A statement has been released in Italy in December, entitled Is the Reformation Over? A Statement of Evangelical Convictions, which affirms the principles of the Reformation and calls on international evangelical leaders to sign it.
2017 marks the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. In recent times, ecumenical friendliness between Protestants and Catholics has created conditions for some leaders in both camps to claim that the Reformation is over. While the fact that dialogue has replaced persecution is something to be thankful for, the question remains: Have the fundamental theological differences between Catholics and Protestants/ Evangelicals disappeared?
The Protestant Reformation was ultimately a call to (1) recover the authority of the Bible over the church and (2) appreciate afresh the fact that salvation comes to us through faith alone. These theological differences remain to this day.
At the same time, what is true of the Roman Catholic Church as a doctrinal and institutional reality is not necessarily true of individual Catholics. God’s grace is at work in repentant men and women who believe.
The statement affirms the following three principles for evangelicals:
1. Encouraging collaboration: where common values are at stake regarding ethical, social, cultural and political issues, we encourage efforts of collaboration between Evangelicals and Catholics and also other religious groups.
2. Maintaining clear gospel standards: when it comes to fulfilling the missionary task of proclaiming and living out the gospel of Jesus Christ to the whole world, Evangelicals must be careful to maintain clear gospel standards when forming common platforms and coalitions.
3. Affirming the Reformation’s core principles: the issues that gave birth to the Reformation 500 years ago are very much alive today for the whole church. Evangelicals affirm, with the Reformers, the foundational convictions that our final authority is the Bible and that we are saved through faith alone.
