SPF 057: The Reformation Part 1 – The Spark

October 11, 2017

It’s the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses to the church door in Whittenberg Germany. In this episode we are going to take a look a Christian history and how God orchestrated an amazing Reformation in the church that fanned a flame of loyalty to Scriptures above every human institution. Today we are learning about Erasmus and Martin Luther and Four Blessings of the Reformation.

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Reformation Ideas

Teaching church history to our kids doesn’t have to be difficult or dry. It’s incredibly exciting and amazing to learn about God’s reformation of His church.

Check out Christina Fox’s blog for book and movie ideas for teaching your kids about the Reformation: http://www.christinafox.com/blog/2017/8/17/celebrating-the-reformation-with-your-children

Reformation ABC’s

I just got this book for my kids! I’ll let you know how it is! Reviews said it’s thorough and has enough information for even an older elementary school child (not just an alphabet book).

Amazon Links are affiliate links meaning if you click on my link I get a small commission for my recommendation at no cost to you.

Reformation ABCs: The People, Places, and Things of the Reformation―from A to Z

$15.29

By Stephen J. Nichols

Buy on Amazon

The Spark of the Reformation

500 years ago on October 31st 1517, Martin Luther nailed 95 theses to a church door in Wittenberg Germany. The Reformation is quite remarkable and shows the amazing complex web God weaved to bring necessary reformation to the church.

Ad Fontes

It starts with this movement among Renaissance Humanists to “go back to the source” of their reasoning and thought. Protestant Reformers also returned to the Bible as the primary source of their faith.

Erasmus and Luther

Erasmus – Roman Catholic who translated the New Testament to Greek (to be more accurate than the Latin Vulgate. His work exposed Scriptures that were being taught incorrectly. He wanted reform in the Catholic church but moral reform.

Luther – Martin Luther was a monk who started to read the Greek translation of the Bible and his heart was lit on fire for the Word of God. He saw that salvation was by faith alone and that the Roman Catholic Church was teaching a works based, paid based salvation. He wanted reform – for the Pope and the counsels to submit to the authority of God’s Word. He nailed 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg. Eventually he was excommunicated from the Catholic Church.

Four Blessings of the Reformation

There are SO many more, but here are four:

That we have a Bible in our our language!
Scripture is self-authenticating – because Scripture are God’s Words – we can be certain it’s true
The Church isn’t the authority on what people need to know, or the authority on who has salvation – the Bible is the Authority and God is the grace giver
The great exchange: Jesus takes our sins, we take on His righteousness – justification by faith alone hat salvation by faith alone is being preached without fear or threat of being burned at the stake.