Dr.
Martin Luther - The Protestant Reformation
Luther's
early years
Luther was born in 1483 in
Eisleben, now part of former East Germany. His father was prosperous enough to send him to school and aim him at the study of law. He graduated with a BA and MA from the University of
Erfurt. But just when he would have entered the study of law, Luther was caught in a thunderstorm and made a vow to St. Anne that he would enter a monastery if his life was saved. He duly entered the order of the Augustinians and their monastery at Erfurt in 1505.
The
Augustinian Friars or Hermits were a preaching
order whose name was based on their following
the monastic Rule of St. Augustine, not
because of any other particular connection
with Augustine. But the name was perhaps
ironic, for Luther was to derive much benefit
from the study of Augustine as an antidote to
the current theology of his day.
Luther
advanced in knowledge according to the
prevailing order of things, and was appointed
to lecture at the newly founded University of
Wittenberg in 1508. He was made Doctor of
Theology in 1512 and joined the theological
faculty at Wittenberg.
His
growing understanding
Two
experiences seem to have been important in the
development of young Luther. In 1507 he became
a priest and said his first Mass, and in the
view of the church, he was now able to create
the body and blood of Christ. This was one of
many experiences which terrorized him in view
of the majesty and justice of a holy God.
Secondly,
he traveled to Rome in 1510 on monastery
business. He was shocked to find Italy a
breeding ground of corruption and secularized
clergy. This was the time of the Renaissance
Popes, and Pope Julius, the current occupant
of that chair, was one of the worst of them
all. (Erasmus later wrote a satirical tract
called Julius Exclusus, which told the
story of how Julius was excluded from heaven
after he died.) This was the time period of
the rebuilding of St. Peter's and the painting
of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel --
wonderful works of art, but from a Pope void
of Christianity.
But
the biggest influence on Luther was his
continuing struggle over his salvation. He
could not understand how a holy God could
accept a sinful man, especially Luther, into
heaven. He was told to take comfort in the
sacraments, especially Penance (i.e.
confession and absolution), but even the Roman
church was not so doctrinally corrupt as to
remove all personal repentance from the
sacrament of Penance, and Luther doubted that
he had the proper inward repentance and love
and godliness to partake of the grace that was
offered through the sacrament.
He
also could not understand how, in Romans 1:17,
it was said that the "righteousness"
of God was revealed in the Gospel. If God's
righteousness was revealed, how could it be
good news, since God's righteousness could do
nothing but condemn man's lawlessness? At
last, in a flash of insight (or grace or
faith), he understood that the righteousness
in the verse was not the righteousness God
displayed in judgment, but the righteousness
he bestowed on a man through pure grace on
account of the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
"As it is written, the just shall live BY
FAITH."
Now
he understood that faith was the key. Faith
was not a work. Rather, it was the empty hand
receiving the gift of God offered without
strings attached. Faith was utterly opposed to
works. No works, not even the sacramental acts
commanded by the church, could add to the free
gift of God. For this reason, Luther added the
word ALONE to his later German translation of
Romans 3:28.
Luther
was not reacting against a full Pelagian (or
Judaizing) heresy of justification by works
rather than faith. Rather, he was reacting to
the seemingly reasonable Catholic teaching
that our faith, which is required, works
together with our use of God's sacraments and
good works, which are also required. It was
all of God's grace to offer such paths to
salvation, but no man could be totally secure
because such a life must be maintained before
God lifelong.
Some
of these insights actually came after the next
item in our tour of Luther's life, the 95
Theses.
The
Indulgences and 95 Theses
In
1517, Johann Tetzel appeared in Germany
selling a special indulgence issued by the
Pope. Luther's ruler, Elector Frederick, kept
Tetzel out of his dominions, but Luther's
parishioners were crossing the border and
buying the indulgences anyway. According to
Tetzel, the indulgence went further than
previous indulgences, procuring not only
release from earthly penance and Purgatorial
punishment, but also full forgiveness of all
sins.
Even
by medieval standards, this was going too far.
Technically, an indulgence only offered
remission of the "temporal
penalties," or satisfaction, associated
with a sin. It did not affect God's eternal
judgment, which was in theory left up to God
alone. Rather, since the sufferings of
Purgatory were thought to compensate for sins
not confessed, absolved, and satisfactions
performed on earth, which were imposed by the
church, the indulgence, which remitted the
penalties of the church, could not reach
beyond Purgatory.
What
Luther did not know at the time was that
Tetzel's entire indulgence sale was worked up
as a combination money-raising scheme for St.
Peter's church (which was public) and debt
repayment for Albert of Brandenberg,
Archbishop of Mainz, to repay the Pope's hefty
fees for installing him in a third
archbishopric, and underage at that.
Complicating
Luther's position was the fact that Frederick
the Wise was a major collector of relics in
his Castle Church at Wittenberg. If a pilgrim
"venerated" all the relics in the
Elector's collection, he would reduce his time
in Purgatory by 127,799 years (Grimm, p. 91).
The major festival which drew pilgrims to
Frederick's collection in Wittenberg was the
feast of All Saint's Day on Nov. 1.
Of
course the entire doctrine was absurd and
offensive, but Luther, in his initial stages,
approached the matter cautiously. He wondered:
why would not the Pope simply release all
souls from Purgatory out of his sheer
kindness, if such a thing were possible? Why
demand payment first? Luther reexamined the
entire structure of the sacrament of Penance
and wrote out 95 debating points, intended for
fellow scholars to debate with him. This was a
common method of beginning a debate, not a
Reformation of the church. He posted them,
tradition says, on the door of the Castle
Church the day before All Saint's, October 31,
1517.
Even
though the theses were written in Latin and
were only meant for academic debate, they
looked like dynamite to others, who began
running copies off on the printing presses,
both in Latin and in German. Seemingly
overnight, the theses were everywhere. Instead
of a scholar's debate, the German people
became involved. The theses by no means
contained an expression of fully developed
Reformation doctrine, but the challenge to the
Pope's actions was lively enough that Germany
was interested.
Text
of the 95 Theses
Reactions
of Church and State
Initially,
the Pope wrote the whole issue off as a
quarrel among monks. But local church
officials were not so confident. They urged
action. Three months after the Theses
appeared, Pope Leo directed the Augustinian
Order to quiet Luther. In April 1518 Luther
was given the opportunity to defend his case
at a meeting of the Augustinians. One of his
hearers (and converts) was the Dominican monk
Martin Bucer, who later became a great
Reformer himself.
On
August 7, 1518 Luther was given 60 days to
appear in Rome to recant his heresies. Here
Frederick intervened on the side of his
university professor. He arranged a meeting
with the papal legate, Cajetan, in Germany.
After three days things were worse than ever.
Cajetan threatened him with all kinds of papal
punishment, and would not budge on any points.
Meanwhile Luther had been developing and
clarifying his thinking, but still believed
that the Pope would take his side once he
understood the issues. By November 28 he had
lost this confidence and appealed publicly for
a general council of the church to correct the
Pope and the errors of the church.
In
1519 it was arranged for the great Dr. Eck to
debate Dr. Carlstadt, Luther's senior
colleague at Wittenberg. Luther was at first
not invited (not given an imperial safe
conduct), and attended only as a spectator,
but he rose to the defense of the new
evangelical doctrines after Carlstadt had
faltered in the debate. This debate, which
lasted three weeks, was very important for the
future development of the Reformation. For it
was here that Eck charged Luther with the
errors of the acknowledged heretic John Hus.
Thus challenged, Luther considered the
question and finally declared that some of
Hus's doctrines were true, that he was
unjustly condemned by the (reformist) Council
of Constance, and that both the Pope and a
general council may err.
The
next two years were filled with activity.
After the rejection of Rome, Luther began his
reforming appeals in earnest. He still was not
trying to create a new church, just reform the
old one. But this was not a time in Europe for
compromise and discussion, much to the
distress of peaceful leaders on both sides.
Luther wrote three major works which
consolidated both the direction of reformation
and his theology: the Address
to the German Nobility, the Babylonian
Captivity of the Church, and The
Freedom of a Christian. The Babylonian
Captivity, in particular, was the text in
which Luther publicly taught against
transubstantiation, although he never ceased
teaching the Real Presence.
Meanwhile,
in June 1520, the long-awaited bull of
excommunication was issued, the famous Exsurge
Domine, "Arise O God, plead thine
own cause...." Luther was now officially
excluded from the ancient Catholic church. But
he was the beginning of a new branch of the
Catholic church, not a sectarian heretic, but
a true reformer, calling the church to return
to first principles. He had gone far beyond
justification by faith, which was the seed; he
and his colleagues were reexamining the entire
structure of Christendom, weighing each
doctrine and practice, and finding that much
that had grown up in the past 1000 years was
anti-Biblical and not in agreement with the
early church.
In
December, Luther publicly burned the Pope's
bull.
Repercussions
Throughout Europe
In
1521 Luther appeared before the Diet of Worms,
summoned by the new Holy Roman Emperor,
Charles V. Charles needed the support of every
part of his splintered empire, and wanted to
heal the church for the sheer sake of
political unity, if for no other reason. He
was a loyal son of the Roman church, and it
was clear where his sympathies lay.
Nevertheless Luther, like John Hus before him,
trusted in God and in the Emperor's
safe-conduct and came to the Diet.
At
the Diet he was commanded once more to recant
his teachings. He had expected an opportunity
to defend his teachings before the Emperor and
all the princes of Germany, but instead he was
simply asked to recant. He asked for a day to
consider his answer, and appeared the next day
to defy the empire and replied, "Unless I
am refuted and convicted by testimonies of the
Scriptures or by clear arguments (since I
believe neither the Pope nor the councils
alone; it being evident that they have often
erred and contradicted themselves), I am
conquered by the Holy Scriptures quoted by me,
and my conscience is bound in the word of God:
I can not and will not recant any thing, since
it is unsafe and dangerous to do any thing
against the conscience" (Schaff,
vol. 7, p. 304). According to some accounts,
he ended by saying "Here I stand. I can
do no other. God help me. Amen."
Luther
was able to get out of town under the
Emperor's safe conduct before Charles could
change his mind and seize him. Frederick was
concerned for Luther's safety, since he was
now declared an outlaw by the Empire as well
as the Pope, so he secretly arranged to have
him "kidnapped" and taken to the
Wartburg castle for safekeeping. Here Luther
worked for almost a year, and translated the
New Testament into German from Greek -- the
first modern translation from Greek into a
vernacular language. He also wrote against
monastic vows while in the Wartburg. By the
time he returned to Wittenberg, the monastery
there was entirely dissolved.
Luther
and the Radicals
"Radical"
reformers in his own home town (led by
Carlstadt, his former friend), which caused
him to return to Wittenberg to calm things
down, were the foreshadowing of many such
splits among the Protestants. Even though the
differences in Wittenberg amounted mostly to
(1) going too fast in the right direction, and
(2) disagreement over using violent means to
overthrow the old traditions, soon there was
much more in the larger Germany, and Luther
was distressed that the predictions of his
enemies might come true in which he became the
cause of the dissolution of society.
Luther
soothed the radical elements in his own town,
and some arranged for some people actually to
leave town, but as he got older, Luther became
more bitter and violent towards other elements
of the Reformation which seemed to go too far.
He approved of the suppression of the peasants
in the Peasants' War, and his enmity towards
Anabaptists, "enthusiasts," and
other radicals only increased. He lumped
Zwingli in with Carlstadt (who became more and
more radical), and was utterly suspicious of
any reformation other than the conservative
German version.
We
will deal with this topic more under Zwingli,
and again in a special Anabaptist
lesson.
Luther's
Marriage
Luther's
famous marriage to a former nun, Katherine von
Bora, took place in 1525. Luther became the
father of six children, and his views upon
marriage, like those on everything else, were
eagerly devoured by his students and became
the basis for the Protestant interest in good
marriages and families. Remember that up to
this point, all godly literature was written
by the unmarried who were under vows of
chastity. A whole body of tradition entered
Christian thought and literature at this
point, and Luther's house, as is often stated,
became the model for the
"parsonage." But Luther didn't just
speak on marriage, he lived it. He was well
known to be devoted to his wife and family.
His views were totally traditional, but within
the tradition of Biblical patriarchy came
Luther's humor and good will. He often
referred to Katie as "my Lord."
Luther
and Free Will
Erasmus
had taken a mediating position for much of the
early Reformation. He never identified himself
with Protestantism even though he was friends
with many of the Reformers, some of whom had
been humanists before reformers. When he was
finally induced to write against Luther, he
chose a theological topic, free will, as the
theme of his controversy. Luther replied with
what he considered his best book, The
Bondage of the Will. This book
represents a more Calvinistic theology (by
today's standards) than a Lutheran one. It is
quite a joy to read. Luther's contemporaries,
such as Melanchthon, never subscribed to the
full predestination theology that Luther
appeared to hold, and it disappeared from
Lutheranism immediately upon Luther's death.
Calvinists often refer to the book, however,
and it was published in 1957 with a modern
translation, and is still in print. It is one
of the great books of the Reformation.
Luther
and the German Reformation
After
a while, the various German princes who had
adopted Lutheranism began to take steps to
systematize and regularize the reforms found
within their various dominions. One such
effort was the reformation of public worship
according to non-Roman principles, via the
"Visitations" commissioned by the
various German rulers beginning in 1527. These
were heavily influenced by the Wittenbergers
and began the process of constructing a truly
Protestant church system.
Another
major undertaking for Luther was the
introduction of congregational singing, and
the consequent writing of new Protestant
hymns. Like many other innovations of the
Reformed period, all Christians take
congregational singing for granted today (even
Roman Catholics), but this was yet another
blessing that had been withheld from the
people until the Reformation.
Colloquy
of Marburg
In
1529, representatives of the German and Swiss
reformers met together at the instigation of
Philip of Hesse, who wished a common
Protestant political and confessional front.
Luther and Melanchthon were there, as were
Zwingli, Oecolampadius, and Bucer. If at any
time there was a chance for Protestants to get
together, this was it. Of course no
Anabaptists were invited.
Luther
wrote with chalk upon the table, "This is
my body." Immediately the heart of the
matter was clear. Could the reformers agree on
the Eucharist (Lord's Supper)? Luther's party
believed that the "Real Presence"
was essential, that is, even though the bread
and wine were still physically present (contra
the Roman church), nevertheless the physical
presence of Christ's body and blood was still
true. The reformers agreed that there was a
"spiritual" presence of Christ
(which actually was compromise on Zwingli's
part, since he had taught a memorial Supper
only), but they could not come to agreement on
the physical presence of Christ.
Bainton's
Here I Stand presents the argument this
way:
Oekolampadius
insisted that these words must be taken
metaphorically, because the flesh profits
nothing and the body of Christ has ascended
into heaven. Luther inquired why the ascent
should not also be metaphorical. Zwingli
went to the heart of the matter when he
affirmed that flesh and spirit are
incompatible. Therefore the presence of
Christ can only be spiritual. Luther replied
that flesh and spirit can be conjoined, and
the spiritual, which no one denied, does not
exclude the physical. They appeared to have
arrived at a deadlock, but actually they had
made substantial gains because Zwingli
advanced from his view that the Lord's
Supper is only a memorial to the position
that Christ is spiritually present. And
Luther conceded that whatever the nature of
the physical presence, it is of no benefit
without faith. Hence any magical view is
excluded.
No
final agreement could be reached. Even though
the reformers agreed on 14 other articles of
faith, they could not on this one. The
Protestants remained divided both
confessionally and politically. There was to
be no consistent reformed witness to one
faith.
The
Augsburg Confession
In
their relations to the Holy Roman Emperor, an
important milestone was the Diet of Augsburg
in 1530. At this meeting the famous Augsburg
Confession was submitted by the
Lutherans to the Emperor Charles. Its author
was Melanchton, who was accused of giving away
too much in his desire to remain united to the
Roman church. But it remained a reformed
document, and became one of the primary
confessional statements of all Lutherans.
Conclusion
Luther
is much more complicated than can be presented
here. The best advice is to continue studying
him with a book like Bainton's Here I Stand,
and to continue comparing his and other
reformers' doctrine with Scripture. You will
find that Reformation study will provide an
inexhaustible supply of challenges to your
thinking and living.
Luther
provided the Reformation with a beginning, not
an ending. By his death in 1546, Reformation
was established, but its greatest fruits were
yet to come.
The
first Protestant martyrs were Hendrik Vos and
Jan van der Eschen on July 1, 1523,
in the Low Countries, which were also ruled by
Charles V. They were not
Opening the Door to Luther: Martin Luther and
the Protestant Reformation
In
September, 2000, Rick Steves spent a week in
eastern Germany with a Lutheran video
production team making a new "Martin
Luther and the Reformation" teaching
video. This video was sent to all 11,000 ELCA
Lutheran churches for use in adult education
and new member classes. Here's the script:
[1.
POV: camera rushing through vineyard, pope's
voice]
"There's a wild boar in the
vineyard."
[Title page – Opening the Door to Luther:
Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation]
A
wild boar. This is how the pope, in 1520,
described Martin Luther. Luther was a German
monk who questioned the Church's practice of
selling forgiveness.
Hi,
I'm Rick Steves and today, we're travel
partners. The goal of our trip: to get to know
Martin Luther. We'll see how one monk sparked
the Reformation, which created the Protestant
movement and, eventually, the Lutheran Church.
During
Luther's time, Germany – which is about the
size of Montana – was a confusing collection
of over 300 little feudal states.
We'll
travel from Eisleben where Luther was born to
the university town of Wittenberg where he
taught and preached. After a pilgrimage south
to the Vatican in Rome, we'll follow the
tumultuous events of the Reformation at Worms,
Erfurt, Eisenach, Marburg and Augsburg.
When
Martin Luther was born, nearly all of Western
Europe looked to Rome as the head of the
Church. By Luther's death in 1546, Europe was
divided between Roman Christians and
protesting – or Protestant – Christians.
Luther
was born in medieval Europe but grew up in a
time of great change. Imagine medieval life.
Ninety percent of the people were poor,
illiterate peasants – ruled by kings, nobles
and bishops. Most children died before
adulthood. Thirty years was a long life.
Plague was a constant fear. People worked the
land, hoping only to survive the winter. Life
for most was a dreary preparation for heaven.
The Christian Church gave people hope for a
better life after death.
But
by Luther's time, the medieval Church –
administered from distant Rome – was losing
touch with people's needs. The Bible and
church services were in Latin, a dead language
spoken only by Europe's elite. Corrupt popes
and bishops, living in luxury while others
struggled, were tarnishing the Church's
reputation.
And
worst of all, the Church hierarchy had become
entangled with politics. Popes waged war.
Bishops were princes. In much of Europe, there
was no real separation of church and state.
Sins were crimes, and tithes were collected
like taxes. Bishops were treated like royalty.
When one entered the room, you knelt and
kissed his ring.
Throughout
Western Europe, the only acceptable way to be
Christian was as part of the Roman Catholic
Church – and that Church had begun paying
its bills by selling forgiveness.
In
one turbulent generation, the Reformation
changed all that. And Martin Luther – known
as the father of Protestantism – is counted
right up there with Gutenberg and Newton –
as one of the most influential people of the
past millennium.
Big
changes were percolating around 1500: Columbus
sailed to America. Gutenberg's printing press
made books affordable.
Imagine
Europe's class of 1500. Along with Martin
Luther, young Michelangelo was chipping his
early masterpieces, Macchiavelli studied
modern politics, and Copernicus was putting
the earth in it's place.
The
conservative Church – which defended the
notion that the world was flat and the center
of the universe – found itself at odds with
these new ideas. Magellan sailed around the
world. Renaissance thinkers embraced science.
And humanists saw life as more than just a
preparation for what happens after you die.
With all this, the Church's ability to control
the thinking of Europe took a big hit. The
Church couldn't stop these revolutionary ideas
or keep the printing press from churning them
out.
Martin
Luther was born in this house here in Eisleben,
south of Berlin. His father was in the copper
mining business.
And
here in Eisanach, young Luther developed his
appetite for learning, music, and the Bible.
Martin
was a hard-working guy, smart enough to get
into law school. His friends nicknamed him
"the philosopher." They also called
him things like the "king of hops"
for his love of beer.
But
Martin never became a lawyer. He had an
obsession which came first – finding
deliverance from an angry God. According to a
popular story, in 1505, returning to school
after a trip home, he was thrown from his
horse during a thunderstorm. Terrified, he
promised St. Anne – the patron saint of
miners and his family – that he'd become a
monk.
Twenty-one
year old Martin checked into this Augustinian
monastery – famous for discipline and
scholarship – in Erfurt. As a monk, Luther
sought God's love with all his heart and soul
and mind. Ignoring his worldly needs, he did
everything he could to earn worthiness in
God's eyes. He'd spend up to six hours in the
confession booth – and still, he found no
peace.
He
learned Greek and Hebrew in order to read the
most ancient manuscripts of the Bible. By age
23 he was ordained a priest, said his first
Mass in this church, and was on the fast track
to become a professor of theology.
In
1510 Brother Martin was sent to Rome. He hiked
there... about 700 miles, through a severe
winter. He was enthusiastic about his trip to
the Vatican. When he first saw the city, he
dropped to his knees and said "Hail, holy
city of Rome!"
Rome
– so rich in relics – was a holy
supermarket of merits for pilgrims interested
in getting to heaven without a detour through
purgatory.
Most
Christians believed they would go to heaven
only if they did more good than evil. And most
figured they'd fall short. So when they died,
God would need to purge them of their excess
sin. They called this process purgatory and
thought of it as thousands of years of misery.
To reduce time in purgatory, many tried to
pile up good works in this lifetime by
venerating relics and doing penance.
In
Rome, Luther did his Church business. Then,
like any earnest pilgrim – he spent his free
time visiting relics.
Martin
visited the reconstructed steps of Pontius
Pilate's palace – supposedly the very steps
Jesus climbed on the day he was condemned. As
Roman Catholic pilgrims still do today, he
climbed the holy steps on his knees, saying
the Lord's Prayer on each step. The pilgrim's
reward for this climb: nine years less time in
purgatory for each step.
Later,
Luther wrote that, reaching the top, he stood
up and thought "Who knows if it's
true?"
Back
home, Luther was sent here, to the remote
outpost of Wittenberg to teach in Prince
Frederick the Wise's new university.
Outwardly
cheerful and devout, inside Martin Luther was
in crisis – tormented by feelings of his own
unworthiness. Even as he blessed the bread for
Mass, he silently hated God for demanding a
moral standard no mortal could ever achieve.
He devoured the Bible looking for an answer
and found it in Paul's letter to the Romans.
There
it was. Luther realized the "good
news" is that God makes sinners righteous
through their faith in Jesus Christ. Rather
than earning salvation by fasting or doing
good works...it's a free gift to anyone who
believes. As this concept of unearned grace
took hold, Luther said, "I felt myself to
have been born again."
As
Luther studied, debated and taught his
thoughts developed. As he preached here and
throughout Saxony, his controversial ideas
spiced his sermons. The pews were packed.
People traveled to hear Luther's message.
[Luther's
voice]
"In our Latin Bible, 'repent' has come
to mean 'to do penance.' But in the original
Greek it means 'to change one's mind' – and
that is what Jesus meant. Jesus didn't ask for
penance... works, deeds or rituals... he asks
for a simple change of heart. Salvation is not
earned by pilgrimages to Rome, veneration of
relics, or Masses attended. We need only Jesus
Christ. Jesus paid for our sins. Salvation is
a gift from God."
The
more Martin read the Bible, the more conflict
he found between salvation through faith and
the Church's salvation through rituals and
good works.
He
kept returning to Romans 3:28: "A man is
justified by faith"... for emphasis,
Martin added, "and faith alone."
Coincidentally,
as Luther struggled with these issues, the
pope kicked off a capital campaign to build a
grand new church in Rome.
The
thousand-year-ld St. Peters was condemned and
a glorious new church was planned. It would be
very expensive – and Germans would foot much
of the bill. To raise money, the papacy sold
church offices – one young prince bought a
bishopric for 10,000 ducats, based on 1000 per
commandment. And the Church sold indulgences.
Indulgences
were basically spiritual coupons relieving you
from penalties you owed because of your sins.
The Church got these merits from Jesus and the
saints whose virtuous lives earned a holy
warehouse of extra merits.
Papal
fund-raisers came out in full force. With a
fanfare of drummers and trumpeters, the super-salesmonk,
John Tetzel, came to Martin Luther's
neighborhood. He offered letters of indulgence
promising "full forgiveness for all sins
and absolution from all punishments."
These were fully-transferable and ideal for
bailing loved ones out of purgatory. Peasants
lined up to buy as Tetzel's men sang, "As
soon as the coin in the coffer rings, another
soul from purgatory springs."
Luther
countered, preaching "God's forgiveness
cannot be purchased like a sack of potatoes.
The pope needs more prayer than money."
Hoping
a scholarly debate would lead to reform,
Luther posted his famous 95 theses here. This
is a copy of the original door. That date –
Oct 31, 1517 – marks the most important
religious event of the last thousand years. It
kicked off the Reformation, and October 31 is
still celebrated as Reformation day.
Luther,
who had no thought of rebellion, began with a
conciliatory tone
[Luther's
voice]
"Out of love and zeal for truth and
the desire to bring it to light, the following
thesis will be publicly discussed at
Wittenberg University."
Topics
ranged from giving alms to the scriptural
basis of purgatory. But for most, the key
issue was the sale of indulgences.
Luther's
propositions – quickly printed and
circulated – were the talk of Germany. He
became famous almost overnight. People were
energized by Luther's ideas. The sale of
indulgences dropped dramatically. Tetzel had
to actually go into hiding from angry German
mobs who now sang "When the coin rings in
the pitcher, the pope becomes richer."
Luther's
challenge was taken up. Nearby, at the
university of Leipzig, the famous scholar,
John Eck, debated Luther. Declaring himself
victorious, Eck headed for Rome and helped
write a papal bull – that's a decree issued
under the papal seal – threatening
excommunication. It gave Luther 60 days to
recant or be kicked out of the church.
Saying
"The Romans can overcome us only on the
grounds of reason and the Scriptures,"
Luther backed up his stand by publishing four
influential pamphlets. These struck much
deeper at church doctrine than his views on
the simple sale of indulgences.
Luther
argued that there were two church hierarchies:
a visible one based in Rome and a more
important spiritual one acknowledging only
Christ.
He
called on local governments to legislate
reforms that the Roman Church refused to make.
He
rejected the idea that Christians must earn
salvation through good works.
And,
he explained how a Christian is both lord of
all and servant of all.
This
war of words escalated. The pope ordered the
burning of Luther's books. Luther responded.
[Luther's
voice]
"If they damn my books, I'll burn the
entire canon law."
As
the pope's men burned Luther's books, Luther's
supporters burned books of Church laws. Really
heating things up, Luther tossed the papal
bull into the fire.
The
two most powerful people in Europe were the
pope and the Holy Roman Emperor. The pope was
furious. And the emperor – Charles V – was
a devout Catholic.
But
he was also the German king. The Holy Roman
Empire was a confederation of German states.
Since these states elected the emperor,
Charles' power required their continuing
support. He needed to deal with Luther.
To
further complicate things, the Turks were
threatening Europe from the east. Charles knew
he'd need German help to beat them. Knowing
Luther had powerful German friends, Charles
proceeded cautiously. He agreed to give Luther
a hearing and called him to the imperial diet
– that's like a congress – in the city of
Worms on the Rhine.
Germany
was thrilled with Martin Luther's challenge to
Rome. Traveling to Worms, he was greeted with
a hero's welcome at each stop. Pamphlets
showed him with a halo, accompanied by a dove
– symbol of the holy spirit.
In
one town, sixty horsemen escorted Luther to
the church – so filled with people eager to
hear him preach that the balcony groaned and
nearly collapsed.
Imagine
the showdown here at Worms: Papal
representatives, princes, Imperial troops –
all power-dressing... and Charles, sitting
high on his throne. In the center of the room:
Martin Luther stood beside a table stacked
with his trouble-causing books and pamphlets.
[Luther's
voice]
"Unless you can convince me by scripture
or by clear reasoning, I am bound by my
beliefs... I cannot and I will not recant. God
help me. Amen."
The
prosecutor, John Eck again, condemned Luther
as a heretic. Summing up his case, he asked,
"Who are you to go against 1,500 years of
Church doctrine?"
Luther
left Worms an outlaw. Now "outside the
protection of the law," Luther could be
captured and killed by anyone. On his way
home, he was kidnapped.
Many
thought Luther had been killed. The great
German painter Albrecht Durer wrote "O
God, if Luther is dead, who will teach us the
holy Gospel so clearly? All you pious
Christians, pray that God will send us another
enlightened man."
But
Luther was alive, safely hidden in the
Wartburg Castle at Eisenach – courtesy of
Frederick the Wise.
Around
1500, emerging nations were becoming bolder.
And many German princes – like Frederick –
saw the Roman Church as an obstacle to greater
power. After all: year after year local
fortunes went to Rome in the form of tithes.
The only people who could thumb their noses at
a prince's laws were pope-appointed Church
officials. And the biggest local landowner in
their realm was the Church.
(Nobles
often willed their land to monasteries and
convents in return for prayers to speed them
through purgatory.)
But
breaking with Rome could cause a war. While
Charles V – with the mighty Spanish army at
his disposal – wanted a German alliance
against the Turks, he was also ready to defend
the Church. The battle lines – if confused
– were drawn.
For
nearly a year, Luther hid out at Wartburg
Castle.
This
was Luther's room. Restless, over-fed, and
lonely in the castle – he continued his
lifelong battle with Satan. It was here that
he employed his favorite weapon – the
printed word.
Believing
that everyone should be able to read the word
of God, Luther began the huge task of
translating the New Testament from Greek to
German.
He
told his colleagues, "Give us simple
words... not those of the court, for this book
should be famous for its simplicity."
As
protesting Christians read the new German
Bible and found no mention of indulgences,
purgatory, or even a pope, the fires of reform
were fanned.
Eventually,
Luther, disguised as a knight with a big
beard, left the castle and returned home.
Luther settled back into his monastery
dormitory, at Wittenburg – today called
Luther Hall.
It
was here that Luther wrote the Little
Catechism – used by centuries of Lutheran
parents to teach their children, and composed
many of his great hymns. With his inner
circle, he gave direction to the reformation.
This theological think tank was the birthplace
of the Lutheran church.
Luther's
faculty colleague – the Greek scholar –
Philip Melancthon was the quintessential
emaciated intellectual. Melancthon became
Luther's lifelong ally and friend – and the
second most important figure in the Lutheran
reformation.
The
Lutheran movement introduced two essential
changes: First, salvation is a gift from God
– we're saved by our faith – not by good
works or sacraments. Second, the Bible alone
is the word of God and the only source of
religious authority.
Luther
rejected five of the Roman Church's seven
sacraments – keeping only those actions
commanded by Jesus: Baptism and Communion.
Luther
helped make Christianity accessible. In his
"priesthood of all believers,"
whether a school teacher in front of a
blackboard or a farmer behind a plow, we're
all equally capable of understanding God's
word and can receive salvation without the
help of intermediaries.
Luther
taught that those who call themselves bishops,
popes, and priests are, in the scriptures,
called shepherds and servants...their task is
to care for the rest of us.
And
pastors were free to marry. There's nothing in
the Bible that says they can't. The former
monk Martin married a former nun, Katherine
von Bora.
Martin
and Katherine had six children and raised four
orphans. And Katie – who ran the huge and
busy Luther household – was a welcome
partner in Luther's circle.
[Luther's
voice]
"Marriage is a better school for the
character than any monastery for it's here
that your corners are rubbed off."
Luther's
dining room table was a social and
intellectual jam session. It was where his
students, house guests and fellow reformers
gathered, drinking Katie's homebrewed beer and
eating the Luthers almost out of house and
home. They'd spend long hours discussing and
debating religious issues and applying their
faith concretely to everyday life. Luther's
followers hung on his every word. Over 6,000
entries – from silly to profound – were
collected by his students in an anthology
later called "Table Talk."
[Luther's
voice with soundbites in imaginary rowdy
dinner setting, laughter, clinking, etc mixed
in, with medieval table wear on rustic old
table:]
..."The
monks are the fleas on God Almighty's fur
coat."
..."What
lies there are about relics! How does it
happen that 18 apostles are buried in Germany
when Christ had only 12?"
..."I
would have died if I had been in the ark. It
was dark, three times the size of my house and
full of animals."
..."God
uses lust to impel men to marriage, ambition
to office, avarice to earning and fear to
faith."
[Rick]
It's
from these notes we sort through Luther's
moral pluses and minuses. He was earthy and
certainly enjoyed his beer. He was intolerant
of Jews and everyone else who disagreed with
his theology. He was also vulnerable. When his
daughter died he was broken but found healing
in the scripture.
Luther
struggled with depression all his life. He
fought the devil during these times.
[Luther's
voice]
"Whenever the devil pesters you, at
once seek out the company of friends, drink
more, joke and jest, or engage in some form of
merriment."
Luther
loved music which he figured the devil hated.
In perhaps his deepest depression he wrote one
of Christendom's greatest hymns, "A
Mighty Fortress." It declares that all
the power of the devil and all the evils of
the world cannot stand up to God.
Luther
opened a flood gate of reform. He trained an
entire generation of new pastors and church
leaders. Pastors led worship in German without
wearing the traditional robes. They purged
churches of relics and put a halt to the
lucrative enterprise of reciting Masses for
the dead. City councils kept charitable money
formerly sent to Rome for local needs.
And
by breaking Rome's hold on Christianity,
Luther opened a theological pandora's box.
Some new religious groups reformed way beyond
Luther's comfort zone: often tossing out all
remnants of traditional worship.
The
Roman Church warned that the Reformation would
bring a storm of conflicting interpretations
of the Bible. It did. And most protestant
leaders were not particularly open-minded. One
reformer wrote: "Individual
interpretation of the Bible allows each man to
carve his own path to hell."
The
Anabaptists – a group prominent in
Switzerland – believed in adult rather than
infant baptism and were strictly non-violent.
When Swiss authorities began executing
Anabaptists for their refusal to serve in the
local military, Luther supported the crackdown
because he was against civil disobedience.
By
1529 a group of states protesting the
emperor's attempt to force all of Europe to be
Roman Catholic, realized that to survive,
they'd need to hammer out a theological common
ground and make a political alliance. Now
called "Protestants," they met here
at Marburg castle – just north of Frankfurt.
The
meeting included Luther, the leading Swiss
reformer Ulrich Zwingli, and a number of other
reformers. They summarized their beliefs and
agreed on everything except one point: the
actual presence of Christ in the wine and
bread of Communion.
On
this issue, Luther – still listening only to
"logic backed by scripture" – was
inflexible. He said "God commands 'take,
eat, this IS my body.' This issue – how
Christ is present in the sacrament – still
divides many Christians today.
Summarizing
the results of Marburg, Luther wrote to Katie.
A
world away from all this theological debate,
the Turks were now actually threatening
Vienna. Emperor Charles V returned to Germany.
His mission: to settle these religious issues
once and for all and unite Europe against the
Turks. He reassembled the congress at
Augsburg.
The
Protestant leaders drew up a list of ways they
differed with Rome. Luther – still
technically an outlaw – was sidelined for
his own safety at this castle in Coburg.
Luther
enthusiastically endorsed this document –
the Augsburg Confession – written and
presented by Melancthon. To this day, this
founding document defines the Lutheran church.
But
the Roman theologians and the Protestants were
unable to agree and the negotiations broke
off. This exasperated Luther and left him
believing the Roman Christians were hopeless.
It also left Charles without his German
alliance.
The
German princes' break with Rome eventually led
to a hundred years of religious wars. Many
historians call this the first world war since
virtually every part of Europe was involved.
In
1648, with Europe dazed and a third of Germany
dead, a treaty was finally signed. The result:
not religious freedom. But now the leaders of
each country were free to decide if their
subjects would be Roman or Protestant
Christians. Much of Europe was divided between
a Catholic south and a Protestant north.
After
Augsburg, Luther returned to Wittenburg where
he preached, wrote, and taught. Productive
until his last days, he helped establish
public education for both boys and girls. He
was a valued arbitrator throughout the region.
And he enjoyed lots more table talk.
Martin
Luther died in 1546 in this house in Eisleben,
the town where he was born. The biggest
funeral procession in memory accompanied his
body to the castle church in Wittenberg where
he's buried. To this day pilgrims bring
flowers.
For
most of the 500 years since the Reformation,
relations between Catholics and Protestants
have not been good. But in our lifetime, huge
strides have been made. Now, many of the
issues have been resolved, and Lutherans and
Catholics are working closer together as
children of God and followers of Jesus.
Today,
there are 350 million Protestant Christians.
And Christians around the world understand
what Martin Luther worked so hard to teach:
that we are saved by God's grace through
faith. And it's all in the Bible. Thanks for
joining us, I'm Rick Steves. God bless each of
you and... auf wiedersehen.
Sources:
https://www.dallas.net/~ritchies/p4wk2.htm
https://www.elca.org/co/luther/timeline.html
https://www.ricksteves.com/tv/luther.htm
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