On 21 October, around 90 people gathered at Kensit Evangelical Church, Finchley, to hear two lectures given by the Revd Dr Nick Needham, Lecturer in Church History at Highland Bible College, Dingwall in a conference organised by The Protestant Truth Society in celebration of Luther’s ‘nail in the door’ 500 years ago.
The Material Principle of the Protestant Reformation, and The Formal Principle of the Protestant Reformation were the lecture headings. The material principle meant the teaching of justification; while the formal principle meant the teaching of Scripture itself. Though it is the Reformed position to place Scripture first, then justification, Dr Needham took the Lutheran sequence in presenting the lectures by looking at justification first.
Luther’s heart cry was: ‘How can a sinner be just with God?’ He saw faith in the righteousness of God as that which must condemn the sinner, not save the sinner. How can the gospel be good news if it damns the sinner?
