[Thursday's Devotional] - Luther and the Reformation: Grace and Faith

Luther and the Reformation: Grace and Faith How are we saved?  Before the Reformation the church taught that people are put right with God by being part of the church and by the sacraments: baptism, the Mass, confession and so on.   The church taught that only sins which had been confessed could be forgiven.  Luther, a serious-minded monk, was so worried about forgetting to confess some of his sins that he went to confession regularly – often every day – and spent hours wearing out his confessor. He wrote,   "I was a good monk, and I kept the rule of my order so strictly that I may say that if ever a monk got to heaven by monkery it was I."   Eventually, through his reading of the works of St Augustine and his study of Scripture, Luther came to the conclusion that Christians are not made righteous by God, but reckoned to be righteous.  It is not that our sin is removed; it is that we have been declared by God to be righteous.  To use a legal term, we have been acquitted; the penalty for sin has been removed; we are no longer condemned.   The power of sin over us is also weakened as, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we put to death our old selves.   Luther came to realise that we are saved when we put our faith in Christ, and that our salvation is a free gift from God.  We cannot earn it and we will never deserve it.    For it is by grace you have been saved, though faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works so that no-one can boast.  Ephesians 2: 8 – 9 [NIV]   Grace is God's unmerited love towards us.  Faith is how we access it.    Father, thank you so much that through the death of Jesus my sins have been forgiven and I have been reconciled to you.  Help me to live for your greater glory.  Amen.   David Long     Twitter Website Copyright © 2017 St. Matthew & St. Oswald's Church, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email as a subscriber to the Daily Devotionals Our mailing address is: St. Matthew & St. Oswald's Church 1a New Street Rugby, Warwickshire CV22 7BE United Kingdom Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list Want to be added to our mailing list? - sign up here!