The very essence of the Reformation.
(Conclusion, Part 2 of 2)
There was a man who was born under the papacy and educated in lower and higher schools under the papacy — Martin Luther. Recognizing that he was a sinner before God, he had a heartfelt desire to be assured of God's grace. Even as a student in Erfurt, he often cried out in the anguish of his soul: "Oh, when will you once become pious and do enough to get a gracious God!" He now sought with all earnestness the grace of God in the way prescribed by the Roman church, in the way of his own works, penances, and atonements. No peace came to his soul! He became a monk and prayed and watched and fasted with such earnestness that he came close to death. But no peace came into his soul. Luther fared as a traveler does who strives toward a certain goal, but out of ignorance of the way takes the opposite path. The more eagerly and quickly he travels, the more he departs from his goal. Thus one does not come closer to the grace of God through his own works, but only steps further away from grace. The first ray of light fell into Luther's soul when an old monastic brother pointed out to him the words of the Apostles' Creed, "I believe a forgiveness of sins," and full peace then entered his soul when he gradually recognized clearly from the Holy Scriptures: "No man can and should make himself a gracious God. That is what Christ has done. All sinners are to believe in Christ, that is, to take comfort in the merit of Christ. By this faith in Christ they have a gracious God." Luther preached this doctrine as a preacher and as a professor of theology. The ruling church disagreed. The Pope put Luther under ban. Luther burned the Pope's bull of excommunication and continued to teach. Hundreds, thousands, millions recognized what Luther taught as the teaching of the Holy Scriptures, as the ancient Gospel of Christ and the Apostles, as the Christian answer to the question: How does a man get a gracious God? That is how the Reformation of the Church came about. So it was not by human wisdom, not by political wisdom, not by worldly scholarship — although Luther was also a learned man — that the Church was reformed, but by the fact that the old Gospel was again made known in the Church, which had been taught by Christ and the Apostles and laid down in Scripture. The Church now sang again in recognition of the Christian doctrine of justification:
Salvation has come to us
From grace and goodness,
Works can never help,
They cannot protect;
Faith looks to Jesus Christ,
Who has done enough for all of us;
He has become the mediator.
And now let us look at ourselves. We Lutherans of America enjoy the outward consequences of the Reformation: we enjoy political and religious freedom in this glorious, God-blessed land. God preserve us this good, as we pray every Sunday in church prayer. But above all, we have and enjoy the spiritual goods of the Reformation. We walk in the bright light of the Reformation. We have that in which the very essence of the Reformation consists. We who have been reared in the orthodox American Lutheran Church know from our youth that a man has a gracious God, not by his own virtue and works, but by faith in Christ crucified. — Let us now hold what we have. This admonition is necessary. And not only against the Papacy. In the midst of Protestant Christianity it has become fashionable to push aside the Gospel of Christ crucified, the Gospel by which Luther became certain of God's grace and the Reformer of the Church. One wants to dissolve Christianity again into a sum of moral precepts. But this is not progress, as they would have us believe, but regression, a relapse into paganism. — God has gradually given our Synod a large field of work. Not only are our messengers working throughout the United States and Canada, but they have been called to South America, Australia, New Zealand, India, Germany, and England. But we must not forget that our work is of value to the Church of Christ only if we hold to the Christian doctrine that man is justified without works of the law, by faith alone. — We continue to train preachers. We rightly see to it that they are also well trained in languages and worldly knowledge. But above all, we must see to it that our young theologians can preach the Gospel of Christ crucified clearly and powerfully, and lead people to the certainty of God's grace. The Gospel of Christ, as Luther rightly says, is the one treasure of the Christian church. Without this treasure the Church is poor; in the possession of this treasure she is rich, infinitely rich. How valuable we consider this treasure, we also want to prove by the fact that we spare no sacrifice of earthly goods for the operation of the mission, for the care of our parochial schools and our institutions of higher learning. Thus we show ourselves to be true spiritual children of the Reformation. May God grant us His grace to do so. Amen.
F. Pieper.
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