One More Reason the Reformation Still Isn’t Over

Forty-eight rubies, seventy-two sapphires, forty-five emeralds, sixty-six large pearls–according to reports, this was the papal crown that Pope Boniface the VIII wore on his head.  It was the start of the 14th century and the (earthly) power of the church and the pope were at its height.  In 1300, Boniface proclaimed a Holy Year, a Jubilee.  The Pope offered a plenary indulgence–a full pardon for sins–for all who made the pilgrimage to the churches of St. Peter or St. Paul in Rome.  The Jubilee was a huge commercial success.
But all was not well in the Empire.  King Edward I of England and Philip IV of France were at odds with one another over a land dispute.  To finance their war efforts, both kings considered taxing the clergy within their kingdoms.  In the pope’s mind, however, only the church could tax the clergy.  Philip persisted that he had the authority to tax Boniface’s church.  The pope replied, in 1302, by issuing the papal bull Unam Sanctam.  The word “bull” comes from the Latin word bulla which referred to the boiled seal that would be placed on official papal documents.  Papal bull’s are always titled by the first words of the document.  This one was called Unam Sanctam (“The One Holy”) as in “the only holy catholic church.”  Unam Sanctam represented the farthest reaching power the Pope has ever claimed for the church.
Although Catholic historians and theologians debate the continuing significance of certain portions of the bull (especially the part about the church wielding the physical sword and temporal authority being subject to spiritual authority), there is no doubt that Unam Sanctam sowed the seeds for a Reformation revolt two centuries later. Anyone wanting to protect the final authority of the Bible and wary of entrusting absolute authority in any human office or human institution will want to protest the claim made in Unam Sanctam:

For this [spiritual] authority, although given to a man and exercised by a man, is not human, but rather divine, given at God’s mouth to Peter and established on a rock for him and his successors in Him whom he confessed. . . .Whoever therefore resists this power thus ordained of God, resists the ordinance of God. . . .Furthermore, we declare, state, and define and pronounce that it is altogether necessary to salvation for every human creature to be subject to the Roman pontiff.

Our baptismal liturgy in the RCA has the minister baptize “in the name of Jesus Christ, the only King and Head of his Church.” I love that line, not least of all because it rightly professes that there is only one head of Christ’s Church. There are many shepherds, but only one papa (the Latin word from which pope is derived). The church’s authority is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, and her servants wield apostolic authority only in so far as they remain true to the apostolic deposit. God rules by his word and where that word is compromised or denied, obedience is not only not required, it must not be given.
While we can affirm many things about each other and enjoy warm relationships with those on the other side of the Protestant-Catholic divide, the deepest cleavage still remains. The Reformation happened, and continues to this day, because millions of Christians like me believe sola scriptura not Unam Sanctam.

 

Kevin DeYoung

 

 

 

 

Soli Deo Gloria - Glory to God Alone

Each of the great solas is summed up in the fifth Reformation motto: soli Deo gloria, meaning "to God alone be the glory." It is what the apostle Paul expressed in Romans 11:36 when he wrote, "to him be the glory forever! Amen." these words follow naturally from the preceding words, "For from him and through him and to him are all things" (v.36), since it is because all things are from God, through God, and to God, that we say "to God alone be the glory."

If the entire creation is "from" God, "through" God, and "to" God, and if the way of salvation is likewise "from him and through him and to him", then you and I as a part of God's redeemed creation, are also "from him and through him and to him." In other words we also exist for God's glory and must give it to him. Paul asks. "Who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?" (1 Cor. 4:7). So glorify God with your life. Glorify God for your salvation, for your spiritual gifts, for your spiritual desires, for his protection and deliverance from your spiritual enemies, and for any good thing that he accomplishes in you and through you. To God alone be the glory.

Sola Fide - Faith Alone

The Reformers never tired of saying the "justification is by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone." When put into theological shorthand the doctrine was expressed as "justification by faith alone," the article by which the church stands or falls, according to Martin Luther. The reformers called justification by faith Christianity's "material principle," because it involves the very matter or substance of what a person must understand and believe to be saved.

Justification is a declaration of God based on the work of Christ. It flows from God's grace and it comes to the individual not by anything he or she might do but by "faith alone." We may state the full doctrine as: Justification is the act of God by which he declares sinners to be righteous because of Christ alone, by grace alone, through faith alone.

Sola Gratia - Grace alone

Sola Gratia means that human beings have no claim on God. That is, God owes us nothing except just punishment for our many and willful sins. Therefore if he does save sinners, which he does in the case of some but not all, it is only because it pleases Him to do so. Indeed, apart from this grace and the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit that flows from it, no one would be saved, since in our lost condition human beings are not capable of winning, seeking out, or even cooperating with God's grace.

By insisting on "grace alone" the Reformers were denying that human methods, techniques, or strategies in themselves could ever bring anyone to faith. It is grace alone expressed through the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit that brings us to Christ, releasing us from our bondage to sin and raising us from death to spiritual life.

Whatever Happened To The Gospel Of Grace, James Montgomery Boice, Pg.34-35

solus Christus - Christ Alone

The church of the middle ages had added many human achievements to Christ's work, so that it was no longer possible to say that salvation was entirely by Christ and his atonement. Christ was part of it...but salvation was also said to be won by human merit. The saints were said to have been so exceptionally holy that they had accumulated masses of excess merit that could be applied to lessor believers by the sacraments through church authority. The church was able to effect salvation by tapping into this treasury of merit. This was the most basic of all heresies, it was the work of God plus the work of man, Jesus righteousness plus mans righteousness.

The Reformation motto solus Christus - Christ alone, was formed to repudiate this error. It affirmed that salvation has been accomplished once for all by the mediatorial work of the historical Jesus Christ alone. His sinless life and substitutionary atonement alone are sufficient for our justification, and any "gospel" that fails to acknowledge that or denies it is a false gospel that will save no one.

 James Montgomery Boice, Whatever happened to the Gospel of Grace, p.34
Whatever Happened to The Gospel of Grace?: Rediscovering the Doctrines That Shook the World

sola Scriptura - Scripture Alone

When the Reformers used the words sola Scriptura they were expressing their concern for the bible's authority, and what they meant to say by those words is that the bible alone is our ultimate authority - not the pope, not the Church, not the traditions of the church or church councils, still less personal intimations or subjective feelings, but Scripture only.

Sola Scriptura has been called the formal principle of the Reformation, meaning that it stands at the very beginning and thus gives form or direction to all that Christians affirm as Christians. Evangelicals abandon sola Scriptura when they reinterpret the bible to fit modern notions of reality or ignore it on the basis of supposed private divine revelations or leadings.

Unfortunately, it is possible to believe that the bible is the inerrant Word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice, as many if not all evangelicals claim to do, and still effectually to repudiate it because we think that it does not work today and are convinced that other things need to be brought in to accomplish what the Bible cannot do.

Whatever Happened To The Gospel Of Grace? by James Montgomery Boice  pp.32-34
Whatever Happened to The Gospel of Grace?: Rediscovering the Doctrines That Shook the World