What is Reform Day? To answer this question, let’s ask another question: When is the Day of the Reformation?It’s October 31. We commemorate the events of October 31, 1517, that day Martin Luther, an Augustinus monk, preached his 95 theses at the door of the church in Wittemberg, Germany. Now, why would Luther do that? To answer this question, we need to introduce some other characters.
One of these characters was Albert of Brandenburg, who was not old enough to be bishop and yet, in 1517, he was already a bishop in two cities, which was contrary to the law of the Church, and he also wanted to be Archbishop of Mainz. Having three offices was also contrary to Church law, which meant Alberto needed a papal license.
- Thus.
- Pope Leo X enters our history.
- Leo was from the Medici family of Florence.
- The Medici were a prominent clan of bankers and patrons.
- It was Leon who took Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.
- Alberto met Leon.
- To get a layoff.
- And as good businessmen.
- They made a deal.
- For ten thousand ducats.
- Alberto could have his three bishops.
- But Alberto had a problem: his money was largely invested in real estate.
- Not species; so they needed to raise the money.
Thus, another character enters: Joel Tetzel, the enterprising brother, who sold indulgences in Albert’s name, and some of the money was used to help Alberto pay to become archbishop of Mainz, such indulgences were provided by the Pope, and not only ensured that past sins were forgiven, but also future sins. They also allowed the buyer to remove relatives from purgatory. Then Tetzel began selling these indulgences using a jingle: “As soon as the coin falls into the box, the soul of purgatory goes out. “
The way it developed greatly disturbed Luther; he saw how contrary these things were to the doctrine of the church at the time, and observed that some of his dependents would buy Tetzel’s indulgences, so he did what a scholar can do. He entered his office and drafted his 95 theses to convene public debate and published them on 31 October.
In the first thesis, he says, “When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said, “Repent,” he meant that the whole life of the believer must be characterized by repentance. “It is fascinating that Luther refers to Jesus’ call to the people to repent in Matthew 4. 17. There’s something else that’s come into play here, something else that explains retirement day.
In 1516, the humanist scholar Desiderius Erasmo published the New Testament in Greek, and when Luther read the New Testament in Greek, he realized that the Latin Vulgate (for centuries, the official text of the church) was wrong. The Vulgate had translated the Greek word in question (represented in our language as “Repent”) as “Doing Penance”. Such translation has served for centuries to support the Roman Catholic sacrament system.
The real main character of Reform Day is not Luther, this is the Word of God. What Luther discovered as a monk is that, for centuries, the true teachings of the Word of God had been hidden for centuries after centuries of tradition. It is the purpose of the Day of Reform: to open the curtains and to release the power of God’s Word and the beauty of gospel truth. That’s why we celebrate Reform Day.
Translation: Alan Cristie. Review: Vinicius Musselman Pimentel. © 2014 Faithful Ministérium. All rights reserved. Website: MinistryFiel. com. br. Original: What is Protestant Reform Day?[Bonus: wallpaper].
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