Ahh, October.

’Tis the season for frightening displays of allegiance and division. Horrifying masks that hide the truth of the most intrepid vagabonds.

No, I’m not talking about trick-or-treaters, I’m talking about church people. I’m not cynical, you’re cynical. Anyway, Halloween happens to land on a big day in church history, and I don’t mean Fall Festival Day. I mean Reformation Day.

What is Reformation Day and is it something churches should celebrate?

The History of Reformation Day

Reformation Day commemorates an event that supposedly happened in 1517 (although it almost certainly didn’t happen that day, if at all). That’s what we know as the day that Martin Luther, in the ultimate act of religious defiance and liberty, nailed is 95 Theses to the Wittenberg Gate and declared that the answer for biblical truth was outside the Catholic Church.

Or did he?

In reality, Luther didn’t at first consider himself a reformer. He simply saw problems in his local parish and after several frustrating attempts to privately address the issues, he made a public declaration of his grievances. These are what we know today as the 95 Theses.

It’s not uncommon for Protestants to hold up the Theses as a banner of freedom, without knowing what they are actually asking for, and without any regard for what it might mean to glorify ecclesiastical division. (We’ll come back to this in a moment)

The Reformation got out of Luther’s hands pretty quickly as his frustrated contemporaries raised the battle cry. Unfortunately, there were negatives on all sides. We should always be willing to refine our doctrine to match the Bible more closely, even when it may be painful. Unfortunately, both the Catholic Church and the new reformers failed to do so on many accounts, making this refining process a violent division that resulted in the largest schism of the church that we have ever seen.

The Truth About Division

Make no mistake, any division or infighting within the church grieves the heart of God. He doesn’t want to see His children thrown into disunity, especially when this typically only leads people away from the gospel of grace, not toward it.

At the same time, God does not tolerate heresy or the misleading of His sheep from faith leaders, at all. So how do we balance the two ideas?

Well, it would be too easy to simply say that we should all just follow the Bible (even though that’s a great answer). We won’t always all agree. It’s part of the beauty that God designed us with as diverse people. Diversity makes us better.

But we also must not tolerate blatant sin and disregard for biblical conduct. Matthew 18:15-20 is a great help here, and it does make a case for biblical division in the case of a particularly obstinate brother.

At the same time, there’s no Biblical case for celebrating such an occurrence, nor is it appropriate to relish division and shame what we consider to be the “losing” side.

It’s our gospel imperative to model grace always.

So should we celebrate Reformation Day? Probably not. Can we commemorate and be proud of a heritage that began with addressing biblical and moral incongruity in the church? Well sure. Should we hold fast to the 95 Theses as Protestants? Well, not really.

Buckle up, we’re diving into a lengthy breakdown of the Theses. If you want to skip to the conclusion, just click the ole TL;DR →

A Breakdown of the 95 Theses for Protestants

I’m using this reference for the 95 Thesis. At times, I may group multiple points together for brevity.

1-4. The first four theses are hard to argue with. They each deal with repentance and what the calling is and how that affects our daily life. The weirdest one is probably number 4, which talks about “true hatred of self” which seems a little extreme, but maybe not off-base in the context of Romans 7. At any rate, we understand that repentance isn’t a moment, it’s a lifestyle.

5-7. These two serve to clarify the role of the pope in forgiveness, namely, that he can only clarify and illustrate the grace of God, not grant it of his own authority. For the protestant, we should note that this is not a particular indictment on the position of the pope, only papal authority in the act of forgiveness. The seventh point here serves to uphold the authority and office of the local priesthood. The same warning for protestants applies here: Luther upheld and supported the offices of the Catholic Church.

8-13. These are perhaps a little harder to understand from our position without context. It had become common practice for the priesthood to continue to impose penances on the dead or dying. Of course, those individuals could do nothing for themselves, so their families would be led to believe that if they wanted their deceased relative to earn the favor of God, they must deliver penance. These points would become the crux of Luther’s frustrating with the church: the improper and unethical exacting of canonical penance.

14-19. These theses go to a weird place for us Protestants. The discussion here revolves around purgatory and what the soul might experience in purgatory. Of course, the very idea of purgatory is a hotly contested issue throughout history, and protestants generally agree that the abodes of the soul are limited to Heaven or Hell (though based upon Scripture, there is room for discussion). While these may seem like strange points for Luther to make in light of the Reformation on this side of history, Luther is further building his case that it’s not man’s job to exact punishment or forgiveness on the soul after death.

20-24. We find ourselves back in the conversation around papal authority to forgive eternal penalty. Luther seeks to clarify the role of the pope in the forgiveness of penalties, though only the penalties which the pope himself may impose. Of course, as protestants, we don’t believe that the pope has any authority to penalize the spirit—that is God alone. Luther also points out the error of indulgences, which is the practice of giving money to lessen the punishment for sin. One cannot purchase their way into heaven.

25-26. These points continue to clarify the role and authority of the pope, though we still find challenges in Luther’s theology. He continues to acknowledge not only purgatory, but the pope’s role and power over the souls in purgatory, even if by intercession.

27-31. Luther here attacks a very specific saying from his day that perfectly illustrates the greed he saw around himself. He also makes the point that maybe a soul in purgatory doesn’t want to be purchased into heaven. Theses 30-31 advocate that one who seeks to purchases a way into salvation is likely not truly repentant in the first place, especially in light of the first four theses.

32-35. Here, Luther addresses “letters of pardon” which may be granted from church leaders as assurance of salvation. Of course, nobody can be certain of someone else’s salvation, it’s by the grace of God that we are saved, and our repentance is the result of this salvation. These four theses, combined with the first four, are some of the most inarguable points for protestants today.

36-38. Just when we thought we were getting onto the same page, Luther contends that letters of pardon are still valuable, even if they aren’t necessary for our salvation. Then he dives right back into a problematic stance that remissions and blessings granted by the pope shouldn’t be despised, but are a declaration of divine remission. Boo.

39-44. Here is an interesting set of points regarding pardons and indulgences. Namely, if faced between purchasing a pardon and living a life of contrition and service, we should always choose the latter, because we are called to grow in our faith and character, whereas “by pardons man does not grow better, only more free from penalty.” It’s worth noting once more that Luther makes no effort to disqualify pardons, only councils what he considers a better way of life. For the contemporary protestant, we understand that God’s favor or pardon is not something to be purchased, but something granted only by God through His incredible saving grace.

45-51. These are a really intriguing series of thoughts on social justice as it regards to pardons. 45 in particular might be one of my favorite, just from the aggressive stance Luther takes on serving others. There was also a common teaching at the time that it was better for you to give your last penny to purchase a pardon, but in 46, Luther reminds people to be wise with their finances. In the 49th, Luther cautions that even if you buy a pardon, you must not let this take away your fear and respect for God. I could write a whole post on that point, about how we lose our fear of death and brokenness over sin when we feel like we can earn our way back. Luther rightly addresses this danger, in contrast to his contemporaries.

52-55. Here Luther addresses yet another unfortunate commonality: people preaching the value and greatness of pardons and penance more than the Word of God and the gospel of grace. Number 55 in particular is a beautiful take on the reverence due the gospel. These points are hauntingly familiar in our current prosperity gospel age.

56-68. Luther here seems to call into question the idea of the “treasures of the Church.” He claims that we can’t know what these are, and I’m inclined to agree. Though he continues to argue that the only treasure we should steward, as the church, is the gospel, in number 62. While I can agree with the notion that the treasure of the church is the gospel, most of these arguments break down when they affirm that the pope offers indulgences from the bank of the church’s treasures. The gospel is not something that has a balance that a religious authority must make withdrawals and deposits from—the gospel is the truth that Christ died for us, and what he paid on the cross was sufficient for our salvation and unity with Him.

69-76. After spending some time dismantling his contemporaries’ practices, Luther here uses a few points to reaffirm his belief in the efficacy of pardons, though he does call out what he considers to be the immoral usage of pardons, and essentially demands that the pope take action against those who misuse the implements of the Catholic Church. These points serve as another reminder that Luther isn’t really the epitome of modern protestantism as much as he simply sought to fix issues within his own denomination.

77-78. I’ll be 100% honest, these two theses are hard to understand on this side of the Reformation and due to my lack of Catholic background, but they seem to support the spiritual and miraculous authority of the pope.

79-80. These points remind us that the gospel and authority of Christ is the highest worth, not the images used by false teachers of indulgences.

81-91. This is a lengthy argument from Luther with hypothetical questions surrounding the improper usage of indulgences and their logical consequence. In short, if there is an infinite amount of “treasure” for indulgences to be made and souls to be saved, why does the church use their funds for anything but saving souls? In these arguments, Luther essentially forces those preachers of indulgences to either admit wrongdoing or go as far as to admit that pope may not have the authority he says that he does. Or, perhaps even worse, it would force the church at large to admit gross misappropriation of funds at the expense of follower’s souls.

92-95. With these last points, Luther reveals his heart for his church: not a dismantling of the regime, but a return to the integrity of Scripture and the truthfulness of the gospel.

There are certainly interpretive challenges with Luther’s view on papal authority, indulgences, and penance, to be sure. But Luther’s objective wasn’t to start a new revolution or religious denomination. It was to fix the one he had. The 95 Theses, in many ways, constitute a manifesto of true Catholic ideology.

Wrapping Up

I have no intention of shaming or criticizing our Catholic brothers and sisters to an extent (that’s probably a post for another day).

I won’t always agree politically, theologically, or morally with the Catholic Church. I do hold the integrity of the gospel in high regard, however. My fellowship with Catholic brothers and sisters must be predicated on the truth that Jesus lived, died, and was born again, and that our salvation comes through Christ alone, by grace alone, through faith alone.

Where that doctrine is lacking, so too does my interest in doctrinal fellowship. Jesus unambiguously taught that it is through Him alone that we can see the Father, and there’s nothing that we can do to add to that grace.

As protestant believers, we should be careful when holding up the 95 Theses as tenets of our own faith. We should also be careful when celebrating the violent division of God’s church (righteous though the reform may be) because God desires unity for his children. Unity doesn’t always mean unanimity—we can feel free to disagree. But at the end of the day, for those in Christ, we are God’s children.

Now you might be seeing me wear a Martin Luther shirt on the 31st, but know that the only thing I celebrate on Reformation Day is a heritage of doctrinal precision, not the heartbreaking division that sometimes comes as a result.