October 31st is Reformation Day so to celebrate I wanted to explain the history of the day for those who aren’t familiar with it and to remind those who are.
Taken from Frontline.org:
“The Reformation in Europe during the 16th century was one of the most important epochs in the history of the world. The Reformation gave us the Bible – now freely available in our own languages. The now almost universally acknowledged principles of religious freedom, liberty of conscience, the rule of law, separation of powers and constitutionally limited Republics were unthinkable before the Reformation. The Reformers fought for the principles that Scripture alone is our final authority, Christ alone is the head of the Church and justification is by God’s grace, on the basis of the finished work of Christ, received by faith alone.”
Perhaps the most famous figure of the Reformation is Martin Luther (pictured above) and his 95 Theses. (You can read more about the 95 Theses and their results at luther.de .) “Here I stand, I can do no other” were the famous words he said at the Diet of Worms when told to recant. I’ll leave you with this quote from Luther:
“If you could rightly consider the incomparable price, you would hold as accursed all those ceremonies and merits…and throw them all down to hell. For it is a horrible blasphemy to imagine that there is any work that could pacify God since there is nothing which is able to pacify Him but his inestimable price: the blood of the Son of God, one drop of which is more precious than the whole world.”