Let’s play a game. Guess the company based on the slogan:
- “Just do it.” (Nike)”
- “Finger lickin’ good” (Kentucky Fried Chicken)
- “It keeps going . . . and going . . . and going . . .” (Energizer Bunny)
- “Melts in your mouth, not in your hands” (M&Ms)
- “The quicker picker upper” (Bounty)
Every good product needs a slogan. Advertisers and marketers spend a tremendous amount of time, energy, and money trying to come up with something that will stick with you and help you remember their product in a positive way. This week, we commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Imagine for a moment, those leaders in our faith gathered around a table, trying to come up with a slogan that encapsulated the movement. For example, Martin Luther might have recalled the 95 Theses he had posted, and suggested the slogan, “Nailed It!”
Unfortunately or fortunately, the Reformers never all gathered around for such a session. But as the ideas sparked by Luther and others expanded some 500 years ago, there were some words and phrases that seemed to link together this movement across Europe. By the time we reached the Dutch Second Reformation in a 1674, one emerged in a devotional written by Jodocus van Lodenstein. He and others were committed to teaching the Reformed confession and catechism, and wanted to see those teachings better applied and more thoroughly understood. The slogan he presented was: Ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda secundum verbum Dei, that is, “The church reformed, always to be reformed according to the Word of God.” It reminded the church, just 150 years or less after the Reformation had begun to spread, that the process of transformation and change was meant to be ongoing, and it insists that it is God, through Scripture and the Holy Spirit, who will bring this change about. Note:
the verb is passive: the church is not “always reforming,” but is “always being reformed” by the Spirit of God through the Word. Although the Reformers themselves did not use this slogan, it certainly reflects what they were up to[i].
The late theologian Phyllis Tickle wrote a book five years ago titled The Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why (Baker Books, 2012)[ii]. In it, she posits that every 500 years, the Church goes through what she calls a “rummage sale,” that cleans out the old forms of spirituality and replaces it with new ones. The former ones are not lost, obsolete or invalid, but they lose their “pride of place” as the dominant form of Christianity. She notes events like Constantine’s acceptance of Christianity as a national religion at the turn of the 5th century, the Great Schism of the 11th century, and the Reformation. Then, she goes on to wonder if the Postmodern era in the 21st century might be a new form of Christianity emerging that means that Protestantism in all its denominational forms is losing influence and is giving way to alternative forms of Christian expression. More and more, studies show that this is becoming true. We live in a “post-denominational world.” This is a real challenge for the church as we know it, because it means that change is on the horizon.
Commemorating the Reformation today should remind us that the Spirit continues to prod and pull and move us in new directions. To be Reformed means to be mindful of this history, while at the same time moving forward. It means looking to those foundations of our faith and holding them to the light of Scripture to see what the Spirit is saying to us as the church today – what are we being called to hold on to? What might we be called to let go? To answer these questions, we might look at some other “slogans” that have come to define what it is to be “Reformed.”
By the 20th century, some scholars began to put them together based on recurring phrases found in the writings of the Reformers. Theodore Engelder presented them in a 1916 article “The Three Principles of the Reformation: Sola Scriptura, Sola Gratia, Sola Fides.” In 1934, theologian Emil Brunner introduced Soli Deo gloriam. In 1958 historian Geoffrey Elton reflected that John Calvin had “joined together” the “great watchwords” of faith and grace, followed by the others. Later Brunner offered that theological Karl Barth had added Cristus solus to the mix. By Johann Baptiste Metz’s 1965 work, The Church and the World, we had the list of five that you see on the cover of your bulletin. These phrases are known as the five “solas,” after the latin that begins each phrase, translated as “alone” or “only.” They have become slogans, if you will, for what it means to be Reformed. Or, as our Presbyterian Book of Order says, are phrases that:
embody principles of understanding that continue to guide and motivate the people of God in the life of faith[iii].
First, Sola scriptura – Scripture Alone. Did you realize that those Bibles in your pews are revolutionary!? Martin Luther himself translated the Bible into German beginning in 1522, and while he was not the first, the Luther Bible became widespread and highly revered. One Wittenberg publisher alone printed 100,000 copies between 1534 and 1574[iv]. At the heart of all of this was the importance of Scripture in the lives of believers, and the desire for everyday people to have access to it in their own language. It is the embodiment of those instructions Jesus gave to his disciples in John 8, to “continue in my Word” that they might discover truth and freedom.
For the Reformers, everything they wrote came back to a firm grounding in Scripture. That is why, practically speaking, we have two sacraments – the Lord’s Supper and Baptism – because those were the rituals the Reformers identified as the ones instituted by Christ himself in Scripture. John Calvin’s systematic theology contains footnotes and references for almost every sentence, setting the bar that belief must be based in the Bible. Church councils and others followed suit in developing what we have come to know as our Confessions, those statements of faith about what we believe, all with strong phrasing and references to our Biblical text. Even today, this pattern is still very much a part of the life of the church. Everyone who is ordained in the Presbyterian Church, USA, answers the following question “Do you accept the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be, by the Holy Spirit, the unique and authoritative witness to Jesus Christ in the Church universal, and God’s Word to you?[v]” We surround ourselves with God’s Word, believing that in doing so we will allow it to inhabit our very being.
We might hear echoes of Jeremiah’s explanation of God’s covenant with the Israelites from the very beginning, as God declared “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts” in order that “they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest[vi].” The only way to have God’s law inside of us, written into the very fabric of who we are, is attentive focus on reading and studying God’s Word to us in the Bible. In short, we should be wearing our Bibles out as Reformed Christians, and that engagement with scripture should make some impact in our lives that helps us embody God’s Word each and every day. Sola scriptura.
As John Calvin did, let’s take the next two together – sola fide and sola gratia – faith and grace alone. This is the heart of the Reformed understanding of salvation, rooted in a close reading of Scripture. Ephesians 2:8 even pairs them succinctly, saying, “for by grace you have been saved through faith.” These phrases emphasize the role of God’s grace over any works we could possibly do or law we could follow. The Reformers knew that, as Paul described to the Romans in chapter 3, God’s righteousness, justification, and redemption are free and good gifts from God. 500 years ago, this spoke to some very specific circumstances within the church, but even today it speaks to us in a world where “there is no such thing as free lunch.” For Calvin, it was clear that this was the only way salvation could work; he knew just how far we as humans were from what God intended because of sin in its many forms. “Total depravity” is the catch phrase that runs alongside these, with the recognition that we are utterly and solely dependent on God. Grace is the means by which God acts and brings salvation. Faith is the way we receive it. Sola fide. Sola Gratia.
It is this dependence on God that leads us to our next slogan, the means by which we understand God’s grace – Jesus Christ. Solus Christus. Christ alone, is the way through which God is reconciled with the world. Calvin’s favorite title for Christ was “mediator,” recognizing the intercessory role he played in our salvation. Jesus is the fully human embodiment of God – God’s goodness, righteousness, wisdom, and power to save – in our history[vii]. This understanding of redemption is laid out in Romans. Jesus Christ is God’s gracious self-revelation, through which we come to a saving and transforming knowledge of God. It is the purpose of the entire New Testament, and the fulfillment of the promises for a Messiah from the Hebrew Scriptures. Through Christ, we are justified and made free. Solus Christus.
Finally, soli Deo Gloria – Glory to God alone. In some ways, this slogan is a summary of all the others, reminding us of the one through whom all things have come into being, including our salvation. Like the Psalmist, we are in awe and wonder. This sola calls us to “Come, behold the works of the Lord” (Psalm 46:8). It focuses our attention on praise and honor to God in all that we do, for it indeed is God, not anything we have done or could possibly do who is responsible for our salvation. It is right, then, for us to give our thanks and praise in response. This final slogan prompts us to action, with lives that proclaim the goodness and glory of God. Soli Deo Gloria.
Together, these five solas represent the heart of the Protestant Reformation, as well as a solid summary of what we as Presbyterians believe. Although they might seem simple, once you start digging into them a bit more than we have this morning, there is much to be discovered and discussed. In fact, the Protestant church has been doing just that for five centuries now, as Councils and other gatherings of believers have tried to explain their meaning and figure out how they apply to our lives as individuals and as the church. One would think that this would have all been iron clad and figured out after 500 years, but the truth is, it is a work in progess. We, the church, are a work in progress. And that is good news that returns us to that hallmark slogan: ““The church reformed, always being reformed according to the Word of God.”
If the Reformation tells us anything, it is that God is always at work, reforming and reworking us through the revelations of Scripture, our experience of the risen Christ, and the movement of the Holy Spirit. God is in the business of change. On this 500th anniversary, perhaps we can join the Reformers in digging deeper into questions of faith, continuing to unpack Scripture and figure out what the Spirit is saying to us anew. When we do, we are being “Reformed” at our very best – ready for the changes God has for the future. May this ongoing re-formation carry us into the next 500 years together. Amen.
~Rev. Elizabeth Lovell Milford
October 29, 2017
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[i] https://www.presbyterianmission.org/what-we-believe/ecclesia-reformata/
[ii] An excellent interview that highlights some of the key points can be found here: https://www.faithandleadership.com/phyllis-tickle-anthill
[iii] Book of Order, 2017-2019, F-2.04, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
[iv] For more information about the Luther Bible, see http://www.history.pcusa.org/blog/2017/10/luther-translator.
[v] Book of Order, 2017-2019, W-2.0404b, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
[vi] Jeremiah 31:31-34
[vii] For an excellent summary of John Calvin’s life and beliefs, consider Christopher Elwood, Calvin for Armchair Theologians, (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002).
