THE REFORMATION CHURCH Unless I am convicted of error … by the Scriptures to which I have appealed, and my conscience is taken captive by God’s Word, I cannot and will not recant of anything, for to act against our conscience is neither safe for us, nor open to us. Here I stand. I can do no other. May God help me! Amen. MARTIN LUTHER, DIET OF WORMS, 1521 As the preceding chapter makes clear, by the sixteenth century, the spirit of reform permeated Europe. The only question was whether Christendom could survive intact. Events in sixteenth-century Germany answered the question. MARTIN LUTHER Luther was born November 10, 1483, in Eisleben, Germany, into an affluent copper miner’s family. Steered firmly by his father, Luther decided to seek a degree in law. But one July day in 1505, a violent thunderstorm knocked him to the ground, and he screamed, “Help me, St. Anne! I will become a monk” (Bainton, 1950, 78). That vow changed his life. To his father’s consternation, Luther joined the Augustinian cloister in Erfurt. There he opened and studied the Bible for the first time. His fervent yearning to serve, please, and love God stemmed from a haunting fear of God’s judgment. To win God’s favor, he committed himself to a rigorous schedule of study, meditation, and fasting. But his life of rigid asceticism brought no peace. God was his judge, not his Savior. In 1511 his Augustinian order sent him to the University of Wittenberg where he completed his Th.D. in October 1512. He then secured a permanent appointment there as a professor of Bible. But his struggle over God’s holiness and justice deepened. Sometime between 1517 and 1519 Luther found the peace he sought. Through reading the New Testament, especially Romans, he came to understand that justification was not by works but through faith. Neither Luther nor the world would ever be the same. Across the river from Wittenberg, a Dominican monk named Johann Tetzel was selling indulgences. These were small pieces of parchment that guaranteed forgiveness of sins for a price. Brazenly he trumpeted, “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.” Such arrogance enraged Luther. He preached fervently against indulgences, and on October 31, 1517, he nailed Ninety-Five Theses for debate on the Castle Church door at Wittenberg. In them he argued that indulgences could not remove guilt, did not apply to purgatory, and provided a false sense of security. He later wrote, “The pope has no jurisdiction over purgatory, and if he does, he should empty the place free of charge” (Bainton, 1950, 81). The Reformation had begun. From 1517 to 1521 Luther’s stand against the church hardened. In 1520 when Pope Leo excommunicated him, Luther publicly burned the order. Furthermore, his writings from this period reflected a distinctly non-Catholic theology. He argued that Scripture allowed for only two ordinances—baptism and the Lord’s Supper. He also rejected the Catholic dogma of transubstantiation. Justification came by faith alone; works played no role in salvation. The most serious challenge to Luther came when the new Holy Roman emperor, Charles V, ordered him to answer charges at the imperial Diet of Worms. When asked to recant his writings, Luther responded, “Unless I am convicted of error … by the Scriptures to which I have appealed, and my conscience is taken captive by God’s Word, I cannot and will not recant of anything, for to act against our conscience is neither safe for us, nor open to us. Here I stand. I can do no other. May God help me! Amen!” With his life now in jeopardy, friends “kidnapped” him and took him secretly to Wartburg Castle. While there, he translated the New Testament from the Greek into German. Meanwhile, the revolt against the Roman Catholic Church spread. Towns all over Germany removed religious statues, abolished the mass, and forced priests from churches. As princes of the Holy Roman Empire chose to support the Lutheran cause, the Reformation became a political issue as well. After a year at Wartburg, Luther went back to Wittenberg where he taught and preached for the rest of his life. In 1525 he married Catherine von Bora, a former nun, who bore him six children. He continued to write prolifically, including theology books, Bible commentaries, and music. As a pastor, he sought a method by which God’s Word could endure in the hearts of his people. The singing of hymns met that need. He reshaped ancient tunes and melodies into dozens of hymns, such as “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” and “Away in a Manger.” Luther’s close friend and disciple, Philip Melanchthon (1497–1560), emerged as the theologian of Lutheranism. He authored the Augsburg Confession (1530) and its Apology, both forceful statements of early Protestant theology. But as a courteous and timid peacemaker, Melanchthon attempted to steer a middle course in early theological debates of the Reformation. Rarely did he satisfy anyone. In that sense, he personifies the tension caused by theological debate. Eckman, J. P. (2002). Exploring church history (48–51). Wheaton, IL: Crossway.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Oct 2013 04:11:06 +0000
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