21 “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24  and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:21-26 ESV)

At high noon on October 31, 1517, (494 Years Ago Tomorrow) at Wittenberg University in Eastern Germany, an Augustinian monk and Professor of Theology named Martin Luther nailed a list of 95 complaints or “Thesis” to the door of the Catholic Church. Intended as a protest against the selling of indulgences, God used Luther and his list of protestations to shake the foundations of the Church of Rome and to usher in the greatest event in the Church since the ascension of Jesus to heaven!

Thus the Protestant Reformation was born! Luther had discovered the one key thing missing in the Roman Church: justification by faith alone! This is the Christian gospel, and any other so-called “gospel” is no gospel at all. Paul is clear that the only true gospel is his gospel:

6 “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7  not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:6-9 ESV)

And, just exactly what is Paul’s gospel?

1 “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you— unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures…” (1st Corinthians 15:1-4 ESV)

Paul’s gospel, the biblical gospel, is simply that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for the sins of sinners and rose from the dead three days later! I still remember the day that I first heard Dr. Lee Roberson preach his now-famous sermon, “One Saving Gospel!” I remember how I felt when his words fell upon my mind… “There is one saving gospel, only one.” One Savior and one saving gospel! Amen, Dr. Roberson.

Since the Council of Trent, (1554-1563) the official position of the Roman Church is that whoever believes in “sola fide” (justification by faith alone) is anathema (cursed from God). Of course, the sad truth is when the Roman Church anathematized sola fide, they anathematized the gospel, and thereby anathematized themselves.

God chose to use a struggling, very much imperfect Doctor of Theology in a small German University to challenge the darkness of his day and bring back the light of God’s Word. That gospel light moved across Europe, North America, and then around the world!

“Pax Tenebrae Lux” is Latin for “Out of Darkness Light!” and it is the theme of the Protestant Reformation! Nothing describes a recovery of the biblical gospel better than these words. If we are to see the light of Christ enlightening the darkness of our world, we must get the “one saving gospel” out to a lost, dying, and darkened world.

Happy Reformation Day!