WHY DOES IT MATTER?
Five hundred years after Luther’s historic act it
is easy to think all this was a religious dispute
in the Middle Ages which has no relevance to us
today. Yet the questions, ‘How can a person be
made right with God?’ and ‘Can we know that
after death we will be received into heaven or
lost from God in hell?’ are still big issues with
which thinking people grapple.
There are still major differences between the
teachings of the Bible and the Roman Catholic
Church. Religion teaches that by doing good and
following religious duties we can try to reach
God. The Bible teaches exactly the opposite.
Religion based on our efforts is powerless to
change us and enable us to live as we should.
Rather, God has taken the initiative and come
into the world to reconcile us to Himself. He
clothed Himself in humanity in Jesus, lived a
sinless life, and then on the cross He took the
judgement which should be ours. He died and
was buried, but His tomb is empty. He has risen,
and is seated on the throne of heaven.
Christians are people who have been justified
by grace (God’s infinite love) alone, through
faith alone, in Christ alone. God wants us to
confess our sins to Him, and put our trust in
Jesus alone to be our Lord and Saviour.
1 1 Corinthians 3:11
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Martin Luther saw very clearly the Bible’s
teaching that everyone needs forgiveness, and
that no individual or church can ever make
themselves good enough to be acceptable to
God, who is absolutely holy and just.
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WHO WAS MARTIN LUTHER?
WHAT DID HE DO?
WHAT IMPACT DID IT HAVE?
He was born in Eisleben in 1483 and was
baptised a Roman Catholic. Returning from
his home to university on horseback on 2 July
1505, there was a thunderstorm. A lightning
bolt struck right next to him. Terrified of death
and of being judged by God for his sin, he made
a rash vow to become a monk. So, he entered a
closed Augustinian friary. In 1507 he became a
Catholic priest.
On the momentous day when he nailed
the 95 Theses on what was regarded as a
public noticeboard, Luther was objecting to
indulgences, which were being sold by the
Catholic Church. Indulgences were wrong in
that Rome was taking money from the poor
to raise funds to rebuild St Peter’s Basilica in
Rome, but also because they were described
as freeing people from purgatory. There was no
mention of repentance or forgiveness through
Jesus.
With the aid of the printing press Luther’s
Theses spread throughout Germany and then
throughout Europe.
Martin Luther knew that salvation is offered
as a gift from God because of Jesus, and is not
earned or bought.
“I cannot and will not recant anything,
since it is neither safe nor right to go
against my conscience. Here I stand.
I can do no other.”
He was later transferred, by the Church, to the
University of Wittenberg where he became
the Professor of Biblical Theology. However,
all through this time Luther was wrestling with
the issue of how he could be at peace with
God. He was aware that he, like all of us, was
a sinner, and he longed to find forgiveness. He
fasted, prayed, went to confession and Mass,
paid penance, made a pilgrimage to Rome, but
remained in spiritual despair.
Martin Luther, a German monk and university
professor, nailed his 95 Theses on the door of
the Castle Church at Wittenberg in Germany.
The Theses were points Luther was making
that were indirectly questioning Roman
Catholic teachings and practice.
Gradually, through reading the Bible and
Christian books, he saw that salvation, or
forgiveness of sin, did not come from what he
could do, but through what Jesus had done on
the cross for him. He turned to God, being sorry
for all his sinfulness. Soon he was preaching
and writing about Jesus, and the free gift of
salvation through faith in Him.
So the day before a festival in Wittenberg,
where people would come to see various relics,
Martin Luther sought to call attention to the
terrible abuse and corruption within the Church.
WHY DID HE DO IT?
His desire was for the Church to go back to
the Bible and not rely on tradition, popes and
councils. He knew that the Church is not the
sole interpreter of the Scriptures, believing that
anyone, with God’s help, is able to read and
understand the Bible.
Fundamental to all his teaching was that the
sacraments are not magical. He denounced
the doctrine of transubstantiation: Jesus had
died once and for all, for the sins of all people,
past, present and future. And He is the only
foundation of the true church. 1
The Pope and Papal envoys turned against
Luther. On 18 April 1521 Luther was ordered
to appear before the Diet of Worms. The ‘diet’
was the imperial parliament which moved from
city to city, but on this occasion was in Worms,
a town on the Rhine. When asked if he stood by
what he had written, he famously replied:
As a result his literature was banned, and it was
made a crime for anyone in Germany to give
him food or shelter. On his return to Wittenberg,
his supporter, Frederick III, had him taken to
Wartburg Castle for his own safety. There Luther
translated the New Testament into German,
and continued his writing. He
also wrote several hymns. He
married an ex-nun, Katharina
von Bora, and enjoyed a
happy family life.