What was the heart of the Reformation?

Michael Beasley explains in this video that the heart of the Reformation begins with regeneration and an understanding that Scripture alone is sufficient. During the Reformation, born-again believers were eager and hungry to cling to true authority, the authority of Christ, after enduring centuries of false teachings from the Roman Catholic Church.

Thus, the real heart of the Reformation was a renewed recognition that Scripture alone was the authority for all of life. Each of the other solas really lead to Sola Scriptura, for without Scripture, there are no other Solas.  

Titus 3:4-5 (NKJV) – “But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.” 



The heart of the Reformation, I believe, begins with regeneration. This was a work of the Spirit. And it is, I think, so evident that born-again believers were eager and hungry to cling to true authority, the authority of Christ. And they had had years, centuries of false authority from the Roman Catholic Church. And so the real heart of the Reformation, I believe, was a renewal to the scriptures.

And so the five solas that we often speak of and hear of really get to the heart of this issue of sola scriptura. Without scripture there are no other solas. There is no sola Christus, there is no sola gratia, there is no sola fide, And there is no sola dei agoria. So it began with the renewal of and reclaiming of the scripture as a true authority for the church.