The Next Reformation...

...is a phrase that normally gives me a sinking feeling, since it normally seems to be followed by proposals aimed at dismantling the last one.

But I was intrigued by comments made by Hermann "yes, him again" Sasse in his sermon, "Jesus Intercedes for His Church", which I'm in the process of blogging about over on my own blog. Sasse writes:

After 15 centuries the hour came when the depths of [Paul's letters to the Romans and the Galatians'] doctrine of justification were laid bare in the Reformation.

Perhaps something similar may happen with the great texts of the Bible which speak of the divine mystery of the church: [Ephesians, John 17].

Quoting the 19th century Lutheran theologian August Vilmar, he says that if a full understanding of the NT teaching on the church could be reached, then:

...such a new understanding of the Third Article might be as great a turning point in the history of the church as was the new understanding of the Second Article in the Reformation

Stirring stuff. But what do you think? Is there a "Third Article" Reformation yet to come, to compare with the "Second Article" Reformation of the 16th Century? And is it in fact true to say that the 16th century Reformation was confined to the Second Article? And if a Third Article Reformation is still to come, does anyone have any suggestion what form it may take - what its "Romans 1:17" might be? (Difficult, I know, to form a view on that last point this side of some as-yet unknown pastor-theologian's "Tower Experience" on the subject...)