Happy Reformation Day!

We have much to be thankful for this day, and I'm not referring to ghouls and goblins.

Reformation Heroes

I like this image because it has six of my heroes of the faith. Not surprisingly, they all happen to be Reformed. From left to right, we see Jonathan Edwards, John Owen, Martin Luther, John Bunyan, John Calvin, and Charles Spurgeon. All six of these men have impacted my life through their writings. They all have a high view of the glory of God and His absolute sovereignty over all of life. All six have probably impacted to one degree or another the church family you are a part of.

The above image is actually the homepage picture of Reformation Theology. This is the blog from the Monergism.com website. Monergism "is the doctrine that the Holy Spirit is the only efficient agent in regeneration - that the human will possesses no inclination to holiness until regenerated, and therefore cannot cooperate in regeneration." I'll give a hearty "Amen!" to that. I certainly didn't want God before He regenerated my heart.

I'm very grateful for those heroes of the faith who went before me. I'm thankful to God for their writings. I'm thankful that they helped me see that God is completely sovereign and free. I'm thankful that they helped me see grace for how amazing it really is.

This One Might be an Improvement

Always Reforming...

Thank God for Those Before Us

Let's Celebrate for the Right Reasons

Most people who are celebrating the last day of October are doing it because it's Halloween.

I prefer to celebrate for a reason which has much more eternal value. October 31st, 1517 is the day Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany. This was one of the first acts in the Protestant Reformation.

What would our lives be like if not for God's move in the hearts of certain men 500 years ago? We should thank the Lord for raising up the Reformers. Some we should be thankful for include:

Martin Luther, a Roman Catholic monk, defied the church by rejecting the practice of indulgences. His 95 theses was just one of the first reforms he tried to put in place. Luther was a key figure in pointing to scripture as our primary source of authority. He proclaimed that salvation comes through the grace of God alone. He rejected most Catholic sacraments. Luther wrote many important documents including the On the Bondage of the Will. He also translated the bible into German.

John Calvin, the French Reformer, was the greatest theologian of the 1500's. Calvin wrote volumes on almost every book of the bible. His Institutes of the Christian Religion formed the first Protestant systematic theology. This work has great impact on the way we view theology even today.

William Tyndale, an Englishman, was a key figure for those of us who speak English. Tyndale was the first man to translate and then print the New Testament in the English language. His version had a great impact on the KJV. For his work, Tyndale was "rewarded" by being strangled and then burned at the stake.

Although the above three men stand out to me, there were certainly many others who at least deserve mention: John Wycliffe, John Huss, Ulrich Zwingli, Balthasar Hubmaier, Menno Simons, and John Knox.

We owe God great thanks for turning us back to His Word, at least in part, through the Reformers.