Reformation Day 2024
31 October 2024
As we celebrate Reformation Day today, let us be reminded of the desperate need for reformation in our own time—not only within the church but also within our families, our communities, and our nations.
In Luther’s 62nd thesis, he wrote that “the true treasure of the church is the holy gospel of the glory and grace of God.” Reformation in the church involves proclaiming this gospel to all the nations within their families, clans, and communities. Because the church is tasked with the proclamation of the gospel, and the clergy serves in a prophetic office, this proclamation should include calling people to repentance in every area of life. This entails urging fathers, as heads of their households, to repent and govern their homes in accordance with God’s Law. From here neighborhoods, towns, cities, counties, and nations can be sanctified for the glory of God. Covenantal reformation and repentance manifests on a national level once the leaders of the people—the fathers of households, elders in church, heads of civil organizations, and civil magistrates—repent in such a way that they conduct their duties in conformity with God’s law and to the end of glorifying Him as a people (II Chronicles 7:14).
The Pactum Institute strives to use our platforms and our reach to call upon all nations everywhere to repent, believe the gospel, and reform their culture and politics to conform to the commandments of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:19-20). It is important to note, however, that this does not imply universal cultural homogenization. As an Afrikaner-Boer I don't celebrate Halloween, but I certainly wouldn’t condemn American Christians for doing so. Even once sanctified, each cultural group would maintain its own holidays, festivals, customs, priorities, strengths, and weaknesses, as long as they conform to the general equity of God’s moral law. That this is a Reformational principle is evidenced by the great emphasis among early Protestants on translating Scripture into the native language of each particular people. Every nation is called to submit, as a nation with a distinct identity, to the Lord Jesus, so that we may become what we have been predestined to be: God’s nations (plural—Revelation 21:3).