The Festival of the Reformation
The Festival of the Reformation
October 31
The Lord of hosts is with us:
The God of Jacob is our Refuge.
Therefore will not we fear though the earth be removed:
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.
God is our Refuge and Strength:
Avery present Help in trouble.
—Psalm 46:1-2, ant. v. 11
A writing for the Festival of the Reformation:
Christ promised that the Christian Church on earth would face persecution. As the Jews falsely expected that their Messiah would bring political and dominical power, so also do we falsely expect that our faith would grant us peace. Instead, the Christian Church on earth faces hatred, hardship, and persecution—all on account of Christ.
Much of this hardship comes from within the Church. She is no stranger to controversy; false teachers have arisen from within who threaten the sanctity of her doctrine and rob men of their salvation by leading them into falsehoods and unbelief. Such was the state of the Church in Martin Luther’s day. Having begun as an Augustinian monk, Luther’s conscience was terribly stricken by the weight of his sin and he lacked faith that Christ would deliver him. He was hopeless.
The Word was shielded from him, even after his ordination as a monk. The Church kept the comforting word of the Gospel from him to force him into submission. No monk could defend the lies of the papacy any longer had they received access to the sacred Scriptures. For if the forgiveness of sins had been proclaimed to the Church, the continual and increasing enrichment of the papacy could not have continued.
We must avoid gross generalizations concerning the Roman Catholic Church, even in Luther’s day. Many were faithful, but the few whose influence was insurmountable and normative in the Church—that is, those whose agendas influenced the doctrines and teachings of the Catholic Church—had perverted the doctrines on which Christ established the Church and deprived the Church of the Gospel from which our hope and comfort springs.
The avaricious ambitions of the papacy had deprived the faithful laity of the Gospel. They were taught that salvation must be earned and bought. Works, not faith, bestow forgiveness of sins. The souls of the faithful, regardless of their status on earth, almost always needed purification in purgatory. Christ—the Almighty Savior and Son of the Most High God—simply was not enough. His all-atoning sacrifice, in total rejection of Hebrews 10, was not sufficient.
By the work of the Holy Spirit, Luther was arisen as a prophet and teacher to disarm the papacy of their abusive authority and proclaim once again the true Gospel of Christ. The Reformation began a movement, but not a revolutionary movement. Rather, it was a retreat to the Gospel. It was a movement back to the doctrine of the Apostles. It was a revival of the pure biblical doctrines on which the Church was founded. The Reformation was a restoration of the true Catholic Church—and we, therefore, are truly Catholics.
We must not think of Luther as heroic, at least not in any conventional sense. Neither shall we think of the Reformation as a revolution—or even as a “change” or “alteration.” The aim of the Reformation was to change nothing, except the blasphemous abuses of the papacy against which the faithful Church needed protection. The Reformation was a regenerative movement in the Church to the Scriptural foundation and apostolic doctrines on which the Church was founded. Luther, like many before and after him, was a messenger from God sent to proclaim the Gospel and bring the light of Christ to a people who dwell in darkness.
Let us give thanks this day and every day for the faithful work of bold men whose confessions on earth have served as bright examples of the eternal hope to which we look in every need, every hardship, and every moment. Let us give thanks to God, above all others, for His gracious Gospel and love of His Son as we look to, preach, and believe solely in Christ crucified.
Hymn of the Day for the Festival of the Reformation*:
Salvation unto us has come
By God’s free grace and favor;
Good works cannot avert our doom,
They help and save us never.
Faith looks to Jesus Christ alone,
Who did for all the world atone;
He is our one Redeemer.
What God did in His Law demand
And none to Him could render
Caused wrath and woe on ev’ry hand
For man, the vile offender.
Our flesh has not those pure desires
The spirit of the Law requires,
And lost is our condition.
It was a false, misleading dream
That God His Law had given
That sinners might themselves redeem
And by their works gain heaven.
The Law is but a mirror bright
To bring the inbred sin to light
That lurks within our nature.
From sin our flesh could not abstain,
Sin held its sway unceasing;
The task was useless and in vain,
Our guilt was e’er increasing.
None can remove sin’s poisoned dart
Or purify our guileful heart—
So deep is our corruption.
Yet as the Law must be fulfilled
Or we must die despairing,
Christ came and hath God’s anger stilled,
Our human nature sharing.
He hath for us the Law obeyed
And thus the Father’s vengeance stayed
Which over us impended.
Since Christ hath full atonement made
And brought to us salvation,
Each Christian therefore may be glad
And build on this foundation.
Thy grace alone, dear Lord, I plead,
Thy death is now my life indeed,
For Thou hast paid my ransom.
Let me not doubt, but trust in Thee,
Thy Word cannot be broken;
Thy call rings out, “Come unto Me!”
No falsehood hast Thou spoken.
Baptized into Thy precious name,
My faith cannot be put to shame,
And I shall never perish.
The only righteous in God’s sight
Are they this faith possessing;
But faith shines forth with heav’nly light,
Itself by works professing.
Though faith is all that God requires,
Thy love the neighbor’s good desires
If God hath truly borne Thee.
The Law reveals the guilt of sin
And makes men conscience-stricken;
The Gospel then doth enter in
The sinful soul to quicken.
Come to the cross, trust Christ, and live;
The Law no peace can ever give,
No comfort and no blessing.
Faith clings to Jesus’ cross alone
And rests in Him unceasing;
And by its fruits true faith is known,
With love and hope increasing.
Yet faith alone doth justify,
Works serve the neighbor and supply
The proof that faith is living.
Hope waits in patience for that time
When God will show His power.
When to expect this joy sublime,
God sets for us no hour.
He knows full well when best to aid;
Though help may often be delayed,
In this we all must trust Him.
If His goodwill be hid in night,
Dismiss this fear unbidden.
To those in whom is His delight,
His love is often hidden.
His Word shall take away thy doubt,
And if thy flesh its “No” should shout,
Still cast from thee all terror.
May glory, laud, with highest praise,
For this, our God’s salvation,
To Father, Spirit, Son be raised,
Who’ll bring unto completion
The work He hath in us begun,
That glory may for Him be won.
For this His name be hallowed.
His kingdom come, His will on earth
Be done as ’tis in heaven.
Of daily bread be there no dearth,
And be our sins forgiven
As we do them who owe us aught.
Into temptation lead us not,
From evil free us. Amen.
*This hymn, written by Paul Speratus and considered the crown jewel of Lutheran hymnody alongside Luther’s “A Mighty Fortress,” only appears in 10 of its original 14 stanzas in most Lutheran hymnals. The original 14-verse hymn, copied here in its entirety, is found here on The Free Lutheran Chorale-Book.
Collet of the Day for the Festival of the Reformation:
O Lord God, heavenly Father, pour out, we beseech Thee, Thy Holy Spirit upon Thy faithful people, keep them steadfast in Thy grace and truth, protect and comfort them in all temptations, defend them against all enemies of Thy Word, and bestow upon Christ’s Church Militant Thy saving peace; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
According to tradition, Paul Speratus wrote Salvation Unto Us Has Come while he was in prison in Olomouc, condemned for his beliefs to death by fire. By the intercession of friends was he released with the condition that he leave Moravia. Paul Tschackert (1895) wrote in Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, Volume 35 (in German). Historischen Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. pp. 123–135. "...only through the intercession of respected aristocrats was he rescued from death by fire, to which he had been condemned ... in this prison he composed the Protestant hymn 'There is salvation come forth to us.'"
There's also a story of Luther being brought to tears when he first heard this hymn being sung by a beggar outside his window in Wittenburg. Jean Henri Merle (1846) wrote in History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century: "The Reformer, who had never till then heard that Christian hymn, listened with delight and astonishment; and what further augmented these feelings, was the foreign accent of the person who sang. 'Again! again!' he exclaimed when the beggar had finished. He then asked him where the hymn could have come from; the tears rushed from his eyes when the poor man told him that it was from the shores of the Baltic that a shout of deliverance was resounding as far as Wittenberg; and then, clasping his hands, he thanked God with a joyful heart." And Catherine Winkworth (1884) wrote in Christian Singers of Germany. pp. 123–4: "...sounds to us like a bit out of the Augsburg Confession done into rhyme. But in his own day it was as popular as Luther's hymns, and Luther himself is said to have given his last coin to a Prussian beggar from whom he heard it for the first time."
I'm interested in your comment that, "The Word was shielded from him, even after his ordination as a monk. The Church kept the comforting word of the Gospel from him to force him into submission. No monk could defend the lies of the papacy any longer had they received access to the sacred Scriptures."
In what way were monks like Luther denied access to the Scriptures? I thought monks were the ones entrusted with preserving, copying, and illustrating them during the medieval period.