Why the Reformation Still Matters Today: The Church Always Reforming

🕯️Why the Reformation Still Matters Today Faith Once Reformed, Still Reforming — Article 18

We do not honor Luther by remembering him; we honor Christ by believing as he did.

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The Scroll and the Screen

The world scrolls endlessly.

Newsfeeds pulse faster than hearts can rest.

And in the rush, even the Church can forget her own story — the story of grace rediscovered, of a Bible reopened, of men and women who believed that the Word of God was enough.

The Reformation was not a single spark in the sixteenth century; it was the reigniting of a fire that still burns wherever God’s Word reforms His people.

It was not a protest but a penitence — a turning back to the gospel, to the sufficiency of Scripture, and to the glory of Christ.

And though the world has changed, the temptations have not.

The errors of Rome now wear new faces:

performance has replaced piety,

preference has replaced principle,

and sentiment has replaced Scripture.

The Reformation still matters because the human heart still forgets grace.

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1. The Temptation to Forget

Every generation faces the same slow drift from devotion to distraction.

In the sixteenth century, it was indulgences and relics; today, it is self-help sermons and digital idols.

The Church, once captive to Rome, now risks captivity to relevance.

Our age trades repentance for affirmation, doctrine for therapy, and worship for entertainment.

But the old heresy remains — man seeking to save himself by another name.

That is why the Church must be re-catechized in every generation.

We must learn again what Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and countless others confessed:

that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone — and that all glory belongs to God alone.

Forgetfulness is not neutral. It is rebellion by neglect.

And remembrance, in the Christian life, is not nostalgia — it is repentance.

> “You have abandoned the love you had at first.

Remember… and repent.” — Revelation 2:4–5

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2. The Word Still Reforms

Every true revival begins not in noise but in Scripture.

The Word of God remains the anvil that outlasts every hammer of heresy and hubris.

If the printing press carried the Reformation to the nations, then today the pulpit, the home, and the local church must become its new presses.

Preaching that exalts God.

Families that catechize their children.

Discipleship that grounds souls in the Word, not the world.

Sola Scriptura is not a slogan — it is a summons.

The authority of Scripture must govern the Church’s worship, the believer’s conscience, and the culture’s conscience alike.

And wherever that Word is opened, the Spirit still reforms.

> “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind…” — Romans 12:2

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3. The Glory Still Belongs to God Alone

Soli Deo Gloria remains the heartbeat of the Reformed faith — the melody of all theology.

Every doctrine of grace, every line of confession, every moment of worship exists for one purpose: to magnify God’s glory.

When the Church forgets whose glory she serves, she becomes pale and powerless.

When she returns to worship — not performance, not activism, but adoration — she shines again.

For the Reformation’s end was never intellectual triumph but doxology.

Theology was meant to bend the knee, not inflate the mind.

The world tells us to build our own kingdoms.

But the Reformation whispers across centuries: Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory forever.

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4. The Gospel Still Confronts and Comforts

The Reformers did not die for moral improvement — they died for justification by faith alone.

That gospel remains both the scandal and the solace of the ages.

It confronts pride — telling man he contributes nothing to his salvation.

It comforts the broken — telling the sinner he can rest in a finished redemption.

It is the good news that still offends the self-sufficient and rescues the self-condemned.

Every counterfeit religion, whether medieval or modern, whispers the same lie: “You can do it.”

But the gospel thunders back: “It is finished.”

Sola Gratia. Sola Fide. Solus Christus.

The same gospel that shattered the chains of Rome still breaks the chains of sin.

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5. The Church Still Reforms

The Latin cry Semper Reformanda — “always reforming” — was never a call to endless change, but to endless faithfulness.

The Church does not need novelty; she needs nerve.

She needs pulpits filled with courage, homes filled with discipleship, and hearts filled with grace.

The true heirs of the Reformation are not those who quote Luther, but those who live as he did — humbly captive to the Word of God.

To be Reformed is to be repentant; to be confessing; to be joyful under Christ’s kingship.

And so the call continues:

Repent, believe, and rejoice in sovereign mercy.

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The Reformation as Mission

The Reformation is not a museum; it is a movement.

It is not a story of heroes, but of a Hero — Christ, the Lord of the Church, reforming His Bride by His Word.

Our age may be digital, but its need is ancient.

The Word still reforms.

Grace still saves.

The Spirit still convicts.

And Christ still reigns.

The question is not whether the Reformation matters, but whether we will live as if it does.

Not whether we remember history, but whether we continue its song.

> “One generation shall commend Your works to another.” — Psalm 145:4

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Application Points

Personal:

Let Reformed truth shape your daily repentance, worship, and witness.

Ecclesial:

Build churches marked by the Word, the sacraments, and loving discipline — not comfort or trend.

Cultural:

Engage your world with grace and truth. Reform does not begin in politics but in piety.

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Conclusion: The Flame and the Future

The same gospel that blazed in Wittenberg still burns in every faithful pulpit.

The same Spirit that breathed through Geneva still breathes through the pages of Scripture.

And the same glory that filled the Reformers’ hearts still fills heaven — and must fill ours.

The Reformation matters because the gospel endures.

And wherever the Church is humble enough to kneel before the Word again, the fire will fall anew.

So let the modern Church take up her heritage, not in pride but in praise.

Let us reform not by new ideas, but by old obedience.

Let us not merely admire the Reformers — let us adore their Redeemer.

Soli Deo Gloria. Semper Reformanda. Amen.

✒️ The Pilgrim’s Post