In essence the Reformation of the 16th century differed wholly from the movements of the Renaissance and Humanism. Firstly, it was not concerned with a renewal in science and arts and the improvement of social and political conditions, but was, in its origin, purely religious in nature. Its principle is briefly and powerfully expressed in the tripartite creed: Scriptura sola, gratia sola, fides sola, in other words, the Scriptures alone, grace alone, faith alone!

But this was not a new principle; it was the old Gospel of Jesus Christ which was preached by the apostles in the first century of the Christian era. After the Dark Ages, it was a new discovery and re-discovery. As Columbus discovered the New World and the Renaissance revived the old Latium and Hellas, so the Reformation shed new light on the meaning and significance of the Holy Scriptures. The Word of God, as revealed in the Scriptures, began to take over the dominant role in the church in a radical way.