REFORMATION FROM WITHOUT
The gigantic Vatican Church which claims to be the mother of all believers and the sole depository of the fullness of grace and truth desperately needs reformation as it did 505 years ago whether they acknowledge it or not. As stated in our previous blog, the reformation found its formal inception[3] when Luther posted his 95 theses at the Wittenburg Castle door to challenge Roman Catholicism’s departure from the pristine truth of justification by faith alone that Paul championed in his days against the Judaizers.
The five Solas of the reformation—Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, Solus Christus, Sola Scriptura, and Soli Deo Gloria—are the biblical truths that the Roman Catholic Church denied in their doctrines.
In his book, The Reformation’s Conflict with Rome[4], Dr. Robert L. Reymond wrote that the papacy, Mariology, doctrines of the mass, purgatory, and its bad tradition stands in the way of authentic reconciliation with Reformed Christians. Many might have laid down their swords to unite with Rome, but faithfulness to the Scriptures demands us to hold strongly the wall that divides the nefarious idolatry of Rome and the glorious message of true Christianity.
The Romish church doctrine was nothing but a departure from the Scripture. Its fullest expression is found in the Council of Trent (1546), which is ‘the most authoritative of all Roman councils and the one of great historical importance.’[5]They added works, penance, and indulgence to the lone instrumentally of faith for our justification; the unbiblical Mary, fictional purgatory and the unbloody Mass to the unique and sufficient person and work of Christ; their Papacy and bad tradition to the biblical tradition of the apostles found in the complete canon of the Holy Scripture.[6]
The reformation was not just a call to reform Roman Catholicism’s unbiblical practices but also a call predominantly to reform the theology that underlies those practices. This is not a comprehensive study of Rome and Protestant conflict but brief evidence of the former’s fall from the latter’s grip to the divine truths.
All of the main points of the Five Solas will be discussed in our next blogs.
To God be the glory!
This blog is included in the series of posts for the 505th reformation month.
- [3] I said formal inception because there were some reformation works prior to Luther by Peter Waldo, John Wycliffe, Jan Huss and others. I recommend reading Nathan Busenitz, Long Before Luther (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2017)
- [4] This book has dealt comprehensively with the abiding validity of the reformation and its conflict with the Roman Catholic Church which anyone who desire to know more about the topic should read the entire book.
- [5] Loraine Boettner, Roman Catholicism. 138
[6] Many other doctrines of the Roman Catholic church can be cited, readers are invited to read the book Cited above by Robert L. Reymond’s The Reformation’s Conflict with Rome and Loraine Boettner’s Roman Catholicism
