Salvation | Not for Sale

The 500th anniversary of the Reformation offers us a fresh opportunity to examine people’s longing for wholeness, their aspirations for a dignified life. While focus has shifted from the 16th century indulgences that the Roman Catholic Church offered as guarantees of heaven, and which Luther challenged, today we still see religion pushed into the marketplace as would-be believers are told that only through miracles can they secure their prosperity. We Lutherans understand that Luther’s key message on the justification by faith alone (rather than through our good works or indulgences we can purchase) should not be taken for granted in the 21st century, though even some Reformation churches appear to do this. Salvation and wholeness, healed relationships, life in dignity, the longing for prosperity – none of these are for sale. As we mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017, we say that there is no value in stirring up the old disputes with Roman Catholics of the 16th century (Indeed, we will mark this occasion alongside Roman Catholic sisters and brothers, and those of other traditions) but we declare - in a new age and in a new way that “Salvation is not for sale.”