The First Reformation

There are those who would say you must add acts of grace and love to faith in Christ. There are others who would say you must adhere to a certain particular church in order to be a part. There are those who would say you must believe in Christ but worship on a particular day.

They've done nothing more than what these Judaizers were attempting to do and that was adding to the free gift of God through Christ. God, in effect, says, my son died on the cross and offers you, Ephesians 2 8 and 9, a free gift by faith in Him. God's question to you and to me is what have you done with my son? If you've talked with believers who attend a different church from you, or perhaps even in the church that you attend, you know that there are differences of opinion regarding doctrine and theology.

Here's the key question to remember. What do the scriptures say? If we agreed that we were going to read and study the word and allow it to be the final authority, most debates that Christians engage in would be settled. We must clearly distinguish between God's truth and man's opinion.

That's the heart of Stephen's message for you today. It's called the first reformation. On October 31st, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his famous 95 theses on the door of the castle church in Wittenberg, challenging the church, the practices of selling forgiveness through indulgences, papal infallibility, most importantly, questioning the definition of justification by faith alone.

There has there been a lot of others before him. If you've studied church history that asked the same question, but this was different. This was a clergyman from within who was pointing his finger and raising these kinds of questions about the church's established definition of what is a Christian look like.

How can you tell a person's a Christian? The church was saying you might be a Christian if you do penance, you might be a Christian if you go to mass, you might be a Christian if you confess your sins to the priest. But Martin Luther was coming up with a list that was totally different than the list of his church. So in 1517, you had the rumblings of what would become the reformation. A year after he nailed those theses to the door, which was the current popular way of making announcements, it was typical. They held debates in Augsburg where you first heard that cry that would become the cry of the reformation.

The cry was sola scriptura or the scriptures alone. It would be there in Augsburg where that would be developed and in fact put into writing. One of the close friends of Martin Luther, in fact his closest friend, was named Philip Melanchthon.

A gentleman in our church gave me his biography that is now out of print and I just finished reading that a few weeks ago. Philip Melanchthon was the brilliant Greek professor who was also the colleague of Martin Luther as they both taught in the University of Wittenberg. Now the issues at stake were not trivial. They weren't debating the wallpaper in the lobby or what side of the platform the piano sat on. They were debating the very definitions of salivation, the authority of church councils and leaders, the forgiveness of sins. They were debating what does it look like to be a Christian?

What do you have to do to become a Christian? That would be the underlying question to all that they did. Frankly, I think we're living in exciting days. We're living in exciting days because that is again becoming the primary question. All you have to do is read the newspapers and read the magazines and just listen to leaders in our movement and other movements as they again begin the debating that I am excited about because the lines are much clearer when you start debating theological propositions.

But ultimately it is what do you have to do to become a Christian? This week's copy of Newsweek came across my desk. The cover is a painting of one rendering of Mary and underneath is the title, The Meaning of Mary. The subtitle is, A Struggle Over Her Role Grows Within the Church. Fascinating article as they're struggling over what to do and I want to read just a little bit of this. There's an incredible surge going on within the Catholic community to have a new dogma made.

I'll explain what that means in a minute. More than 100,000 signatures a month are arriving in Rome from people around the world who want to see Mary take the next step in a progression of promotions that began in 431 when she was given the title, Mother of God, to 1854 when she was declared sinless to 1950s papal declaration when she was declared to have been taken up bodily into heaven instead of dying. Now the movement is gaining ground to have her formally declared co-redeemer. The article goes on to explain how Pope John Paul, all you have to do is read him and you'll know that he has been favorable to this move.

In fact, five times in public addresses he's referred to her as the co-mediatrix. I've given you in your notes a quote dated April 1997 where he says, and I'm reading from this article, having created man male and female, that is Adam and Eve, the Lord also wants to place the new Eve beside the new Adam. You read the book of Romans and you learn that Jesus Christ is the new Adam creating a new race. Well, he says we need to place the new Eve beside the new Adam in the redemption. Mary, the new Eve, thus becomes a perfect icon of the church. We can therefore turn to the Blessed Virgin, trustfully employing her aid in the singular role entrusted to her by God, the role of co-operator in the redemption.

Well, you see, what is at the heart of the issue, men and women? The core of the issue, the singular point which would settle the debate, is that reformation cry, sola scriptura. What do the scriptures say about justification by faith in Christ? What do you have to do to become a Christian?

What must I do to be saved? The church in the first century had a reformation within. In fact, I call it the first reformation. If you take your Bibles and turn to Acts chapter 15, you're given the whole story of this first divisive moment in the church's history. And you need to remember, the church is only about 20, 25 years old. Just 25 years earlier, Jesus Christ was with them. It only took that long before they muddied the picture and began to add their system to pure doctrine and simple scripture. And by the way, as you're turning, I want to make sure that you don't misunderstand my introduction to this study.

We'll spend two or three weeks on it. I'm not against or on a campaign against Catholics. I have Catholic friends. I'm not against Roman Catholics, but I am opposed to Roman Catholic theology and any system of theology that would be at odds with evangelicalism, and that is a system that adds to pure, simple justification by faith, period.

And I want to address that issue as we work through this study. Now, in Acts 15, a storm is brewing and it's spilled over into Antioch, and you need to understand that the church is taking on a new look. It's a Gentile look. The Jews are no longer the majority stockholders in this New Testament. Now it's becoming a Gentile church, and they're struggling with the vast issues that that obviously would bring up. And so the church in Antioch is the first to feel the full pressure of this divisive issue of what does it mean to be saved. Paul is right in the middle of it. Well, that's the context behind the very first verse of Acts 15 one.

Notice that. And some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, quote, unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. There you have it.

Pure and simple. You cannot be saved unless you believe in Jesus Christ plus circumcision. Now you might say, you know, all they needed to do is make a few phone calls and they could have settled this whole issue. This is not that deep of a problem. We know it's obvious you don't have to be circumcised to become a Christian.

Well, it wasn't simple to them. In fact, I want to show you how deeply it affected the church. You can hold your finger and turn to Galatians, would you? Galatians chapter two. It recounts what happened just prior to Acts 15.

We set the chronology of these events. Just prior to Acts 15, Jewish leaders come to Antioch, and this sort of gives you a behind the scenes look at what happened as a result. Cephas had already been there, or Peter, called Cephas in this paragraph. But when Cephas came to Antioch, I, Paul says, opposed him to his face because he stood condemned. Paul, the ever-never-taxful one, as he addresses this issue. For prior to the coming of certain men from James, that is the leaders who came from Jerusalem that we just looked at, now here's what happened before, he used to eat with the Gentiles.

But when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews joined him in this hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in the presence of all, if you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like the Jews?

We're Jews by nature, not sinners from among the Gentiles. Nevertheless, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, since by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Did you get the point? He makes it pretty clear, doesn't he?

Repeating about five or six times, the point of justification. Now, did you notice as I read through that, who's caught up in this controversy? Verse 12, Peter used to eat with the Gentiles, his buddies with the Gentiles. He'd had division, he knew nothing was unclean, so he was over there having dinner with the Gentiles, enjoying his pork sausage and barbecue and all of that stuff. And then Jewish leaders come down to the church and he immediately thinks, uh-oh, maybe I shouldn't have this, and he wipes the sauce from his mouth and he hopes nobody saw because they've come from his home church and he doesn't want to tarnish his Jewish image. And so he begins to play the part of a hypocrite. Notice who else gets caught up in this racial divide. Verse 13, the race, the rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy.

That's a that's a tragic statement. What that lets you know is that this church in Antioch, which has had and experienced this incredible movement of the Spirit of God, is now a deeply divided Jew against Gentile. The Jews are sitting on this side of the auditorium and the Gentiles are sitting over here. They're no longer fellowshipping, certainly no longer any dinner on the grounds. Little Isaac can't go over to play with Alexandra because Alex's mother doesn't kosher the kitchen. This was a deeply divisive issue in the church, for the most part, ground to a halt. But did you notice the latter part of verse 13, and even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.

Isn't that sad? Paul's own companion, the man who had earlier declared that the Gentiles were indeed full-standing Christians, he got swept away in the movement, the controversy. The passive voice of the verb carried away indicates that while Barnabas didn't get actively involved in speaking related to this controversy, he was momentarily, you could translate it, swept off his balance. And you can understand because he was that loving man who encouraged people, you remember as we studied him? So he looks at the Jewish community and says, I understand how you feel, I know I'm there, and he looks at the Gentiles and he says, oh I have trouble and I know you want to be in and I feel so badly, and here's poor Barnabas, he's caught in the middle, and momentarily here's poor Barnabas, he's caught in the middle, and momentarily he is swept off his balance.

Now I say momentarily because by the time you get to Acts chapter 15, Barnabas is again speaking for the sake of the Gentile inclusion in the church regardless of circumcision. So we're not talking ladies and gentlemen about a disagreement over wallpaper or food or clothing, we're talking about a division over the nature and definition of salvation. How do you get in to the body of Christ? What do you do to be saved?

How do I know that? Well, because of what happened in verse 14. Look, when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of barbecue, no, what does it say? The truth of what?

Tell me. The gospel. They're not straightforward about the truth of the gospel. I said to Cephas, in the presence of them all. You see, this is a big issue, so when they had another public assembly maybe the following Sabbath as they still worshiped on Saturday there in these villages including Antioch until Acts chapter 20 when they switched to the to the Lord's day or Sunday.

They meet in a public arena and Paul kind of grabs Peter by the nap of the neck and stands him and says in the presence of them all. And you could certainly apply it today in light of this. Peter, there will be millions of people who say you're infallible, but I want to set the record straight. You blew it.

You made a big mistake. You stubbed your theological toe real bad. You've been a hypocrite. He says have you forgotten Peter verse 16 that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Christ Jesus even we believe in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law. Come on, Peter, he said get it straight. By the way, I think this public rebuke had an impact on Peter because by the time you get back to Acts 15, Peter's arrived and he will become a spokesman also for the sake of the Gentiles' inclusion into the church without circumcision.

Now that's the introduction. Let's return back to Acts chapter 15. Let's read verse 1 again. And some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. And when Paul and Barnabas had great dissension, stasis, you could translate that word, when they created a great uprising. This is a brouhaha.

This is a major happening here. A great dissension and debate with them. The brethren determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders concerning the issue. Therefore, being sent on their way by the church, they were passing through both Phoenicia and Samaria describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles and were bringing great joy to all the brethren.

And when they arrived at Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders and they reported all that God had done with them. But you kind of get this abrupt ending. Well, enough of that. Now let's get to the point. But certain ones of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed stood up saying, it is necessary to circumcise them and to direct them to observe the law of Moses.

And at that moment, everything kind of stopped. You need to understand that for centuries, Gentiles who became what was called proselytes to Judaism, the Gentile male, would be circumcised. The synagogue for centuries had practiced this. It would be a symbolic way of this man and his family coming under the tutelage of the law of Moses, without which he would still be considered a pagan and outside the nation or people of God. So this was bigger than circumcision. The debate was what must I do to be saved? They wanted to add circumcision.

The landscape of the 20th century is very little different than the first century, we just add a different thing. There are movements that say you must believe in Christ plus water baptism in order to be saved. You've just added a work to a free gift. It can't be both. It has to be one or the other. There are those who would say you must add acts of grace and love to faith in Christ. There are others that would say you must adhere to a certain particular church in order to be a part.

There are those who would say you must believe in Christ but worship on a particular day. They've done nothing more than what these Judaizers were attempting to do and that was adding to the free gift of God through Christ alone. God in effect says my son died on the cross and offers you Ephesians 2 8 9 a free gift by faith in him. God's question to you and to me is what have you done with my son? Well the apostles and elders verse 6 came together to look into the matter and after there had been much debate.

Now you just that's a nice polite word by the way debate but let me tell you something these people were going after it. Here's Paul. He is defending the free gospel of Jesus Christ and he is not going to back down one inch and you have the legalists who believe that these gentiles need to become Jews before they get into the family of God and they are not backing down one inch and this debate carries on for some time. We don't know how long but after there had been much debate verse 7 says Peter stood up and said to them now stop me interrupt Peter for just a moment you need to understand that when Peter stood up to speak I believe all the Judaizers said oh boy here's our champion all the circumcised party ones they oh great Peter's he's he's here he's going to speak for us. They had known of his actions they'd known of his struggle we've studied his struggle the vision that God gave him that said Peter nothing's unclean that I declare clean. Gentiles are equal to Jews in the church. They thought he was going to speak in favor of the law instead Peter will make several points in favor of Paul's argument and he will shock his audience. I've divided his argument into three points.

I know you're not surprised but there are three. The first relates to the presence of the Holy Spirit within the gentile community of believers. Look at the last part of verse seven. Brethren you know that in the early days God made a choice among you that by my mouth the gentile should hear the word of the gospel and believe and God who knows the heart bore witness to them giving them the Holy Spirit just as he also did to us. As we've been studying the book of Acts we came to those passages where the gentile community received the gift the sign gift of glossolalia tongues which evidence what that sign gift was to evidence that this spirit was equally manifesting himself through the gentile as the Jew. That would be a irrefutable argument that this gospel was one. Gentile and Jew were one and Peter goes back in his mind to that day at Cornelius's home where Cornelius that first leading gentile representing the nation believed and the spirit fell and we read that it fell as it did in Acts chapter two.

We don't have tongues of fire there were certain differences but they had the audible signal or sign of speaking in tongues. Now Peter addresses this critical moment in church history which will define justification by faith alone or by faith plus some act of of legalism some act of the law and he says remember what happened back there at that home that proves to us the Holy Spirit does not consider the gentile a second-class citizen in the family of God. They are equal standing with the Jew. That's point number one the presence of the Holy Spirit. The second point is the forgiveness of sin verse 9 and he made no distinction between us and them cleansing their hearts by works circumcision no cleansing their hearts by what ladies and gentlemen faith. Point number three is the inability to save of the law to save that is verse 10. Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which is neither our fathers which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear in other words you keep pointing to obedience to the law the works of the flesh as a means to salvation well who among us has ever kept the law? You Jews are wanting to impose on the gentiles the law well okay step forward those of you that have kept the law why would you impose on something something upon them that you haven't been able to keep you ought to circle the word yoke and write in the margin of your bibles the reference Matthew chapter 11 verse 28. The yoke of the law was an unbearable burden Rabbi Shammai had already by this time developed his extensive legalism as he was teaching in Pharisaism all the regulations related to the Sabbath all the regulations related to the law they had sub points of sub points of sub points they had prohibition upon prohibition on the Sabbath day for instance you could you could not carry a chair from from one room to the next you would be bearing a burden therefore breaking the law a woman would not be allowed to look in the mirror lest you be tempted to pluck a brow the rabbis taught that would be work on the Sabbath you couldn't lift a spoon to your mouth weighing more than a fig that would be bearing a burden on the Sabbath they even debated at long length could a man wear a false leg or a or a set of false teeth on the Sabbath would he be guilty of bearing a burden this is what the law had become and he's saying you want to put on the gentiles that yoke who among us has kept that the law ladies and gentlemen according to Paul and Romans was a schoolmaster to reveal our inability to keep the law and to reveal our need for a sinless savior who would take our place as guilty lawbreakers before the wrath of God that's why Jesus Christ said those powerful words in Matthew chapter 11 all you who are weary and heavy laden come to me and I will give you give you rest what was he talking about all you who are weary of working all you are weary under the bondage of the law keeping all these prohibitions you're you're you're worn out if you realize that come to me and I will give you rest and then he says take my yoke upon you and learn of me for my yoke he said is easy and my burden is light you see what that means now you have the burden of regulation and legalism and works and self-effort and self-preservation and all of that and it's hard and it's heavy and Jesus Christ says you come to me let me slip my yoke upon you come to me let me slip my yoke upon you my yoke it's easy my burden is light he meant that salvation was easy why because he'd done all the work all you had to do is receive it it's free only because of we've as we've just sang because he paid it all the religions of the world ladies and gentlemen will make salvation hard do this don't do that kneel here pray this don't go there say that and on and on and on and on so do you have the yoke of religion this morning or do you have the yoke of Jesus Christ about your neck have you been set free as he declared he would set you free by the truth of his word the word we are studying that clearly declares that man is justified by faith alone well verse 12 all the multitude kept silent i can imagine peter gets finished he sits down and nobody's speaking or shocked amazed maybe troubled but then they were listening to barnabas and paul as they were relating what signs and wonders got it done see peter provided the content of the proposition of the gospel now paul and barnabas are going to give a few illustrations to just kind of lighten everything up and there are two number one personal testimony and number two proof through signs and wonders then james the leading elder of the church and we're going to have to stop and deal with him in detail later but for now for the sake of your notes he stands to deliver the verdict and this is an incredible moment in church history by the way god has used the layman not an apostle to become the leader in the jerusalem church he will stand and he will deliver the verdict based on what has been heard obviously guided by the holy spirit let me give you at least two things he will say first of all god is moving among the gentiles and second of all the word of god is validating the movement ladies and gentlemen don't be caught up with a movement don't be swept away because there's a movement make sure the word of god validates the movement james will point their attention to the scriptures as we'll look in detail next time but you can almost hear from his words the battle cry of of the coming reformations even to our day sola scriptura we see the moving of god now what does the word of god say when martin luther was eventually tried by the church as a heretic in april of 1521 questioned by the brilliant roman catholic theologian john eck he was being told to recant of his teachings related to justification and others and he stood there in this trial and he said these words listen quote unless i am convicted by scripture or right reason for i trust neither in popes nor in councils since they have often erred and contradicted themselves to themselves to something coming from a guy from the inside unless i am thus convinced i am bound by the texts of the bible my conscience is captive to the word of god i neither can nor will recant anything god help me amen wow would to god that we had such courage and resolution today that you and i would live lives moved bound by the scriptures that we could say in our lives and in our church we are captivated by the word of god sola scriptura may it be if you've ever visited the church that steven pastors the phrase sola scriptura is carved into the front of the pulpit it's a constant reminder that the word of god must be central in our lives in our churches and in our teaching that's our commitment here at wisdom international with this daily broadcast called wisdom for the heart our bible teacher steven davie opens god's word and seeks to faithfully show you what it says and teach you how it applies to your life i hope that these daily bible lessons are part of your routine if you ever miss this broadcast you can go back and listen later at our website which is wisdom online.org you can also install the wisdom international app to your smartphone and take the teaching that you enjoy on this broadcast wherever you go steven davie will be continuing through this vintage wisdom series from the book of acts on our next broadcast join us for wisdom for the heart you