The Institute (協会)

Reformation Day celebrations are held because the Gospel of justification by faith alone was "re-discovered" by Luther. A secondary reason for marking the day is for churches and Christians to re-commit themselves to the same foundational doctrines of the Protestant Reformation. Note the word Protestant contains the the word 'protest.' The obvious question that arises is "Protesting what?" Protesting the Roman Catholic doctrines that we cooperate in our justification by partaking of the sacraments whereby God's grace is infused into us. Luther said "No" to this and showed by Scripture that we are justified by faith alone in Christ alone. God's grace is imputed to those who put their faith in Christ.

Unity of the church is important, but it always takes a back seat to these central doctrines.

Yes, Dave, these are of course important doctrines! But following Anthony's point about divorce, as I am sure you are aware the church is referred to in the Scriptures as the body of Christ. My point is this, if you get an infection in your leg and it has to be removed, you dont celebrate the amputation. As i understand my church history, Luther longed for reform of the body--not amputation--unity perhaps was second place yet he surely grieved at the cost. Yet, To take it a step further, it seems to me that the reformation catalyzed more division within the body than in any point in Christendom. If there is one question I am often asked by non-Christians and skeptics it is this, "why so many different interpretations and divisions!?"

Now, Anthony, to your original question, perhaps there is something in my previous point to use as a response. Protestants (self inculded, reformed specifically) in my opinion need to consider a higher and broader view of the whole body and its need for reconstructive surgery. The reversal of how moderns celebrate reformation day compared to Luther reminds me of the reversal of how moderns celebrate the Supper compared to Calvin. It seems protestants ought to be grieving more on reformation day and actually celebrating more every time we participate with and partake of the body! The funeral dirges from the organ during the Supper ought to be replaced with the trumpets we hear on Reformation day, and perhaps visa versa.

I would simply encourage your friend to keep asking these kinds of questions but to seek to construct something in the place of the deconstruction. What do we do instead? How do we put it into play? Is this really a larger ecumenical question?

That's easy. There's no unity without biblical truth.

As is noted above, we celebrate Reformation Day because that day opened the floodgates for sola fide, sola gratia, and such to be a path to God's grace for millions of believers.

And the tragedy? Well, I'd suggest that the real tragedy occurred centuries before, when Rome began to withhold the Scriptures from the people, and substitute tradition for Biblical theology--and to kill those who objected, all too often.

To end that hegemony is worth celebrating--though we might also observe July 7 (Hus's execution date) or one of the important dates in Wytcliffe's life for the same reason.

It is a matter of perspective. On Oct. 31, 1517, Luther was not trying to leave the Catholic Church, he was trying to reform it. We celebrate the reforming of the church. The Reformers did not leave the Church until later. We do not celebrate the disunity.

We mourn that our brothers and sisters of the Roman Church continued in their path away from the gospel of free grace, but we celebrate the truths that Luther heralded on Oct. 31, 1517.

We celebrate reformation day because we are scared of Halloween - it means we have to meet our neighbors and make their children happy! We'd rather dress up like dead guys and hang out at church yet another week night. J/K

Nathan,

No one I know celebrates the divisions in the church on Reformation Day. In fact we grieve over the divisions and remind ourselves of "our ancient foe who seeks to work us woe" (A Mighty Fortress). He has successfully divided the church by sowing doctrinal confusion. But praise God that "we have the right man on our side, the man of God's own choosing. Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus it is he, Lord Sabaoth his name, from age to age the same, and he must win the battle."

As for working towards unity let me give two examples: 1) Our church is a subscribing member to the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. Under that umbrella we are uniting with like-minded Christians (Lutheran, Reformed, Reformed Baptist and Anglican). Together we are affirming the key doctrines of the Reformation and promoting reformation in the church today. 2) Recently our presbytery (Great Lakes Presbytery in the PCA) held a joint meeting with the OPC presbytery of this region (Michigan-Ontario). Our goal was to promote unity in this part of God's kingdom and to begin working toward a greater unity between the two bodies. Our meeting was more than cordial -- it was warm and our interactions were transparent. Many new friendships were forged.

Unity is sought and celebrated but it can only come with doctrinal clarity. While I might wish for unity with our Wesleyan neighbors it could never be as deep as with like-minded brethren who affirm the five solas of the Reformation.

Did anyone see Andrew Jones post about Reformation Day? (http://tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com/tallskinnykiwi/2007/10/reformation-sun.html) Sorry... I don't know html...

Jones argues that the Reformation was more about corruption in the church than incorrect doctrine. He says, "The Reformation was initiated NOT because of doctrinal purity, as commonly taught, but because of corruption in the use of power and wealth. Doctrinal reform was a bonus, but not the primary motivation." I think Jones is probably on to something with this... After all, one could easily argue that the prime objection to indulgences was the way they were used to oppress the poor. (Or perhaps this is a both/and? The Reformation was caused both by corruption in the church AND doctrinal impurity?)

And I'm an idiot... I forgot to add the last part to that post (which was originally my point in referencing Jones...).

Perhaps we can celebrate Reformation Day as a day when the people of God rose up against those who were oppressing the poor? Just a thought... Interesting question Anthony :).

I wouldn't call it "Reformation Day", but I think it is also a great error to not remember that day. I wouldn't call it a celebreation of disunity, but rather a remembrance of an important "truth moment" for the Church...the truth many times hurts, but it is necessary. If anything, to remember Oct 31st, 1517 is better than Halloween...don't you think?
We're holding a movie night at our church to watch and discuss the "Luther" 2003 movie. My dad's moderating the discussion...should be a fun time.

Funny that Dave suggests that we flee from the "Dia de los Muertos" (sorry about my bad Spanish, Juan!) by honoring dead people. :^)

There were legitimate reforms that emerged from the Reformation that are genuinely worth celebrating. In fact, the Catholic Church has come to embrace a number of Reformation ideals in its corporate worship (e.g., weekly communion by all the laity, receiving both bread and wine in communion, liturgy in the vernacular language, an increased emphasis on the reading and preaching of Scripture, the paring down of the liturgical year to focus more on Christ than the history of saints, etc.). However, I'm not in favor of celebrating Reformation Day if we simultaneously ignore the rest of Christian history. I would feel a lot more comfortable celebrating the good things about the Reformation if so many of my fellow Protestants didn't act like church history began in 1517. If we want to have annual festivals commemorating the Reformation, we should also (1) use part of that time to lament the bad things that resulted from the Reformation era and pray for the restoration of real organic unity in Christ's church, and (2) develop other annual festivals to commemorate other good things in church (e.g., celebrating the early councils and the defeat of Arianism in connection with Trinity Sunday, etc.)

Hey Robert, "Dia de los Muertos" is accurate, well, it's actually "Dia de Todos los Santos" (Nov 1st...good food on Nov 1st in Guatemala...google "FIAMBRE").
I'm not a fan of Halloween and of Christian-Halloween-Alternatives (I remember my church in Virginia had their "Holy Ghost Weiner Roast" - DISGUSTING!!! - and the ever famous "Fall Festivals" on Oct. 31st at the Regent Village).
Oct 31st 1517 really happened, the least we could do in our culture here in Guatemala, is remember a day that is never spoken about in churches here.

I'm in agreement with Bianca and others that have mentioned similar sentiments above.

Biblical unity and fellowship are limited to the extent that common foundation in truth is present. Many other forms of "fellowship" can and do exist within the church (not all bad forms of fellowship either), but it's not biblical fellowship. It's not what Jesus is praying to accomplish in His people here in John 17. Verse 21 gives context and clarity to this type of unity - the unity that exists between Him and the Father. How are Jesus and the Father one? Scripture reveals (also through John) that God is love, spirit and light. Unity in truth, in light must precede all other forms of spiritual unity. This is confirmed elsewhere in the Scriptures but when we're talking about celebrating "unity" or "disunity," I think it's important to understand foremost that spiritual unity, which is the pursuit of the church, cannot exist without a shared joy in wonderful truths like justification by faith and cannot grow properly without shared joy in other revealed truths.

So, I think it's kind of a celebration of both. It's a celebration of "disunity" in the sense that it celebrates the exposure of false fellowship in the body. But it's a celebration of "unity" in the sense that it celebrates proper unity. God graciously used Luther to preserve truth and bring back the eye of the church to light. This should make our hearts sing! Sin in Christ's bride should and will always be grieved (until glory), but Reformation Day is a simply celebration of a point in the history of redemption when we can clearly see God preserving His church.

For what fellowship can exist with God and with each other apart from a proper understanding of faith?

I think we can celebrate Reformation Day without celebrating "Protestantism." I mean, the story didn't have to come out the way it did. We can celebrate the impetus for Luther's challenge without celebrating the outcome as it relates to schism.

The good news is that Rome has since taken to heart a lot of Luther's critiques. Perhaps unity can be achieved at some point in the future and Reformation Day will look at lot different from the perspective of 10,000 years later rather than 400 years later.

Yes, Barlow, but there is still that Council of Trent, and the endorsement of faith + works for salvation, and so on. Rome is still Rome, and her theology doesn't allow her to change some things without getting into essentials.

Robert,

The Vatican has also signed a statement on justification that says the following, and it also declares that this statement is consistent with the Council of Trent:

"15. In faith we together hold the conviction that justification is the work of the triune God. The Father sent his Son into the world to save sinners. The foundation and presupposition of justification is the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Christ. Justification thus means that Christ himself is our righteousness, in which we share through the Holy Spirit in accord with the will of the Father. Together we confess: By grace alone, in faith in Christ's saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping and calling us to good works.

16. All people are called by God to salvation in Christ. Through Christ alone are we justified, when we receive this salvation in faith. Faith is itself God's gift through the Holy Spirit who works through word and sacrament in the community of believers and who, at the same time, leads believers into that renewal of life which God will bring to completion in eternal life.

17. We also share the conviction that the message of justification directs us in a special way towards the heart of the New Testament witness to God's saving action in Christ: it tells us that as sinners our new life is solely due to the forgiving and renewing mercy that God imparts as a gift and we receive in faith, and never can merit in any way."

The reason that this statement is consistent with Trent is that Trent uses the key terms "faith" and "justification" differently than Protestant dogmatics and confessions do. You have to interpret Trent according to the way it defines its own terms. (And how these definitions do or do not line up with the particular way that the New Testament uses justification language is still another issue.) For more on recent ecumenical work on justification in Catholic-Protestant ecumenical dialogues, see the excellent work by Anthony Lane titled _Justification by Faith in Catholic-Protestant Dialogue: An Evangelical Assessment_. Lane shows how recent Catholic theologians and the Catholic Catechism adopt a more Protestant definition of faith, and this makes them more open to affirming certain Protestant formulations.

I discussed Reformation Day in Bible class yesterday. I have a Catholic student. Here's why I feel Reformation Day is important, and what I emphasized to them: like has been said, scriptural doctrine in important. Luther was protesting the abuse of believers/parishioners by church leadership. They had gone against scripture to add works to salvation--and not just any works (ie sacraments)--they had salvation for sale. More than anything else, Luther was protesting the sale of indulgences by the Catholic Church. The Church was using it's members' concern for their soul to make a quick buck. This, Luther saw, was antithetical to scripture. Like the Pharisees of Jesus' time, the church leaders were laying heavy burdens on their followers while making money and keeping power for themselves. That was Luther's protest. He wanted the church leaders to realize this and reform. Instead, they excommunicated them. Luther approached them with a serious flaw in their practice, and rather than repent, the Catholic leaders caused the schism. Luther's courage enabled others to speak out and protest the Catholic Church's stranglehold on people's souls. Salvation is through Christ, not the (or any) Church, and any church leader who says otherwise ought to be confronted with that. That is the message of Reformation Day.

We can and should celebrate and mourn simultaneously. Isn't that key to living in the already/not yet?

I always understood we were to hold no day above another. And the only thing we were ever really asked to keep in rememberance was the sacrifice Jesus made for man.

Mike, I hope and pray that you're right that it's just a matter of definitions, and not reality. I read one theologian's take, and it was that since Latin word for "justify" differs somewhat from the Greek, Rome began to include the process of sanctification as "justification." I don't know for sure.

That said, I've seen an awful lot of Catholics come to Christ with no notion whatsoever of what you say. While certainly this can happen in any denomination, it seemed to be a lot more prevalent there.

Hope you're right, but pray for me to reach out like you're not.

Robert,

I wouldn't say it's all just a matter of definitions, although that's part of it. Part of the problem is that Rome lacks a separate category for justification as a legal declaration of our acceptance by God, and thus they use the term "justification" to refer to both our forgiveness of sins and acceptance with God on the one hand AND our process of being made progressively more holy on the other hand. What Protestants distinguish into two separate categories, "justification" and "sanctification," Catholic theology combines under the term "justification." In other words, they use the term "justification" like we use the word "salvation" in its broadest sense. I think that Catholic theology can accommodate a Protestant category into their system, but there are a lot of separate issues to sort out.

And you are certainly correct that there is a HUGE chasm between what official Catholic theology teaches and what the laity in the pews know and understand. Catholic catechesis is typically very poor, and most informed Catholics will be the first to admit it. There are LOTS of Catholic lay people who don't have a clue about the gospel of free grace and they to hear it taught and preached.

I get so tired of how much we judge each other.
speck but log in the way?
Judge as you will be judged?
Forgive as we forgive?
God allows our personal theology, wonder why we can't?
Can we just witness His Love?
I think God can and will deal with each of us personally.
I think Jesus showed us how.
I think The Spirit would like us to be still ...