In the spring of 1541 Luther gave his account of his role in the Reformation…and these were a few of his recollections:
…a man named John Tetzel carried indulgences about and sold “grace” for money, as expensively or cheaply as he could by the exertion of all his powers…at the same I was a preacher here in the monastery and a young doctor, brand-new, fervent and zealous in Holy Scripture…then, when many people of Wittenberg ran to Tetzel for indulgences, and I did not know what these indulgences were, I began to preach gently that one could do something better, something that would be more certain than the buying of indulgence. I also did not know at that time for whom the money was intended…then a booklet came out, beautifully adorned with the arms of Bishop Albert in which the indulgence peddlers were commanded to preach…so it appeared that Bishop Albert of Mainz had hired this man Tetzel because he was a great crier and peddler of indulgences…with half the money raised to go to the bankers who financed the loan so that Albert could acquire his bishop’s position, and the remaining half of the money would go toward the erection of St. Peter’s Church at Rome. So I wrote a letter with the Ninety-five Theses to the Bishop of Magdeburg, admonishing and beseeching him to stop Tetzel and to prevent the preaching of such unfit things but I received no answer…I also wrote the same thing to the Bishop of Brandenburg; in his reply he said that I was attacking the power of the church and would get myself in trouble; he advised me to keep my hands off. So my Propositions (95 theses) went forth against the articles of Tetzel…in fourteen days they actually passed through all Germany; for all the world was complaining about indulgences but all the bishops and doctors remained silent and no one wanted to “bell the cat” (from a medieval fable in which mice want to put a bell around the cat’s neck but cannot agree who should do it because of the danger involved to the one who attempts to “bell the cat”): There is no divine authority for preaching that the soul flies out of purgatory immediately the money clinks in the bottom of the chest (Thesis 27)…it is certainly possible that when the money clinks in the bottom of the chest that greed and love of money increase (Thesis 28) Any Christian who is truly repentant enjoys forgiveness of sins and this is given to him or her without letters of indulgence (Thesis 36) I did not relish this task that became mine…and the song threatened to be too high for my voice – this is the true beginning of the “Lutheran disturbance”…and if it developed into a “disturbance” that hurt the Roman Catholic Church, they have to thank themselves for it – since they handled this matter so foolishly. Reformation Gem: the Reformation was about the Gospel of Jesus Christ -- the Good News that a person is saved by grace, through faith, in Jesus Christ “for I am not ashamed of the Gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith” (Romans 1:16) “for God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:16-17) In 1531 Luther gave a series of lectures on the book of Galatians. The following are some Reformation Gems from Luther -- for your reflection and the strengthening of your faith: Two great enemies of a person are sin and conscience...and that is why Paul, in this epistle, talks about God's grace and peace -- for grace contains the forgiveness of sins and peace gives to us a quiet and joyful conscience. Christ is no lawgiver, no tyrant, but a mediator for sins, a free giver of grace, righteousness, and life -- who gave Himself, not for our merits, righteousness, and godly life, but for our sins. For we are sinners yet Christ took our sins upon Himself and for them died on the cross -- Christ was accounted to be the greatest sinner whoever lived, having all sins imputed to Him -- that He might make satisfaction for them with His own blood. For it is the office of the mediator to pacify the party that is offended (God) and to reconcile to Him the party that is the offender (the sinner)...for if Christ is made guilty of all the sins that we all have committed, then we are delivered from all sins, but not by ourselves, not by our own works and merits, but by Him...but if He is innocent, and He did not bear our sins, then we still bear them and in them we shall die and be condemned. Christian righteousness consists in two things: (1) faith in the heart and (2) God's imputation of righteousness, which we obtain through Christ, and for Christ's sake, who is given to us and received of us by faith. For he that believes has as great a sin as the unbeliever but to the believer, it is forgiven and not imputed...to the unbeliever the sin is not forgiven but is imputed. We seek not the favor of men by our doctrine (of justification), for we teach that all men are wicked by nature, and the children of wrath. We condemn man's freewill, his strength, wisdom and righteousness, and religion of man's own making, and, to be short, that there is nothing in us to deserve grace and the forgiveness of sins...but, we preach, that we obtain this grace, by the free mercy of God only, for Christ's sake. For the Gospel teaches that He came that He might be made a blood covering for the sins of the whole world and that our sins might be forgiven and everlasting life given to us for His sake, and not for the works of the law or for our own righteousness. Who was Martin Luther? Well, these things could be said about Martin.
He was born of Christian parents. Because of his many writings, several of which were viewed as heretical by the Church of his time, he was excommunicated and a death sentence was placed on his life. During his lifetime he accomplished many things; foremost in his own estimation was the translation of the Scriptures into the German language, along with writing two very significant books: the Small and Large Catechisms and The Bondage of the Will. Most interesting, though, was the life of Martin Luther and his spiritual journey. From my perspective, the Reformation began with a thunderstorm back in July 1505. Luther was studying to be a lawyer and one day, as he was approaching a village in Saxony Germany, a lightning bolt knocked him to the ground. As he tried to get up, he cried out to St. Anne, the patron saint of miners (Luther's father was a miner and even owned a couple of mines), "St. Anne, help me and I will become a monk!" He who called upon a saint for help was later to denounce praying to saints; he who vowed to become a monk would later reject monasticism; he who was a devoted servant of the pope would come to accuse the papacy of being the "anti-christ" for it robbed people of the Gospel through its false teachings. His followers would call him "Elijah, the prophet of God" to the people of Germany; his opponents would call him the "son of the devil" and the destroyer of Christendom. So who was Martin Luther…he was a man who lived in FEAR, especially as he lived in fear of Jesus -- only knowing and believing Jesus to be the great JUDGE who would condemn to hell all those who were not holy in His sight. Like the other people who were trying to get to heaven, Luther laid hold of every help that the church offered: to be baptized; to take the Lord's Supper often, daily if possible; to do penance, that is, to confess every wrongdoing and to seek His forgiveness; to make pilgrimages to holy places and to view sacred relics; to pray to the saints (Luther turned to twenty-one different saints for help with his sins, three different saints for each day of the week); to purchase a letter of indulgence so that one could be granted the remission of all sins and be restored to the state of innocence that one received at the moment of one's baptism and be relieved from the pains of purgatory; and finally, to live the life of a monk with its vows of poverty, chastity and humility. Yet, "who can ever do enough" became the resolve of Martin Luther...for no matter how much Luther sought out the help of the church, he still did not have peace inside. HOW CAN ANYONE BE SURE THAT THEY HAVE DONE ENOUGH TO EARN GOD’S GRACE AND FAVOR? But on one lonely night…a breakthrough occurred. Luther was preparing for a lecture on the Psalms and he came across the phrase: "in Your righteousness, O Lord, deliver me!" Luther was puzzled because he had always understood "righteousness" to be something that God demanded of us -- something that we must do. So Luther began to search the Scriptures for every passage that spoke of "the righteousness of God" and this lead him to Romans 1:16-17: 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 shall live by faith. It was in that text that Luther realized what God was saying to him and to all people. God does not demand this righteousness from the sinner; instead, God gives this righteousness to the sinner by grace, through faith, in Jesus Christ. As a result of Luther's faith in this promise, he no longer saw God as an angry judge but as a loving and gracious God. The indulgence controversy strengthened his belief that the righteous are those who are saved by grace, through faith, in Jesus Christ alone; since how can salvation be purchased by a piece of paper sold by the church? And it was Luther's theological reflection upon Scripture that caused him to write these selected theses (from the 95 Theses) posted on October 31, 1517: "When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said "repent," He called for the entire life of a person to be one of repentance!" (Thesis 1) "Any Christian who is truly repentant enjoys remission of sin and this is given to him or her without letters of indulgences" (Thesis 36) "The true treasure of the church is the holy Gospel of the glory and grace of God" (Thesis 62) As a result of that posting, an amazing thing happened: within 30 days all of Germany of was talking about these things...within 90 days all of Europe...and the indulgence revenue was reduced by 80%. As we move toward our remembrance of October 31, 1517, and the posting of the 95 Theses on the door at Castle Church in Wittenberg Germany, we celebrate and embrace these Reformation "solas": BY GRACE ALONE...we are saved by grace alone, not of works BY CHRIST ALONE...for He is the world's only Savior and Redeemer BY FAITH ALONE...as faith lays hold of the promises of God that the Son has set us free from sin, death and the evil one and that we have eternal life in Him BY SCRIPTURE ALONE...for God has revealed to us the Good News of our salvation in Jesus Christ in the Sacred Scriptures so that we might know His heart and His love May you all enjoy a blessed Reformation celebration as we remember His grace and goodness in our lives. May this eternal Gospel be proclaimed "to those who dwell on the earth, to every nation and tribe and tongue and people" (Revelation 14:6) so that they might believe in Him who is "the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (John 14:6). [Personal note: On October 29th, I will be preaching at a Lutheran Church in South Africa; finally returning to Botswana and South Africa after seventeen years in order to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Lutheran Church in Southern Africa and the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation with our brothers and sisters in Christ there] |