The Outcome of the Protestant Reformation

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With reference to the salvation of the elect, the purpose of God is, not only that they shall be saved, but that they shall believe, repent, and persevere in faith and holiness in order to salvation. William G.T. Shedd, Dogmatic Theology, Vol I, 400]
Every thing that has ever existed, and everything that exists, and everything that will exists and every action that has ever taken place, is taking place, and will take place, does so by the and every act performed by everything and everyone that has ever existed, that exists, and that will exist does so only because God decreed and determined that it would so exist and so act. God’s decree is designed for his glory and his glory alone.
Recall the Pelagian controversy in the early 5th century of the church, having been settled at the council of Ephesus. Pelagianism is heresy.
The promise of grace was given in but
Grace is that which our natural constitution has received, or it is the law of God, or it is the revelation of the gospel.
The human will may grasp grace if it chooses to. The law of God and the gospel are alike in operation and man can enter the Kingdom of Heaven as well through the one as through the other.
What do we do with Christian sin? God may forgive, but justice demands penance of some sort.
Augustine believed that the human will was passive in regeneration and that divine grace was irresistible.
This is because the human will was itself depraved along with the intellect and emotions.
John Cassian, while he held Augustine in great veneration, disagreed with his views on human nature and divine grace and constructed what has come to be known as Semi-Pelagianism. [The human will moves faith first by which man grasps grace; grace is not irresistible; God does not sovereignly choose the elect in eternity past.] God’s election is based on his foreknowledge.
The Council of Orange (529) emphatically rejected Semi-Pelagianism:

The grace of God is not granted in response to prayer, but itself causes prayer to be offered for it’ (3); ‘that we may be cleansed from sin, God does not wait upon, but prepares, our will’ (4); ‘the beginning of faith is not due to us, but to God’ (5); ‘undeserved grace precedes meritorious works … Grace is not nature’ (21); ‘to love God is the gift of God’ (25).

Contextual Background

Go back to Luther’s reaction to the indulgences
What was the issue in back of the indulgences?
Selling of indulgences was a practice whose existence depended on a theological system that:
Detrimental to grace
Contrary to faith
Presumptuous of Christ
Dismissive of Scripture as our final authority for faith and practice
Exchanged God’s glory for that of the pope and the visible church
The beginning of Indulgences
The complex history of Penance is beyond the scope of this lesson. Suffice it to say that it has early roots in the Christian church (3rd century), it was always based on an poor understanding of grace, and it fundamentally ignores Jesus’ command in to forgive the sinning brother if he repents.
Late 11th century, Ivo of Chartres worked out a theory of dispensation, that is, not applying the rules of ecclesiastical law in certain circumstances.
Forgiveness in Roman Catholicism - original sin and actual sins are forgiven at baptism. But a different sacrament exists for sins after baptism.
Penance, confession, and reconciliation
Mortal Sin - a sin that leads to eternal hell. It can be forgiven through confession but requires a undetermined amount of time in Purgatory.
Venial Sin - a small pardonable offense against God or our neighbor.
The Pope has the power to forgive sins: the key to the treasury of merit is in the hands of the Pope.
Sin cannot just be forgiven without some form of payment or punishment. Justice insists on it.
In 1215, the Fourth Lateran Council issues a canon obliging every Christian to confess his or her sins to a priest at least once a year and to receive an appropriate penance.
The core issue emerging at the beginning of the reformation was a realization that grace had been perverted and as a result the gospel had been lost. The Protestant Reformation then, was about the recovery of the gospel.

Sola Gratia

Calvin’s Theology
What is it?
The reformation principle of grace alone is the belief that salvation is the work of God alone, dependent on nothing outside of God for its effectiveness. It is also called efficacious grace because it is always effective, it never fails to produce God’s intended purpose.
John 1:12–13 ESV
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
The Reformation doctrine of predestination and election was based on scriptural teaching, and represents a continuation of a long-standing Augustinian legacy. Contrary to the teaching of Pelagianism and semi-Pelagianism, which grant a measure of human autonomy and free will in the believer’s response to the gospel call to faith and repentance, the doctrine of predestination undergirds the teaching of salvation by grace alone through the work of Christ alone.
In other words, the reformers believed that to involve human volition in any way was to contaminate divine grace.
The warrant for salvation by grace alone is located in the Scripture
Total Depravity
Ephesians 2:8–10 ESV
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Unconditional Election
Why was it important to the reformation of the church?
Limited Atonement
Without sola gratia, the Christian gospel becomes just one more works-based system among many competitors. And if that happens, Christianity collapses.
It contradicted the Roman understanding of the pope’s authority to forgive sins and to control the supposed treasury of merit. Selling of indulgences becomes nothing more than a religious fraud perpetrated upon the Church of God.
Irresistible Grace
Eph. 1:3-
Ephesians 1:3–14 ESV
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Ephesians 1:3–4 ESV
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
Eph. 1
Perseverance of the Saints
3. What is the greatest threat to the principle of sola gratia?
The Servetus Inc
A misunderstanding of God’s holiness and/or a deficient view of the nature of fallen man.
A false belief about the nature of God’s infinite holiness, the nature of divine love, the nature of sin and a failure to understand the true condition of the fallen nature of sinful man.
Bad theology results in a skewed view of the human will that almost always lends itself to a synergistic soteriology. In other words, the popular view that God’s grace alone working through Christ alone is not enough to effect the saving of individual souls. Instead, insistence on human autonomy leads to the belief that the individual soul must cooperate with God if salvation is to be actualized.
What this ultimately means is that God’s grace provided not for the salvation of any real person, but that it only made salvation a possibility for those who would exercise their free will and decide to come after Christ.
William G.T. Shedd writes:
The divine decree is the necessary condition of the Divine foreknowledge. If God does not first decide what shall come to pass, he cannot know what will come to pass. An event must be made certain, before it can be known as a certain event. [Dogmatic Theology]
A right understanding of grace alone then depends on a right understanding of God’s decree to save from the beginning, those whom he chose for himself. And this depends on a right understanding of God’s nature.
The basis for God’s election of men to salvation is located in himself. God is working his plan for his own good pleasure and for his own glory.
The doctrine of election and predestination means that salvation is by God’s grace alone! God chose you before he created the first blade of grass.

Sola Fide

What is it?
Justification is a forensic or legal term. It is the declaration that we have been forgiven of all offense, that are debts are cleared, and that in their place, we have been credited with the righteousness that belongs to Christ. The great exchange!
The most towering figure of the Reformation’s first generation, Martin Luther, was quite emphatic in his exclamation that justification was “the first and chief article” of Christian theology. [Korey D. Maas, Reformation Theology]
Justification has to do with making one acceptable before God - righteous.
Romans 1:17 ESV
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
Philippians 3:9 ESV
and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—
Or better, The one who is righteous by faith, shall live.
Why was it important to the reformation of the church?
It contradicted the Roman understanding of justification.
The Complete Works of Menno Simon, Volume 1 Counter Arguments with Their Replications

Again, Children are entitled to the kingdom of heaven, and are under the promise of the grace of God, through Christ; as has been said; and therefore we truly believe, that they are blessed, holy and pure, acceptable to God; are under the covenant, and in his church, but by no means, through any external sign; for there is not a word in all the Scriptures whereby to maintain, that children should be admitted into the covenant and the church by such a sign. Besides, it is very evident that they cannot be taught or admonished by word, or sacrament, as long as they are without the ability to hear and understand.

Let them be accursed who make the following claims:
That the free will of man, moved and aroused by God does not cooperate at all by responding to the awakening call of God.
That God’s special grace cannot be refused.
That man’s free will has been wholly lost and destroyed after Adam’s sin.
That justification once received is not preserved and even increased in the sight of God through good works; but that these same works are only fruits and signs of justification, not causes of its increase.
It contradicted the two most popular “orders of salvation” in the late middle ages were Thomas Aquinas’ via antiqua (old way) and William of Ockham’s via moderna (new way)
The via antiqua
God freely bestows grace on the individual.
The individual is empowered to cooperate with God’s grace.
This meritorious cooperation, combined with and made possible by grace, is rewarded with eternal life.
The via moderna
Men are naturally capable of doing good and in fact, meritorious cooperation is possible without divine grace. Indeed, it was such effort that was rewarded with God’s first bestowal of grace.
God freely bestows grace on the individual who does good.
This modern school of soteriology became identified with its proposition that “God will not deny grace to those who do what is in them.”
This individual is even more empowered to cooperate with God’s grace
This is similar to the apologetic claim that God will send a preacher to the seeker in the remote jungle if that seeker is sincerely wanting to know him.
If total depravity is the case, then even the affections of man are corrupt.
It contradicts the very popular notion among so many evangelicals today that the true variant in salvation is the human will.
The Reformers believed:
All men are dead in their trespasses and sins.
All men hate God.
All men are natural enemies of God.
No man seeks God.
No man is capable of doing anything good that would commend him to God in any way.
John Calvin wrote:
Institutes of the Christian Religion 8. Twofold Value of Work before God

But we define justification as follows: the sinner, received into communion with Christ, is reconciled to God by his grace, while, cleansed by Christ’s blood, he obtains forgiveness of sins, and clothed with Christ’s righteousness as if it were his own, he stands confident before the heavenly judgment seat.

Earlier he commented:
Institutes of the Christian Religion 2. The Concept of Justification

Therefore, we explain justification simply as the acceptance with which God receives us into his favor as righteous men. And we say that it consists in the remission of sins and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness.

If any one saith, that the justice received is not preserved and also increased before God through good works; but that the said works are merely the fruits and signs of Justification obtained, but not a cause of the increase thereof; let him be anathema. [COUNCIL OF TRENT CANON 24]
What is the greatest threat to sola fide?
Works-based righteousness
Decisional regeneration
Synergistic schemes of salvation
Justification has to do with making someone righteous before God.
You cannot become more innocent in the eyes of God. The one who violates one single point of the law is guilty of breaking the entire law. [James 2:10]
No unregenerate person has a neutral disposition towards God. [; ]

Solus Christus

What is it?
Solus Christus is the reformation principle that man needs no other mediator than that one which God has already given us: the man Christ Jesus. It is in Christ alone that man’s are forgiven. The work of Christ did not make forgiveness of sins possible, but it actually effected the sins of all men whom God would call to himself, past, present, and future.
"This office of mediator between God and man is proper only to Christ, who is the prophet, priest, and king of the church of God; and may not be either in whole, or any part thereof, transferred from him to any other." - London Baptist Confession
The claim of the reformers is that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. This means that we need only the threefold office of Christ as prophet, priest, and king to effect the forgiveness of sins.
1 Timothy 2:5 ESV
For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
Why is it important for the reformation of the church?
This view of the work of Christ completely nullifies the need for priests and popes.
It also makes the practice of indulgences unnecessary.
Hebrews 9:12 ESV
he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
What is the greatest threat to solus Christus?
The requirement of a priest to whom confession must be made remains the greatest threat.
Another threat is the view that men can be saved outside Christ or the church.
The application of the forgiveness of sins to the individual in time, comes through faith in Christ by way of the Word Proclaimed. []
According to Scripture, there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.
While the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. [John 1:17]

Sola Scriptura

The historical meaning of sola Scriptura, which served as the formal principle of the Reformation, is that Scripture alone is the only certain, infallible norm by which all theology, doctrine, creeds (beliefs), practice and morality of the Christian Church is to be regulated, in accordance with that which is ‘either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture. [David T. King, Holy Scripture: The Ground and Pillar of Our Faith]
The high confidence Christians placed in the divine writings was not at that time, as it is still not today, well understood or appreciated by outsiders. While Christians responded to numerous attacks on Scripture by defending it against charges of falsehood of various kinds, the divine origin and authority of their Scriptures was not, generally speaking, something they could or needed to “prove,” but was that by which they proved all things. [Charles E. Hill, The Truth Above All Demonstrations in The Enduring Authority of Christian Scripture]
What is it?
The historical meaning of sola Scriptura, which served as the formal principle of the Reformation, is that Scripture alone is the only certain, infallible norm by which all theology, doctrine, creeds (beliefs), practice and morality of the Christian Church is to be regulated, in accordance with that which is ‘either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture. [David T. King, Holy Scripture: The Ground and Pillar of Our Faith]
2 Timothy 3:16–17 ESV
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Focus on the word complete. The Greek word is artios, and it means to be well fitted for some function, complete, capable, proficient. In other words, able to meet all demands.
If you want to be proficient at good works before God, then you must know
The Bible is a revelation of revelations.
God acts to reveal himself in history: God delivers Israel out of Egypt.
God acts on Moses and the prophets to record these events: This is God’s own interpretation of the actual event itself.
Hos
Hosea 11:1 ESV
When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.
Matthew 2:15 ESV
and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
2 Peter 1:21 ESV
For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Greek word for carried is φέρω and it means: to so influence others as to cause them to follow a recommended course of action—‘to guide, to direct, to lead.’
to so influence others as to cause them to follow a recommended course of action—‘to guide, to direct, to lead.’
Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 464.
The Bible is the infallibly revealed record and interpretation of God’s own revelation of himself in redemptive history.
The experience of the authors of Scripture is unique.
Otherwise, there are errors in the Bible OR there are men who are producing inerrant records of revelation today.
Sola Scriptura is not the belief that there is no authority other than Scripture.
Modern Christians misunderstand this principle of the reformation to mean each man or woman for himself on determining the meaning of Scripture.
This principle is abused by modern Evangelical Christians within a culture of hyper individualism.
Submission is the essence of Christian faith. Rebellion is the spirit of American culture. America is predicated on individual rights.
Reading the Scripture is a fellowship activity in which the voices of those who have read before us need to be heard attentively. The individualism of later centuries is only anachronistically read into Luther’s appeal to sola Scriptura. [Mark D. Thompson, Reformational Theology, 156]
Hebrews 13:17 ESV
Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
Sola Scriptura meant for Luther that all other authorities, as venerable as they may be, stand under the authority of Scripture and are to be tested by what is taught in Scripture.
Heinrich Bullinger, Zwingli’s successor in Zurich, wrote:
But in the treatise of ours, the word of God doth properly signify the speech of God, and the revealing of God’s will; first of all uttered in a lively-expressed voice by the mouth of Christ, the prophets and apostles; and after that again registered in writings, which are rightly called “holy and divine scriptures.” De scripturae sanctae auctoritate
Concerning a proper understanding of Scripture, the Holy Spirit’s work, and knowledge, Calvin wrote:
Institutes of the Christian Religion 13. Martyrs Died Firmly for Scripture Doctrine

There are other reasons, neither few nor weak, for which the dignity and majesty of Scripture are not only affirmed in godly hearts, but brilliantly vindicated against the wiles of its disparagers; yet of themselves these are not strong enough to provide a firm faith, until our Heavenly Father, revealing his majesty there, lifts reverence for Scripture beyond the realm of controversy.

Institutes of the Christian Religion 13. Martyrs Died Firmly for Scripture Doctrine

Therefore Scripture will ultimately suffice for a saving knowledge of God only when its certainty is founded upon the inward persuasion of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, these human testimonies which exist to confirm it will not be vain if, as secondary aids to our feebleness, they follow that chief and highest testimony.

Institutes of the Christian Religion 13. Martyrs Died Firmly for Scripture Doctrine

But those who wish to prove to unbelievers that Scripture is the Word of God are acting foolishly, for only by faith can this be known. Augustine therefore justly warns that godliness and peace of mind ought to come first if a man is to understand anything of such great matters.

Credo ut Intelligam: I believe in order to understand.
Why is it important for the reformation of the church?
There can be only one final authority - one supreme authority to which all others must submit.
If a man’s interpretation is the final authority, the question arises, which man. If it is the pope, which pope, which council.
Institutes of the Christian Religion 5. Scripture Bears Its Own Authentication

Let this point therefore stand: that those whom the Holy Spirit has inwardly taught truly rest upon Scripture, and that Scripture indeed is self-authenticated; hence, it is not right to subject it to proof and reasoning. And the certainty it deserves with us, it attains by the testimony of the Spirit. bFor even if it wins reverence for itself by its own majesty, it seriously affects us only when it is sealed upon our hearts through the Spirit. Therefore, illumined by his power, we believe neither by our own nor by anyone else’s judgment that Scripture is from God; but above human judgment we affirm with utter certainty (just as if we were gazing upon the majesty of God himself) that it has flowed to us from the very mouth of God by the ministry of men.

Romans 12:2 ESV
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Colossians 3:10 ESV
and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
What is the greatest threat to sola Scriptura
Me
Human autonomy
You feel entitled to interpret the Bible yourself
Radical personalization
Seeing me everywhere in the Bible
God will do for me what he did for David, or Moses, or Peter
Anachronistic contextualization
Failing to read the Bible with the church
Therefore, the guiding principle to application can be summed up as follows: that which is meaningful for our day must have its foundation in correct interpretation, the meaning of the text in its original context. Put another way, a text cannot be meaningful today in a way that is inconsistent with the original author’s intended meaning. [Andreas J. Kostenberger/Richard Alan Fuhr Jr., Inductive Bible Study, 291]
The Bible is a revelation of a revelation. It is an interpretive revelation of the acts of revelation. God acts, God interprets his acts.
Because of the noetic effects of sin humanity needed a special revelation from God in order for true knowledge of God to obtain.
Sola Scriptura does not mean that there is no other authority, but that every other authority must submit to Scripture as the final authority.
The most common mistake modern Christians make in Bible Study is to read themselves into the Bible.
When you read yourself into the Bible, instead of the Bible transforming your life, you are most likely transforming the Bible. This makes you the final authority instead of Scripture.

Soli Deo Gloria

What is it?
The reformation principle of Soli Deo Gloria is the belief that everything, including the salvation of individual souls is for the glory of God alone. God decreed to create, to permit the fall, and to redeem some from among fallen men all for his own glory. Everything that happens, happens for the glory of God.
God’s purpose for creating, contrary to modern dispensational theology was not soteriological.
God’s purpose for creating was doxological: for his own glory!
God decrees not only the event that shall come to pass, but the means along with the effect and every condition necessary to bring it to pass and he does so for his glory alone.
Isa
Isaiah 43:6–7 ESV
I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”
Isaiah 43:6–7 ESV
I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”
Psalm 96:1–3 ESV
Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!
Isaiah 42:8 ESV
I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.
Isaiah 48:11 ESV
For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.
Isaiah 66:19 ESV
and I will set a sign among them. And from them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands far away, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory among the nations.
Ezekiel 39:21 ESV
“And I will set my glory among the nations, and all the nations shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid on them.
Revelation 21:23 ESV
And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.
2. Why is it important for the reformation of the church?
It removes the focus of the church from the church and the pope to God.
It removes the focus of the church from me to God.
Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God and fully to enjoy him forever.
3. What is the greatest threat to soli deo gloria?
When the summum bonum is anything other than God’s glory.
Ecclesiastes 12:13–14 ESV
The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.
This means that God gets all the glory for our salvation. We did not come to know God through our own analysis, examination, evaluation. We did NOT decide one day to choose Jesus. He chose us from the beginning.
Every thing that exists and every act performed by everything and everyone that has ever existed, that exists, and that will exist does so only because God decreed and determined that it would so exist and so act. God’s decree is designed for his glory and his glory alone.
says the following:
We have obtained an inheritance in Christ.
Because we have been predestined.
Our predestination to the inheritance in Christ is according to God’s plan.
All things are being worked according to God’s plan.
God’s plan is carried out by God according to the decision and resolution of God’s own objectives.
Soli Deo Gloria
We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone according to Scripture alone for the glory of God alone.
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