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Most people today don't even know what Reformation Day is really about. It's more than a date on the church calendar. It marks the day God used ordinary men with extraordinary conviction to call the Church back to the authority of His Word.

Over 500 years ago, the Church had drifted far from its foundation. The Bible was no longer the final authority; tradition, politics, and power had taken its place. Forgiveness was being sold through indulgences, and the simple Gospel of grace had been buried under layers of man-made religion. The Word of God was locked away from the people, both literally and spiritually.

Then came men like Martin Luther, William Tyndale, and Huldrych Zwingli, each used by God to spark a reformation that would change history.

The Story That Shook the Church

Luther was a German monk whose study of Romans led him to a shocking realization: salvation is by grace through faith, not works. "The righteous shall live by faith" (Romans 1:17). On October 31, 1517, he nailed his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg, not as rebellion, but as a plea for reform. He challenged corruption and called the Church back to the authority of Scripture.

William Tyndale had the same burden of giving people access to the Bible in their own language. For that, he was strangled and burned at the stake. His final words were, "Lord, open the King of England's eyes." That prayer was answered when English Bibles began to circulate freely across the land.

Huldrych Zwingli, a pastor in Zurich, boldly preached verse by verse through the Bible, rejecting unbiblical traditions and urging people to follow Christ alone. He would eventually die for that stand, but not before igniting a wave of Gospel-centered reform across Switzerland.

These men weren't trying to start a new religion. They were calling the Church back to the old truth, the one built on the writings of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Himself as the Cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20).

They stood on five unshakable truths that came to be known as the Five Solas:

  • Sola Scriptura – Scripture Alone

  • Sola Fide – Faith Alone

  • Sola Gratia – Grace Alone

  • Solus Christus – Christ Alone

  • Soli Deo Gloria – To the Glory of God Alone

They risked everything—reputation, freedom, and life—to proclaim that message. Because of their obedience, the Bible was unleashed, the Gospel was clarified, and the Church was forever changed.

A Church in Need of Reformation...Again

But if we're honest, the Church today isn't all that different from the one Luther confronted in the 1500s.

We may not sell indulgences anymore, but we've sold comfort. Many churches have softened the message to attract crowds, and worship has often become more about performance than presence with God.

In many Protestant circles, we, too, have drifted like the Church once did. We must return to the Word of God and the writings of the apostles and prophets. There aren't multiple interpretations of truth; there is one. And to the world, that truth still sounds foolish: Christ crucified.

Don't stumble over that truth...build on it.

And if you feel conviction about something in your church, don't bury it. Be like the reformers. Be like Christ with the Pharisees. Out of love, have the hard conversation. Follow Matthew 18, go to your brother, speak the truth, and seek restoration.

If we start building on anything other than the foundation of God's Word or begin chipping away at that foundation to fit the culture, we risk falling away in the end.

Be Like the Bereans

Acts 17:11 commends the Bereans for "receiving the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so." That's the posture we need again.

Be like the Bereans. Don't just accept what you're told; test everything by the Word of God. Hold every sermon, teaching, and opinion up to the light of Scripture. The reformers did, and it cost them everything. But through them, God preserved His truth for generations to come.

The apostles and reformers both knew that truth isn't popular, but it's powerful. The same call still stands today: to reform, return, and remain faithful.

Let's not merely admire their courage; let's imitate it. Let's be people who love the truth, live it out, and speak it gracefully, no matter the cost.

At Cornerstone Church, that's our heartbeat... to build on Christ alone, the Cornerstone that will never crumble.

Sola Scriptura. Solus Christus. Soli Deo Gloria.