How the Reformation Should Change Your Local Church

Statue of Martin Luther in Dresden, Germany - the Reformation — Lorenz Hoffmann photo | Unsplash

The Reformation ideals won’t be completely realized in our churches. But our churches should always be conforming to the image of our King.

By Colton Corter

It’s been over 500 years since Martin Luther nailed his famous (or infamous, depending on who you ask) 95 Theses to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517. Though the details of Luther’s big break are debatable, one thing is clear: Luther and his contemporaries across 16th-century Europe changed the world forever.

But how much have they changed your local church? We love to tell the story of Luther’s heroic stand against the Roman Catholic Church at that time, how he went back to the basics and shone gospel light into the darkness of Medieval Christendom. But how does that same light shine among your church members today?

Let’s consider the so-called “Five Solas of the Reformation.” The Reformers were hardly a monolith, but these five core convictions are a fair characterization of their shared priorities. How might these five solas show up when you gather on Sunday?

Sola scriptura: Scripture alone

For the Reformers, Scripture was king. They loved (and leaned on) church tradition and exercised redeemed prudence where necessary. But the Word of God regained its rightful pride of place. They regarded the Bible as the final authority on matters of faith and practice.

The first part is intuitive for many pastors. I’m not so sure about the second part. It’s one thing to believe the Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword. It’s another thing entirely to act like it. What good is a sharp sword if you never use it?

“It’s one thing to believe the Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword. It’s another thing entirely to act like it.” — @coltonMcorter Share on X

God’s revelation helps us know Him as He is and worship Him in the manner He has chosen. How we “do church” isn’t entirely up to us (1 Corinthians 14:26–40). Practice church membership and church discipline. Use the two ordinances—baptism and the Lord’s Supper—as the Lord intended them, to encourage the faith of those who have been born again and mark out those who have not.

Sola gratia: grace alone

Salvation is by grace alone, but why don’t we always act like it? We want our local churches full of happy and humble sinners saved by grace. We aren’t kingdom citizens on the strength of our own resume. The grace of God plucked us from the kingdom of darkness and planted us in the kingdom of His beloved Son.

Grasping grace should change how we relate to others in the church. Pastor, are you approachable? Self-protective? Are the members of your church able to confess their sins to one another without fear of being ostracized? A community of grace and forbearance provides an attractive witness to Jesus in the harsh world around us.

Solus Christus: Christ alone

The Reformers warned against placing your hope in anyone besides Christ. Jesus plus anything else destroys the gospel (Galatians 2:15–21). I reckon most of us agree with their concern … on paper. I doubt any of our statements of faith confess a “Jesus plus” gospel. Yet, how quickly do we find ourselves adding something to the finished work of Christ, something on top of what He’s done to commend ourselves to God the Father?

You fill in the blank: To be righteous, you need Jesus plus ______. Jesus plus a certain partisan affiliation. Jesus plus how you educate your children. Jesus plus complete abstinence from alcohol. Or, Jesus plus your ethnicity. The list could go on and on. The truth is, we’re pretty good at adding to the gospel. And any addition to the gospel is an eternal, infinite subtraction.

“Any addition to the gospel is an eternal, infinite subtraction.” — @coltonMcorter Share on X

Have your church pray regularly for your unity amid diversity. Push the members of your church to rally around Jesus and let disagreements over tertiary matters stay in their proper place. You can stress unity, not uniformity, to create a church culture less susceptible to “Jesus plus counterfeits.”

Sola fide: faith alone

Justification by faith alone is a tremendous source of assurance for the believer. “There is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1, CSB). All our hope before a holy God lies outside of ourselves—an “alien” righteousness, as Luther liked to say. Our experience of assurance, however, is rarely that straightforward. How do we know if the faith we have is the genuine article?

Enter the local church: God’s assurance of salvation cooperative (Hebrews 3:12–13, 10:25). Do you have genuine saving faith? Ask the group of people God has tasked to assess your profession of faith (Matthew 16 and 18). Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are outward confirmations of the invisible reality of justification by faith alone.

Now, churches can abuse their assurance-giving power in two ways. One, churches might falsely treat membership or participation in the ordinances as if they themselves are salvific. Two, churches offer false assurance when they continue giving assurance to people who show no signs of true faith. Church discipline provides a more full-orbed understanding of the doctrine of justification. As it’s been said, “Justification is by faith alone, but the faith that justifies is never alone.”

Soli Deo gloria: God’s glory alone

Above all, the Reformation was about the glory of God. Everything in the world, including everything that takes place in the church, is supposed to point back to Him. What would your church look like if everyone wanted Jesus to be big, even if it meant they had to be small?

A pastor obsessed with showing how great God is won’t be preoccupied with showing how great he is. That frees him to teach and shepherd to serve others, not to serve himself and his ego. It’s possible to preach the truth for the wrong reasons (Philippians 1:15). A soli Deo gloria ministry uses sound doctrine to increase everyone’s joy in the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

“What would your church look like if everyone wanted Jesus to be big, even if it meant they had to be small?” — @coltonMcorter Share on X

The same goes for “ordinary” church members. God has given each believer gifts to share with the church (1 Corinthians 12:7). Exercising those gifts each week isn’t an avenue for self-actualization; our goal is to build up the body. Because when God is being glorified, who cares who gets the credit?

Semper reformanda

I serve on the staff of a young church. We often say in our services that even though we are a new church it’s our desire to root ourselves in the gospel tradition passed down to us through the centuries by faith brothers and sisters.

None of these Reformation ideals will be completely realized in our churches. Our churches should be semper reformanda—always seeking reformation to conform more to the image of our King. The Protestant Reformation changed the world forever. Consider how it should change your church this Sunday.

For permission to republish this article, contact Marissa Postell Sullivan.

Colton Corter

@coltonMcorter

Colton serves as a pastoral assistant at River City Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia. He and his wife, Lindsey, have three boys under five and sleep when they can.

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