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<\/a><\/p>\nThe Church is discredited:\u00a0 plagued by corruption, including sex scandals.\u00a0 Trusting human leaders whose failures disillusion their followers.\u00a0 The Church is seen as pre-occupied with politics.\u00a0 The Gospel of Christ\u2019s justification of sinners is buried under elaborate schemes of works-righteousness.\u00a0 The Word of God is marginalized and misused.\u00a0 That was the Church of 1517, in sore need of Reformation.\u00a0 Increasingly, this also describes the Church of 2018, which is also in need of Reformation.\u00a0 Today, not just the Catholic church needs Reformation, so does the Protestant church.\u00a0 The same Reformation as the one 500 years ago.<\/p>\n
That was my thesis in a talk I gave at a Reformation festival in upstate New York last weekend:\u00a0 \u201cThe Reformation Then and Now.\u201d\u00a0 Fellow Patheos blogger Jordan Cooper was in the house, and he has made my presentation into a\u00a0podcast.<\/a><\/p>\n To observe Reformation Day today, I will post a few of the points I make in that presentation to make my case that the key themes of the Reformation are live issues today.<\/p>\n The Gospel could still be found in the Middle Ages, and it can certainly be found today.\u00a0 But consider these developments in contemporary Christianity:<\/p>\n The biggest and most pervasive problem, though, is the view that the Gospel is simply for conversion<\/em>.\u00a0 After that, we are under the Law.\u00a0 Similar to what the Medieval Church taught about Baptism, that it delivered us from original sin and for all sins committed up to that point, by applying the Gospel only to the moment of conversion, the Gospel is marginalized and made into a relatively small part of the Christian life.\u00a0 The Reformation, though, taught that the Gospel is for all of the Christian\u2019s life, that it creates the life of faith, which bears the sanctifying fruit of good works in love and service to our neighbors.<\/p>\n But if part of the church\u2019s need for Reformation is its immorality, don\u2019t we need more Law?\u00a0 Aren\u2019t Christians using the Gospel as a cover for their sinfulness?<\/p>\n First of all, those who think that they are saved by the Law tend to weaken and redefine the Law so as to make it easier for them to keep.\u00a0 Instead of seeking and finding forgiveness, they insist that they do not need forgiveness.<\/p>\n Faith in Christ\u2013not faith in oneself, or faith in one\u2019s conversion\u2013justifies, and, in so doing, it changes us on the inside and shapes our external actions.\u00a0 Christians do indeed need the Law, in all of its uses, but only pairing it with the Gospel and using them together can sin be defeated.<\/p>\n The Medieval Church did believe in God\u2019s Word, and most Protestants today accept to one degree or another its authority.\u00a0 But the Word then and now has been marginalized and misused.\u00a0 Consider these developments in contemporary Christianity:<\/p>\n The \u201cRed Letter Christians\u201d teach that we only need to follow the words of Jesus\u2013printed in red letters in many editions of the Bible\u2013and not the rest of Scripture.<\/p>\n The biggest and most pervasive problem, though, is\u00a0missing the sense in which God\u2019s Word is a means of Grace.\u00a0 That when we read or hear or study the Scriptures, God\u2019s Word is \u201cliving and active\u201d (Hebrews 4:12).\u00a0 In His Word, God addresses us in a personal way, and the Holy Spirit\u2013by bringing us to repentance and bringing us to Christ\u2013creates faith in our heart.<\/p>\n When we fail to use the Bible in this way, our faith tends to remain superficial and unfruitful.\u00a0 Furthermore, we miss the power of the Holy Spirit when we look for Him inside ourselves rather than externally, in language of God\u2019s Word.<\/p>\n Many other things I say on these and related topics.\u00a0 Again, you can listen to the podcast.\u00a0 I also deal with some of the new issues that have come to the fore 500 years after the first Reformation, but which that Reformation can also help us deal with today.\u00a0 For more about those, see my new book with Trevor Sutton, Authentic Christianity.<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\nThe Eclipse of the Gospel<\/h3>\n
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The Eclipse of God\u2019s Word<\/h3>\n
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Reformation Today<\/h3>\n