This coming Sunday we celebrate Reformation Sunday.  We give thanks to God for men like Martin Luther who helped the church recover the biblical gospel of grace. Here’s two of my favorite quotes by writers who capture with force exactly what happened during this time in history (1517-1689 AD).

Robert Capon graphically shares:

“The Reformation was a time when men went blind, staggering drunk because they had discovered in the dusty basement of late medievalism, a whole cellar full of fifteen-hundred-year-old, two hundred proof grace—of bottle after bottle of pure distillate of Scripture, one sip of which would convince anyone that God saves us single-handedly.”

Brannan Manning summarizes: In essence, the Reformers recovered the biblical gospel:  That God accepts us sinners not because of any work or supposed merit of our own, but because of His own mercy, on the ground of Christ’s finished work in which by grace we put our trust.  Thus, today we remember that Christianity at the core is “not primarily a moral code but a grace filled journey; it is not essentially a philosophy of love but a love affair; it is not keeping rules with clenched fists but receiving a gift with open hands” (Brannan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel).

May the Lord give us all a deeper understanding of the gospel and all of its implications for our lives and relationships.