Faith and Works

In a town in Europe, a long way from here, over 500 years past, a devout and learned priest nailed a list to the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg. The list contained 95 theses, or statements, in response to the sale of indulgences by the church to raise money to rebuild St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. This was essentially the sale of God’s forgiveness which this priest saw as a corruption and abuse of scripture perpetrated on some of the most vulnerable of society.

This priest, as I’m sure you know, was Martin Luther and this is seen as the catalyst for the Protestant Reformation, a movement from which we here at St George’s as Presbyterians descend. Martin Luther was thrust into infamy within the institution of the Roman Catholic church, but in his reading of scripture, he could not in good conscience find a way to reconcile the actions of the Pope and church with what he read in scripture, thus highlighting the authority of scripture, the authority of God’s Word over the authority of any person or institution. This of course, we might recognise as sola scriptura (Scripture alone), that for Protestants, the inspired Word of God is our perfect authority.

Another idea that was highlighted in this movement was the idea of sola fide (faith alone), we will be exploring this on Sunday in our journey through the book of James. This is the idea that God’s salvation is a free gift offered to humanity and is not in any way secured by any effort on our part. And as implied in one of Martin Luther’s objections, salvation could not be purchased! He found himself in trouble with the church and when he was before the imperial assembly at the Diet of Worms, he was asked to recant. This was Martin Luther’s reply:

“Since your most serene majesty and your highnesses require of me a simple, clear, and direct answer, I will give one, and it is this: I cannot submit my faith either to the pope or to the council, because it is clear that they have fallen into error and even into inconsistency with themselves. If, then, I am not convinced by proof from Holy Scripture, or by cogent reasons, if I am not satisfied by the very text I have cited, and if my judgment is not in this way brought into subjection to God's word, I neither can nor will retract anything; for it cannot be either safe or honest for a Christian to speak against his conscience. Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen.”

A telling appeal to the authority of scripture, a telling expression of his faith.

This Sunday we explore James 2:14-26, take a moment to read this if you can and may God bless you all as we grapple with the idea of sola fide.

Josh