Why the Reformation Matters Today

Reform

Reformation Day (Observed) – 10/25/2026

Romans 3:19-28

Rev. Dr. Christopher W. Brademeyer

That portion from God’s holy Word for consideration this morning is our Epistle lesson from the third chapter of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans with special emphasis on verse twenty-eight which reads as follows:

                “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.”

Thus far the Scriptures. Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

For those of you live in houses, you know that they need to be fixed from time to time. The roof won’t last forever; it needs to be replaced every so often. Lawnmowers need oil changes and new blades. Fences need to be mended. Even houses that have stood for generations will fall apart without maintenance.  Simply put, there things in this life that need to be repaired from time to time.

The same is true of the Church. This is not because Christ is an unreliable foundation, or because His Word becomes irrelevant or outdated, but because sinners in the Church are continually tempted to depart from His Word. We are tempted to replace His truth with our own ideas. We are tempted to trust in ourselves rather than in Him. We are tempted to make the Church into something that pleases us and that matches the conventions of our time rather than remaining faithful to the One who purchased her with His blood.

This is precisely why the Reformation is matters so much today. The Reformation is a historical event, the very reason we are called Lutherans today. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk and professor of theology, publicly challenged the practice of selling indulgences and called for a serious discussion about repentance and the forgiveness of sins. His concerns were not merely about money, although money was certainly involved. The deeper question was, “how does a sinner stand before a righteous and holy God?”

This very question had troubled Luther for years. He knew the commandments of God. He knew that God demands perfect holiness and righteousness. And he knew himself to be a sinner. He could confess his sins, discipline his body, pray, fast, and strive to live a holy life, but none of these things could give him the certainty that he was righteous before God. How could he be sure that he had done enough? How could anyone be sure?

The answer Luther sought came from the holy Word of God, especially the words of St.

Paul in Romans. These words stand at the heart of our text today: “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” This is the heart of the Reformation as history. It is also the heart of the Christian faith as living and active today.

The Church must always be recalled to faithfulness because sinners continually seek to replace the righteousness of Christ with their own righteousness. The theologians have long recognized this. They argue that the greatest deception we tell ourselves is that we try to carve out some part of salvation that is our doing, even if we still want to give most of the credit to the Lord Jesus.

Consider what St. Paul says in our Epistle: “Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.” The Law of God has a way of silencing us. We are often quite good at finding excuses for ourselves. We can explain why we did what we did. We can point to the sins of others. We can remind ourselves of all the good things we have done. We can compare ourselves with our neighbors and conclude that we are not so bad after all.

But God's Law does not ask us whether we are better than our neighbors. It does not ask whether we have done more good than evil. It does not ask whether we have lived a respectable life by the standards of our community. The Law tells us what God requires. And when we stand before that Law, our mouths are stopped for a simple reason: “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”

The Law is good. It reveals God's holy will. It shows us what righteousness looks like. But it cannot justify us. It cannot erase our guilt. It cannot make a sinner righteous before God. However, the problem is not with the Law. The problem is with us. We are sinners, and sinners are always looking for a way to justify themselves. We may not buy indulgences or make pilgrimages to holy shrines to prove our holiness, but we know this kind of temptation all too well. We want to believe that God must be pleased with us because we have tried hard, because we have been good parents, because we have worked hard, because we have served our congregation, or because we have lived better lives than some of the people around us. These things may be good gifts and good works. They may be worthy of gratitude. But they cannot take away our sins.

The Reformation truth, taken from the Scriptures, reminds us that no human work can accomplish what only Christ can do. This was the great realization of Martin Luther, though it certainly was not a new truth invented in the sixteenth century, but the ancient truth of the Gospel recovered from the Bible. Luther came to understand that the righteousness God requires is also the righteousness God gives through Jesus Christ.

St. Paul writes, “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it.” The Law has spoken. The whole world stands guilty before God. Every mouth is stopped. No one can justify himself. But now God has acted. “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law.” God has not abandoned sinners to their guilt. He has not left us to find our own way into His favor. He has not told us to try harder, do better, and hope that we have done enough. He has given us His Son. St. Paul continues: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

Here is the great comfort of the Gospel. All have sinned. That includes you. It includes me. It includes Martin Luther. It includes every pope, bishop, pastor, and Christian who has ever lived. There is no special class of people who can stand before God on the basis of their own righteousness. But the same passage declares that sinners are justified freely by God's grace. To be justified is to be declared righteous before God. And God does not justify us because we have made ourselves worthy. He justifies us as a gift, through the redemption accomplished by Jesus Christ.

Christ took our sins upon Himself. He bore the judgment that our sins deserved. He shed His blood on the cross for us. He died and rose again so that we might be forgiven and have eternal life.

The righteousness that saves us is not our own. It is Christ's righteousness, given to us through faith.

This is why Paul declares that we are “justified by faith apart from works of the law.” Faith does not earn God's favor. Faith receives the favor God has already promised in Christ. Faith does not offer God a work that makes us worthy of salvation. Faith clings to the Savior who has done everything necessary for our salvation. That is why the Luther insisted that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, on account of Christ alone, even when his life was threatened. These are not slogans designed to win an argument. They are the words of life for sinners who cannot save themselves.

The Reformers did not believe that everything old was wrong or that everything new was better. They did not believe that the Church should simply follow the spirit of the age. They believed that the Church must be faithful to the Word of God, even when doing so was difficult, costly, or unpopular. And this is where the Reformation remains important for us today. It is tempting to think of the Reformation as a historical event that happened long ago. We remember Luther, the Ninety-Five Theses, the Reformation hymns, and the great confessions of the Lutheran Church. We give thanks for those who stood firm in the truth. But the Reformation is not merely something to remember. It is a reminder to examine ourselves and our teaching in the light of God's Word. The Church always needs reform, not because the Gospel needs improvement or because we need to get with the times, but because we sinners continually need correction.

Pastors need reform. Congregations need reform. Church bodies need reform. Every generation of Christians needs to hear God's Word anew and be brought back to the truth when it wanders from it. Indeed, each of us, individually, needs to be reformed by being called back to the Word of God and His truth in repentance and faith.

You are a sinner, but Christ has died for you. You cannot justify yourself, but God justifies you by grace. Your works cannot save you, but Christ's work is complete. Your righteousness fails, but His righteousness is perfect and everlasting. Therefore, stand firm in this Gospel. Let the Church be reformed by the Word of God. And let every generation hear this good news: the sinner is justified freely by God's grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, apart from works of the Law.

In the holy Name of + Jesus. Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.