The Theology of the Reformation

In 1917, for the 400th anniversary of the Reformation, Benjamin B. Warfield wrote this outstanding article that appeared in The Biblical Review published by The Biblical Seminary in New York. Here Warfield expounded, as only he could, the true heart of the Reformation. Unlike many of his time who attempted to find the genius and genesis of the Reformation in something other than theology, -- Warfield wrote: “The Reformation consisted—and we insist upon it—precisely in the substitution of one set of theological doctrines for another. That is what it consisted of for Luther; and that is what, through Luther, it has meant for the Christian world. For Luther it meant—for the calming of his troubled conscience, and for the relief of his deep conviction of sin—the rediscovery of the great truth, the greatest of truths that a sinful man can hear, namely, that salvation is by the pure grace of God alone.”