has been expressed by a famous phrase: “Faith alone saves; but the faith that saves is not alone.” When faith is real, it will have good works with it.

If faith doesn’t have good works with it, one can sincerely question if that faith is real.

One last thought regarding faith. In the Bible, faith usually carries the idea of much more than simply believing something to be true. It includes that, but goes much further. The Biblical idea of faith has the further idea of trusting love. It has the sense of to trust in, rely on and cling to. Faith is trust, and we trust God because He loves us and we love Him in response. That kind of faith alone receives what God so graciously gives us in Jesus Christ.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published on June 21, 2017 and is part one of a five-part series.

Introduction to the Five Solas

The great men of the Reformation: Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin, and those associated with them, declared their beliefs in a series of “solas” (solae if you are really into Latin). From Latin, sola means “alone” or “single.” We get our words “solo” and “solitary” from this Latin root. The classic sola statements of the Reformation were and are:

Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone)
Sola Fide (Faith Alone)
Sola Gratia (Grace Alone)
Sola Christus (Christ Alone)
Sola Deo Gloria (Glory to God Alone)

Sola Scriptura appears first on most lists of the five solas, and for good reason.

The Bible is a book that truly stands alone. It is unique in its continuity, its circulation, its translations, its survival, its honesty, its reliability, and its influence. The Bible stands alone in so many ways.

The True Meaning of Sola Scriptura

Yet when the Reformers proclaimed Sola Scriptura, what they really had in mind was to declare the Christian’s source of authority. Our fundamental authority is God, and God has expressed His mind and His will in and through the Holy Bible, the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures that we commonly call the Old and New Testaments.

God expresses His mind and will in other ways. He reveals Himself in creation (Romans 1:20). God reveals Himself in the conscience of man (Romans 2:15). God can also speak through traditions (1 Corinthians 11:2). Yet, none of those things are the ultimate authority. God’s word—the Bible—is always the ultimate authority (2 Timothy 3:16).

So, we say Sola Scriptura because the Bible stands alone in authority.

Yet remember that Sola Scriptura was never meant to deny that those other ways God speaks have their place and can be useful, but it does mean that the Bible has more authority than any of them or all of them. Everything comes back to the Bible.

Beyond Tradition: The Ultimate Authority

In the Middle Ages, it was often taught that the Bible and church tradition were equal in authority. God raised up mighty men like Martin Luther to stand against that wrong idea. Therefore, in his famous Leipzig debates with John Eck in June and July of 1519, Martin Luther said: “A simple layman armed with Scripture is greater than the mightiest pope without it.”¹

Almost 20 years later, Martin Luther wrote: “The true rule is this: God’s Word shall establish articles of faith, and no one else, not even an angel can do so.”² This was a powerful foundation for the remarkable work God did in the Reformation.

To thoroughly bring everything back to the Bible and recognize it as the true authority for faith and practice was something of a revolution.

We may respect traditions and religious authorities, but our ultimate authority is God’s Word as given in the Bible.

We recognize this even over the teaching of the Reformers themselves. It has sometimes been observed that if Martin Luther time traveled to our present day and walked into a typical modern evangelical church (let’s say a good, Bible-believing one), there would be much he would not approve of. To begin with, he would not approve that babies were not being baptized. He would not approve that the Lord’s Supper was not observed every week and in a certain ceremony. He probably would not approve of the lack of liturgical structure.

In regard to that, I would say, “Thank you, Martin Luther.” He and other reformers of his time firmly planted the flag for the authority of the Bible, even above their own authority. In fact, I think we honor Dr. Luther when we take him at his word and do what we earnestly and honestly believe the Bible instructs us to do, even when it disagrees with Luther’s own thought and practice.

We respect these great men of the past and want to learn what we can from them. We do not arrogantly dismiss their thinking and conclusions with the automatic thought that we know better today. Yet, at the end of it all, we stand where they told us to stand: Sola Scriptura, the Bible itself is our ultimate authority.

References

¹Roland Bainton’s classic biography on Luther, Here I Stand:A Life of Martin Luther [Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1950], p. 117

²Smalcald Articles, Part II, Article 2.15

As the Church prepares to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation on October 31, 2017, there is much to celebrate. Truly the Reformation has been an impetus for glorious eternal good. Yet, it may be helpful to understand the Reformation through Jewish eyes. I am unable to speak universally for my people, but I am likely able to offer an uncommon perspective as a Jew, a follower of Jesus and a Calvary Chapel pastor for more than 25 years.

Suffice it to say that Luther is a poster child for a purified Christianity, which is generally a good thing for all humanity, Jew and Gentile.

Nevertheless, you won’t see that poster hung in many Jewish homes. And that poster may even be offensive to a history savvy Jew. In a 2008 article by Magda Teter, published in Modern Jewish History, the author provides a scholarly snapshot of this tension:

“In the early stages of his break with Rome, Martin Luther seemed to make a stark break with prevalent attitudes about Jews. In a treatise written in 1523, he depicted the Jews as models of common sense: ‘If I had been a Jew and seen such oafs and numbskulls governing and teaching the Christian faith,’ he wrote, ‘I would have rather become a sow than a Christian.’ By using gentle persuasion, Luther argued the reformers might convince the Jews to accept conversion to a purified Christianity. But in the 1540s, Luther shifted to harsh attacks on the Jews, resorting to common late-medieval stereotypes. In fact, in his later career, his vision of how the Jews should be treated greatly exceeded in hostility anything ever proposed by the Roman Church, including a call to destroy synagogues and Jewish homes, to confiscate Jewish writings, to prohibit rabbis from teaching, to prohibit Jewish usury, and, eventually, to expel them. This violated both customary law and Roman church policy, which in principle protected the Jews’ right to practice Judaism in peace. True, not every reformer was as immoderate as Luther. But none of the major reformers produced a significantly new theological position vis-a-vis the Jews. They all held to the ancient doctrine that the Jews willfully and wickedly refused to accept the truth of the Gospels, even though the Church had demonstrated it to them.

The upheaval caused by the early Reformation also had negative practical consequences for the Jews. In the charged atmosphere that resulted, expulsions and persecutions became, if anything, more frequent in German lands. In the papal states and northern Italy, the upheaval of the Reformation also contributed to greater repression of the Jews. In the previous century and a half, popes, princes, and urban governments in Italy had tended to adopt a pragmatic attitude to the Jews, protecting their presence for the sake of the tax revenue they contributed. But in the 1550s, prompted by the various anxieties of the Reformation period, popes Julius III and Paul IV decreed several severe measures aimed at bringing about Jewish conversions. Three measures from this period did have far-reaching consequences: the requirement that Jews sell all real estate to Christians, the forced ghettoization of the Italian Jews, and the censorship of Hebrew books.

Yet in the long run, the Reformation set off processes with unanticipated consequences that improved the conditions of Jewish life. There was a shift in popular attitudes from one that had been promoted by the friars, a fearful, otherworldly perspective, to a more this-worldly, confident point of view. Jews lost much of their fantastic, demonic image in Christian eyes and assumed a more instrumental, utilitarian one. Partly, this change had roots in humanistic scholarship and Protestant Bible-reading. Given the Protestant encouragement of lay Bible reading, it is not surprising that Luther and many of the early reformers worked to promote Hebrew studies. Christian Hebraists became familiar with rabbinic exegesis, particularly through the commentaries of Rashi, Abraham ibn Ezra, and David Kimchi. Contact with Jewish interpretations eroded negative attitudes to the Jewish ‘carnal’ reading of the Bible. This does not mean that Christian Hebraists looked upon Jews favorably. They often continued to loathe the Jews. But new possibilities for evaluating Judaism emerged.

A truly momentous change resulted from the wide dissemination of the Hebrew Bible itself, whether in Hebrew, Latin, or the vernacular. Before the Reformation, the Bible had been read mainly by a tiny minority of educated, Latin-trained clerics. With the advent of vernacular translations in print, with increasing numbers of educated lay people, and with the strong encouragement of lay Bible-reading by reformers, a radically different relationship developed between lay Christians and the Scripture of the Jews.”¹

It is at this stage of the historical development that I can offer my perspective to the Luther conundrum.

As a Jewish follower of Yeshua, I don’t view Luther as an anti-Semitic bastard, nor do I venerate him as a near perfect hero of the faith. I greatly appreciate his remarkable conviction, courage, and in many respects, tremendous theological clarity. Yet, what I’m most grateful for is his influence hinted by Teter as follows, “…The strong encouragement of lay Bible-reading by reformers, a radically different relationship developed between lay Christians and the Scripture of the Jews.”² Not only did the encouragement of lay Bible-reading change the relationship between Christians and the Jewish Scriptures, but from my perspective, it changed the relationship between Jews and biblically literate followers of Jesus.

This is wonderfully evidenced in the Calvary Chapel movement with a rich history of Bible teaching and Bible learning. As a movement, we reject the replacement theology that asserts that the Church has replaced Israel and recognizes God’s on going promises to the Jewish people (Romans 9-11). Paul was sure to remind the primarily Gentile Roman church of their spiritual debt to the Jews. The Gentiles are a glorious branch, but the Jews are the root (Romans 11). This biblical perspective, that Luther undoubtedly (but perhaps unintentionally) helped to facilitate and encourage, fostered a genuine love by Bible reading Christians for Jews and the nation state of Israel.

So although I have no Luther posters displayed in my office, I do greatly appreciate his efforts, am exceptionally grateful for the Reformation and presently give a tip of the yarmulke in respect.

¹ “Early Modern Jewish History Overview”
² Ibid.