MARTIN LUTHER:
FLAME OF THE REFORMATION

The Great Protestant Reformation, with which the Lord Almighty freed His trueChurch from the bondage of Roman captivity, is usually dated to October 31,1517. On that day, a German Augustinian monk, named Martin Luther, nailed adocument on the door of the castle church of Wittenberg. Thisdocument was actually a rather innocent academic proposal to the theologicalstudents at Wittenbergto debate some issues of the Roman Catholic Church. Luther had nailed it on thedoor of the church because it was the usual notice board for the town. Itcontained 95 theses or propositions for the scheduled debate. But because thedocument so fearlessly and cogently questioned the doctrine and authority ofthe Papacy, it began to attract great public attention, and began to be copied,translated to German, printed and distributed very widely—the printing presshaving recently been invented. Martin Luther was in this way plunged into fame,and became, as it were, the prince of the Reformation which had been in thethroes of birth-pains since Wycliff and Huss.

Luther the Student

Luther was born on November 10, 1483, in Saxony, Germany. Thoughhis parents were very poor, they were very strict and religious. They weredevoted Catholics, and had even named their son “Martin” because the day afterhis birthday was the feast day of St. Martin as observed by the Roman CatholicChurch.

Luther entered the University of Erfurt at age 18; andsoon distinguished himself as a good scholar. Within a couple of years,however, divine providence would lead him in another direction. First, at age20, Luther found a complete copy of the Latin Bible in the University Library.Reading it, he was especially impressed with the account of Hannah dedicating hisson Samuel to the service of the Lord and how the Lord eventually calledSamuel. It is possible that he had begun thinking of becoming a monk sincethen. Secondly, shortly after his graduation, in 1505, when he was about tomake preparations to enter the Law profession to fulfil his father’s wishes,Luther found himself caught in a terrible thunder-storm. Fearing for his life,he fell prostrate to the ground, crying, “Help, beloved St. Anna, I will becomea monk!” His father almost went mad when he heard the news; but Luther kept hisvow. He gave away all that he had and entered an Augustinian monastery known asthe Black Cloister in Erfurt.

Luther the Monk

Luther had entered the monastery in the hope of finding peace for his soul.Believing that the ascetic life in the cloister would bring him peace, hebecame one of the most sincere, conscientious and honest monks. He begged forfood in the streets, performed menial tasks, prayed seven hours a day, fastedfor days regularly, confessed his sins to a priest at least once a week, andliterally tortured his body by whipping to obtain peace for his soul. He was soscrupulous in the performance of his duties and asceticism that later he wouldsay, “if ever a monk could have gotten to heaven by monkery, I would havegotten there.” But peace did not come to him. Luther grew increasinglydiscouraged. He had hoped to escape sin and temptation by being shut off fromthe world, but he found that while he was externally pious, he could not escapethe burden of sin within. He had to contend with temptations of anger, envy,hatred and pride. He saw in the Scriptures that God is a consuming fire, a Godof wrath and divine justice; and he could not get over the words: “I, the LORDthy God, am a jealous God” (Ex 20:5). Luther was being crushed by his rightconception of the holiness of God, coupled with a failure to see that believersare forgiven because of the righteousness of Christ imputed on them. Just asthe believer’s sin is imputed on Christ and paid for on the cross—though Christhad no sin, so Christ’s righteousness is imputed on the believer—so that he isdeemed righteous in God’s eyes though he remains a sinner. Failing tounderstand this, Luther thought that God expects sinners to earn their ownrighteousness.

By the grace of God, a man by the name of Johnann von Staupitz, the head of theAugustinian Order in Germany, visited the Black Cloister from time to time. AsLuther and Staupitz became friends, Staupitz became the Lord’s instrument tolead Luther to look unto the finished work of Christ rather than trusting inhis own righteousness. Eventually, as Luther continued to search the Scripture,the Holy Spirit so illumined his heart that the truth of Paul’s word, “The justshall live by faith” (Rom 1:17; cf. Hab 2:4; Gal 3:11) shone brilliantly. Areformation had begun in Luther’s heart!

Luther the Professor

Staupitz also persuaded Luther to enter the priesthood, and then throughFrederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony, obtained a teaching post for Luther atthe University of Wittenberg.

In the year 1510, Luther was commissioned to go to Rome as a representative ofthe Augustinian Order. Luther was delighted, for he had thought that Rome wasthe ‘holy and eternal city of God’ where the Pope, the vicar of Christ, wasseated. But he was to be sorely disappointed, for instead of holiness, he sawand heard of gross wickedness, superstition and ignorance among the clergy inRome. The Pope, Julius II, was hardly anything more than a scheming politiciangreedy of gain, and many of his priests were not even believers.

It was, perhaps, at this time that Luther, wishing to liberate his grandfatherfrom purgatory, had climbed the 28 steps of the famed Scala Santa (saidto have been miraculously transported from the Judgement Hall of Pilate inJerusalem), on his bare knees, and reciting the pater noster ateach step. But at every step he took, the words of Habakkuk, “The just shalllive by faith,” resounded in his ears in protest. Luther reached the top of thestairs, but by that time, he had begun to ask: “Who knows whether this istrue?”

Returning to Wittenberg, Luther received his Doctor of Divinity, and in 1515,he began to preach in the parish church. Many came to hear him, for Luther,like no other preachers, opened the Scriptures to the common folks.

Luther the ‘Rebel’

In 1514, a certain Prince Albert wanted to bribe Pope Leo X to allow him tofill the vacant arch-bishopric of Mainz. Leo X who was at that time aspiring tobuild the present Saint Peter’s cathedral imposed a huge sum on Albert. He thensuggested that Albert take a loan from the wealthy Fugger banking family inAugsburg, and as a security for the loan, the Pope issued a papal bullauthorising the sale of Indulgences in Saxony. An Indulgence is a document signedby the Pope, which was scandalously held to be able to free man from thetemporal penalty of sin or to release a soul from purgatory. Having secured theloan, Albert immediately employed a Dominican monk, Johann Tetzel, to sell theIndulgences on his behalf. Tetzel set off immediately and eventually reachedBrandenburg, a few miles from Wittenberg. But Frederick the Wise, shocked atthe man’s trade and yet more at his scandalous life, forbade him from enteringSaxony. Tetzel nevertheless set up his store at Juterbock, a small town on theSaxon frontier. And since, Wittenberg was only an hour and a half’s walkingdistance to the town, thousands flocked to do business with him.

Luther soon discovered the moral havoc that Tetzel was creating in Wittenberg.One day, some citizens of Wittenberg came to him confessing of having committedthefts, adulteries, and other heinous sins. “You must abandon your evilcourses,” replied Luther, “otherwise I cannot absolve you.” To his surprise,and grief, they replied that they had no thought of leaving off their sins,since they had already bought Indulgences for them.

Luther, much saddened by what he saw and heard, eventually wrote his famed95Theses on the doctrine of Indulgence and posted them on the door ofthe church on October 31, 1517. These propositions, Luther undertook to defendthe next day at the university against all who might choose to debate with him.However, no one turned up. All the students and professors at Wittenberg wereone with Luther. Instead, as mentioned earlier, the propositions began to gaina wide audience.

Luther the ‘Heretic’

Soon, not only was the sale of Indulgence seriously impaired, but the threat toauthority and doctrine of the church began to be felt in Rome. Cardinal Cajetanwas sent to Wittenberg to examine Luther, but the Reformer refused toacknowledge that what he taught were errors. Cajetan left in anger and secretlygave orders that Luther should be taken captive, but Luther received a timelywarning and escaped. Not too long later, the Pope sent a good-natured man, Karlvon Miltitz, together with an expensive gift for Frederick the Wise, topersuade Luther to recant. This time, Luther apologised for his vehemence, andundertook to refrain from further disputations if his opponents also remainedsilent. However, he soon made clear that he had not changed his mind on hisfundamental doctrinal principles.

Within six months, in July 1519, Luther was called to a debate with Johann Eckat Leipzig. There, Luther questioned the authority of the papacy as well as theinfallibility of the church councils and insisted on the primacy of theScripture. Eck retorted by attempting to discredit Luther by labelling him aHussite. Luther was not only undaunted, but became even more outspoken. Withinmonths, Luther published three pamphlets of great significance. The first,the Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, calledupon the German nobles to reform the church and society since the papacy hadfailed to do so. The second,The Babylonian Captivity of the Church,attacked the entire sacramental system of the medieval church by maintainingthat there are only two sacraments—baptism and the Lord’s Supper—rather than 7.The third, The Freedom of the Christian Man, was written for thepope to teach him the doctrine of justification by faith alone in a non-polemictone.

The pope was not impressed. On June 15, 1520, he issued a papal bull,excommunicating Luther as a stubborn and dangerous heretic and ordered that hiswritings be burned. In reply, Luther burned a copy of the bull in front of agreat crowd, including his students and fellow professors, exclaiming as he didso: “As thou [the Pope] has vexed the Holy One of the Lord [Christ], mayeternal fire vex thee.” With this statement, Luther effectively excommunicatedthe Pope from the true Church of Christ, and later denounced the Pope as theAnti-Christ.

The Pope, fuming in anger, requested Emperor Charles V, a devote Catholic whohad recently been elected to the throne of the Holy Roman Empire, the mostpowerful monarch at that time, to deal with Luther. Charles V agreed andsummoned Luther to appear before him at the Diet of Worms. Luther, against thecounsel of his friends, decided to go, saying, “If there are as many devils inWorms as tiles on the housetops I will go there.”

When he arrived at Wormson April 16, 1521, the streets were lined with people curious to catch sight ofthe man they thought to be the devil personified. The assembly hall where histrial was to take place was equally crowded, but with 206 people of greatpolitical and religious stature. The meeting was presided by Johann von Eck whoimmediately asked Luther to retract his doctrines. Having asked for time toreflect and pray, Luther responded the second day on April 18, 1521. Hisspeech, which was made both in Latin and German, shook the world with thesebold and uncompromising words: “Unless I am convinced by testimonies of theScripture or by clear arguments that I am in error—for popes and councils haveoften erred and contradicted themselves—I cannot recant, for I am subject toScriptures I have quoted; my conscience is captive to the Word of God…. Here Istand; I cannot do otherwise. So help me God.”

Luther the Knight

Although Luther was allowed to return to Wittenbergafter his momentous speech, his life was in great danger. Had it not been theintervention of Frederickthe Wise, who arranged to ‘abduct’ him while he was on his way back, Lutherwould surely have been exterminated.

Luther was brought to Wartburg castle where he was disguised as a knight sothat his enemies could not find him or molest him. It was in the seclusion andpeace of Wartburg that Luther not only wrote numerous other pamphlets againstRoman Catholic doctrines, but translated the New Testament into German from theoriginal Greek. By 1522, it was already on sale in the German shops at a priceeasily affordable by the common people. This translation (together with the OTcounter-part which was completed in 1534) was to become the firm basis of theGerman Reformation.

Ten months later, Luther returned to Wittenberg.By then the Reformation was already well underway, and Luther’s life was nolonger in grave danger.

Luther the Writer

In 1525, Luther, broke his illegally made monastic vow of celibacy to marryCatherine von Bora, an escaped nun who bore him six children. Though he couldeasily have become rich by the sale of his books, he gave most of what heearned to the poor and to the work of the Reformation, so much so that hisfamily frequently did not have enough money to buy ordinary necessities. Yet,the family was an extremely happy one. This, though Luther was constantlyextremely busy, and though Catherine had to support the family by rearing pigsand fishes.

Luther was a rapid writer, producing an ocean of literature by the time of hisdeath on February 18, 1546. The current American edition of his writings takesup 55 large volumes! Some of his most famous writings include Bondageof the Will, which was written in response to the semi-Pelagianism ofErasmus; his Small Catechism for use by his congregation andhis Large Catechism for pastors.

Although Luther did not fully reform the church since he only rejected what hethought to be directly “against Scripture,”—which to him did not includealtars, images and crucifixes, or holy-days,—Luther’s courage, testimony,writings and ground works set the stage for the more thorough Reformationof Zwingli, Calvin and Knox. Ecclesia Reformata Semper Reformada! Oncethe church is reformed, it must continue to reform itself to God’s Word.

Thank God for Martin Luther, but let us not stop there. Let us resolve never toundo the cause of Luther. Roman Catholicism remains anti-Christian as long as Rome does not believethat justification is by grace through faith alone,—whatever theframers of the ECT or ECT II may say, andhowever the Pope may apologise for the past errors of the church. RomanCatholicism cannot change because of her doctrine of the infallibility of popesand councils. She is supposed to be semper idem (always thesame). To admit that she was in error at all is to admit the fallibility ofpopes and councils and so destroy the authority of the papacy. Jude’s clarioncall to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto thesaints” (Jude 3) is as relevant today as it was in the days of Luther—perhapseven more so, as we see Rometaking steps to entice Christians back to her fold.

—J.J. Lim