Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a man with an iron bar for a backbone, and his life is a hinge on which the history of the church turned. He was born in November of 1483, in the little German mining town of Eisleben. His parents were poor, but industrious; they taught him well the disciplines of hard work and sacrifice.
Following his father’s wishes, Luther studied hard, hoping to become a lawyer. However, shortly after receiving his M.A. degree in 1505, after two close brushes with death, he forsook all his former plans and entered an Augustinian monastery at Erfurt. His father was furious, but nothing could change Martin’s mind once he had made a choice.
At the monastery he entered wholeheartedly into the discipline and studies. Yet he became more and more depressed and distressed as he became more and more aware of God’s righteousness and of his own wickedness, and of his complete inability to please God. He studied all the church fathers, and was especially attracted to St. Augustine. After learning Greek and Hebrew, he began an intense study of the Bible in the original languages. In the winter of 1511, his superior, Staupitz, sent him on a pilgrimage to Rome. He was full of hope that this journey would bring light and peace to his troubled soul, but the inspiration quickly faded.
In 1511 he was called to Wittenburg to teach theology. He remained in this role for the rest of his life. While studying at Wittenburg, the truth of Romans 1:17, “the just shall live by faith,” dawned on his soul. He realized the righteousness of God was imputed to his account through the merit of Jesus Christ alone, and that rather than trying to clear his own record by penance and self-denial, he need only rest in the finished work of Christ. Now spiritually reborn, his teaching became more evangelical and opposition began to appear.
In 1517 a Dominican monk named Tetzel was selling indulgences in Luther’s area. His extravagant claims were too much for Luther. He made a list of points which he was ready to debate, and nailed it to the church door. No one accepted the challenge, yet within a few weeks these “95 theses” were translated and published throughout Germany and Europe. Luther denied the existence of the “treasury of merit” on which the value of indulgences depended. On the other hand, he said if the pope really could empty purgatory of sinners, he ought, out of Christian love, to do it immediately and without being paid for it.
During this time Luther really had no intention of breaking with the church of Rome. Confrontations in 1518 with Cajetan and in 1519 with Eck at Leipzig convinced him that the Church no longer held the Word of God as authoritative, and that since it would not correct its teaching and practice, particularly regarding justification by grace through faith, no reconciliation was possible. He wrote three pamphlets which deepened the cleavage, and convinced the pope that Luther must be stopped. In his “Address to the German Nobility,” Luther urged that the Roman Catholic hierarchy be eliminated from Germany. He attacked the whole sacramental system in “The Babylonian Captivity of the Church.” “Freedom of the Christian Man” argued eloquently and effectively for the priesthood of all believers. Pope Leo was finally aroused to action in June, 1520: he condemned Luther’s ideas, ordered his writings burned, and gave him 60 days to submit or be excommunicated. Luther responded by throwing the papal bull, along with books of his opponents, into the fire. Three weeks later the pope excommunicated him.
The newly crowned emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Charles V, ordered Luther to appear at Worms to answer the charges against him to the Diet. Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony and Luther’s immediate superior, obtained a guarantee of safe conduct to the trial. Luther stood before the Diet and the Emperor, and after admitting the stack of books in view to be his, was ordered to recant the views contained in them. He asked for time to reconsider, and was granted it. The next day he took his stand: “Unless you can convince me by Scripture alone that I am wrong, I will not recant.” The court was stunned. They allowed Luther to leave, but within hours Charles declared him an outlaw, to be arrested and killed on sight. But Luther had been whisked away to Wartburg castle. Frederick arranged the escape, and provided Luther’s needs there for nearly two years.
Luther used this voluntary exile advantageously by translating the New Testament into the German language. Somewhat later he added the Old Testament. For the first time the common people of Germany could read and understand the Word of God in their own language.
In his absence from Wittenburg, more radical reformers like Karlstadt gained the upper hand. Through their preaching and example they inspired the people to destroy icons and even desecrate churches. Luther returned in a fury. He ousted Karlstadt from Saxony, forbidding him ever to return. Then by strong preaching he was able to temporarily quench the flames of anarchy and rebellion Karlstadt had fanned. This was the first of a series of breaks between Luther and other segments of the reforming camp.
In 1525 he broke with the humanists, and chiefly Erasmus, who had been his friend. Erasmus desired a reformation of morals, but he did not want to change church doctrine. He would willingly sacrifice any Biblical doctrine for peace and unity. The split became final when Luther wrote “On the Bondage of the Will” in answer to Erasmus’s “On the Freedom of the Will.” The same year he lost the support of the peasants of Southern Germany, by siding with the nobility during the Peasant Uprising. In a hastily written pamphlet he urged the nobles to first offer terms, and then to use all necessary force to bring them to submission.
About this same time a new dimension was added to his life: Katharina von Bora, a former nun, became his wife. She was a good wife and mother; they shared a happy and fruitful home. Two of their six children died as infants, but the others, two boys and two girls, became a credit to their father’s name.
Perhaps the most serious split came in 1529, between Luther and Zwingli, over the nature of the presence of Christ in the bread and wine in the Eucharist.
During the remaining years of Luther’s life the conflict intensified. It was inevitable that armed hostilities should eventually break out. Luther, still an outlaw, remained for the most part at home in Saxony. But others carried his fervor to the battle-lines, and some peace was won. Not until 1555, nine years after his death, were the Lutherans given legal recognition.
In 1546 Luther was passing through Eisleben, the town of his birth, on a preaching tour. His health had been failing, and in the morning he did not feel strong enough to go on to the next town. Doctors were called, but there was nothing they could do. He died on February 18, 1546.
Other than his effective break with Rome and the establishment of the Lutheran church, his most important contributions were the German Bible, his encouragement to Christian education for lay people, and his demonstration of the sanctity of a happy Christian home.
The main distinctions between his doctrine and that of Rome were his dependence on the Bible as the sole authority and his clear insight into the means of salvation. He declared the doctrine of justification by grace alone, through faith alone, with all his might.