"Martin Luther: God's Servant" from the Winter 2017 Vision Newsletter

Who is Martin Luther? Most people know him as the one who nailed the Ninety-five Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church in Germany or as someone who initiated the Reformation. While both of these facts are true, Luther was much more, and is actually relevant to us today as Christians and New Apostolics.

Martin Luther was born in 1483 and grew up in a devout Roman Catholic home. To appease his father, Luther studied to become a lawyer, graduating with a bachelor’s and master’s degree by the age of 22. However, God had a different plan for him. During one of his travels, Luther found himself caught in a severe storm. Fearing for his life, he cried out to St. Anne, promising to become a monk if he was saved. And so, Luther left law and joined an Augustinian monastery. He threw himself into the study of Scripture, so much so that the other monks teased him about being a walking Bible concordance. This change to his life path led him to examine many aspects of the Catholic Church.

As Luther grew in his commitment to Christ and his knowledge of Christ’s teachings, he began to notice things within the Church did not seem to fit with what he knew about Christ and the gospel. These contradictions began to affect his relationship with the Roman Catholic Church and changed his relationship with God.

After years of study, preaching, and intense prayer, Luther began to realize that the Church needed reform. Luther did not intend for his work to divide the Church; actually, his posting of the Ninety-five Theses was simply the custom used to initiate a scholarly discussion. But some of the students, unbeknownst to him, took his theses, translated them into German, and distributed them to the people. His message spoke to people and ignited the desire for extreme reform that some felt the Roman Catholic Church needed. The lower classes, who had limited worth with the Roman Catholic Church, especially identified with Luther and his concern over the sale of indulgences in the Church (indulgences were payment to reduce the amount of punishment one had to undergo for their sins). Further, Luther believed that the grace of God accepted in faith, not works, could make you righteous in the eyes of God.

Eventually these concerns led him to write and post the Ninety-five Theses on October 31, 1517. With this document, he expounded on the abuse of power in the Church and catalyzed what would become the Protestant Reformation. After many years and many arguments with other theologians and preachers who followed Luther into the Reformation, the Church divided. Up until then, the Church had always been the Roman Catholic Church, but was now divided into many different denominations of Christianity, and even continued dividing throughout history.

In 1521, Luther was declared a heretic and was excommunicated from the Church because of his work. Luther was not interested in apologizing or discontinuing his work in order to get back into the good graces of the Church. He was firmly committed to exploring what Scripture taught about being a Christian.

When Luther was in hiding after his excommunication, and into his later years, he worked towards establishing a church that was modeled after the first church we find in the New Testament. Luther knew it was essential that all believers were seen as equally valuable members of the body of Christ, regardless of status, education, and class. This belief, and further teachings and understandings from Luther, became the foundation for parts of our doctrine and have influenced the culture of our own Church.

Because Luther thought it was vital that all people have access to Holy Scripture, he translated the New Testament, and later the Old Testament and Apocrypha, into German. This was an important endeavor because before this, the Bible was only published in Latin, which was a language that only scholars and clergy knew. With the Bible now translated into German, and with the help of the newly invented printing press, it was accessible to all people. Educated or uneducated, Christians could read the Bible for themselves in their own language for the first time. However, this did not mean that Luther gave less value to the preached Word.

Luther believed in what he called the “external Word.” This means that, not only should we read the Word of God ourselves, but it should also come to us externally through preaching, hearing it read aloud, and even through song. This allows Scripture to confront and challenge us without being immediately filtered through our sinful minds. Therefore, when the Word of God is preached, it is a powerful tool of personal transformation and speaks to the gathered believers. Luther believed that increasing our knowledge of Scripture – both personally and even more important, corporately – was important for the Christian life.

Another facet of this church that Luther desired to establish was congregational singing. Not only did congregational singing provide time for the believers to collectively worship God, but Luther also viewed it as a valuable tool to help each believer better understand God. His thoughts about music are expressed in his statement: “Experience proves that next to the Word of God only music deserves to be extolled as the mistress and governess of the feelings of the human heart.” For Luther, singing was also a way for people to orient themselves to the Word of God, as many hymn lyrics are based on Bible verses. He wrote many hymns himself, including “A Mighty Fortress is our God.”

Luther’s life was not just defined by his work in the Reformation, but also by the importance that he placed on his role as a husband and a father. Not expecting to ever marry or have children, Luther deeply embraced this part of his identity. His marriage and relationship with Katharina von Bora was a display of deep love and their dependence on Jesus Christ. Regarding marriage, Luther said, “But over and above all these is married love, that is a bride’s love, which glows like a fire and desires nothing but the husband. She says, ‘It is you I want, not what is yours: I want neither your silver nor your gold; I want neither. I want only you. I want you in your entirety, or not at all.’ All other kinds of love seek something other than the loved one: this kind wants only to have the beloved’s own self completely.” He expressed a deep love and tenderness towards his children, spending time in daily Biblical devotions with them, which he expressed as much a teaching for him as for them. He very publicly shared what it meant to depend on his Savior in the midst of trials as he grieved the loss of two of his daughters.

Luther was a scholar, a monk, a theologian, a husband, a father. He was also just a normal, sinful, fallen human being. Even a small study into his life reveals many faults: his anger, his sharp tongue, and some writings later in life against the Jewish people. But Luther was used by God to change the world. He inspired change in the Church that has carried through centuries. When we reflect on Luther’s life, we see how the gospel was alive in him. Let us also live our lives aligned to God’s Word and will, and be on fire for the gospel.

*Research for this was article was largely based on “Luther: A Visual Book” by Stephen McCaskell and Aaron Armstrong, and “Luther on the Christian Life” by Carl R. Trueman