The Reformation was for Everyone by Suzanne Hadley Gosselin on 10/31/2006 at 11:20 AM

Today Boundless writer Thabiti Anyabwile reflects on Reformation Day. His perspective left me breathless. Events like the Reformation attest to the prevailing nature of the Gospel. It is a message that overcomes great odds and finds its way into the most unlikely places. An excerpt:

What does a German monk nailing a long list of complaints on a church door have to do with an African American ministering in a small, international Caribbean island? Luther's world and my own couldn't be farther apart it seems.

But on closer inspection, I would not be in Cayman if it were not for that massive Christian church split some 500 years ago. I've been thinking a lot about church splits lately… and this one I am quite thankful for. I could wish that the result had been sweeping reform in the Roman Catholic Church. But failing that, I'm thrilled for the recovery of the Gospel.

If there had been no recovery of the Gospel of Jesus Christ — the grand promise of justification in the sight of God by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone to the glory of God alone — I and most African-Americans and Caribbean peoples would likely be utterly and eternally lost today.

The greatest miracle of the Reformation is that enslaved Africans heard, above the din of rattling chains and the back-slashing crack of whips, the free Gospel call at the hands of slave traders and many less-than-heroic gospel preachers in the plantation south. That untutored Africans, imprisoned in a foreign land and surrounded by hostile wilderness, heard with clarity the learned oracles of Christ, were spiritually set free, and found the glorious banks of Zion is astounding!

However crude, however hampered by their conditions, however assaulted and persecuted by white brothers and sisters in Christ, the Reformation found expression among African descended peoples. There was every earthly reason why it should not have happened. But the one heavenly reason why it should — justification by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone — prevailed even among the meanest slaves of the south and the Caribbean.

After reading Thabiti's post, I find myself deeply thankful for a Gospel that cannot be repressed — even in dark times — and a truth that offers hope to all people.

HT: Tim Challies

The Reformation was for Everyone by Suzanne Hadley Gosselin on 10/31/2006 at 11:20 AM

Today Boundless writer Thabiti Anyabwile reflects on Reformation Day. His perspective left me breathless. Events like the Reformation attest to the prevailing nature of the Gospel. It is a message that overcomes great odds and finds its way into the most unlikely places. An excerpt:

What does a German monk nailing a long list of complaints on a church door have to do with an African American ministering in a small, international Caribbean island? Luther's world and my own couldn't be farther apart it seems.

But on closer inspection, I would not be in Cayman if it were not for that massive Christian church split some 500 years ago. I've been thinking a lot about church splits lately… and this one I am quite thankful for. I could wish that the result had been sweeping reform in the Roman Catholic Church. But failing that, I'm thrilled for the recovery of the Gospel.

If there had been no recovery of the Gospel of Jesus Christ — the grand promise of justification in the sight of God by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone to the glory of God alone — I and most African-Americans and Caribbean peoples would likely be utterly and eternally lost today.

The greatest miracle of the Reformation is that enslaved Africans heard, above the din of rattling chains and the back-slashing crack of whips, the free Gospel call at the hands of slave traders and many less-than-heroic gospel preachers in the plantation south. That untutored Africans, imprisoned in a foreign land and surrounded by hostile wilderness, heard with clarity the learned oracles of Christ, were spiritually set free, and found the glorious banks of Zion is astounding!

However crude, however hampered by their conditions, however assaulted and persecuted by white brothers and sisters in Christ, the Reformation found expression among African descended peoples. There was every earthly reason why it should not have happened. But the one heavenly reason why it should — justification by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone — prevailed even among the meanest slaves of the south and the Caribbean.

After reading Thabiti's post, I find myself deeply thankful for a Gospel that cannot be repressed — even in dark times — and a truth that offers hope to all people.

HT: Tim Challies