As we continue to celebrate the 500th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, Rev. Tim Philips reflects on how the scriptural truths that undergirded this great movement still shape and transform us as God’s people today.

Out of all the personal testimonies of the Great Reformers, Martin Luther’s is by far my favourite. Having survived a horrific storm, in which he swore to God that he’d become a monk if he was spared, Martin Luther then began his training for the monastic orders. And so began a great storm of a battle within his own heart: he was zealous to be accepted by God and yet he continually despaired at the abiding presence of sin in his life. He yearned to be the good man he knew he should be and yet at every step he saw his own sin lurking in the shadows. Every selfish thought, every godless deed. Then one evening he read Romans 3:22; the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe…, and for the first time he understood that being truly good, acceptable before God, was never a matter of his own efforts but rather the gift of God’s incredible grace bestowed on all who have faith in His Son. Martin Luther had discovered the true Gospel of Grace. Like Isaiah and St Paul before him, he realised his own righteousness was merely a filthy sin-soaked rag before God but in Christ, he could be forgiven for every sin through the death of Christ for him and counted as righteous before God. He had experienced the miracle that Jesus says is fundamental to us entering His kingdom: being born again of His Spirit through faith in Himself as our true Saviour and Lord.

Here we have one of the essential Christian truths that flourished throughout the time of the Reformation and in which we still flourish as God’s people today – that held captive in sin, we are not good – we can put on a good show at times – but we still lack the means to live truly good lives in which we love God and our neighbour honestly and sacrificially from the heart. We can only be righteous before God as a gift that we receive by faith in His Son. The ability to then live out the goodness which God desires can only come about as we first accept His gracious love to us in Christ.

Being a Christian is not about turning over a new leaf but starting a new life!

Those whom God has empowered by His Spirit, though still beset by sin, now have the power to carry out the good deeds He has given us to do for His kingdom and glory. So let us rejoice in Christ, trusting in Him and Him alone for our salvation, and by doing so, strive for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14).