Reformation Day
October 31, 2021
Opening Prayer
I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your
dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray
that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my
doings and life may please You. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body
and soul, and all things. Let your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may
have no power over me. Amen.[1]
Martin Luther
November 10, 1483-February 18, 1546
Son of a copper miner
An important time of economic change from feudalism to a market economy.
He was a genius.
1501 – Entered the University of Erfurt.
1502 – Earned Bachelor of Arts degree.
1505 – Earned Master of Arts degree.
May
1505 – Entered Law School
July
1505 – Thunderstorm, Vow, Entered the Black Cloister, an Augustinian monastery
-
“St. Anne, save me! I’ll become a monk!”
o
St. Anne, the mother of Mary.
o
Patron saint of women (in various states),
horseback riders, cabinet makers, and miners.
o
NOTE: Luther’s religious life was transactional.
-
Hans Luther did not believe the event happened,
but that Martin had made it up as an excuse to enter the monastery.
-
Martin tried to convince his father that this
would benefit him and his mother.
o
Prayers for their souls – especially regarding
purgatory.
o
This, too, is transactional.
o
Places a higher value on “religious orders” than
on a secular career.
o
Later he deals with this as vocation.
§
Christian Shoemakers
Spiritual Formation
There were three main spiritual movements that helped to
form Luther theologically.
-
Mystics
o
Thomas à
Kempis and Johannes Tauler
o
Ladder of Monks – Guigo II
§
Reading, Meditation, Prayer and Contemplation
o
The idea is that we spiritually ascend to God
and enter a state of bliss.
-
Humanists
o
Desiderius Erasmus
o
Focus is on individual rationality.
o
“A layman and his Bible.”
o
Faith = the formation of the mind to think
rightly
-
Heretics
o
Jan Hus and pre-reformers
o
People who were calling for correction to the
abuses of the church.
-
NOTE: All of these movements believed and taught
that Christians must do something to be saved.
o
Being a Christian was seen as a sort of
spiritual contract.
o
Key phrase: “Do what is in you.”
Luther’s Troubled Conscience
Even
in the monastery Luther did not find spiritual peace.
-
Johann von Staupitz was nearly worn out by Luther’s
confessions.
May 1507 – Ordination and First Mass
-
He almost dropped the bread and wine, and considered
running away.
November 1510 – Represented the Observant
Augustinians to Rome
-
Not only official business, but an opportunity
to engage in a pilgrimage.
-
He was deeply disappointed. Rome was a cesspool
– physically and spiritually.
-
He experienced a profound disillusionment.
October, 1512 – Doctor of Theology at the University
of Wittenberg
-
Brand new university.
-
Lectured on Psalms, Romans, Galatians, and
Hebrews
o
Romans and Galatians transformed his theology.
o
Discovered two kinds of righteousness.
§ The
Righteousness of God
§
Luther – “I hated that word, ‘the righteousness
of God,’ which, according to the custom and the use of all teachers, I had been
taught to understand in the philosophical sense with respect to the formal or
active righteousness, as they called it, with which God is righteous and
punishes the unrighteous sinner.”[2]
§
Righteousness from Faith, a.k.a. passive
righteousness
§
Simil jusus et peccator.
o
This was truly a matter of life and death for
Luther.
Johann Tetzel and Indulgences
-
Tetzel was an itinerant preacher, huckster, entertainer – like some revivalists.
-
Tetzel – “Do you not hear the voices of your
dead relatives and others, crying out to you and saying, ‘Pity us, pity us, for
we are in dire punishment and torment from which you can redeem us for a
pittance’? And you will not?”
-
Tetzel – “Will you not then for a quarter
of a florin receive these letters of indulgence through which you are able to
lead a divine and immortal soul safely and securely into the homeland of
paradise?”
-
Tetzel – “Once the coin into the coffer clings,
a soul from purgatory heavenward springs!”
-
NOTE: This is a truly crass transaction of
religious goods.
o
Relics
o
Pilgrimages
-
What was the money used for?
October 31, 1517 – The 95 Theses
-
These are a beginning – a spark – Luther is
still very Roman Catholic in his thinking and his trust of the pope.
-
He is really looking for dialog on how God
delivers His forgiveness.
-
Written in Latin.
o
Others translated them into German and had them
printed and distributed.
o
Technology!
Making a Theologian of Luther
Sounding similar to the Ladder of Monks, Luther experienced a
different kind of spiritual formation.
-
Prayer, Meditation, and Trouble
-
Through prayer and meditation, Luther was
learning God’s Word about righteousness and forgiveness.
-
By teaching it he experienced trouble – major
trouble – having to defend his teachings and refine his beliefs, which, …
-
Drove him back to prayer and meditation.
Spring 1518 – The Heidelberg Disputation.
-
This was a conversation among the Augustinians
and other religious orders.
-
This document is much more theologically
important than the 95 Theses.
Constant Attack and Defense
Fall 1518 – Luther was summoned to Rome. This would
have been a death sentence for him.
December 1518 – Elector Fredrick the Wise refused to
send Luther.
-
This was, at least in part, because Luther drew
students to the university.
-
The Elector’s support is an important part of
Luther’s success where others had failed.
The God of History Intervened
January 12, 1519 – The emperor, Maximilian I, died.
-
As an Elector, Fredrick the Wise was now in a
very powerful position.
June 28, 1519 – Charles I of Spain elected Holy Roman
Emperor.
-
Charles was not friendly to the Lutheran cause, but
he knew he needed the political support of Fredrick and other “Lutheran”
princes.
o
1453 – The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman
Empire.
o
Sultan Selim I reigned from 1512-1520 and under
his reign the Ottomans took the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa.
o
Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent reigned
1520-1566. He pushed into Eastern Europe.
o
Charles’s need for “Lutheran” armies opened him
to compromise.
Important Dates, Events, and Documents
January 1520 – The Diet of Worms
-
“Here I stand.”
May 1521 – Luther “kidnapped” and taken to the
Wartburg.
December 1521 – Luther begins translating the New
Testament into German.
-
His translation solidifies the German language.
-
This also helps to unify Germany as a nation.
June 13, 1525 – Married Katharina von Bora, a runaway
nun.
-
Six children – Hans, Elizabeth (died at a couple
months), Magdalene (died in Luther’s arms at 13 yrs), Martin, Paul, and
Margaret
1529 – Wrote the Small and Large Catechisms.
-
This was in response to the lack of education in
the faith happening in congregations.
-
See his Introduction to the Small Catechism.
June 25, 1530 – The presentation of the Augsburg
Confession.
-
Written by Philip Melanchthon, Luther’s
right-hand man.
-
Presented as a statement of faith explaining the
agreements and disagreements the “Lutherans” had with the Roman Catholic
church.
-
Rejected by the Catholic Theologians in a
document called the Confutation.
-
Melanchthon quickly went to work writing The
Apology of the Augsburg Confession – a defense.
1537 – The Schmalkald Articles.
-
A sort of theological last-will-and-testament
written by Luther.
January 1543 – Published Against the Jews and
Their Lies.
February 18, 1546 – Luther died.
-
“Do you want to die in this confession of
faith?”
-
“Ja!”
-
“We are all beggars.”
1577 – The Formula of Concord.
-
Martin Chemnitz (1522-1586), the “Second
Martin.”
-
The Lutherans floundered after Luther’s death.
-
Melanchthon was more willing to compromise for
the sake of peace.
-
1546-1547 – The Schmalkaldic War.
-
Internal strife and dissention.
-
Different theological influences creeping in.
(Calvinism)
- 
“If Martin [Chemnitz] had not come along, Martin
[Luther] would hardly have survived.”
1580 – The Book of Concord
-
The Three Ecumenical Creeds, The Augsburg
Confession, The Apology of the Augsburg Confession, The Schmalkald (Smalcald)
Articles, Treatise on the Power and the Primacy of the Pope, The Small
Catechism, The Large Catechism, and Formula of Concord.
A good resource to learn more about the Lutheran Confessions:
The Thinking Fellows Podcast
-
In 2021 they have been working their way through
the Book of Concord
-
www.1517.org/podcasts/thinkingfellows
The Heidelberg Disputation[3]
THEOLOGICAL THESES
Distrusting completely our own wisdom, according to that
counsel of the Holy Spirit, »Do not rely on your own insight« (Prov. 3:5),
we humbly present to the judgment of all those who wish to be here these
theological paradoxes, so that it may become clear whether they have been
deduced well or poorly from St. Paul, the especially chosen vessel and
instrument of Christ, and also from St. Augustine, his most trustworthy
interpreter.
- The
law of God, the most salutary doctrine of life, cannot advance man on his
way to righteousness, but rather hinders him.
- Much
less can human works, which are done over and over again with the aid of
natural precepts, so to speak, lead to that end.
- Although
the works of man always seem attractive and good, they are nevertheless
likely to be mortal sins.
- Although
the works of God are always unattractive and appear evil, they are
nevertheless really eternal merits.
- The
works of men are thus not mortal sins (we speak of works which are
apparently good), as though they were crimes.
- The
works of God (we speak of those which he does through man) are thus not
merits, as though they were sinless.
- The
works of the righteous would be mortal sins if they would not be feared as
mortal sins by the righteous themselves out of pious fear of God.
- By so
much more are the works of man mortal sins when they are done without fear
and in unadulterated, evil self-security.
- To say
that works without Christ are dead, but not mortal, appears to constitute
a perilous surrender of the fear of God.
- Indeed,
it is very difficult to see how a work can be dead and at the same time
not a harmful and mortal sin.
- Arrogance
cannot be avoided or true hope be present unless the judgment of
condemnation is feared in every work.
- In the
sight of God sins are then truly venial when they are feared by men to be
mortal.
- Free
will, after the fall, exists in name only, and as long as it does what it
is able to do, it commits a mortal sin.
- Free
will, after the fall, has power to do good only in a passive capacity, but
it can always do evil in an active capacity.
- Nor
could free will remain in a state of innocence, much less do good, in an
active capacity, but only in its passive capacity.
- The
person who believes that he can obtain grace by doing what is in him adds
sin to sin so that he becomes doubly guilty.
- Nor
does speaking in this manner give cause for despair, but for arousing the
desire to humble oneself and seek the grace of Christ.
- It is
certain that man must utterly despair of his own ability before he is
prepared to receive the grace of Christ.
- That
person does not deserve to be called a theologian who looks upon the
»invisible« things of God as though they were clearly »perceptible in
those things which have actually happened« (Rom. 1:20;
cf. 1 Cor 1:21-25),
- he
deserves to be called a theologian, however, who comprehends the visible
and manifest things of God seen through suffering and the cross.
- A
theology of glory calls evil good and good evil. A theology of the cross
calls the thing what it actually is.
- That
wisdom which sees the invisible things of God in works as perceived by man
is completely puffed up, blinded, and hardened.
- The »law
brings the wrath« of God (Rom. 4:15),
kills, reviles, accuses, judges, and condemns everything that is not in
Christ.
- Yet
that wisdom is not of itself evil, nor is the law to be evaded; but
without the theology of the cross man misuses the best in the worst
manner.
- He is
not righteous who does much, but he who, without work, believes much in
Christ.
- The
law says, »do this«, and it is never done. Grace says, »believe in this«,
and everything is already done.
- Actually
one should call the work of Christ an acting work (operans) and our
work an accomplished work (operatum), and thus an accomplished work
pleasing to God by the grace of the acting work.
- The
love of God does not find, but creates, that which is pleasing to it. The
love of man comes into being through that which is pleasing to it.
[1]
Luther’s Morning Prayer, Small Catechism
[2]
Kittelson, James, Luther the Reformer, Augsburg, Minneapolis, 1986, p.
87
[3]
This copy of the Heidelberg Disputation’s theses is from https://bookofconcord.org/sources-and-context/heidelberg-disputation/
Luther’s expanded comments on the theses are also at that website. Additionally,
there is a link to Luther’s 95 Theses if you wish to read them.
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