When we hear of famous Christians in history, we often imagine them to be near-perfect. It sometimes surprises us to learn of a spiritual “giant’s” weakness. God works in all of our lives, whether we’re famous or not. Everyone needs God’s saving hand. Despite everything his religious superiors told him, Martin Luther - the famous Reformation leader - could not convince himself that he had peace with God; he felt as though he had never been justified, or declared righteous before God. After becoming a monk to fulfill a vow he made, Luther performed every good work and good deed he could think of. He kept all the monastery rules perfectly (and there were a lot of rules!), trying to erase his feelings of condemnation. Yet somehow, no matter how many good works he did, he still felt terribly guilty, and no man’s reasoning could help him. One day as he was studying the Bible (a rare treat awarded only to priests and monks), Luther came to Romans 1:17: Luther realized something earth-shattering. Faith justifies, not works. This completely changed the way Luther looked at Christianity! One is saved by believing in God’s gift of His Son - when God counts His Son’s perfect righteousness toward the sinner. No amount of good works or obedience can save someone from the penalty of their sins. Only by faith in Jesus Christ can one escape hell. Luther finally felt free. He knew the answer! He was truly saved.
Not everyone, however, appreciated Luther’s “discovery.” In Luther’s day, there were many people who sought to gain money through the Church. One way they did so was to sell indulgences, pieces of paper that the church promised would save someone from their sins. Of course, the pieces of paper had no such power, but when only
the Church has access to the Bible, the common people knew no better. Many poor men and women were led astray by the Church’s teaching of indulgences, giving their hard-earned money to the Church for the selfish and rich priests and receiving useless paper in return. Martin Luther fought against this practice, and the Church responded by trying to darken Luther’s name. When told by the Church that his views were against the Bible, Luther asked his opponents to show him where the Bible supported indulgences. “A council may sometimes err,”
he said. “Neither the church nor the pope can establish articles of faith. These must come from Scripture.” Luther continued to publish his thoughts and beliefs, much to the chagrin of the Church. Soon he was asked to give an account for his beliefs. “My conscience is captive to the Word of God,” he unequivocally asserted. “I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither honest nor safe. Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen.”
With that, Luther had to run. Finding safety in the castle of a friendly duke, Luther waited out his pursuers by translating the New Testament into the common language of his country: German. Luther continued to challenge the beliefs and practices of the Church of his day.
There will always be authorities contradictory to the Bible. In Martin Luther’s day, it was the Church itself. Even though those who supposedly knew the most about Christianity were against him, Luther stood his ground. Well, it wasn’t his ground. It was the truth of the Bible: God’s Word to men.
No comments:
Post a Comment