In Nomine Iesu

Pastor Thomas L. Rank
October 31, 2004
Winnebago County Reformation Service
Festival of the Lutheran Reformation

In a day and age when it is considered arrogant and politically incorrect to claim absolute truth for one’s beliefs, the Lutheran Reformation stands out like a sore thumb. The Reformation was all about truth in opposition to error; it was about right in clear distinction from wrong; it was about what God says instead of what man presumes. For this reason it is good for us to gather here to celebrate the Lutheran Reformation. We do not do this in order to break our arms trying to pat ourselves on the back. Not at all. No, we understand that without the strength of God nothing would have happened. We do not glorify the men involved 500 hundred years ago, but we do thank God for them and their bold confession. We gather today in humility so that the truth and rightness of the confession of God’s holy Word given by Martin Luther and the other Lutheran reformers will not be lost to us, but rather cherished as the bright and shining light of salvation.

We will look this afternoon at the three main teachings that are recognized in the Lutheran Reformation. These teachings are summarized as the three "solas:" Sola gratia, Sola fidei, and Sola scriptura. Grace alone, Faith alone, Scripture alone. Each of these is based on the clear Word of God.

And so we turn first to that word which teaches us about Grace Alone:

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast. (Ephesians 2:8,9)

If your sin is more of an inconvenience than a death sentence, then the cure you seek for sin will correspond to that inconvenience. If your sin is not a defect from birth, but merely some bad things you do now and then, then your help for sin will be more in the realm of something that keeps you from sinning, instead of a replacement for your whole life. If your sin does not earn for you a sentence to hell for all eternity, then your remedy for sin will not need to deal with such eternal consequences. How you view sin will impact your desire for help. Little sin needs little help.

How great is your sin? If we rely on the analysis of psychology, or other human derived diagnoses, we will find that our sin is not that great. In fact, we will find that our sin is more the fault of others than our own fault. But God’s Word does not allow such a view of sin. God’s Word teaches us that sin infects all our intentions, we are conceived and born in sin, "no one does good, no not one." The scriptural diagnosis of the human condition is one of abject failure, and of no hope when left to ourselves. We are spiritually dead in sin. And dead means dead. We can do nothing.

It is only with this understanding of sin that we learn to love the teaching that we are saved by God’s grace alone. In this great teaching of God’s word we find that our efforts are not only not needed, our efforts will accomplish nothing for our salvation. The work is all from Jesus Christ. The grace of God is the precious work of Jesus on the cross where He died for our sins, and this grace is now given to us. It is the undeserved mercy of God bestowed on us through the Gospel, the preaching of the forgiveness of sins, the one baptism for the remission of sins, and body and blood of Jesus given for the remission of sins.

The teaching of grace alone is a comforting message because we need not rely for salvation on our own inept and incomplete attempts to keep God’s law perfectly for our whole lives. For know this, that is what the law requires: perfect obedience for all your life. But the grace of God covers our sin, it wipes our lives clean. That is what it means that Jesus died for you. You are saved by grace alone.

This leads us to the second "sola": faith alone. We hear again from St. Paul, whom God inspired to write this in Romans chapter 1:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. ¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, 'The just shall live by faith.'

There are always new models for how to live as a Christian. It wasn’t that long ago that we had huge rallies in stadiums with experts telling us how to live as Christians. It was called "Promise keepers." Heard much from them lately? No, they’ve sort of vanished from the scene. Now we have a new phenomenon about how to live as Christians, it is called "The Purpose Driven Life." Do you think it will still be here in ten years? I doubt it. These spiritual fads grow like crazy, but then they fade away. And why is this? They all have in common an emphasis on the law, on modeling one’s life on the commands of God. Now, these commands of God are of crucial importance to us, and the Lutheran Church dare not and does not ignore them. However, the commands of God: You shall have no other gods, you shall keep the day of rest holy, you shall not kill, you shall not covet, etc., these commands are not life giving. They motivate only through fear, because the law kills. It makes demands we cannot keep. And so even though we need to keep hearing the Law, what it does is show us our sin, again, and again, and again. So any program, any model for Christian living that depends on the law, will ultimately fail.

St. Paul teaches us that "the just shall live by faith." Faith in what? Faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is "the power of God to salvation." See where the power lies? Not in us. Not in the law. But in the Gospel of God.

We focus on "faith alone" as the antidote to the life that tries to live by focusing on the law. We need the law, we need to do better in keeping the law. But it is faith in the promises of God that is the connection with God that we need to keep strong. And that is kept strong through the Gospel. The Gospel creates faith and strengthens it. We teach and confess "faith alone" because of the object of that faith, that is, what faith believes and trusts. And that is none other than Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Son of Mary – the only-begotten of the Father who was born of the virgin Mary. He is the object of faith, what faith relies on.

When we speak of "faith alone" we are not talking of faith in just anything, but faith precisely in Jesus, and no one else. No one else has done or can do what this Savior of the world has done. He has redeemed us who were under the law. Faith trusts this word of God.

And this leads us to our third "sola": sola scriptura: Scripture alone. Listen to the second letter to St. Timothy:

and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, ¹⁷ that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:15-17)

Martin Luther learned the Gospel of Jesus Christ as he lectured on the books of Romans and Psalms. He was troubled by his sin, and no amount of goodness on his part, no amount of repentant sighing on his part was able to relieve him of his guilt and shame. But as he studied God’s Word he came to understand the great truth of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

As he struggled to make known this great discovery he ran into the wall of the papacy which claimed equal status with Holy Scripture. Listen to the councils and the popes Luther was told. He had tried that way already, but he knew that therein lay only uncertainty, doubt, apprehension about sin. His confidence for salvation was built on the Word of God alone, Scripture alone.

It was not that Luther threw out all the wisdom of the early church fathers. But he tested what they wrote against God’s Word. He cherished much that earlier Christians had written. But he knew that when they disagreed with the Bible he could not follow them. For certainty, only the Word of God would do.

Sadly, many in the Lutheran church today have lost the confidence and confession of the three solas. The grace of God has been polluted with the works of man; the faith alone has been "improved" by pointing people to the very law which brings only the knowledge of sin; and Scripture has been undermined by asking the same question about the Bible that Satan asked Eve, "Did God really say that?"

We thank God for the Lutheran Reformation. We thank God for Martin Luther and the like-minded men who confessed with him. But we know that while their work is done and they have gone to their reward, much remains for the Lutheran church to do today.