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Show St feermon (or W Wlttk By DR. ROBERT D. STEELE Preeideat, Weatminater College Romans, 5:1: "Being therefore justified by faith, we havs peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Twenty-five years after Columbus discovered America, Martin Luther nailed hi theses on the door of the church at Wittenburg. The date: Oct. 31, 1517. This date is accepted as the beginning of the spiritual movement called the Reformation. Of course, the Reformation was but one aspect as-pect of an intellectual and spiritual awakening that spread over Europe after the Middle Ages. The immediate provocation of the Reformation Reforma-tion was the moral corruption corrup-tion of the official leadership of the church of that time. Following the Reformation, the church purged itself from within during the time known as the Counter Reformation. But a new group of Chris- tian churches were born out of the Reformation which have continued as the Protestant Movement, represented in our time by such denominations as those which contain 80 of the Protestant membership in America, namely, the Baptist, Bap-tist, Methodist, Lutheran, Preahvtorinn. Reformed. Dis- :;f-:v Aji 0 ciples of Christ, Episcopal and Congregational churches. What are the basic principles undergirding ths Protestant Protes-tant interpretation of Christianity T First of all, let us recall that all Christians, whether Protestant, Roman Catholic, Greek or Eastern Orthodox, have certain common beliefs. All believe: In God the Father, maker of heaven and earth; In Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; In the Holy Spirit, In the Holy Catholic (Universal) church, In ths communion of saints, . In the forgiveness of sins. In the life everlasting. These truths are the common possession of all Christians, and no one church has exclusive claim upon them. These teachings teach-ings Protestants believe and seek q translate into character and conduct. It should also be observed that Protestantism is no recently created Interpretation of Christianity. It was the claim of the reformers that they were making the effort to rediscover, restate and reexperiecce the Christian faith as contained in the New Testament. Protestantism did not begin with Luther. It began with the gospel. The test of Protestantism is not what Luther or Calvin or Zwingli taught, but what is taught in the teachings of Jesus as found in the New Testament and Interpreted through the lives of the early Christians. The first basic Protestant principle is the "right of privste judgment" in spiritual affairs. The principle developed about the problem of the authority of the Scriptures. The reformers and the church leaders of thst time both accepted the inspiration in-spiration and authority of the Scriptures. In other words, the individual has the privilege and responsibility of private judgment judg-ment in religious matters. The Word of God, as contained in the Scriptures, is the source of authority in religion for Protestants. But the Indivdusl has the right snd responsibility responsi-bility to read and interpret, seeking through prayer for the guidance of God's Spirit. Prostestantism stands for the freedom of the Individual in religion and life. God alone is Lord of the conscience. Because of this. Protestantism has stood for ths freedom of the individual individ-ual in political situations. Ths second basic Protestant principle is the doctrine known as "the priesthood of all believers.'' Protestants believe thst each individual, in his own right, can establish direct access to God through Jesus Christ. Emphasis is given to the place of Jesus Christ as "the Way, the Truth and the Life." But wherever a man or a woman seeks the Divine, there is a direct approach without the need for any intermediary. Hence each person is his own priest in his own right because of his faith. The third basic principle of Protestantism is the doctrine expressed in the Reformation slogan, "Justification by Faith." It is based on the New Testament ss found in our text, "Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." -. la religious matters. Protestantism believes that ths inner attitude of a man's soul is more important than rites or ceremonies. cere-monies. External form in religious ritual is meaningless to the Protestant unless it is a symbol of something within the human spirit. Because of this doctrine, Protestants believe that a man's salvation and external welfare are beyond the reach of all human tyranny and all enslaving weaknesses, and make him, in the completest sense, a free man. Salvation to the Protestant is not earned by good works or by merit. No man can ssve himself. No church can save him. No sacraments can save him. No priest or minister or elder can save him. God alone can save a man. And it Is the faith of the individual in God whi :h mediates the process. Beneath the denominational difference of Protestantism fat an inner spiritual unity, not born of compulsion or constraint, but rooted in an unswerving loyalty to the Christ who is both Saviour and Lord. To believe in Him, to love Him, to follow Him, to serve Him this is the Christian creed and this is the Protestant faith. "God so loved the world thst he gsve his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." |
