Scripture: Romans 1:16-17
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the
salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 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."
I am not ashamed of the gospel!
The church in
Martin Luther’s day had some similarities to the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints (Mormons) today. But Luther himself was a sold out, blood
bought, born again dedicated follower of Jesus Christ! He saw that the church
was far from God’s design and he had hopes that it could be turned around or
REFORMED and become what God wanted it to be according to the scriptures – not
according to church tradition or to the government officials who were the head
of the church and had corrupted it over the previous centuries.
The baptism
practiced was more about being baptized into the church than into the Father,
Son and Holy Spirit. The baptism of Mormons is more about being baptized into
what they call ‘the one true church’ than it is about being baptized into the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. My last year of Masters Level seminary was at
Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio. In the intro theology class the
professor had been talking about the efficacy of infant baptism. The next day,
prior to class, I wrote on the board “If baptism is an ordinance of Christ and
effectual on a baby, why is communion not the same?” Relay
conversation that followed…”If Luther had lived another 20 years, he would have
been a baptist.”
WHO WAS THIS DISTUBER OF THE FAITH?
Martin Luther (November 10, 1483 –
February 18, 1546) was a German monk who became the father of the Protestant
Reformation. Martin Luther criticised aspects of the Catholic Church and the
concept of Papal infallibility. In particular, he believed that it was the
Bible alone – and not priests or the Church – which had legitimacy for
interpreting the word of Christ. Martin Luther also translated the bible into
German, making it more accessible to the general public.
In 1501, Martin Luther became a
student at the University of Erfurt. At the request of his father he took law,
but preferred the study of Aristotle and the subjects of
philosophy and theology. Despite admiring aspects of Aristotle and the
classics, he was unsatisfied with just reason and intellectual studies and
decided to become a monk so he could devote his life to God.
His time as a monk was challenging. Luther engaged in severe
austerities – fasting, long hours of prayer and frequent confession, but he
felt an inner spiritual dryness. He became very critical of his own failings
and felt his sinful nature becoming magnified rather than transformed. Sharing
his difficulties, his spiritual director gave him more work so he wouldn’t
become so introspective.
As well as being aware of his own
failing, he became increasingly concerned about malpractice within the church,
which he felt was not in keeping with Biblical scripture. In 1510, he visited
Rome on behalf of Augustinian monasteries and was shocked at the level of
corruption he found.
In 1517, Martin Luther first
protested to the Catholic church about the sale of indulgences. (Buying an
indulgence gave the person full or partial remission of temporal punishment due
for sins which have already been forgiven). Martin Luther argued that it was
faith alone that could provide the remission of sin and not monetary payments
to the church.
Luther said: “We believe that the
very beginning and end of salvation, and the sum of Christianity, consists of
faith in Christ, who by His blood alone, and not by any works of ours, has put
away sin, and destroyed the power of death.”
95 Theses
On 31 October 1517, Luther posted
ninety-five theses, criticising practices of the church on the door of the
Castle Church in Wittenberg. He also posted a handwritten copy to the
Archbishop of Magdeburg, Albert of Mainz. The 95 theses of Martin Luther
were critical of many practices relating to baptism and the sale of indulgences
for the remittance of sin. He also indirectly challenged the Pope’s legitimacy,
#86 included: “Why does the pope, whose wealth
today is greater than the wealth of the richest Crassus, build the basilica of
Saint Peter with the money of poor believers rather than with his own money?”
Within a few weeks, Martin Luther’s
theses had spread throughout Germany becoming widely known. The church was also
slow to respond to the criticisms of Martin Luther
During 1519-20, Luther continued his crusading attack on the
Church through pamphlets: ‘On Christian Liberty’, ‘On the Freedom of a
Christian Man’, ‘To the Christian Nobility’ and ‘On the Babylonian Captivity of
the Church’.
In one he wrote, “Faith is born and preserved in us by preaching why Christ
came, what he brought and gave to us, and the benefits we obtain when we
receive him. This happens when Christian liberty—which he gives to us—is
rightly taught and we are told in what way as Christians we are all kings and
priests and therefore lords of all.”
Martin Luther, The Freedom of a Christian (1520)
Luther at Erfurt
The significance of these written
challenges caused the church to eventually respond. On June 15, 1520, Pope Leo
X issued a formal rebuttal to Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses, a papal encyclical
titled Exsurge Domine (“Arise, O Lord”)
However, by that time, Luther’s
writings had already been widely distributed and found a receptive audience.
With the help of the newly invented printing press, the Reformation movement
gained in strength and popularity. The Catholic Church would never maintain the
same unchallenged authority in Europe again. Across Europe, Luther’s challenge
to the authority of the church led to new religious thinking and a desire to
break away from the old church, creating a Christianity which returned to the
purity of the Bible and diminishing the role of the Pope and priests.
Excommunication of Martin Luther
In 1520, Martin Luther was
excommunicated for refusing to recant 41 sentences from his writings. In April
1521, the enforcement of banning Luther’s writings fell to the secular
authorities. Luther acknowledged he was the author of the writings but again
failed to recant them. Saying he would stand by them. He said: “Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures
or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone,
since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves),
I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the
Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, since it is neither safe
nor right to go against conscience. May God help me. Amen.”
Luther was condemned as an outlaw
and thereafter he feared for his life. However, he managed to remain hidden for
several months, before returning to Wittenberg to preach more of his
anti-clerical speeches and doctrines. In this period he also translated the
Bible from Greek to German. Luther also married an ex-nun thereby giving the
seal of approval for clergy marriages in the Protestant tradition. With his
wife, Katharina von Bora they had five children.
During 1524 – 1526, there was a
widespread peasants revolt in Germany and Central Europe. The revolt, which had
a mixture of economic, social and religious causes was often supported by
Protestant clergy who emphasised the equality of all people. However, Martin
Luther vigorously opposed the Revolt, writing a pamphlet Against the
Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants, which made his opposition clear.
From 1531–1546, Martin Luther’s
health deteriorated as he sought to struggle with growing conflict in the
Reformation Movement and the constant fear of arrest by the authorities. As his
health deteriorated, Martin Luther’s writings became more bitter and angry in the
condemnation of other people. In his final years, he spent more time writing
anti-Semitic tracts. At first, he wished to see the Jewish people converted to
Christianity. But, when they seemed uninterested in conversion, he called for
the force-able removal of Jews from Germany. This strong anti-Semitic stance
has colored his reputation as a reformer.
However, by setting the seeds of
the Protestant reformation, Martin Luther had a huge influence on the development
of Western Society and certainly on the Christian Church.
LUTHER’S THEOLOGY
Sola Scripture, Faith, Grace, Christ
alone
Sola Scriptura: Scripture Alone
Luther articulated what would come
to be the formal principle of the Reformation: all church teaching must be
normed by the Bible. Luther stated: “What is
asserted without the Scriptures or proven revelation may be held as an opinion,
but need not be believed.” Late medieval theologians placed Christian
tradition alongside the Bible as a source of church doctrine. Luther emphasized
instead the primacy of Scripture.
Arguably, Luther’s greatest
contribution to the Reformation was his translation of the Bible into German.
He wanted common people—the farm boy and milkmaid—to “feel” the words of
Scripture “in the heart.”
Luther held a high view of the
inspiration of the Bible, calling it once “the Holy Spirit book.” But what
truly distinguished his exegesis was his ability to make the text come alive.
For him, Bible stories were not distant historical acts but living current
events, as we see in his treatment of Gideon: “How
difficult it was for [Gideon] to fight the enemy at those odds. If I had been
there, I would have messed in my breeches for fright!” Thus, for Luther,
the Bible is no mere depository of doctrine. In it, a living God confronts his
people. (The B.I.B.L.E.)
Sola Fide: Faith Alone
Luther’s “discovery of the gospel,”
as it has been called, came during his scholarly labors as a Doctor in
Biblia. The pivotal text was Romans 1:17. “At last,
as I meditated day and night on the relation of the words ‘the righteousness of
God is revealed in it, as it is written, the righteous person shall live by
faith,’ I began to understand that ‘righteousness of God’ as that by which the
righteous person lives by the gift of God; and this sentence, ‘the
righteousness of God is revealed,’ to refer to a passive righteousness, by
which the merciful God justifies us by faith, as it is written, ‘the righteous
person lives by faith.’ This immediately made me feel as though I had been born
again, and as though I had entered through open gates into paradise itself.
From that moment, I saw the whole face of Scripture in a new light. ... And
now, where I had once hated the phrase, ‘the righteousness of God,’ I began to love
and extol it as the sweetest of phrases, so that this passage in Paul became
the very gate of paradise to me.”
Luther considered justification by
faith “the summary of all Christian doctrine” and “the article by which the
church stands or falls.”
To use Luther’s words, it is a
“sweet exchange” between Christ and the sinner: “Therefore,
my dear brother, learn Christ and him crucified; learn to pray to him
despairing of yourself, saying ‘Thou, Lord Jesus, art my righteousness and I am
thy sin. Thou hast taken on thyself what thou wast not, and hast given to me
what I am not.’”
Medieval theologians considered
faith one of the three theological virtues, along with hope and love. They
emphasized faith’s cognitive content and saw it as a virtue formed by love. But
to Luther, such faith is not sufficient for salvation. (Even demons have it,
Paul wrote.) Truly justifying faith is something more. It means taking hold of
Christ, hearing and claiming God’s promise, and apprehending our acceptance by
God in Jesus Christ.
Sola Gratia: Grace Alone
Luther’s theology changed humanity’s place in the process of
salvation.
For Luther, salvation was anchored in the eternal
inscrutable purpose of God. Luther anticipated the human-centeredness of later
Protestant piety and guarded against it by insisting that God’s grace comes
from outside ourselves. Faith is not a human possibility, nor a dimension of
the religious personality; it is a radical and free gift of God. Luther said: “This is the reason why our theology is certain, it
snatches us away from ourselves and places us outside ourselves, so that we do
not depend on our own strength, conscience, experience, person, or works but
depend on that which is outside ourselves, that is, on the promise and truth of
God, which cannot deceive.”
Solo Christo: Christ Alone
Christ is the center of Luther’s
doctrine of justification by faith. Through Christ’s substitutionary death on
the cross God has acted to redeem fallen humanity. In his Large
Catechism, Luther writes, “We could never come
to recognize the Father’s favor and grace were it not for the Lord Christ, who
is a mirror of the Father’s heart.”
Likewise, the doctrine of grace can
be approached only through the cross, through the “wounds of Jesus”. As Luther
advised Barbara Lisskirchen, a woman who worried she was not among God’s elect,
“The highest of all God’s commands is this, that we
hold up before our eyes the image of his dear son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Every
day he should be the excellent mirror wherein we behold how much God loves us
and how well, in his infinite goodness, he has cared for us in that he gave his
dear Son for us. ... Contemplate Christ given for us. Then, God willing, you
will feel better.”
During Announcement time:
NEXT WEEK
The centerpiece of Luther’s
ministry was his bold biblical preaching. Fred W. Meuser writes: “Martin Luther is famous as reformer, theologian,
professor, translator, prodigious author, and polemicist. He is well known as
hymn-writer, musician, friend of students, mentor of pastors, and pastor to
countless clergy and laity. Yet he saw himself first of all as a preacher.”
Luther gave himself tirelessly to this priority. E. Theodore Bachmann adds, “The church … is for Luther ‘not a pen-house, but a
mouth-house,’ in which the living Word is proclaimed.” Indeed, Luther
wrote voluminously, yet he never put his written works on the same level with
his proclamation of God’s Word. He maintained, “Christ
Himself wrote nothing, nor did He give command to write, but to preach orally.”
By this stance, Luther strongly underscored the primacy of the pulpit.
I agree with Luther
and next week will preach his words, inspired by the same Holy Spirit that has
inspired me to preach these past, nearly 40 years.
