Luther’s precursors

It is claimed that apart from Jesus Christ, his Master, there has been more books written about Martin Luther than about any other person in the history of the world. His influence is far-reaching; whether our sympathy is with him or not, Luther undoubtedly must be placed in the foremost ranks of the world’s heroes.

Many religious men had endeavoured to reform Christendom, which apart from the Waldensians and other minority groups, had sunk in the worst kind of doctrinal aberrations and immoral practices. The abuses were sickening and nobody seemed to have the nerve to speak up. Those who did were harassed to no end, and even violently killed by the order of the apostate hierarchy, on the excuse that their doctrine was not in accordance with that of “holy Mother Church.”

Even zealots who aimed at direct moral reformation, without impinging upon Romanist doctrine, such as was Girolamo Savanarola, met with the bitter end of being burnt at the stake. Arnold of Brescia, John Huss, Jerome of Prague, and others attacked the false doctrine that had encroached upon Christendom: they were denounced as heretics and silenced by sword or fire.

Wycliffe, in the fourteenth century, had the happiness of dying peacefully on a deathbed, but his whole life was a struggle against a monolithic Church that hardly budged at his worthy attempts at reformation. He was the first Reformer worth his salt, and the Reformation might have been ignited by him all over Europe, but he did not enjoy enough support from his own countrymen. His doctrine was evangelical but the movement he left behind him was confined to the British Isles, and bitterly persecuted.

Luther a schismatic?

In God’s wise providence, whose it is to build and even restore His church, it was left for the German Luther to give the jewel of the gospel to Christendom which had virtually lost it, or rather which was pleased to play with beads of glass and disregard the worthiest of all things, the upholding of sound doctrine.

The Roman church of his time had quite everything: political power, prestige, riches, art treasures, armies, cultural influence, and was even establishing posts in the New World. But she was deteriorating morally and distancing itself from the Truth in the same proportion as she was expanding.

For the honour of Christ, Luther spoke up...and the result was something he did not even imagine at that time. Romanist apologists today mock his work by decrying the fragmentation of Christendom. “The Reformation,” they say, “brought division, religious and political trouble, and left numberless sects in its wake.”

That may be partially true, though divisions within Christendom had been from the very beginning, and became glaringly apparent in the rift between East and West in 1050. The Eastern part of Christendom, from the days of Constantine (when the papacy began to strike its roots), had never acknowledged the primacy of the pope, and still does not.

So if Luther created division, it certainly was not the first. And then, it is certainly positive that the Reformation brought many more lasting blessings than disadvantages to every country where the Gospel was received. The Reformation, in a word, is a rediscovery of the Gospel with all the blessings attendant upon it. And wherever the Gospel enters, it brings division, not directly but as a side effect, for it clearly marks who belongs to Christ and who merely claims to be His. It could be said that the Reformation was nothing else but a mighty revival of the Spirit. But naturally enough, with every move of the Holy Spirit, men are wont to express their carnality too.

Early life

Martin Luther was born on November 10th, 1483, in Eisleben, a small town in Saxony. His parents were poor but honest, who never dreamt that their child would one day become a famous figure in world history.

He received his primary education from some monks who were known as “The Brethren of the Common Life.” From them he learnt his first Latin lessons and pious precepts, for the brethren strove to inculcate principles of godliness along with sound education and teaching.

When he was fifteen, Luther went to Eisenach and there Frau Cotta showed liberality to the lad and offered him hospitality and helped him in a splendid manner.

Thus at the age of eighteen young Martin was enabled to enter the University of Erfurt where he took his B.A. degree with marked success and later, in 1505, his M.A. His intention at this stage in his career was to become a lawyer. But a remarkable providential occurrence, at length determined him to change his profession. The sudden death, whether by violence or accident is disputed, of an intimate friend and companion, made a deep impression upon his mind, and seems to have thrown him for a time into a state of melancholy.

In the summer of this year he went to visit his parents and on the return journey to Erfurt he was caught in a thunderstorm. Lightning struck the ground very near to him; terrified, he vowed that if his life was spared he would devote his life to God.

On the 17th of August, 1505, he kept his word and joined the Augustinian Hermits at Erfurt. This was not in accordance with his Father’s wishes, for the latter always hoped that Martin would practice a secular career in law; but the man who is destined to do an exceptional work in the gospel field is always a called man.

As such, Martin had to experience the corruption of his own heart before turning his attention to the state of the church around him. While in the monastery he became increasingly concerned and anxious about his soul’s welfare for eternity. Despite the hardships, the menial tasks and the penances he underwent as a monk, he still felt the burden of guilt because of sin. He had hoped that in the tranquil cloisters of the monastic life, he would find lasting peace with God. Such a peace eluded him. Later he was to confess: “If ever a man could be saved by monkery, it would have been I.”

John Staupitz, Vicar-General of the Augustinian Order, counselled him that Luther, for all his earnestness, was not moving along gospel lines. It speaks volumes to the credit of Staupitz that he was instrumental in setting the future Reformer on the right path.

Together with the vast numbers enmeshed in Romanism, Luther too was attempting to obtain credit before God by good works. He was trying to win salvation, something quite impossible with men. The fact that salvation is the free gift of grace, procured fully and once-for-all by Christ on account of His death and resurrection, was (and still is) largely hid from Romanists.

“It is not in vain that God exercises you in so many conflicts,” Staupitz counselled the misguided monk “You will see that he will employ you as His servant for great purposes. Let the study of the Scriptures be your favourite occupation.” By hindsight, how ironic his words sound. Little did he realise to what purposes God was moving young Luther.

Knowing about the truth yet not experiencing it

In 1507 Luther was ordained. So highly was his learning appreciated that he was invited to the professorship of philosophy at Wittemberg. Here he became distinguished, both as a teacher of philosophy and a popular preacher. His fame spread far and wide.

While resident in the monastery, he had learned from an old monk the doctrine of justification by free grace. This vital and fundamental truth he proclaimed with a boldness which attracted peculiar attention.

“This monk,” exclaimed Martin Polichius, a doctor of law and medicine, “will confound all the doctors, will exhibit new doctrines, and reform the whole Roman Church; for he is intent on reading the writings of the prophets and apostles, and he depends on the Word of Jesus Christ; this, neither the philosophers nor the sophists can subvert.”

Such a declaration, more especially from the mouth of a man who was himself accounted a wonder of his age, clearly showed how Luther had made an open profession of his views in regard to the peculiar doctrines of the Gospel. He knew all about justification by faith alone, the point of doctrine he later termed “articulus stantis vel cadentis ecclesiae,” the article of a standing or falling church.

The theme which chiefly occupied his attention at this period, both in his private mediations and in his pulpit hours, may be learned from the following extract of a letter which he wrote to a friend: “I desire to know what your soul is doing; whether, wearied at length of its own righteousness, it learns to refresh itself and to rest in the righteousness of Christ. The temptation of presumption in our age is strong in many, and specially in those who labour to be just and good with all their might, and, at the same time, are ignorant of the righteousness of God, which, in Christ, is conferred upon us with a rich exuberance of gratuitous liberality. They seek in themselves to work that which is good, in order that they may have a confidence of standing before God adorned with virtues and merits; which is an impossible attempt. You, my friend, used to be of this opinion, or rather this mistake; so was I: but now I am fighting against the error, but have not yet prevailed.”

It is impressive how Luther admits that even at this stage he was not yet in the kingdom of God.

Luther’s conversion

In the course of the second year after his admission into the monastery at Erfurt, he happily chanced upon a copy of the Latin Bible in the library. This was to him like the opening of the eyes to the blind. He perused the Word for himself; and while poring, with earnest assiduity, over the sacred page, he frequently lifted up his heart in prayer to the Father of lights, that he might be enabled to understand the contents. The Lord was preparing him just as He prepared Moses and Paul in the desert.

The Reformation hinged entirely upon this question: “How can a man be just in the sight of God?” A question as old as man, for which there is no correct answer apart from God’s own revelation. It was assumed that man naturally wins salvation by performing good works, by dedicating one’s life to God and doing His will. Such was the answer of the church.

Luther showed the fallacy in this cardinal error by which Roman Catholicism is exposed to be outside of biblical Christianity. He had the courage to correct the view of salvation by works. He placed faith alone in Christ alone as the instrumental means of being reckoned right with God. Good works are the fruits of such a saving union with Christ, “whose we are and whom we serve.”

All this, fundamental as it is to a healthy Christian life, Luther came to experience for himself. A dispute happened to arise between seven of the local convents and their Vicar-General. Before long Luther was sent to Rome to get the quarrel decided. Luther, in obedience, went eagerly, having, as he thought, the opportunity to be at “the very gate of heaven,” as Rome was called.

But he was shocked to discover the disreputable state of the church there, the very headquarters of Romanism. He managed to see the corruption at the fountainhead. God was leading him “by a way that he knew not,” to fit him for a post of unrivalled honour and responsibility.

In his sincerity he climbed the Holy Stairs, said to have been miraculously transported from Jerusalem by angels, and which, if climbed on one’s knees, a fifteen year indulgence from purgatory was gained.

It was during this penitential act that the biblical principle came to his mind as a strong reminder, “The just shall live by his faith.” The words came with such power that he felt it was God’s voice speaking to him. He rose on his feet; at once he realised that whereas the church administered a limited indulgence, Christ procured full and free forgiveness at Calvary for all believers.

This was the initial burning of the truth of justifications by faith alone within his heart. It was a doctrine the Roman Church had lost or disregarded for centuries and had proposed and relied on salvation by one’s own merits.

Still, it cannot be said that Luther had experienced the lasting peace he desired. He returned to Germany greatly saddened; the thought struck him that “the Church had lost the key to the kingdom,” but that was largely all. Later he said: “Like a fool, I took onions to Rome and brought back garlic.”

The stern judgement of God: under conviction of sin, Luther was fast becoming obsessed with guilt. Once again, at the university his mentor Staupitz, with a philosophic turn of mind, approached to soothe his mind and reminded Luther of God’s forgiving mercy. But how was this mercy to be obtained? Sad to say, Staupitz pointed out to him that it was also necessary to work hard to deserve God’s salvation. Cold comfort!

The matter reached its climax in 1513 when Luther was preparing his lectures on the Psalms. He read the familiar phrase, “Deliver me in thy righteousness” (Psalms 31:1).

To his mind righteousness was the punishment of a holy God towards sinful men. This idea caused him considerable unease. But then he was reminded of Romans 1:17. In speaking of the gospel Paul had declared that it is God’s power unto salvation to every believer: “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” It began to dawn upon him that in the New Testament the idea of righteousness is not one of punishment, but that it was God’s nature to show mercy and extend true forgiveness. Later he wrote: “When I realised this, I felt myself absolutely born again. The gates of paradise had been flung open and I had entered. There and then the whole of Scripture took on another look to me.”

The gospel had reached him personally. And this same balsam he was to offer initially to the professing church which for hundreds of years had exchanged this message to a philosophy that cannot save. Luther had re-discovered a Gospel truth that had lain dormant and hidden by all the paraphernalia of Catholicism.

No longer was Luther under the withering threat of eternal damnation. He knew he was forgiven: not on his merits, but on the sole and all-sufficient merits of Jesus Christ imputed to his account. God had declared him, as a believer, to be righteous - in Christ.

Forgiveness for a fee

Leo X, the pope of the period, was eager to proceed with the erection of the great church of St. Peter’s in the Vatican which his predecessor, Julius II, had left unfinished. For this purpose he invited his subjects to purchase forgiveness for themselves by donating money to this worthy cause. No scruple was harboured in the management of this venture.

The Dominican Tetzel was commissioned to sell indulgences in the neighbourhood of Luther’s monastery. He harangued folk to induce them to purchase his pardons. “I would not exchange my privileges,” he said, “with Saint Peter in heaven: for I have saved more souls with my indulgences that he with his sermons...The very moment that the money clinks against the bottom of the chest, the soul escapes from purgatory and flies into heaven.”

This kind of “holy trade” aroused two classes of opponents, at least. First, the scoffers who pointedly asked why if the pope had the power to release souls from purgatory, did he not do so as a matter of charity.

But there was a stronger and deeper opposition which examined the whole business in the light of the honour of God and the scriptural doctrine of forgiveness. Is forgiveness purchased or is it freely granted?

Luther’s perspective on his life

Progressively Luther became more and more outspoken. He wrote to his own diocesan and to his vicar-general. In the letter to the former he expresses himself with that undaunted confidence which might be expected to characterise a person who was conscious of being engaged in a righteous cause.

“I fear not,” he says, “bulls and menaces; it is the audaciousness and the ignorance of men that induce me to stand forth, though with much reluctance; were there not a weighty cause for it, no one out of my own little sphere should ever hear of me. If the cause I defend be not the work of God, I would have nothing to do with it; let it perish. Let Him alone have glory to whom alone glory belongs.”

The position he now occupied was one which harassed and distressed his mind. It was with the utmost reluctance that he felt himself compelled to oppose the Church with which he was connected, and more especially as the ground of his opposition was of such vital importance. He requested his friend and patron, Staupitz, to transmit his sentiments in writing to Rome.

“Not that I would involve you in my dangers,” he explains. “I desire alone to stand the shock of it. Let Christ see to it, whether the cause be mine or His. To the kind admonition of my friends, who would warn me of danger, my answer is, The poor man has no fears. I protest that property, reputation, and honours shall be of no estimation with me, compared with the defence of the truth. I have only a frail body to lose, and that weighed down with constant fatigue. If, in obedience to God, I lose it through violence or fraud, what is the loss of a few hours of life? Sufficient for me is the lovely Redeemer and Advocate, my Lord Jesus Christ, to whose praise I will sing as long as I live.”

His conduct was not rash. Even at this advanced stage, he found place to write personally to the pope, explanatory of his conduct, and couched in such language that shows unmistakably that, at this period, he had no intention of separating from the Roman communion.

Luther’s theology

Even at this early period of his history, his views of divine truth were quite lucid. The Bible had been for years his constant study; prayer had been his unceasing exercise; and in the habitual use of these two means of grace, his knowledge of the gospel had become at once extensive and accurate.

In the doctrines of free grace Luther was in his element. “A Christian may glory that in Christ he has all things; that all the righteousness and merits of Christ are his own, by virtue of that spiritual union with him which he has by faith; and, on the other hand, that all his sins are no longer his, but Christ, through the same union, bears the burden of them. And this is the confidence of Christians, this is the refreshment of their consciences, that by faith our sins cease to be ours judicially, because they are laid on him, ‘the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.’”

Luther viewed the righteousness of Christ as the all-sufficient and sole ground for believers that they may entertain a hope that cannot disappoint. He unceasingly urged it, with proper earnestness, upon all who came within reach of his influence.

At this early stage in his career Luther grasped the fact that sin and righteousness can exist together in the Christian believer, so that he may be described as a sinner as well as a saint.

The following quotation is from his Lectures on Romans (1515-16).

“Since the saints are always conscious of their sin, and seek righteousness from God in accordance with his mercy, they are always reckoned as righteous by God (semper quoque iusti a deo reputantur). Thus in their own eyes, and as a matter of fact, they are unrighteous. But God reckons them as righteous on account of their confession of their sin. In fact, they are sinners; however, they are righteous by the reckoning of a merciful God (Re vera peccatores, sed reputatione miserentis Dei iusti). Without knowing it, they are righteous; knowing it, they are unrighteous. They are sinners in fact, but righteous in hope (peccatores in re, iusti autem in spe)...

It is like the case of a man who is ill, who trusts the doctor who promises him a certain recovery and in the meantime obeys the doctor’s instructions, abstaining from what has been forbidden to him, in the hope of the promised recovery (in spe promissae sanitatis), so that he does not do anything to hinder this promised recovery...Now this man who is ill, is he healthy? The fact is that he is a man who is both ill and healthy at the same time (immo aegrotus simul et sanus). As a matter of fact, he is ill; but he is healthy on account of the certain promise of the doctor, who he trusts and who reckons him as healthy already, because he is sure that he will cure him. Indeed he has already begun to cure him, and no longer regards him as having a terminal illness. In the same way, our Samaritan, Christ, has brought this ill man to the inn to be cared for, and has begun to cure him, having promised him the most certain cure leading to eternal life...Now is this man perfectly righteous? No. But he is at one and the same time a sinner and a righteous person (simul iustus et peccator). He is a sinner in fact, but a righteous person by the sure reckoning and promise of God that he will continue to deliver him from sin until he has completely cured him. And so he is totally healthy in hope, but a sinner in fact (sanus perfecte est in spe, in re autem peccator). He has the beginning of righteousness, and so always continues more and more to seek it, while realising that he is always unrighteous.”

Besides the all-foundational doctrine, Luther reduced the number of sacraments to two, namely, baptism and the Lord’s Supper. He maintained the mass to be no sacrifice; exploded the adoration of the host, auricular confession, meritorious and supererogatory works, indulgences, purgatory, the worship of images, and other superstitious practices prevalent in Romanism.

He also opposed the doctrine of free will (as if salvation is dependent on man’s will rather than God’s), maintained predestination (in this he was a strict Calvinist), and asserted our justification to be solely by the imputation of the merits and satisfaction of Christ.

He also opposed the fastings of the Romish church, manastical vows, the celibacy of the clergy, and other points of doctrine and conduct.

Burning the bridges

In the face of the blatant abuses of the professing church, Luther sent a detailed protest to the Archbishop and the local bishops, hoping they will take action. Nothing of the sort came about. In the midst of this ferment Luther nailed his “Ninety-Five Theses” against the castle church in Wittenberg. A few extracts shows what they contained, even though the protest, at this stage, still smacked of Catholicism.

VI. The Pope cannot remit any condemnation but can only declare and confirm the remission that God Himself has given...

XXI. The sellers of indulgences are in error when they say that by the papal indulgence a man is delivered from every punishment and is saved.

XXXVII. Every true Christian, dead or living, is a partaker of all the blessings of Christ or of the Church, by the gift of God and without any letter of indulgence.

LII. To hope to be saved by indulgence is a lying and an empty hope, although even the seller of indulgences, nay even the pope himself, should pledge their souls to guarantee it.

LXII. The true and precious treasure of the Church is the Holy Gospel of the glory and grace of God.

As Wylie points out, Luther had taken the mightiest of all the powers of the Church, the power of pardoning sin and so saving men’s souls, and given it back to God. Luther desired to have his statements discussed and debated by all those concerned.

Into the arena

The response was almost instantaneous, proving quite clearly that there had been a keen desire, even though repressed, for reform among all classes of the people. In a fortnight Luther’s Theses were distributed all over Germany. They were translated into Dutch and Spanish and circulated in those countries. In a month they were all round Europe. In four weeks Luther’s name was a household word in Europe.

Luther had dared to speak his mind freely. From now on his life was endangered: he had entered the arena without consciously knowing about the repercussions. He was cited to appear in Rome, but he was advised not to do so. His friends pointed out the instance of John Huss a century earlier, who, though promised safe conduct, was foully murdered at the Council of Constance.

Debates and disputations

The Reformer appeared at Augsburg before the Italian Cardinal Cajetan. During this confrontation, Luther enunciated that:

1. Holy Scripture is an authority superior to the pope’s.

2. Faith in Christ alone for salvation is a necessary doctrine.

In a debate that was arranged between the Catholic theologian John Eck and the Wittenberg school, Luther caused an uproar when he declared that the pope’s supremacy was based on false decretals and was not known in Scripture. The idea had only grown in the previous four centuries. Furthermore, the Eastern half of the church had nothing to do with the pope or his councils that had expressed the faith of Catholicism. “A single layman armed with Scripture is to be believed above the pope or a council without it.”

From 1520 to 1522 the battle raged unceasingly. The pope played his trump-card by issuing a “Bull,” which contained forty criticisms of Luther’s writings, and condemned them. In a public ceremony Luther consigned the Bull to the flames. The pope’s last resort was to excommunicate the now-committed Reformer, who had begun to speak his heart more bravely than ever before.

Luther’s pen

Luther wrote profusely: tracts, commentaries on books of the Bible and books addressing specific issues. Among the latter may be mentioned:

1. To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, respecting the Reformation of the Christian estate (a defence of the Protestant position).

2. On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church (a trenchant attack on Romanism with its unlawful claims).

3. Concerning Christian Liberty (explaining the nature of Christian freedom; non-controversial. His thesis is stated in two introductory sentences: “A Christian man is the most free lord of all and subject to none,” and, “A Christian man is the most dutiful servant of all and subject to every one”).

Besides we must mention his two most influential books:

1. Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians.

2. On the bondage of the will (in Luther’s opinion his most important work, written in answer to Erasmus’ Diatribe).

From an early stage Luther insisted on a good religious grounding for all education. He exhorted his fellow-labourers to teach the parents who in turn would teach their children, starting from the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments and the Apostles’ Creed. To help towards this goal, he published a larger and a smaller catechism. His aim was to teach children, while still of tender years, the rudiments of the Faith.

On a more official level, he published a statement of doctrine commonly known today as “The Augsburg Confession of Faith.” This he did with the help of his right-hand man, Philip Melanchton. It was an immense piece of work and well-performed.

A good confession

On January 6th, 1521, the emperor Charles V assembled his first Diet, a convention of Germanic states, in the city of Worms. One of the chief items on the programme was the question of ecclesiastical reform. The pope’s legates demanded the immediate condemnation of Luther without a hearing.

But Luther had his supporters, among them the good Elector Frederick of Saxony who had himself but recently refused the Imperial Crown. Luther was thus ordered to appear before the Diet and make his defence.

Luther was accused of being a rebel in speaking against Holy Mother Church. The Romanists asserted that its authority was above question. Luther replied: “I cannot submit my faith either to the Pope or the Councils, because it is clear as day that they have frequently erred and contradicted each other. Unless I am convinced by the testimony of Scripture or on plain and clear grounds of reason, so that conscience shall bind me to make acknowledgement of error, I cannot and will not retract, for it is neither safe nor wise to do anything contrary to conscience. Here I stand, I can do no other. May God help me. Amen.”

In hiding

Refusing to budge, Luther was commanded to depart and not to disturb the peace by his preaching or writing. His friends hid him in the forest of Thuringen and while in seclusion he managed to translate the Bible into German. This achievement by itself is a great blessing. He gave the Bible to the German nation, a silent missionary and reformer wherever it found entrance.

From here onwards his life was one of constant ministry to the people, in preaching, writing, giving advice to budding evangelical ministers and organising the churches and their liturgy according to a scriptural pattern.

Protestantism: like an ever-widening circle

The story broadens so much that it is impossible in a limited space to even allude to the bare facts. But one thing should be interesting. A the second Diet of Speyer in 1529, the evangelical princes drew up a protest demanding in courteous, Christian language, the “rights of minorities,” and the “rights of conscience,” something quite unheard of in those days. Their appeal was made on the ninth of April, 1529, a memorable day for all lovers of religious and civil liberty. This quotation concluded their plea:

“For these reasons, most dear Lords and friends, we earnestly entreat you to weigh carefully our grievances and our motives. If you do not yield to our request, we protest, by these presents before God, our Creator, Redeemer and Judge...that we, for us and for our people, neither consent nor adhere in any manner whatsoever to the proposed decree, in anything that is contrary to God, to His Holy Word, to our right conscience, to the salvation of our souls and to the last decree of Speyer.”

Upon its negative reception, the Reformers drew up another statement, from which we may surmise what these men of faith meant when they spoke of themselves as “Protestant.” Within this term they included “Anyone who receives or shall hereafter receive, the Word of God.” A Protestant then is not merely synonymous with Anti-Catholic. The term carries with it the hearty confession of a definite Faith as to God and His Word; it really means “a witness for,” in their case, “witnesses for Gospel truth; and only consequently against Roman error.

Even at the expense of disturbing the peace, or even creating schism, the faithful Christian must be ready to “contend for the faith once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). Every child of God is called to be a witness for the truth against error, whenever error subverts or hides the truth. We conclude, therefore, that the Protestant principle goes back to the apostolic age itself. It is an ancient rule that, admittedly, had been largely laid aside, but with the sixteenth century and with the initiative of Luther, the German princes were moved to appeal to it and thankfully became known as “Protestants.”

Luther’s ministry

Besides having a continual flow of literature being printed and disseminated all over Europe, and above all the German Bible to his fellow-countrymen, Luther kept himself busy in giving addresses on the Epistles and Gospels. These “house postills,” as they became known, were delivered in his home which always welcomed students and friends. His sermons and addresses express, in poetic and strong language, his child-like faith in God.

To obtain a balanced view of Luther, we must not only study his polemical and controversial writings, but also his devotional ones.

Luther was also gifted in music and hymn-writing. In 1524 there was the German hymn-book, where the poet had opportunity to express his sentiments. Among them was his now renowned hymn Ein feste burg ist unser Gott:

A mighty fortress is our God,
A bulwark never failing;
Our helper He amid the flood
Of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe
Doth seek to work us woe -
His craft and pow’r are great,
And, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide
Our striving would be losing,
Were not the right Man on our side,
The Man of God’s own choosing.
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is He -
Lord Sabaoth His name,
From age to age the same -
And He must win the battle.

And tho this world, with devils filled,
Should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed
His truth to triumph thru us.
The prince of darkness grim -
We tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure,
For lo! his doom is sure -
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly pow’rs -
No thanks to them abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours
Through Him who with us sideth.
Let good and kindred go,
This mortal life also;
The body that may kill:
God’s truth abideth still -
His kingdom is forever.

A hymn that truly exposes Luther’s simple faith in God and His Christ, of dependence on Him against innumerable foes.

Contact with other Reformers

Contemporary with Luther, the Swiss cantons were also being swept by evangelical preaching. Foremost among the Swiss reformers was the intelligent and gifted clergyman by the name of Huldreich Zwingli, a scholar of high stature.

The two men of God met at Marburg in the autumn of 1529, in the company of other scholars. A list of fifteen doctrinal propositions was drawn up for discussion, and an amicable agreement was reached for all except the point about the Lord’s Supper. The Communion Service, and the nature of Christ’s presence in it, became the centre of debate.

From the beginning Luther was uncompromising; as it turned out, he stood fast on a doctrine that can in no way be aligned with biblical truth. As his understanding was expressed later, it became known as consubstantiation, that is, he held that in, with, and under the species of bread and wine, the body and blood of Christ was present. It differed from the Romanist error of transubstantiation, and yet it still was not a correct interpretation.

The story goes that Luther took a piece of chalk and wrote on the table around which the great scholars were assembled, “Hoc est corpus meum,” the Latin for “This is my body.”

Zwingli proposed his figurative interpretation, observing that Christ frequently spoke thus, “I am the door,” and, “I am the true vine,” and, “I am the good shepherd.” He certainly did not mean to be taken literally.

Notwithstanding Zwingli’s lucid argument, the German Reformer would not be moved. Sad to say, the conference came to an end...without the much-desired unity which the evangelical leaders urgently needed in that hour. It is said that Luther even refused to shake hands with Zwingli who on his part left in tears. He loved Luther and held him in high esteem.

This incident is a telling lesson on human nature. Noble, dauntless and illuminated as we might be, there still remains in us all an Achilles’ heel...Luther included. A reminder that our faith must ultimately be in the Lord Jesus: all others are servants for His sake, and fallible servants too.

Luther’s character

Despite all impressions Luther was a kind-hearted and genial man. This is borne out by his vast correspondence with friends and relatives, with all those who sought his counsel. We are perhaps moved to consider the stalwart reformer as a warrior exclusively. But he was after all a married man with several children which he loved are cared for. His heart was tender and forgiving to the same proportion as his mind was keen and his language withering towards all those who resisted the truth and perverted the gospel.

One case may illustrate what a man Luther was. When the pardon-monger, Tetzel, was abandoned by his very people who had flocked to him in the hour of prosperity, who would bother to visit him, but Luther? Yes, Luther, who had been his opponent, entered his sick chamber and ministered to him. He gave him words of comfort which none but a great and spiritual mind could have poured into the heart of a fallen foe.

Luther’s promotion to the heavenly home

Ill-health dogged Luther’s life during his last years. On February 18th, 1546, he breathed his last with the words borrowed from the Master he so dearly loved and faithfully served. “Lord, into Thy hands I commit my spirit.”

He was only 63, exhausted by the labours that were demanded of him. His life, from his conversion on, was a sacrifice on the altar of Truth, for Christ’s sake, who claimed to be Truth Himself.

To the end Luther did not desire to separate from Catholicism. This he did when all other means were out of the question. The Roman hierarchy proved to be fossilised in error, and expressed no remorse for its abuses. It was an unrepentant church.

But Luther regretted it deeply that the disciples of his generation were being nicknamed “Lutherans.” He wanted Christ to have the pre-eminence; and held Christ alone to be the true head of the church. He did not desire to be placed as the head of a new movement. His only ambition was to see the truth of God, especially as it related to the gospel of salvation, rescued from the bondage in which it was incarcerated for ages.

To his understanding, and rightly so, Christ and the grace of God in Him are all we need for salvation. He wrote: “Man needs only Jesus Christ,” “He who believes in Christ must find riches in poverty, honour in dishonour, joy in sorrow, life in death,” “ Without Christ there is no help or remedy, no matter how pious men may be.” Again: “One can dispense with all the saints, but Christ...no man can dispense with.” “Before God, no works are acceptable but Christ’s own works. Let these plead for you before God.”

Luther substituted the superstitions of the Roman church for the gospel of Christ in all its efficacy and glory.

In his will he bequeathed his detestation of popery to his friends and brethren; agreeably to what he used to say: Pestis eram vivus, moriens ero mors tua, papa, that is, “I was the plague of popery in my life, and shall continue to be so in my death.”

Reflecting on Luther, one author said; “It was a great miracle that a poor monk should be able to stand against the Papacy; it was a greater miracle that he should prevail; and the greatest miracle of all, that he should die in peace, when surrounded by so many enemies.”

CHAPTER IX

An Account of the Life and Persecutions of Martin Luther

This illustrious German divine and reformer of the Church was the son of
John Luther and Margaret Ziegler, and born at Isleben, a town of Saxony, in the
county of Mansfield, November 10, 1483. His father's extraction and condition
were originally but mean, and his occupation that of a miner; it is probable,
however, that by his application and industry he improved the fortunes of his
family, as he afterward became a magistrate of rank and dignity. Luther was
early initiated into letters, and at the age of thirteen was sent to school at
Magdeburg, and thence to Eisenach, in Thuringia, where he remained four years,
producing the early indications of his future eminence.

In 1501 he was sent to the University of Erfurt, where he went through the
usual courses of logic and philosophy. When twenty, he took a master's degree,
and then lectured on Aristotle's physics, ethics, and other parts of
philosophy. Afterward, at the instigation of his parents, he turned himself to
the civil law, with a view of advancing himself to the bar, but was diverted
from this pursuit by the following accident. Walking out into the fields one
day, he was struck by lightning so as to fall to the ground, while a companion
was killed by his side; and this affected him so sensibly, that, without
communicating his purpose to any of his friends, he withdrew himself from the
world, and retired into the order of the hermits of St. Augustine.

Here he employed himself in reading St. Augustine and the schoolmen; but
in turning over the leaves of the library, he accidentally found a copy of the
Latin Bible, which he had never seen before. This raised his curiosity to a
high degree: he read it over very greedily, and was amazed to find what a small
portion of the Scriptures was rehearsed to the people.

He made his profession in the monastery of Erfurt, after he had been a
novice one year; and he took priest's orders, and celebrated his first Mass in
1507. The year after, he was removed from the convent of Erfurt to the
University of Wittenberg; for this university being just founded, nothing was
thought more likely to bring it into immediate repute and credit, than the
authority and presence of a man so celebrated, for his great parts and
learning, as Luther.

In this University of Erfurt, there was a certain aged man in the convent
of the Augustines with whom Luther, being then of the same order, a friar
Augustine, had conference upon divers things, especially touching remission of
sins; which article the said aged father opened unto Luther; declaring that
God's express commandment is that every man should particularly believe his
sins to be forgiven him in Christ: and further said that this interpretation
was confirmed by St. Bernard: "This is the testimony that the Holy Ghost giveth
thee in thy heart, saying, thy sins are forgiven thee. For this is the opinion
of the apostle, that man is freely justified by faith."

By these words Luther was not only strengthened, but was also instructed
of the full meaning of St. Paul, who repeateth so many times this sentence, "We
are justified by faith." And having read the expositions of many upon this
place, he then perceived, as well by the discourse of the old man, as by the
comfort he received in his spirit, the vanity of those interpretations, which
he had read before, of the schoolmen. And so, by little and little, reading and
comparing the sayings and examples of the prophets and apostles, with continual
invocation of God, and the excitation of faith by force of prayer, he perceived
that doctrine most evidently. Thus continued he his study at Erfurt the space
of four years in the convent of the Augustines.

In 1512, seven convents of his order having a quarrel with their vicar-
general, Luther was chosen to go to Rome to maintain their cause. At Rome he
saw the pope and the court, and had an opportunity of observing also the
manners of the clergy, whose hasty, superficial, and impious way of celebrating
Mass, he has severely noted. As soon as he had adjusted the dispute which was
the business of his journey, he returned to Wittenberg, and was created doctor
of divinity, at the expense of Frederic, elector of Saxony; who had often heard
him preach, was perfectly acquainted with his merit, and reverenced him highly.

He continued in the University of Wittenberg, where, as professor of
divinity, he employed himself in the business of his calling. Here then he
began in the most earnest manner to read lectures upon the sacred books: he
explained the Epistle to the Romans, and the Psalms, which he cleared up and
illustrated in a manner so entirely new, and so different from what had been
pursued by former commentators, that "there seemed, after a long and dark
night, a new day to arise, in the judgment of all pious and prudent men."

Luther diligently reduced the minds of men to the Son of God: as John the
Baptist demonstrated the Lamb of God that took away the sins of the world, even
so Luther, shining in the Church as the bright daylight after a long and dark
night, expressly showed that sins are freely remitted for the love of the Son
of God, and that we ought faithfully to embrace this bountiful gift.

His life was correspondent to his profession; and it plainly appeared that
his words were no lip-labor, but proceeded from the very heart. This admiration
of his holy life much allured the hearts of his auditors.

The better to qualify himself for the task he had undertaken, he had
applied himself attentively to the Greek and Hebrew languages; and in this
manner was he employed, when the general indulgences were published in 1517.

Leo X who succeeded Julius II in March, 1513, formed a design of building
the magnificent Church of St. Peter's at Rome, which was, indeed, begun by
Julius, but still required very large sums to be finished. Leo, therefore, in
1517 published general indulgences throughout all Europe, in favor of those who
contribute any sum to the building of St. Peter's; and appointed persons in
different countries to preach up these indulgences, and to receive money for
them. These strange proceedings gave vast offence at Wittenberg, and
particularly inflamed the pious zeal of Luther; who, being naturally warm and
active, and in the present case unable to contain himself, was determined to
declare against them at all adventures.

Upon the eve of All-saints, therefore, in 1517, he publicly fixed up, at
the church next to the castle of that town, a thesis upon indulgences; in the
beginning of which he challenged any one to oppose it either by writing or
disputation. Luther's propositions about indulgences were no sooner published,
than Tetzel, the Dominican friar, and commissioner for selling them, maintained
and published at Frankfort, a thesis, containing a set of propositions directly
contrary to them. He did more; he stirred up the clergy of his order against
Luther; anathematized him from the pulpit, as a most damnable heretic; and
burnt his thesis publicly at Frankfort. Tetzel's thesis was also burnt, in
return, by the Lutherans at Wittenberg; but Luther himself disowned having had
any hand in that procedure.

In 1518, Luther, though dissuaded from it by his friends, yet, to show
obedience to authority, went to the monastery of St. Augustine, at Heidelberg,
while the chapter was held; and here maintained, April 26, a dispute concerning
"justification by faith"; which Bucer, who was present at, took down in
writing, and afterward communicated to Beatus Rhenanus, not without the highest
commendations.

In the meantime, the zeal of his adversaries grew every day more and more
active against him; and he was at length accused to Leo X as a heretic. As soon
as he returned therefore from Heidelberg, he wrote a letter to that pope, in
the most submissive terms; and sent him, at the same time, an explication of
his propositions about indulgences. This letter is dated on Trinity Sunday,
1518, and was accompanied with a protestation, wherein he declared, that he did
not pretend to advance or defend anything contrary to the Holy Scriptures, or
to the doctrine of the fathers, received and observed by the Church of Rome, or
to the canons and decretals of the popes: nevertheless, he thought he had the
liberty either to approve or disapprove the opinions of St. Thomas,
Bonaventure, and other schoolmen and canonists, which are not grounded upon any
text.

The emperor Maximilian was equally solicitous, with the pope about putting
a stop to the propagation of Luther's opinions in Saxony; troublesome both to
the Church and empire. Maximilian, therefore, applied to Leo, in a letter dated
August 5, 1518, and begged him to forbid, by his authority, these useless,
rash, and dangerous disputes; assuring him also that he would strictly execute
in the empire whatever his holiness should enjoin.

In the meantime Luther, as soon as he understood what was transacting
about him at Rome, used all imaginable means to prevent his being carried
thither, and to obtain a hearing of his cause in Germany. The elector was also
against Luther's going to Rome, and desired of Cardinal Cajetan, that he might
be heard before him, as the pope's legate in Germany. Upon these addresses, the
pope consented that the cause should be tried before Cardinal Cajetan, to whom
he had given power to decide it.

Luther, therefore, set off immediately for Augsburg, and carried with him
letters from the elector. He arrived here in October, 1518, and, upon an
assurance of his safety, was admitted into the cardinal's presence. But Luther
was soon convinced that he had more to fear from the cardinal's power than from
disputations of any kind; and, therefore, apprehensive of being seized if he
did not submit, withdrew from Augsburg upon the twentieth. But, before his
departure, he published a formal appeal to the pope, and finding himself
protected by the elector, continued to teach the same doctrines at Wittenberg,
and sent a challenge to all the inquisitors to come and dispute with him.

As to Luther, Miltitius, the pope's chamberlain, had orders to require the
elector to oblige him to retract, or to deny him his protection: but things
were not now to be carried with so high a hand, Luther's credit being too
firmly established. Besides, the emperor Maximilian happened to die upon the
twelfth of this month, whose death greatly altered the face of affairs, and
made the elector more able to determine Luther's fate. Miltitius thought it
best, therefore, to try what could be done by fair and gentle means, and to
that end came to some conference with Luther.

During all these treaties, the doctrine of Luther spread, and prevailed
greatly; and he himself received great encouragement at home and abroad. The
Bohemians about this time sent him a book of the celebrated John Huss, who had
fallen a martyr in the work of reformation; and also letters, in which they
exhorted him to constancy and perseverance, owning that the divinity which he
taught was the pure, sound, and orthodox divinity. Many great and learned men
had joined themselves to him.

In 1519, he had a famous dispute at Leipsic with John Eccius. But this
dispute ended at length like all others, the parties not the least nearer in
opinion, but more at enmity with each other's persons.

About the end of this year, Luther published a book, in which he contended
for the Communion being celebrated in both kinds; which was condemned by the
bishop of Misnia, January 24, 1520.

While Luther was laboring to excuse himself to the new emperor and the
bishops of Germany, Eccius had gone to Rome, to solicit his condemnation;
which, it may easily be conceived, was now become not difficult to be attained.
Indeed the continual importunities of Luther's adversaries with Leo, caused him
at length to publish a formal condemnation of him, and he did so accordingly,
in a bull, dated June 15, 1520. This was carried into Germany, and published
there by Eccius, who had solicited it at Rome; and who, together with Jerome
Alexander, a person eminent for his learning and eloquence, was intrusted by
the pope with the execution of it. In the meantime, Charles V of Spain, after
he had set things to rights in the Low Countries, went into Germany, and was
crowned emperor, October the twenty-first at Aix-la-Chapelle.

Martin Luther, after he had been first accused at Rome upon Maunday
Thursday by the pope's censure, shortly after Easter speedeth his journey
toward Worms, where the said Luther, appearing before the emperor and all the
states of Germany, constantly stuck to the truth, defended himself, and
answered his adversaries.

Luther was lodged, well entertained, and visited by many earls, barons,
knights of the order, gentlemen, priests, and the commonalty, who frequented
his lodging until night.

He came, contrary to the expectation of many, as well adversaries as
others. His friends deliberated together, and many persuaded him not to
adventure himself to such a present danger, considering how these beginnings
answered not the faith of promise made. Who, when he had heard their whole
persuasion and advice, answered in this wise: "As touching me, since I am sent
for, I am resolved and certainly determined to enter Worms, in the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ; yea, although I knew there were as many devils to resist me
as there are tiles to cover the houses in Worms."

The next day, the herald brought him from his lodging to the emperor's
court, where he abode until six o'clock, for that the princes were occupied in
grave consultations; abiding there, and being environed with a great number of
people, and almost smothered for the press that was there. Then after, when the
princes were set, and Luther entered, Eccius, the official, spake in this
manner: "Answer now to the Emperor's demand. Wilt thout maintain all thy books
which thou hast acknowledged, or revoke any part of them, and submit thyself?"

Martin Luther answered modestly and lowly, and yet not without some
stoutness of stomach, and Christian constancy. "Considering your sovereign
majesty, and your honors, require a plain answer; this I say and profess as
resolutely as I may, without doubting or sophistication, that if I be not
convinced by testimonies of the Scriptures (for I believe not the pope, neither
his general Councils, which have erred many times, and have been contrary to
themselves), my conscience is so bound and captivated in these Scriptures and
the Word of God, that I will not, nor may not revoke any manner of thing;
considering it is not godly or lawful to do anything against conscience.
Hereupon I stand and rest: I have not what else to say. God have mercy upon
me!"

The princes consulted together upon this answer given by Luther; and when
they had diligently examined the same, the prolucutor began to repel him thus:
"The Emperor's majesty requireth of thee a simple answer, either negative or
affirmative, whether thou mindest to defend all thy works as Christian, or no?"

Then Luther, turning to the emperor and the nobles, besought them not to
force or compel him to yield against his conscience, confirmed with the Holy
Scriptures, without manifest arguments alleged to the contrary by his
adversaries. "I am tied by the Scriptures."

Before the Diet of Worms was dissolved, Charves V caused an edict to be
drawn up, which was dated the eighth of May, and decreed that Martin Luther be,
agreeably to the sentence of the pope, henceforward looked upon as a member
separated from the Church, a schismatic, and an obstinate and notorious
heretic. While the bull of Leo X executed by Charles V was thundering
throughout the empire, Luther was safely shut up in the castle of Wittenberg;
but weary at length of his retirement, he appeared publicly again at
Wittenberg, March 6, 1522, after he had been absent about ten months.

Luther now made open war with the pope and bishops; and, that he might
make the people despise their authority as much as possible, he wrote one book
against the pope's bull, and another against the order falsely called "The
Order of Bishops." He published also a translation of the New Testament in the
German tongue, which was afterward corrected by himself and Melancthon.

Affairs were now in great confusion in Germany; and they were not less so
in Italy, for a quarrel arose between the pope and the emperor, during which
Rome was twice taken, and the pope imprisoned. While the princes were thus
employed in quarrelling with each other, Luther persisted in carrying on the
work of the Reformation, as well by opposing the papists, as by combating the
Anabaptists and other fanatical sects; which, having taken the advantage of his
contest with the Church of Rome, had sprung up and established themselves in
several places.

In 1527, Luther was suddenly seized with a coagulation of the blood about
the heart, which had like to have put an end to his life. The troubles of
Germany being not likely to have any end, the emperor was forced to call a diet
at Spires, in 1529, to require the assistance of the princes of the empire
against the Turks. Fourteen cities, viz., Strassburg, Nuremberg, Ulm,
Constance, Retlingen, Windsheim, Memmingen, Lindow, Kempten, Hailbron, Isny,
Weissemburg, Nortlingen, S. Gal, joined against the decree of the Diet
protestation, which was put into writing, and published April, 1529. This was
the famous protestation, which gave the name of "Protestants" to the reformers
in Germany.

After this, the Protestant princes labored to make a firm league and
enjoined the elector of Saxony and his allies to approve of what the Diet had
done; but the deputies drew up an appeal, and the Protestants afterwards
presented an apology for their "Confession"--that famous confession which was
drawn up by the temperate Melancthon, as also the apology. These were signed by
a variety of princes, and Luther had now nothing else to do, but to sit down
and contemplate the mighty work he had finished: for that a single monk should
be able to give the Church of Rome so rude a shock, that there needed but such
another entirely to overthrow it, may be well esteemed a mighty work.

In 1533, Luther wrote a consolatory epistle to the citizens of Oschatz,
who had suffered some hardships for adhering to the Augsburg confession of
faith: and in 1534, the Bible translated by him into German was first printed,
as the old privilege, dated at Bibliopolis, under the elector's own hand,
shows; and it was published in the year after. He also published this year a
book, "Against Masses and the Consecration of Priests."

In February, 1537, an assembly was held at Smalkald about matters of
religion, to which Luther and Melancthon were called. At this meeting Luther
was seized with so grievous an illness that there was no hope of his recovery.
As he was carried along he made his will, in which he bequeathed his
detestation of popery to his friends and brethren. In this manner was he
employed until his death, which happened in 1546.

That year, accompanied by Melancthon, he paid a visit to his own country,
which he had not seen for many years, and returned again in safety. But soon
after, he was called thither again by the earls of Manfelt, to compose some
differences which had arisen about their boundaries, where he was received by
one hundred horsemen, or more, and conducted in a very honorable manner; but
was at the same time so very ill that it was feared he would die. He said that
these fits of sickness often came upon him, when he had any great business to
undertake. Of this, however, he did not recover, but died in February 18, in
his sixty-third year. A little before he expired, he admonished those that were
about him to pray to God for the propagation of the Gospel, "Because," said he,
"the Council of Trent, which had set once or twice, and the pope, will devise
strange things against it." Feeling his fatal hour to approach, before nine
o'clock in the morning, he commended himself to God with this devout prayer:
"My heavenly Father, eternal and merciful God! Thou hast manifested unto me Thy
dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. I have taught Him, I have known Him; I love
Him as my life, my health and my redemption; Whom the wicked have persecuted,
maligned, and with injury afflicted. Draw my soul to Thee."

But Luther himself saw the Reformation as something far more important than a revolt against ecclesiastical abuses. He believed it was a fight for the gospel. Luther even stated that he would have happily yielded every point of dispute to the Pope, if only the Pope had affirmed the gospel.

And at the heart of the gospel, in Luther's estimation, was the doctrine of justification by faith--the teaching that Christ's own righteousness is imputed to those who believe, and on that ground alone, they are accepted by God.

OCTOBER 31, 1517

Out of love for the truth and the desire to bring it to light,
the following propositions will be discussed at Wittenberg,
under the presidency of the Reverend Father Martin Luther,
Master of Arts and of Sacred Theology, and Lecturer in
Ordinary on the same at that place. Wherefore he requests that
those who are unable to be present and debate orally with us,
may do so by letter.

In the Name our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

1. Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when He said Poenitentiam
agite, willed that the whole life of believers should be
repentance.

2. This word cannot be understood to mean sacramental penance,
i.e., confession and satisfaction, which is administered by
the priests.

3. Yet it means not inward repentance only; nay, there is no
inward repentance which does not outwardly work divers
mortifications of the flesh.

4. The penalty [of sin], therefore, continues so long as
hatred of self continues; for this is the true inward
repentance, and continues until our entrance into the kingdom
of heaven.

5. The pope does not intend to remit, and cannot remit any
penalties other than those which he has imposed either by his
own authority or by that of the Canons.

6. The pope cannot remit any guilt, except by declaring that
it has been remitted by God and by assenting to God's
remission; though, to be sure, he may grant remission in cases
reserved to his judgment. If his right to grant remission in
such cases were despised, the guilt would remain entirely
unforgiven.

7. God remits guilt to no one whom He does not, at the same
time, humble in all things and bring into subjection to His
vicar, the priest.

8. The penitential canons are imposed only on the living, and,
according to them, nothing should be imposed on the dying.

9. Therefore the Holy Spirit in the pope is kind to us,
because in his decrees he always makes exception of the
article of death and of necessity.

10. Ignorant and wicked are the doings of those priests who,
in the case of the dying, reserve canonical penances for
purgatory.

11. This changing of the canonical penalty to the penalty of
purgatory is quite evidently one of the tares that were sown
while the bishops slept.

12. In former times the canonical penalties were imposed not
after, but before absolution, as tests of true contrition.

13. The dying are freed by death from all penalties; they are
already dead to canonical rules, and have a right to be
released from them.

14. The imperfect health [of soul], that is to say, the
imperfect love, of the dying brings with it, of necessity,
great fear; and the smaller the love, the greater is the fear.

15. This fear and horror is sufficient of itself alone (to say
nothing of other things) to constitute the penalty of
purgatory, since it is very near to the horror of despair.

16. Hell, purgatory, and heaven seem to differ as do despair,
almost-despair, and the assurance of safety.

17. With souls in purgatory it seems necessary that horror
should grow less and love increase.

18. It seems unproved, either by reason or Scripture, that
they are outside the state of merit, that is to say, of
increasing love.

19. Again, it seems unproved that they, or at least that all
of them, are certain or assured of their own blessedness,
though we may be quite certain of it.

20. Therefore by "full remission of all penalties" the pope
means not actually "of all," but only of those imposed by
himself.

21. Therefore those preachers of indulgences are in error, who
say that by the pope's indulgences a man is freed from every
penalty, and saved;

22. Whereas he remits to souls in purgatory no penalty which,
according to the canons, they would have had to pay in this
life.

23. If it is at all possible to grant to any one the remission
of all penalties whatsoever, it is certain that this remission
can be granted only to the most perfect, that is, to the very
fewest.

24. It must needs be, therefore, that the greater part of the
people are deceived by that indiscriminate and highsounding
promise of release from penalty.

25. The power which the pope has, in a general way, over
purgatory, is just like the power which any bishop or curate
has, in a special way, within his own diocese or parish.

26. The pope does well when he grants remission to souls [in
purgatory], not by the power of the keys (which he does not
possess), but by way of intercession.

27. They preach man who say that so soon as the penny jingles
into the money-box, the soul flies out [of purgatory].

28. It is certain that when the penny jingles into the
money-box, gain and avarice can be increased, but the result
of the intercession of the Church is in the power of God
alone.

29. Who knows whether all the souls in purgatory wish to be
bought out of it, as in the legend of Sts. Severinus and
Paschal.

30. No one is sure that his own contrition is sincere; much
less that he has attained full remission.

31. Rare as is the man that is truly penitent, so rare is also
the man who truly buys indulgences, i.e., such men are most
rare.

32. They will be condemned eternally, together with their
teachers, who believe themselves sure of their salvation
because they have letters of pardon.

33. Men must be on their guard against those who say that the
pope's pardons are that inestimable gift of God by which man
is reconciled to Him;

34. For these "graces of pardon" concern only the penalties of
sacramental satisfaction, and these are appointed by man.

35. They preach no Christian doctrine who teach that
contrition is not necessary in those who intend to buy souls
out of purgatory or to buy confessionalia.

36. Every truly repentant Christian has a right to full
remission of penalty and guilt, even without letters of
pardon.

37. Every true Christian, whether living or dead, has part in
all the blessings of Christ and the Church; and this is
granted him by God, even without letters of pardon.

38. Nevertheless, the remission and participation [in the
blessings of the Church] which are granted by the pope are in
no way to be despised, for they are, as I have said, the
declaration of divine remission.

39. It is most difficult, even for the very keenest
theologians, at one and the same time to commend to the people
the abundance of pardons and [the need of] true contrition.

40. True contrition seeks and loves penalties, but liberal
pardons only relax penalties and cause them to be hated, or at
least, furnish an occasion [for hating them].

41. Apostolic pardons are to be preached with caution, lest
the people may falsely think them preferable to other good
works of love.

42. Christians are to be taught that the pope does not intend
the buying of pardons to be compared in any way to works of
mercy.

43. Christians are to be taught that he who gives to the poor
or lends to the needy does a better work than buying pardons;

44. Because love grows by works of love, and man becomes
better; but by pardons man does not grow better, only more
free from penalty.

45. Christians are to be taught that he who sees a man in
need, and passes him by, and gives [his money] for pardons,
purchases not the indulgences of the pope, but the indignation
of God.

46. Christians are to be taught that unless they have more
than they need, they are bound to keep back what is necessary
for their own families, and by no means to squander it on
pardons.

47. Christians are to be taught that the buying of pardons is
a matter of free will, and not of commandment.

48. Christians are to be taught that the pope, in granting
pardons, needs, and therefore desires, their devout prayer for
him more than the money they bring.

49. Christians are to be taught that the pope's pardons are
useful, if they do not put their trust in them; but altogether
harmful, if through them they lose their fear of God.

50. Christians are to be taught that if the pope knew the
exactions of the pardon-preachers, he would rather that St.
Peter's church should go to ashes, than that it should be
built up with the skin, flesh and bones of his sheep.

51. Christians are to be taught that it would be the pope's
wish, as it is his duty, to give of his own money to very many
of those from whom certain hawkers of pardons cajole money,
even though the church of St. Peter might have to be sold.

52. The assurance of salvation by letters of pardon is vain,
even though the commissary, nay, even though the pope himself,
were to stake his soul upon it.

53. They are enemies of Christ and of the pope, who bid the
Word of God be altogether silent in some Churches, in order
that pardons may be preached in others.

54. Injury is done the Word of God when, in the same sermon,
an equal or a longer time is spent on pardons than on this
Word.

55. It must be the intention of the pope that if pardons,
which are a very small thing, are celebrated with one bell,
with single processions and ceremonies, then the Gospel, which
is the very greatest thing, should be preached with a hundred
bells, a hundred processions, a hundred ceremonies.

56. The "treasures of the Church," out of which the pope.
grants indulgences, are not sufficiently named or known among
the people of Christ.

57. That they are not temporal treasures is certainly evident,
for many of the vendors do not pour out such treasures so
easily, but only gather them.

58. Nor are they the merits of Christ and the Saints, for even
without the pope, these always work grace for the inner man,
and the cross, death, and hell for the outward man.

59. St. Lawrence said that the treasures of the Church were
the Church's poor, but he spoke according to the usage of the
word in his own time.

60. Without rashness we say that the keys of the Church, given
by Christ's merit, are that treasure;

61. For it is clear that for the remission of penalties and of
reserved cases, the power of the pope is of itself sufficient.

62. The true treasure of the Church is the Most Holy Gospel of
the glory and the grace of God.

63. But this treasure is naturally most odious, for it makes
the first to be last.

64. On the other hand, the treasure of indulgences is
naturally most acceptable, for it makes the last to be first.

65. Therefore the treasures of the Gospel are nets with which
they formerly were wont to fish for men of riches.

66. The treasures of the indulgences are nets with which they
now fish for the riches of men.

67. The indulgences which the preachers cry as the "greatest
graces" are known to be truly such, in so far as they promote
gain.

68. Yet they are in truth the very smallest graces compared
with the grace of God and the piety of the Cross.

69. Bishops and curates are bound to admit the commissaries of
apostolic pardons, with all reverence.

70. But still more are they bound to strain all their eyes and
attend with all their ears, lest these men preach their own
dreams instead of the commission of the pope.

71 . He who speaks against the truth of apostolic pardons, let
him be anathema and accursed!

72. But he who guards against the lust and license of the
pardon-preachers, let him be blessed!

73. The pope justly thunders against those who, by any art,
contrive the injury of the traffic in pardons.

74. But much more does he intend to thunder against those who
use the pretext of pardons to contrive the injury of holy love
and truth.

75. To think the papal pardons so great that they could
absolve a man even if he had committed an impossible sin and
violated the Mother of God -- this is madness.

76. We say, on the contrary, that the papal pardons are not
able to remove the very least of venial sins, so far as its
guilt is concerned.

77. It is said that even St. Peter, if he were now Pope, could
not bestow greater graces; this is blasphemy against St. Peter
and against the pope.

78. We say, on the contrary, that even the present pope, and
any pope at all, has greater graces at his disposal; to wit,
the Gospel, powers, gifts of healing, etc., as it is written
in I. Corinthians xii.

79. To say that the cross, emblazoned with the papal arms,
which is set up [by the preachers of indulgences], is of equal
worth with the Cross of Christ, is blasphemy.

80. The bishops, curates and theologians who allow such talk
to be spread among the people, will have an account to render.

81. This unbridled preaching of pardons makes it no easy
matter, even for learned men, to rescue the reverence due to
the pope from slander, or even from the shrewd questionings of
the laity.

82. To wit: -- "Why does not the pope empty purgatory, for the
sake of holy love and of the dire need of the souls that are
there, if he redeems an infinite number of souls for the sake
of miserable money with which to build a Church? The former
reasons would be most just; the latter is most trivial."

83. Again: -- "Why are mortuary and anniversary masses for the
dead continued, and why does he not return or permit the
withdrawal of the endowments founded on their behalf, since it
is wrong to pray for the redeemed?"

84. Again: -- "What is this new piety of God and the pope,
that for money they allow a man who is impious and their enemy
to buy out of purgatory the pious soul of a friend of God, and
do not rather, because of that pious and beloved soul's own
need, free it for pure love's sake?"

85. Again: -- "Why are the penitential canons long since in
actual fact and through disuse abrogated and dead, now
satisfied by the granting of indulgences, as though they were
still alive and in force?"

86. Again: -- "Why does not the pope, whose wealth is to-day
greater than the riches of the richest, build just this one
church of St. Peter with his own money, rather than with the
money of poor believers?"

87. Again: -- "What is it that the pope remits, and what
participation does he grant to those who, by perfect
contrition, have a right to full remission and participation?"

88. Again: -- "What greater blessing could come to the Church
than if the pope were to do a hundred times a day what he now
does once, and bestow on every believer these remissions and
participations?"

89. "Since the pope, by his pardons, seeks the salvation of
souls rather than money, why does he suspend the indulgences
and pardons granted heretofore, since these have equal
efficacy?"

90. To repress these arguments and scruples of the laity by
force alone, and not to resolve them by giving reasons, is to
expose the Church and the pope to the ridicule of their
enemies, and to make Christians unhappy.

91. If, therefore, pardons were preached according to the
spirit and mind of the pope, all these doubts would be readily
resolved; nay, they would not exist.

92. Away, then, with all those prophets who say to the people
of Christ, "Peace, peace," and there is no peace!

93. Blessed be all those prophets who say to the people of
Christ, "Cross, cross," and there is no cross!

94. Christians are to be exhorted that they be diligent in
following Christ, their Head, through penalties, deaths, and
hell;

Before Luther was a Lutheran, he was a professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg and lectured on the Holy Scriptures. During his entire career, Luther taught the Bible, translated the Bible, and preached from the Bible. For him, it was the Christian book par excellence, and he valued it above all others because it brought him the good news of Jesus Christ the Savior.

As is well known, however, Luther did not at first understand the Gospel as truly good news. According to his own recollections, he experienced his Reformation "breakthrough" some time after he had first begun lecturing on the Scriptures at the university. For years, he had been laboring personally under the weight of sin without finding a satisfactory remedy in the ministrations of the contemporary church, and even his study of Paul’s epistles did not initially bring him peace, for he kept stumbling over Paul’s phrase, "the righteousness of God" in Rom. 1:17. What did it mean to say that in the Gospel, God reveals His "righteousness"?

Initially, Luther understood the phrase as a reference to God’s holiness – the idea that God is righteous and so punishes unrighteous sinners. But this would mean that the content of the Bible was Law - and more Law! Luther wrote, "As if, indeed, it is not enough, that miserable sinners, eternally lost through original sin, are crushed by every kind of calamity by the law of the decalogue, without having God add pain to pain by the gospel and also by the gospel threatening us with his righteousness and wrath!" It’s hard to find "good news" in that kind of Gospel.

In point of fact Luther did not yet understand that the Gospel directs us to Christ and not to ourselves, to His saving work and not to our own sin-filled works. But, as Luther said, "by the mercy of God," at length he came to a new understanding of God’s righteousness. For in that same passage from Romans, Paul (quoting Hab. 2:4) explains, "He who through faith is righteous shall live." In other words, the righteousness of God in the Gospel is not God’s demand but God’s gift, not condemnation but life; and it is ours simply through faith in Christ. God counts us righteous when we believe in Him.

When Luther finally realized that this was the good news, he also came to a new appreciation of the Scriptures as first and foremost God’s instrument for bringing us all the comfort, consolation, and power of this Gospel. Almost immediately, he tells us, he began using it as a key to understanding the entire Bible; and in all of his work thereafter, the Gospel became the center of his preaching and teaching the Scriptures, and the Scriptures became his norm for understanding the Gospel.

Luther was surprised to find out that this approach to the Bible provoked all kinds of controversy. In the wake of his attack upon the indulgence trade in the 95 Theses, Luther’s opponents tried answering him with ecclesiastical authorities – church fathers, papal decretals, conciliar decisions, and canon law. Although Luther had great respect for Christian theologians of the past like Augustine or Bernard of Clairvaux and confessed the ancient creeds of the church, he accepted the fathers only as witnesses to the truth of Scripture and the creeds merely as statements of what the Bible taught. He understood the Scriptures alone as the ultimate touchstone of what constituted Christian doctrine.

So, in his great debate with the Catholic controversialist John Eck in 1519, Luther maintained, "A simple layman armed with Scripture is to be believed above a pope or a council without it"; and ten years later at Marburg against Ulrich Zwingli, the Reformed theologian, Luther said, "Let us gladly do the dear fathers the honor of interpreting…their writings…so that they remain in harmony with Holy Scripture. However, where their writings do not agree with God’s word, there it is much better that we say they have erred than that for their sake we should abandon God’s word."

Once having discovered the Gospel in the Scriptures, Luther was of no mind to abandon it for the opinions of others no matter how powerful or prestigious they might be. God had given the Bible to men for the sake of their salvation. Therefore, the Bible and the Bible alone must establish the Church’s teaching and preaching. Otherwise, once again the Gospel would be in danger of obscurity and corruption from the teachings of men. People needed to hear and to believe God’s Word; and therefore, it became one of the great objectives of the Lutheran Reformation to make that Word available to all people.

Luther began his work of translating the Bible from the original languages into German when he was at the Wartburg in 1521-22 and continued it for the rest of his life in cooperation with his colleagues at Wittenberg. He published the first New Testament in 1522 and the first complete Bible in 1534; but there were many other editions, including in 1546, one more edition of the entire Bible published posthumously. For these editions, beginning with the very first, Luther composed introductions to various books of the Bible and prefaces for the Old and New Testaments. In virtually every one of them, Luther emphasized the evangelical purpose of the Bible.

In his preface to the 1522 New Testament, for example, although Luther admits that it would be fine if no prefaces were attached to the scriptural text at all, he says that he has composed one in order to rescue the reader from mistaken interpretations that are current. In an apparent reference to his own experience, Luther proposes to direct the reader to the Scriptures’ real theme and purpose "so that he may not seek laws and commandments where he ought to be seeking the gospel and promises of God."

This understanding of the Bible’s purpose led Luther to value some of its books more highly than others. In particular, Luther treasured the Gospel of John, 1 Peter, and the epistles of Paul, especially Romans. Regarding these, Luther writes, "In them…you…find depicted in masterly fashion how faith in Christ overcomes sin, death, and hell, and gives life, righteousness, and salvation. This is the real nature of the gospel."

But if Luther ranked some books of the Bible high on his list, there were others for which he had far less appreciation, and in fact, in his 1522 preface, he calls James "an epistle of straw." Why would Luther say such a thing when elsewhere he writes, "I praise [James] and consider it a good book, because it sets up no doctrines of men but vigorously promulgates the law of God"? But that is just the point, compared to others like Romans, James falls short not for what it says but on account of what it does not teach, i.e., "the Passion and resurrection and office of Christ and to lay the foundation for faith in him." For Luther, the Law is not enough. God gave us the Scriptures for the sake of the Savior.

Compared to James, Luther’s appreciation for Romans is unbounded. Luther calls Romans the "chief part of the New Testament and…the purest gospel" and urges Christians to know it by heart and to treasure it as the "daily bread of the soul." Although he never wrote a commentary on Romans nor did he return to lecturing on it after his "breakthrough," his 1522 preface to the book is not only a good introduction to its contents, it is also a concise description of the major themes of Luther’s own theology and shows how the Gospel functions as the heart and center of the Bible’s message.

But to value Romans for its gospel content does not mean for Luther that the book contains no Law. In fact, quite the contrary, and part of why Luther appreciates Romans so much is that here Paul explains the Law at its deepest level and teaches its true purpose, viz., to reveal sin and the need for a Savior. Apart from God’s grace, man often deludes himself into thinking that he’s "ok," that by observing certain external proprieties he can enjoy a right relationship with God. But the Apostle teaches that this is folly. God’s Law demands an inner holiness that none can accomplish so that by the works of the Law none can be saved. To demonstrate the desperate condition of man’s sinfulness is the task of the Law.

Luther also shows how Paul teaches the Gospel in Romans – that God is gracious to us on account of Christ, that He gives us the gift of faith through the preaching of Christ, and that by this faith we are confident of God's love and forgiveness. But Paul does even more. He also teaches about the Christian life that proceeds from faith. Although Christians continue to experience the "flesh," the sinful human nature, by the power of the Spirit they also work to please God by serving their neighbor, for they have been reborn in Christ. All this, the Christian reader will find in Paul’s epistle to the Romans.

But what Luther found in Romans, he found in the Bible as a whole, both Old and New Testaments, because he believed that God had inspired prophets and apostles to write the books of the Bible over centuries of time for the sake of His people. But what did people need? Fundamentally, they needed Christ the Savior. To bring us a sure and certain message about the saving work of Jesus in all of its consequences and ramifications for self-understanding and life, God had given the Scriptures. Luther not only believed this and valued it for himself; he devoted his life to bringing this Bible message to others.

Today, the church that bears Luther’s name has many reasons to thank God for the great Reformer – the witness of his life, his hymns, his books, his theology. But among all of God’s gifts to His Church through Martin Luther, none is more important than Luther’s understanding of the Bible. For in spite of all that has changed since the days of the Reformation, the Word of God remains to address an unchanging human condition with the eternal Gospel of God’s grace in Christ. As Luther realized and taught, that is the heart and soul of the Scriptures; and human beings still need to hear it.

Dr. Cameron A. MacKenzie is a professor of Historical Theology, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, IN.

Permission is granted for reproduction by the publisher of For the Life of the World (October 2000) the official magazine of Concordia Theological Seminary-Fort Wayne.

Bible References:

Romans 1: 17
For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."

Habakkuk 2: 4
"See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright-- but the righteous will live by his faith

It would be a good thing if young people were wise and old people were strong, but God has arranged things better. MARTIN LUTHER

Almost every night when I wake up the devil is there and wants to dispute with me. I have come to this conclusion: When the argument that the Christian is without the law and above the law doesn't help, I instantly chase him away with a fart.--Martin Luther (1483-1546), Luther's Works, Volume 54, Table Talk_ [1967], Number 469)

Luther, in speaking of the good by itself and the good for its expediency alone, instances the observance of the Christian day of rest, -- a day of repose from manual labour, and of activity in spiritual labour, -- a day of joy and cooperation in the work of Christ's creation. "Keep it holy", says he, "for its use's sake -- both to body and soul! But if anywhere the day is made holy for the mere day's sake, -- if anywhere anyone sets up its observance upon a Jewish foundation, then I order you to work on it, to ride on it, to dance on it, to feast on it -- to do anything that shall reprove this encroachment on the Christian spirit and liberty."... Samuel Tayler Coleridge (1772-1834), Table Talk

I felt myself absolutely born again. The gates of Paradise had been flung open and I had entered. There and then the whole of Scripture took on another look to me. --Martin Luther (1483-1546)

The wisdom of the Greeks, when compared to that of the Jews, is absolutely bestial; for apart from God there can be no wisdom, not any understanding and insight. --Martin Luther

It seems to me that the most delightful walk of life is to be found in a household of moderate means, to live there with an obliging spouse and to be satisfied with little. - Martin Luther DECEMBER 16, 1536, "Table Talk"

I have so much to do (today) that I should spend the first three hours in prayer. ... Martin Luther (1483-1546)

Riches are the pettiest and least worthy gifts which God can give a man. What are they to God's Word, to bodily gifts, such as beauty and health; or to the gifts of the mind, such as understanding, skill, and wisdom! Yet men toil for them day and night, and take no rest. Therefore God commonly gives riches to foolish people to whom he gives nothing else. --Martin Luther (1483-1546)

I never work better than when I am inspired by anger; for when I am angry, I can write, pray, and preach well, for then my whole temperament is quickened,my understanding sharpened, and all mundane vexations and temptations depart. Martin Luther (1483-1546), Table-Talk, 319

I have a better Caretaker than you and all the angels. He it is who lies in a manger ... but at the same time sits at the right hand of God, the almighty Father. Therefore be at rest. -- Martin Luther , letter to his wife Kate: 1546, eleven days before his death.

Pray, and let God worry. -- Martin Luther

Unless I am convicted by scripture and plain reason -- I do not accept the authority of the popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other -- my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen .
Martin Luther, at the Imperial Diet at Worms, 18 April 1521.

The anabaptists pretend that children, not as yet having reason, ought not to receive baptism. I answer: That reason in no way contributes to faith. Nay, in that children are destitute of reason, they are all the more fit and proper recipients of baptism. For reason is the greatest enemy that faith has: it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, but - more frequently than not - struggles against the Divine Word, treating with contempt all that emanates from God. If God can communicate the Holy Ghost to grown persons, he can, a fortiori, communicate it to young children. Faith comes of the Word of God, when this is heard; little children hear that Word when they receive baptism, and therewith they receive also faith.
Martin Luther (1483-1546), Table Talk CCCLIII [1569] .

Some one sent to know whether it was permissible to use warm water in baptism? The Doctor replied: "Tell the blockhead that water, warm or cold, is water. Martin Luther (1483-1546), Table Talk CCCLIV[1569].

There is not a word in the Bible which is extra cruem, which can be understood without reference to the cross.
MARTIN LUTHER

The Bible is the cradle wherein Christ is laid. Martin Luther

Either sin is with you, lying on your shoulders, or it is lying on Christ, the Lamb of God. Now if it is lying on your back, you are lost; but if it is resting on Christ, you are free, and you will be saved. Now choose what you want. --Martin Luther

Anything that one imagines of God apart from Christ is only useless thinking and vain idolatry. --Martin Luther

It is the duty of every Christian to be Christ to his neighbor. MARTIN LUTHER

Ah, we poor people, to be so cold and sluggish in the face of the great joy that has clearly been prepared for us! This great benefaction exceeds by far all the other works of creation; and yet our faith in it is found to be so weak, although it is preached and sung to us by angels, who are heavenly theologians and who were so glad for our sake! Their song is very, very beautiful and describes the entire Christian religion. For giving glory to God in the highest heaven is the supreme worship. This they wish and bring to us in the Christ ..
Martin Luther quoted in E. M. Plass, WHAT LUTHER SAYS, p.154

Let him who wants a true church cling to the Word by which everything is upheld. --Martin Luther

Next to faith this is the highest art -- to be content with the calling in which God has placed you. I have not learned it yet. -- Martin Luther

Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection not in words alone,but in every leaf in springtime. --Martin Luther

Dear Kate, we arrived in Halle today at eight, but did not continue on to Eisleben because a big Anabaptist met us with waves and hunks of ice. She flooded the land and threathened to rebaptize us ... We take refreshment and comfort in good Torgau beer and Rhenish wine, waiting to see whether the Saale (river) will come down ... The devil resents us, and he is in the water - so better safe than sorry.
Martinn Luther to his wife:, in Theology of the Reformers, Timothy George.

I am afraid that the schools will prove the very gates of hell, unless they diligently labour in explaining the Holy Scriptures, and engraving them on the hearts of youth. I would advise no one to send his child where the Holy Scriptures are not supreme. Every institution in which men and women are not unceasingly occupied with the Word of God must be corrupt.--Martin Luther

The whole being of any Christian is Faith and Love... Faith brings the man to God, love brings him to men .
Martin Luther (1483-1546)

If any man doth ascribe aught of salvation, even the very least, to the free-will of man, he knoweth nothing of grace, and he hath not learnt Jesus Christ aright. Martin Luther

It is the most ungodly and dangerous business to abandon the certain and revealed will of God in order to search into the hidden mysteries of God. MARTIN LUTHER

Grace is given to heal the spiritually sick, not to decorate spiritual heroes. Martin Luther

If any man ascribes anything of salvation, even the very least thing, to the free will of man, he knows nothing of grace, and he has not learned Jesus Christ rightly. Martin Luther

Do not suppose that abuses are eliminated by destroying the object which is abused. Men can go wrong with wine and women. Shall we prohibit and abolish women? The sun, moon, and stars have been worshipped. Shall we pluck them out of the sky. Luther

Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness, I am your sin. You have taken upon yourself what is mine and given me what is yours. You have become what you were not so that I might become what I was not. MARTIN LUTHER

In Romans 7, St. Paul says, "The law is spiritual." What does that mean? If the law were physical, then it could be satisfied by works, but since it is spiritual, no one can satisfy it unless everything he does springs from the depths of the heart. But no one can give such a heart except the Spirit of God, who makes the person be like the law, so that he actually conceives a heartfelt longing for the law and henceforward does everything, not through fear or coercion, but from a free heart.-- Martin Luther (1483-1546), "Preface to the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans"

There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage. -- Martin Luther

The state of matrimony is the chief in the world after religion; but people shun it because of its inconveniences, like one who, running out of the rain, falls into the river. Martin Luther, Table Talk

A marriage without children is the world without the sun. Augustine quoted in Martin Luther, Table Talk

Music makes people kinder, gentler, more staid and reasonable. The devil flees before the sound of music almost as much as before the word of God.
Martin Luther

Nothing on earth is so well-suited to make the sad merry, the merry sad, to give courage to the despairing, to make the proud humble, to lessen envy and hate, as music. Martin Luther

Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world. MARTIN LUTHER

It is the most ungodly and dangerous business to abandon the certain and revealed will of God in order to search in to the hidden mysteries of God. -- Martin Luther

Original sin is in us, like the beard. We are shaved today and look clean, and have a smooth chin; tomorrow our beard has grown again, nor does it cease growing while we remain on earth. --MARTIN LUTHER

Rest in the Lord; wait patiently for Him. In Hebrew, "Be silent in God, and let Him mould thee." Keep still, and He will mould thee to the right shape.
Martin Luther (1483-1546)

Whenever I happen to be prevented by the press of duties from observing my hour of prayer, the entire day is bad for me. MARTIN LUTHER

All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired, although not in the hour or in the measure, or the very thing which they ask; yet they will obtain something greater and more glorious than they had dared to ask. Martin Luther (1483-1546)

Grant that I may not pray alone with the mouth; help me that I may pray from the depths of my heart. Martin Luther

God has placed two ways before us in His Word: salvation by faith, damnation by unbelief (Mark 16:16). He does not mention purgatory at all. Nor is purgatory to be admitted, for it obscures the benefits and grace of Christ.
Martin Luther Table Talk

Dr. Henning asked: "Is reason to hold no authority at all with Christians, since it is to be set aside in matters of faith?" The Doctor replied: Before faith and the knowledge of God, reason is mere darkness; but in the hands of those who believe,'tis an excellent instrument. All facilities and gifts are pernicious, exercised by the impious; but most salutary when possessed by godly persons." Martin Luther (1483-1546), Table Talk, LXXVI. [1569]

Reason is the greatest enemy that faith has; it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, but--more frequently than not--struggles against the divine Word, treating with contempt all that emanates from God. Martin Luther (1483-1546), Table Talk [1569]

When God works in us, the will, being changed and sweetly breathed upon by the Spirit of God, desire and acts, not from compulsion, but responsively.
MARTIN LUTHER

When God wants to speak and deal with us, he does not avail himself of an angel but of parents, or the pastor, or of our neighbour. Martin Luther

God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees, and flowers, and clouds, and stars. Martin Luther

It is just like someone who is sick, and who believes the doctor who promises his full recovery. In the meantime, he obeys the doctor's orders in the hope of the promised recovery, and abstains from those things which he was told to lay off, so that he may in no way hinder the promised return to health...Now is this sick man well? He is sick in reality - but he is well on account of a sure promise of the doctor, whom he trusts, and who reckons him as already being cured...So he is at one and the same time time both a sinner and righteous. He is a sinner in reality, but righteous by the sure imputation and promise of God that he will continue to deliver him from sin until he has completely cured him. So he is entirely healthy in hope, but a sinner in reality. MARTIN LUTHER, commenting on Romans

This life therefore is not righteousness but growth in righteousness; not health but healing, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not what we shall be but we are growing toward it; the process is not yet finished but it is going on; this is not the end but it is the road. All does not yet gleam in glory but all is being purified. -- MARTIN LUTHER

I am much afraid that schools will prove to be the great gates of Hell unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures, engraving them in the hearts of youth. I advise no one to place his child where the Scriptures do not reign paramount. Every institution in which men are not increasingly occupied with the Word of God must become corrupt. Martin Luther

I more fear what is within me than what comes from without. --MARTIN LUTHER

The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him,for he cannot bear scorn. Martin Luther

In the worst temptations nothing can help us but faith that God's Son has put on flesh, is bone, sits at the right hand of the Father, and prays for us. There is no mightier comfort.--Martin Luther

In this sort of temptation and struggle, contempt is the best and easiest method of winning over the devil. Laugh your adversary to scorn and ask who it is with whom you are talking. But by all means flee solitude, for the devil watches and lies in wait for you most of all when you are alone. This devil is conquered by mocking and despising him, not by resisting and arguing with him. Therefore, Jerome, joke and play games with your wife and others. In this way you will drive out your diabolical thoughts and take courage
Be of good courage, therefore, and cast these dreadful thoughts out of your mind. Whenever the devil pesters you with these thoughts, at once seek out the company of men, drink more, joke and jest, or engage in some other form of merriment. Sometimes it is necessary to drink a little more, play, jest, or even commit some infraction in defiance and contempt of the devil in order not to give him an opportunity to make us scrupulous about trifles. We shall be overcome if we worry too much about falling into some sin.
Accordingly if the devil should say, "Do not drink," you should reply to him, "On this very account, because you forbid it, I shall drink, and what is more, I shall drink a generous amount." Thus one must always do the opposite of that which Satan prohibits. What do you think is my reason for drinking wine undiluted, talking freely, and eating more often, if it is not to torment and vex the devil who made up his mind to torment and vex me. --Luther

If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battlefield besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point. --Martin Luther (1483-1546)

Peace if possible, truth at all costs. Martin Luther

The will is a beast of burden.
If God mounts it, it wishes and goes as God wills;
if Satan mounts it, it wishes and goes as Satan wills;
Nor can it choose its rider...
The riders contend for its possession.
Martin Luther (1483-1546)

The wisdom of the Greeks, when compared to that of the Jews, is absolutely bestial; for apart from God there can be no wisdom, not any understanding and insight. Martin Luther

No good ever came out of female domination. God created Adam master and lord of all living creatures, but Eve spoiled all. --Martin Luther, "Table Talk"(1532)

Who loves not woman, wine and song
Remains a fool his whole life long.
Martin Luther

If you are not allowed to laugh in heaven, I don't want to go there. --Martin Luther (1483-1546)

It is pleasing to God whenever thou rejoicest or laughest from the bottom of thy heart. --Martin Luther (1483-1546)

"It's true that a good diet is the best medicine when it suits the individual, but to live medically is to live wretchedly." Then he related some examples of deceased persons who starved themselves to death on the advice of their physicians. "I eat what I like and will die when God wills it."
Luther's Tabletalk from No.3801

He had a rose in his hand and marveled at it. "A glorious work of art by God," he said. "If a man had the capacity to make just one rose he would be given an empire! But the countless gifts of God are esteemed as nothing because they're always present. We see that God gives children to all men, the fruit of their bodies resembling the parents. A peasant is said to have three and four sons who look so much like him that they're easily mistaken for one another. All of these gifts are despised because they're always present. Luther's Tabletalk from No.4593

'When Luther's puppy [n. 116, Luther's dog Tölpel is mentioned again and again in the Table Talk.] happened to be at the table, looked for a morsel from his master, and watched with open mouth and motionless eyes, he [Martin Luther] said, "Oh, if I could only pray the way this dog watches the meat! All his thoughts are concentrated on the piece of meat. Otherwise he has no thought, wish, or hope.
Luther's Works, Volume 54, Table Talk (Philadelphia: 1967), pp. 37, 38. May 18, 1532

For some years now I have read through the Bible twice every year. If you picture the Bible to be a mighty tree and every word a little branch, I have shaken every one of these branches because I wanted to know what it was and what it meant. --Luther's Tabletalk No.1877

No good work is undertaken or done with wise reflection. It must all happen in a half-sleep. This is how I was forced to take up the office of teaching. If I had known what I know now, ten horses wouldn't have driven me to it. Moses and Jeremiah also complained that they were deceived. Nor would any man take a wife if he first gave real thought [to what might happen in marriage and the household]. Here Philip said that he had diligently observed that in history great deeds had never been done by old men. "This was so," said Luther, "when Alexander and Augustus were young; afterward men become too wise. They didn't do great things by deliberate choice but by a sort of impulse. If you young fellows were wise, the devil couldn't do anything to you, but since you aren't wise, you need us who are old. Our Lord God doesn't do great things except by violence, as they say." -- Luther's Tabletalk No. 406

Faith and the Spirit go together, but the Spirit is not always revealed.So Cornelius had the Holy Spirit before Peter came to him, although hedidn't know it. Those in the book of Acts who said, "We don't know the Holy Spirit," also had the Spirit, just as the patriarchs in the Old Testament had Christ, although they didn't know him. They clung to the word, and through it they received the Holy Spirit. Later in the book ofActs he was manifested to them outwardly. It's to be understood thus:The Word comes first, and with the Word the Spirit breathes upon my heart so that I believe. Then I feel that I have become a different person and I recognize that the Holy Spirit is there. Accordingly these are two things: to have the Holy Spirit and to know that you have him. When somebody speaks in your ear, you hardly hear his words before you feel his breath, so strong is the breath. Even so, when the Word is proclaimed, the Holy Spirit accompanies it and breathes upon your heart. -- Luther's Tabletalk No. 402

One ought to love one's neighbour with a love as chaste as that of a bridegroom for his bride. In this case all faults are concealed and covered over and only the virtues are seen. -- Luther's Tabletalk No. 217

Serve the Lord with fear, and exult with trembling" (Ps.2:11). Let somebody bring this into harmony for me: exult and fear! My son Hans can do it in relation to me, but I can't do it in relation to God. When I'm writing or doing something else, my Hans sings a little tune for me. If he becomes too noisy and I rebuke him a little for it, he continues to sing but does it more privately and with a certain awe and uneasiness. This is what God wishes: that we be always cheerful, but with reverence.-- Luther's Tabletalk (from No. 148)

Ever since the fall of Adam the world knows neither God nor his creation. It lives altogether outside of the glory of God. Oh, what thoughts man might have had about the fact that God is in all creatures, and so might have reflected on the power and the wisdom of God in even the smallest flowers! Of a truth, who can imagine how God creates, out of the parched soil, such a variety of flowers, such pretty colors, such sweet vernal grass, beyond anything that a painter or apothecary could make! Yet God can bring out of the ground such colors as green, yellow, red, blue, brown. Adam and those around him would have been elevated by all this to the praise of God, and they would have made use of all created things with thanksgiving. Now we enjoy all this to overflowing, yet without understanding, like cattle or other beasts trampling the most beautiful blossoms and lilies underfoot. -- Luther's Tabletalk from No.4201

That the Creator himself comes to us and becomes our ransom - this is the reason for our rejoicing.-- Martin Luther 25 March 1533 "Table Talks"

Let us act with humility, cast ourselves at one another's feet, join hands with each other, and help one another. For here we battle not against pope or emperor, but against the devil, and do you imagine that he is asleep?--Martin Luther

Junker Henry means to be God and do as he pleases.-Martin Luther on Henry VIII, as the King marries Catherine Parr on 12 July 1543.

All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired, although not in the hour or in the measure, or the very thing which they ask; yet they will obtain something greater and more glorious than they had dared to ask.... Martin Luther (1483-1546)

Pray, and let God worry. -Martin Luther [b. 11/10/1483], in the last letter written to his wife Katy, before his death on 2/18/1546]

If God promises something, then faith must fight a long and bitter fight, for reason or the flesh judges that God's promises are impossible. Therefore faith must battle against reason and its doubts............. Faith is something that is busy, powerful and creative, though properly speaking, it is essentially an enduring than a doing. It changes the mind and heart. While reason holds to what is present, faith apprehends the things that are not seen. Contrary to reason, faith regards the invisible things as already materialized. This explains why faith, unlike hearing is not found in many, for only few believe, while the great majority cling to the things that are present and can be felt and handled rather than to the Word. ~ Martin Luther, The Promises

If anywhere the day is made holy for the mere day's sake -- if anyone set up its observance on a Jewish foundation, then I order you to work on it, to ride on it, to dance on it, to feast on it, to do anything that shall remove this encroachment on Christian liberty.- Luther

Beautiful music is the art of the prophets that can calm the agitations of the soul; it is one of the most magnificent and delightful presents God has given us. --Martin Luther (1483-1546)

If Luther hadn't used the new printing technology, would there have been a Reformation?

Without printing, would there have been a Protestant Reformation? Would Luther have even survived?

Only a century earlier, both John Wycliffe and John Hus spawned movements of intense spiritual fervor. Wycliffe and Hus wrote prolificly also.

But, the absence of adequate printing technology limited the distribution of their works. As a result, their ideas did not spread as rapidly or as far as they might have. Wycliffe was condemned, Hus was burned at the stake, and history casts them as only harbingers of the Reformation.

Would Martin Luther have joined their ranks without access to a "modern" press? Would his revolutionary ideas have been contained? John Foxe, sixteenth-century author of the famous "Book of Martyrs," would probably have said yes. "Although through might [the pope] stopped the mouth of John Huss," he wrote, "God hath appointed the Press to preach, whose voice the Pope is never able to stop with all the puissance of his triple crown."

Luther himself understood that books and pamphlets spoke long after he had left the pulpit. He referred to printing as "God's highest and extremest act of grace, whereby the business of the Gospel is driven forward."

YOUNG THEOLOGY
It was only in the 1450s that Johann Gutenberg introduced technical printing advancements that made mass reproduction practical. When Luther posted his "95 Theses" some sixty years later, two dozen printing centers dotted Europe. Wholesale booksellers had developed distribution centers, and legions of traveling book hawkers crisscrossed the continent.

Ironically, Luther's introduction to the press's effectiveness may have been haphazard. Within two weeks of the posting of his "95 Theses," they were printed, without his permission, and distributed throughout Germany. Within a month, they had flooded Europe. six months later Luther explained to Pope Leo X, "It is a mystery to me how my theses … were spread to so many places. They were meant exclusively for our academic circle here … " In a letter of March 1518 he admitted he "had no wish or plan to publicize these Theses," and that he had left it up to his friends to decide whether they would be "suppressed or spread outside."

FLOODING GERMANY
Even if the printing of Luther's Reformation "manifesto" was unintentional, Luther quickly grasped print's potential for soliciting grass-roots support. He began writing prolificly—more than four hundred works, including commentaries, sermons, and pamphlets that attacked Catholic doctrine and promoted Reformation distinctives. Between March 1517 and the summer of 1520, thirty of his pamphlets ran through a total of 370 editions. If each edition was one thousand copies, then almost four hundred thousand of his pamphlets alone flooded Germany during the first crucial years. From 1517 through 1523, the first six years after Luther posted the "95 Theses," publications in Germany increased by seven times. Hal of these writings were by Luther.

Luther's opponents knew the impact of his printed works. A nervous Charles V banned Luther's works in May 1521. In a letter that September, Catholic theologian Johann Cochlaeus complained, "Nearly all printers are secret Lutherans; they do not print anything for us without pay and nothing reliable unless we stand beside them and look over their shoulders."

JOURNALISTIC SAVVY
Luther has sometimes been called the first great journalist. Why did his writings succeed?

1. He spoke in the common language.

Luther, a highly-trained academic, was fluent in Latin, the academic's language. Most writings of the era were printed in Latin and thus reserved for society's scholarly elite. Indeed, in 1500 probably only 5-10 percent of Europeans could read at all.

But Luther's passion to promote the priesthood of even the most common believer could be satisfied only by appealing through the common language. He insisted on writing many of his works in German, particularly his monumental translation of the Bible. Soon shoemakers, tailors, and peasants could read the Scriptures and Luther's writings in their own tongue.

2. He used a common format.

A second element in Luther's success was his use of the pamphlet format. He expanded the existing, single-page "broadsides" to multiple pages in quarto and octavo sizes. His pamphlets also feature some of the finest woodcuts and engravings of the times, so that even the semi-literate could catch the gist of his message. And in keeping with the need to reach all strata of society, his pamphlets were inexpensive. Like the broadsides popularized decades earlier, Luther's pamphlets were snatched up (or shared) by those of even the most humble means.

3. He was known by common people.

Luther's crowning achievement was a German New Testament. Although it was not the first German translation of the Scriptures, Luther's fame apparently secured its success before the ink dried. Three thousand copies were printed in the fall of 1522 with a second edition following in December.

In the words of adversary Johann Cochlaeus, Luther's work was "so propagated and widely spread by the book printers that even tailors and shoemakers, indeed women and other simple idiots, who had accepted this new Lutheran gospel … read it eagerly, as if it were a fountain of all truth. Some carried it in their bosoms and learned it by heart."

Ultimately, Luther's message of justification by faith filled a longing in the German people that the established church's teachings did not satisfy. His common pamphlets in the common language ignited hope among common people. Martin Luther spoke to Europe from two pulpits—one in the church, and one in the print shop.

PROFIT HUNGRY PRINTERS
Luther suffered from them, too.
By Perry Brown

Martin Luther may not have secured the printing for most of his works. But he certainly reviewed, and sometimes bemoaned, what had been printed. His letter to friend Georg Spalatin in August 1521 reveals Luther's exasperation that his crafted "Sermon on Confession" had been hastily hacked at the press by a profit-hungry publisher:

"I cannot say how sorry and disgusted I am with the printing. I wish I had sent nothing in German, because they print it so poorly, carelessly, and confusedly, to say nothing of bad types and paper. John the printer is always the same old Johnny. Please do not let him print any of my German homilies, but return them for me to send elsewhere …

"I shall forward no more until I learn that these sordid mercenaries care less for their profits than for the public. Such printers seem to think: 'It is enough for me to get the money; let the readers look out for the matter.'"

But in spite of sporadic poor printing, and a kingdom-wide ban on the books of this "notorious and stiff-necked heretic," Luther's works gained enormous popularity, far more than anything printed up to that time.