The Reformation is stunningly more than just an article of church history—the Reformation changed the world. Many of the social blessings that we now take for granted were corrupt or non-existent before the Reformation.

To look upon the Reformation of the sixteenth century as only the substitution of one set of theological doctrines for another, or the cleansing of the Church from notorious abuses and corruptions, or even a return of Christianity to something like primitive purity and simplicity—is to take an inadequate view of its nature and importance. — Charles Beard from his Hibbert Lectures

Some have said that the Reformation was merely the religious side of the Renaissance, but this is terribly shortsighted. We (in the west) live in a world that enjoys the fruits of the Reformation while forgetting its roots. Our advanced civilization benefits from Reformation impact and yet increasingly bites the hand that feeds it. The Reformation is more than relevant, it stands as a monument of God's rule and purposes for today.

In comparing medieval theology with the gospel, B. B. Warfield writes:

This is a radically different doctrine from that; and it produced radically different effects on Luther; Luther the monk and Luther the Reformer are two different men. And it has produced radically different effects in the world; the medieval world and the modern world are two different worlds.