499 and counting: Reformation Monday

It is beginning.......the celebration of the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's posting of the 95 theses on the church door in Wittenburg.  (He may not have actually done it on October 31st, 1517 but that is the date we use).  Seems it might be helpful to know a bit more about our roots as Lutherans - and our particular way of talking about God known as theology, so each Monday I will give a brief insight into some portion of Lutheran thinking.

Luther was an Augustian monk and priest.  He was a professor of Bible at Wittenburg University with a doctorate in Old Testament; he could read the scriptures in Hebrew, Greek and Latin.  He was a very bright guy, a creative thinker, a prolific writer and a courageous person.  Taking on the power of the Church (there only was one) and therefore the State (there was no separation) took courage and resolve.  It meant embracing death as an alternative to recanting one's beliefs.

Salvation from Jesus alone is at the center of Luther's theology and teaching.  Salvation is a gift from God, known and made effective through the life and ministry and death of Jesus.  We only know salvation because Jesus has made it known to us and made it possible in his sacrificial love for all creation.

Jesus is necessary for salvation; only Jesus is necessary for salvation.  We do not climb a ladder of holiness or good works to arrive in the kingdom of God.  We might want it to be that way so that we have 'something to contribute' but that only diminishes the good gift of Jesus and his own holiness.  Jesus pulls creation in close to God, offering a new life in a renewed relationship with the Creator of All.

Lutheranism is a Christocentric theology (Christ is at its center).  You could sum it up like this:  if Jesus could not accomplish our salvation without any help from you, me, the Pope, the Church, indulgences, or anything else you can think up, then we are most to be pitied.

It is all Jesus or it is nothing at all.