Individuals who have known me for some time are aware of my extreme interest in Martin Luther, the Protestant reformer. Some may wonder about my fascination with this individual, yet, if there is someone in church history who stirs up such fascination, it is Luther.
My love of the good doctor began with a course in Church History
well over forty-years ago. When my professor, Dr. John Pretlove, reached the
Protestant Reformation, I was hooked. No other period of history has garnered as
much of my interest and attention. The following year I took a class
specifically on that era. Part of the requirements for the course involved
reading the works of various reformers. When I read Luther’s amazing work, “The
Bondage of the Will”, I became a devoted student of the man.
Early in my Christian walk, I was counseled to find some
historic Christian heroes, to study them, to emulate their good qualities, and
to avoid their bad ones. Martin Luther was one of those heroes I naturally
included on my list. With Reformation Day merely a week away and Luther’s
birthday shortly thereafter, I decided to pen a brief post about the man for
today’s blog.
Luther was born on November 10, 1483 in the German town of
Eisleben. His mother was Margaretha and his father was Hans, a local
businessman. Hans, as was the custom at the time, took the newborn to the
Church of St. Peter’s that very morning and had him baptized. Since the day was
known as the Feast of St. Martin, the parents gave him that name.
His father wanted his son to be a lawyer so, when he reached the
age, Martin attended the university pursuing a law degree. However, while
caught in a terrible thunderstorm, he vowed he would become a monk if he was delivered
from the storm. Soon, thereafter, Luther left the study of law for the
monastery.
The Roman
Catholic’s understanding of justification before God demanded not merely faith
but also works. Luther was plagued by constant guilt, convinced he had failed
to confess every sin or, when he did confess, he did so in the wrong spirit.
For years he punished his body, trying to find peace with God, but nothing
brought him relief. His superior, out of fear for Luther’s sanity, sent him to
Rome to see the great papal sites, hoping this would bring some peace to
Martin’s soul.
Instead, Luther saw corruption. When he returned, his superior
assigned him to the newly-founded university in Wittenberg as a professor of
theology. He believed the work would keep the young theologian so busy he would
be unable to spend time worrying about his sin.
Luther studied and lectured on books of the Bible. In his mind,
he was already questioning some of the practices of the Catholic church. Then,
Johann Tetzel appeared in Germany.
Tetzel was a Catholic friar, appointed by the church to collect
money by the selling of indulgences. The building of St. Peter’s in Rome had
resulted in serious financial difficulty for the Catholic church and this was
an attempt to pay off that debt. Tetzel would proclaim that people could obtain
a reduced sentence in purgatory by merely receiving an indulgence (in this
case, a piece of paper from the Pope). Of course, they would have to pay to
receive this forgiveness.
Luther was outraged. The government leader of his territory
forbade Tetzel from entering his region. However, those to whom Luther preached
went to Tetzel! The professor sat down and penned 95 articles against the
practice of indulgences known as the “95 Theses”. On October 31, 1517, he
nailed that list to the door of the local church, a common bulletin board for
the community.
An
unexpected firestorm ensued. The theses were translated from Latin into German,
copied on a recent invention known as the printing press, and sent everywhere.
Soon, Luther was called to face Roman officials and the reformation was fully
underway. Within three years, he was excommunicated from the Roman Church. Less
than a year later, he was deemed an outlaw of the Holy Roman Empire. He was
wanted by the church and the state.
Once Martin Luther realized the truth taught by the Scripture
(justification is received by faith and not works), he was a changed man. He
saw himself as “born again”. From that point forward, he was a bold (and brash)
spokesman for the Word of God.
Space does not permit me to share other highlights from his life,
but, it is well worth studying. Permit me to list what I believe are three of
his good character qualities.
1. The Authority of God’s Word. To Luther,
the Word of God, the teaching of the Bible, had authority over all aspects of
one’s life. When the church (or the state) taught something contrary to the
Scriptures, Luther opted for the Word. When others preached or lived contrary
to the Bible, Luther opted for the Word. As he said at the Diet of Worms in
1521, “My conscience is captive to the Word of God.” Brothers and sisters,
there is a godly characteristic to emulate!
2. His boldness. Here was a
man who stood before church leaders, political leaders, scholars, and even the
Emperor. He was condemned by his church and hunted as an outlaw by the state.
Yet, he persevered in the Lord’s work. He faced execution more than once but
would not allow what fear he certainly experienced to deter him from his
ministry. Instead, he taught, preached, and wrote until his death in 1546. He
was bold in the faith and such Christian boldness is needed even in our day.
3. His love of Christ. Luther was
a difficult man at times. He would label those who disagreed with him on
certain doctrinal issues as heretics rather than brothers in Christ who
interpreted the Scripture differently. He was often brash with his remarks,
even rude or profane. But, you can’t read Luther without seeing the true and
committed love he had for Jesus Christ. I do not agree with all his teaching,
in fact, I believe the good doctor was wrong on several points. But, he did
love Christ and gave his life in service for our Lord. Surely that is a
character quality worthy of our imitation.
May you and I be as devoted to our Lord and His Word as the
German reformer was. May we, like him, be bold in our testimony for Christ.
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