Semper Reformanda

My recent online chatting with Dave Chang has brought some thoughts on the Church, particularly the Malaysian Church, and how reform is constantly needed, for Truth to be relevant to the culture of the day.

Ekklesia Semper Reformanda Est
"The Church always needs to be reformed"

SEMPER REFORMANDA exists to forward this ancient axiom. The Lutheran Reformation began when Martin Luther posted the 95 theses on the church door in Wittenberg. It will never be completed. As long as she remains the Church Militant, sin and error will continue to fuel her need for reform.

Then upon reading my Theo101 readings on Ethics and the Bible, one passage in Houlden, JL's "Ethics and the New Testament"struck me

• Already then, in the NT we meet that combination of exclusiveness and adaptability which was a main factor in the Church's ultimate triumph in the Roman Empire. The adaptability was largely unconscious, and perhaps only this made it persist as a feature of christian thought and teaching. And, with whatever nuances, the exclusiveness was absolute and severe: 'for although there are many "gods" and many "lords" - yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist' (1 Cor 8:5)