The things that matter most to us all center on the Gospel. The Church simply can’t afford to forget the lesson of the Reformation about the utter supremacy of the gospel in everything the church does. Elie Wiesel, Nobel Prize winner and...
John Knox was born in Haddington in 1514, though admittedly there is some debate on the exact date. We do know that Knox was born into a poorer family with not a lot of resources. Upon completion (another point of historical contention) of...
Recommended Books on the Five Solas, Church History, and Reformed Theology This season at Servants of Grace, we’ve been considering the Five Solas and how we need Reformation inside the local Church. In our day, many believe that truth is all about how...
October 31s, 2017, marks the 500 year anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. This quin-centennial celebration is remarkable in many ways, as Protestants around the world will remember the accomplishments of the Reformers, most notably the bold move...
The Reformation in the 16th century is long known as a religious renewal movement, which we refer to today as the Protestant Reformation. This movement is known to have changed the course of Western civilization, but what is often not understood about...
In order to gather a sense of Jonathan Edwards’ titanic legacy in American religious history, one needs only to survey the host of nicknames ascribed to him by various scholars through the years. In 1988, Robert Jenson pronounced Edwards “America’s...
When tasked with writing about Martin Luther there are many ways in which one can approach the man. There are books on his influence on the Christian life, biographies aplenty, commentaries on his Tabletalk’s, commentaries on his letters and...
It has been said that Soli Deo Gloria is “the glue that holds the solas together”;[1] the way we view God influences everything about us. It influences how we parent our children. It influences our work ethic. Our view of God influences the way we...
Over the past several decades there has been considerable debate among Christians regarding this question, “Should the term “mission” be used exclusively to refer to the task of evangelism and disciple-making, or can it be broadened to include...
Born on July 10, 1509, in Noyon, Picardy, in northern France, John Calvin was raised in a family of deeply committed Roman Catholics. Calvin would long remember his mother taking him on pilgrimages to see the relics of the saints, while his father, the...
The Unquenchable Flame: Discovering the Heart of the Reformation Reviewed by James Forbis The Unquenchable Flame: Discovering the Heart of the Reformation, by Michael Reeves, may be the most important book you can read this year in...
"Thus says the LORD: “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.” But they said ‘We will not walk in it.’ (Jeremiah 6:16, ESV) We are living in an unprecedented age...
It’s an innocent question at first, “Is Calvinism good for the church?” Some people will not be alarmed by that question in any way, shape, or form. Others will think that this question doesn’t need to be asked at all. To them, Calvinism is a disease, a...
The idea of revival originates in the reality that, on the one hand, God is the decisive giver of all spiritual life and, on the other hand, humans, even those who are born again and part of God’s covenant family, from time to time drift into a kind of...
One of the greatest truths rediscovered during the Reformation was Sola Scriptura. Men such as John Wycliffe and John Huss affirmed this doctrine and called people to return to the Bible. When challenged by hostile church officials, Huss repeatedly...
George Whitefield was the most famous man in America before the American Revolution. The Church of England minister was the most visible leader of the Great Awakening, a series of revivals that swept through Britain and America in the...
On October 31st, 1517, Martin Luther hammered his now famous Ninty-Five Theses to the castle door at Wittenberg. It wasn’t long before his “beef” with Rome went viral and led to his excommunication. Less than four years later, Luther was summoned to...
William Tyndale’s life story is one of adventure (see the movie God’s Outlaw; 1986). This is not the story of some scholarly, ivory-tower theologian. Tyndale had a singular desire, and that was to see the Word of God available in the native language of...
Five centuries ago, an unknown Augustinian monk named Martin Luther rocked the world with his Reformation theology and preaching. What started out as an attempt to engage in a debate turned into the greatest awakening in human history since the...
Reformation theology is often summarized by the five Solas. Scripture Alone (Sola Scriptura) stands as the formal principle of the Reformation, and the foundation of all theology. God’s glory alone (Soli Deo Gloria) functions as a capstone for all...
On the 500th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, I am profoundly thankful for the many efforts to commemorate the theological themes central to the great recovery of the gospel in the 16th century. Most people summarize those key themes in the...
Within a year of posting his Ninety-Five Theses, Martin Luther was summoned to appear before Cardinal Cajetan to be examined for his accusations against the Roman Catholic Church’s theology and practice. When the Cardinal pressed him on the issue of the...
Critical to the Reformation was the recovery of the great doctrine of justification by faith. Martin Luther believed this doctrine was the doctrine on which the Church stands or falls. I will not assume that everyone understands the meaning of the word...