"The just shall live by faith.” (Rom 1:17b) This is the Word of God. The phrase is found 4 times in Scripture (Hab 2:4; Gal 3:11; Heb 10:38)
500 years ago (1510), a weary monk journeyed to Rome. He had high hopes of having a life changing experience. The eternal city, with its beauty, the leading scholarship of the church, the splendor of the Vatican, the senior leadership of the visible church of his day. The monk was terribly disappointed in what he found in Rome. Where he had hoped to find holiness, he discovered sin’s depravity rampant.
While there the monk climbed the marble stairs of the Scala Sancta. Christ had descended on these very stairs from Pilate's hall of judgment, it was said. Legend had it that an angel had transported the stairs from Jerusalem to Rome and now a 15 year indulgence (forgiveness) would be granted to any who prayerfully climbed the stairs on their knees. The monk knew he was a sinful man. He longed for genuine forgiveness. He had no peace. As he prayerfully climbed the stairs he was suddenly stirred and stood to his feet, THAT PHRASE, “the just shall live by faith,” resonated again in his mind, this was the 3rd time it had done so. The Holy Spirit opened his understanding and the peace he sought, he discovered in the text. The life changing experience the monk longed for on his journey to Rome he unexpectedly found by grace alone, thru faith alone, in Christ alone, founded upon Scripture alone.
Faith founded upon Scripture, the Word of God, hidden from the masses for centuries transformed Martin Luther's life. Scripture alone became more and more his governing authority and Sola Scriptura would become one of the battle cries of the Reformation. 492 years ago this month (1517) Luther posted his 95 theses on the church door at Wittenberg. He condemned the purchase of indulgences as a means of forgiveness. He defended his position with Scripture and 4 years later summoned before the Diet of Worms and exhorted to recant of his supposed heretical views, he responded, “Unless therefore I am convinced by the testimony of Scripture, or by the clearest reasoning, unless I am persuaded by means of the passages I have quoted, ....I cannot and will not retract,... Here I stand, I can do no other; may God help me! Amen!”
The Guttenberg printing press recently invented, Luther translated and printed the Scriptures in the language of the people, and then sought to educated them all so they could read the text for themselves. The world changed. What the printing press was to the reformers, radio and TV would become in 20th century, and the computer and internet today. What once only the most educated could study is now available to each of us in paper and in electrons. A word study that would a 16th century monk weeks to complete can be done today by a novice in Logos or Quick Verse in a matter of seconds.
Do we really comprehend the treasure that we hold in our hands today? Do we appreciate the sacrifices of those God used to give us the Word? Sola Scriptura! It “is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword”; it grows and multiplies, not one jot or one tittle will left unfulfilled; It shall not return to God void, it shall accomplish what He pleases...,and God “has in due time manifested His word through preaching”. Luther in his well know hymn said it this way:
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V.3
And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
we will not fear, for God hath willed, his truth to triumph through us.
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
his rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure; one little word shall fell him
The just shall live by faith....faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Luther’s high hopes on his trip to Rome that day long ago were not realized in the religious accoutrements of this world, but in the magnificent treasure of Scripture. It transformed his life...It changed the world, and it should and will ours as well. Sola Scriptura!