Reformation Sunday - A Bulwark Never Failing

To those "Anglicans" who question the effectiveness of the Reformation, or whether is was a good thing - today, as we read of alleged "Anglicans" abandoning the reformed Church of England for reprobate Rome, we are reminded that the winnowing of grain from stubble is an ongoing and perpetual process until Kingdom come.



Though I must extend some sympathy to my estranged Roman brethern, for at least they know what they believe and hold fast to it. Luther, however, has demolished the "Treasury of Merit" notion which still holds countless Roman Catholics in error.

"I believe that there is no concept within the Roman Catholic Church that is more basely repugnant to Protestants than the concept of the treasury of merit. A person who believes in justification by faith alone weeps at this notion. This is because Protestants also believe in a treasury of merit, one that is infinite and inexhaustible, but we believe that treasury is filled with the merit of the Son of God alone. The issue in the indulgences controversy is the sufficiency of Christ alone to redeem a person. According to Protestantism, justification happens on the basis of Christ’s merit credited to His people. For Rome, we are never finally saved until we have sufficient merit of our own."

—R. C. Sproul, Are We Together? A Protestant Analyzes Roman Catholicism (Reformation Trust Publishing, 2012), 76.

Spiritually earnest people were told to justify themselves by charitable works, pilgrimages, and all kinds of religious performances and devotions. They were encouraged to acquire this “merit”, which was at the disposal of the church, by purchasing certificates of indulgence. This left them wondering if they had done or paid enough to appease God's righteous anger and escape his judgment. This was the context that prompted Luther’s desire to refocus the church on salvation by grace
through faith on account of Christ by imputation of Christ’s righteousness to us. To those spiritually oppressed by indulgences and not given assurance of God’s grace, Luther proclaimed free grace to God’s true saints:

God receives none but those who are forsaken, restores health to none but those who are sick, gives sight to none but the blind, and life to none but the dead. He does not give saintliness to any but sinners, nor wisdom to any but fools. In short: He has mercy on none but the wretched and gives grace to none but those who are in disgrace. Therefore no arrogant saint, or just or wise man can be material for God, neither can he do the work of God, but he remains confined within his own work and
makes of himself a fictitious, ostensible, false, and deceitful saint, that is, a hypocrite (Luther W.A. 1.183ff).

Pray Now and Vote This November

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