October 31, 2006

Reformation Day

On this Reformation Day, 489 years after Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses on the Wittenburg Castle Church door, Ingrid Schlueter interviewed Rev. Rick Phillips of First Presbyterian Church in Coral Springs/ Margate, Florida. According to Rev. Phillips, the duty of the church is to be ever reforming. He addressed each of the 5 Solas of the Reformation and explained what they mean to us today.

-Scripture Alone--Most evangelicals still claim to believe in the doctrine of inerrancy and the inspiration of the Bible, yet the Bible is less and less of an authority today. Today's evangelical "wisdom" does not come from the Bible but from the secular culture. This has resulted in a church that tends to define the world sociologically and not theologically.

-Grace Alone--Today grace has come to mean cutting people slack. How far removed that is from the true grace of God that delivers from God's wrath by providing the only solution to sin.

-Faith Alone--This is trusting in what Jesus did as a finished and effectual work, not in our faith, works or techniques.

-To God Alone Be the Glory--Today people seem to want sermons about them and their problems, not sermons about God. This has reduced Christian worship to a celebration of man.

Rev. Phillips talks about Luther's comparison of a worldly theology of glory vs. the Biblical theology of the Cross. There is a huge difference. Rev. Phillips concluded with a ringing call for a return to the mindset of the Reformers who had Christ at the center.

Also discussed were the great similarities between a works and techniques-based evangelical theology and the teachings of the Medieval Roman Catholic Church.