Celebrating Reformation Day

This is in conjunction with Tim Challies 3rd Annual Reformation Day Symposium.

I have many heroes.  Yet somehow they are all deeply rooted in the reformational theology and tradition.  Even those who predated the reformation share in the doctrines of grace.  I have St. Athanasius in mind. Every time I think of 6 times his foes drove him into exile, I am inspired.  He stood against the world, forsaking all possessions and for a few moments, left his close friends.  He did so for the defense of Jesus Christ, the God-man.  To name a few of the heroes, aside from Athanasius, that strike a cord within me are: 

Francis Schaeffer 

Tim Keller 

Michael Horton 

John Murray 

Frederick Leahy 

JI Packer 

John Piper 

CJ Mahaney 

RC Sproul 

The list goes on and on.  I can add many names of Patristic church fathers and a few Medieval ones, specifically St. Anselm.  But why are the above men my heroes?  It really is one reason.  They have all fought hard to live out and explain the gospel of Jesus Christ.  That gospel is clearly understood in reformational theology. 

491 years ago on this day, the prized doctor of theology, in the town of Wittenburg, nailed his 95 theses on the church’s door.  His first point was this, “that the whole life of a Christian should be one of repentance.”  I love how Tim Keller unpacks this and shows just how gospel centered Luther was here.  He writes, “But in the gospel the purpose of repentance is to repeatedly tap into the joy of our union with Christ in order to weaken our need to do anything contrary to God’s heart.”  

This is why I love reformational theology.  At the very core of its soteriology, doctrine of salvation, is Jesus Christ.  I will let one of my heroes, JI Packer, explain this in his own words.  

“The very act of setting out Calvinistic soteriology [the doctrine of Salvation]in the form of five distinct points tends to obscure the the organic character of Calvinistic thought on this subject.  For the five points, though separately stated, are really inseparable.  They hang together; you cannot reject one without rejecting them all, at least in the sense in which the Synod meant them.  For to Calvinism there is really only one point to be make in the first of soteriology:  the point that God saves sinners.  God- the Triune Jehovah, Father, Son, and Spirit; three Persons working together in sovereign wisdom, power, and love to achieve the salvation of a chosen people, the Father electing, the Son fulfilling the Father’s will by redeeming, the Spirit executing the purpose of Father and Son by renewing.  Saves- does everything, first to last, that is involved in bringing man from death in sin to life in glory: plans, achieves and communicates redemption, calls and keeps, justifies, sanctifies, glorifies.  Sinners- men as God finds them, guilty, vile, helpless, powerless, unable to lift a finger to do God’s will or better their spiritual lot.  God saves sinners- and the force of this confession may not be weakened by disrupting the unity of the work of the Trinity, or by dividing the achievement of salvation between God and man and making the decisive part man’s own, or by soft-pedalling the sinner’s inability so as to allow him to share the praise of his salvation with his Savior.  This is the one point of Calvinistic soteriology which the “five points” are concerned to establish and Arminianism in all its forms to deny: namely, that sinners do not save themselves in any sense at all, byt that salvation, first and last, whole and entire, past, present, and future, is of the Lord, to whom be glory for ever; amen.”  JI Packer in “Saved by His Precious Blood: An Introduction to John Owen’s The Death of Death in the Death of Christ.”  pg. 117-118 of In My Place Condemned He Stood

Calvinism believes that God saves Sinners.  This theological paradigm was put into systematic categories; however, the name is misleading.  Luther and Calvin shared many theological beliefs.  They departed ways over the issue of the Eucharist, and eventually church polity.  Briefly the “5 Points of Calvinism” are as follows:  

(1) Total Inability – The reality that we are dead in our sins, this we, in our natural state, are dead to Jesus Christ.  We are unable to follow or please him. 

(2) Unconditional Election – This is the theological reality that given 1,000,000 chances to follow God, apart from his saving grace, we would chose not to 1,000,000 times.  Given this reality, God comes along and “lifts the blindfolds off our eyes.”  Only to discover instead of going to the beach, we were going to hell.  

(3) Particular/Definite/Limited Atonement – This is concerned with the question of what did Christ do on the cross.  It was there that he redeemed, justified, reconciled, and atoned for His chosen people.  The debate on this issue is over the extent of the atonement.  Did Christ die for all people, or just a few?  If it is for all then the efficacy and efficiency of the cross is limited.  If it is for a select people, then Jesus Christ’s death actually saves.  This point is closely connected with the Reformation’s War Cry, “We are justified by faith alone!”

(4) Irresistible Grace – Now that we have a new nature, because of God’s free grace, we can accept the offer of the gospel.  In our new nature we love God’s character instead of hate it.  

(5) Perseverance of the Saints – Those who God elected (gave a new nature, called, justified) are in his hands for all eternity.  Romans 8 is a beautiful account of this reality.  ”Not even life or death can separate us from the love of Christ.”  Christ’s death upon the cross was effectual.  It saved people.  The work of Christ on the cross was efficient.  Everyone who God predestined to be saved was.

Reformational Theology is completely, thoroughly centered on the good news of Jesus Christ.  That is why I love it so.