Post Tenebras Lux- After Darkness Light!
This was the saying that helped explain what happened during the Protestant Reformation. This coming Tuesday most of the World, and especially the United States, will celebrate Halloween. Kids and adults alike will dress up in costumes to go trick-or-treating and go to different parties to celebrate the holiday.
For Protestants, though, there will be a different celebration. This year on October 31, 2017 it will be the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. It was on October 31, 1517 that a monk named Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the church door in Wittenberg, Germany. With that posting, a spark sprung forth that caused the fire known as the Reformation.
It was a reclaiming of five principles that heralded the change of the Reformation: Saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, according to Scripture alone, for the Glory of God alone. The key principle being that Scripture is the means by which a person is brought from Darkness to Light. As we prepare for this monumental day in the scope of church history, there is one passage of Scripture that comes to mind:
2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
This passage teaches us so much about what God’s word is and what it does:
It Is Inspired
This means that it is literally breathed out by God. The Word of God is the very words of God. They are exactly what all of a humanity needs in life. Christians never have to wonder what God wants us to know because He has given us that in His word and has preserved it for us over all these years.
It Is Beneficial
The Word of God does the work of God! This means that through training the reader in what they should believe (doctrine), correcting the way a person thinks (reproof), changing the way they live (correction), and walking in Godliness (instruction in righteousness), the Word of God accomplishes what God desires in their lives.
The Bible is sufficient for all of lives issues, problems, or situations. There is nothing that takes place during our lives that the Bible does not speak to. The Christian can have confidence that the Word will do the work because God says so!
One of the greatest hallmarks of the Reformation was the fact that people eventually were able to read the Bible in their own language. In the next 500 years, we cannot take for granted that we have more access to the Bible than we have ever had. May we be like the Reformers of old and say like Luther, “My conscience is held captive by the Word of God. Here I stand I can do no other.”
The only way we can say that is if we are actually reading and studing God’s Word.