Dr Paul Allen

In 1517, the German theologian Martin Luther nailed 95 theses to Wittenberg’s Castle Church door, attacking indulgences, a Catholic practice that, according to church teachings, can reduce or eliminate punishment for sin. Starting in the 11th century, the church offered indulgences to those who joined the Crusades and later sold certificates of indulgences to raise funds, giving rise to the abusive marketing tactics criticized by Luther.  Many assume that the Catholic Church stopped granting indulgences after Luther’s famous rejection of them. Indeed, nearly 50 years later, Pope Pius V stopped their sale. However, Pius V also affirmed the validity of indulgences themselves so long as no money was exchanged. By 1563, he had endorsed a comprehensive doctrine on indulgences that emerged from a series of meetings with high-ranking clergy called the Council of Trent. This comprehensive doctrine, revised in 1967 by Pope Paul VI, remains one of the church’s teachings. For example, from No...

“A cesspool of heresies.” This was the judgment rendered by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V on May 26, 1521, shortly after Luther took a stand at the Diet of Worms. Earlier, in the bull Exsurge Domine, Pope Leo X described Luther as a wild boar loose in the vineyard of Christ and as a stiff-necked, notorious, damned heretic. On May 4, 1521, Luther was “kidnapped” by friends and whisked off to Wartburg castle, where he was kept secretly hidden, disguised as a knight. There Luther immediately undertook the task of translating the Bible into the vernacular. Frequently the Reformation is described as a movement that revolved around two pivotal issues. The so-called “material” cause was the debate over sola fide (“justification by faith alone”). The “formal” cause was the issue of sola Scriptura, that the Bible and the Bible alone has the authority to bind the conscience of the believer. Church tradition was regarded with respect by the Reformers but not as a normative source of revelation. ...

Pope Francis announced that after five hundred years, Protestants and Catholics now “have the opportunity to mend a critical moment of our history by moving beyond the controversies and disagreements that have often prevented us from understanding one another.” From that, it sounds as if the Reformation was an unfortunate and unnecessary squabble over trifles, a childish outburst that we can all put behind us now that we have grown up. But tell that to Martin Luther, who felt such liberation and joy at his rediscovery of justification by faith alone that he wrote, “I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates.” Tell that to William Tyndale, who found it such “merry, glad and joyful tidings” that it made him “sing, dance, and leap for joy.” Tell it to Thomas Bilney, who found it gave him “a marvellous comfort and quietness, insomuch that my bruised bones leapt for joy.” Clearly, those first Reformers didn’t think they were picking a juvenile...

Generally speaking, these are defined as populations with little to no access to the Gospel. There is, however, much disagreement over what constitutes an unreached country. The IMB, for example, considers any country with less than a 2% evangelical presence as unreached. While the Joshua project (which has been so helpful in shedding the light on the unreached), on the other hand, would agree with the 2% evangelical number, but in order to consider a country unreached it would also expect a less than 5% “christian” number. The “christian” 5% would include Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Orthodox and Roman Catholics, which would make predominantly Roman Catholic and Orthodox countries reached by their standards. In the IMB world, the Italian people would be considered unreached, but in the Joshua project world, Italy is very reached with over 90% of the people considering themselves “Christian.” Christians need a more appropriate view of Roman Catholicism.  The question ...

October 31 should be Bible Appreciation Day. While the world’s children appreciate candy and playing dress up, we Christians ought to appreciate those who shed their blood in order for us to hold the Bible. If only Wycliffe, Hus, and Tyndale could have seen a vision of my iPhone as they were being killed for their hard work! They would have seen the dozens of translations I hold in my Bible gateway app, or my Logos app, that allows me to have access to so many tools, including the ability to parse Greek words at the drop of a hat! I think it is proper for us to spend a little time tomorrow thanking God for His Word, and for emboldening men and women to be willing to die for the sake of the possibility to hold our Bibles. It is also imperative that you realize the ramifications of their actions. The Roman Catholic Church hates the fact that you have your Bible. They made that very clear when they dug up John Wycliffe’s bones in order to burn them and scatter them in the river Swift. ...

The Roman Catholic Church pronounced anathemas, curses, on the Reformers — like Luther , Calvin , Zwingli — and their Protestant heirs, like me, because the Reformers understood that the way we are justified before God is through the imputation of Christ’s righteousness , his perfection, to us through faith alone . “The work of Christ is the foundation for our acceptance, our forgiveness, our justification before God.” The language of imputation comes especially from Romans 4, where Paul says, for example, in verses 4–5, “Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted [or imputed] as righteousness.” Or take Romans 4:6 as an example: “David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works.” The picture is that the work of Christ is the foundation or ground for our acceptance, our forgiveness, our justific...

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “The Roman Pontiff , by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ , and as pastor of the entire Church has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered” (882). Further reinforcing his power and authority, the catechism claims, “The Pope enjoys, by divine institution, supreme, full, immediate, and universal power in the care of souls” (937). The catechism presents the papacy as a divinely appointed institution that presides over the life of the church and exercises its rule over God’s flock. Where do these massive claims come from? Roman Catholics trace the pope’s origin to the apostle Peter . But history tells a different story. On What Rock? Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was the Roman Catholic papacy. It was a long process that led to the setting up of this millennia-old office that combines spiritual and political claims. The pope claims to hold an office origi...

Why these 66 books? What about “all the other books”? The Apocrypha? Pseudepigrapha? The Gospels of Thomas, Peter, and Judas? Why didn’t they make it in? Says who? People told me things like, “Yeah, a bunch of guys in the fourth century got together and decided what to include and exclude from the Bible . You can’t really trust it.” I didn’t know what to think. Recently we began a series addressing fundamental questions surrounding the Bible. What is it? Where did we get it? Who decided what would, and would not be, in the Bible? How can it be said that the 66 books alone are the inerrant , infallible words of God ? These questions concern the topic of bibliology. First,  we studied the topic of revelation , answering the question, “What is the Bible?” From there,  looked at inspiration , answering the question, “Where did the Bible come from?” Then, we observed the logical conclusion, namely, that  the 66 books of the Bible are the inerrant and infallible ...