History of Bible-Believing Christianity VIII

Bible Study at Gospel Light Christian Church, Singapore
by Pastor Dr Paul Choo
Mid-Week Teaching Service

Luther And The German Reformation (Part II)

God prepares the way: Luther came back from his visit to Rome with a clear understanding of the Gospel of grace ("The just shall live by faith") and he was ready to preach this wonderful doctrine.
At this very time, the pope was short of money to rebuild St. Peter's Cathedral. Though he was short of earthly treasure, his "spiritual treasury" was full. According to Romanist doctrine, the saints of the past had accumulated excess good works, and this excess of "holiness" was in the Church's treasury and could be sold as indulgences. (An indulgence is a payment made to the church which provides the giver a forgiveness of sin and a discount on the length of purgatory.) This doctrine contradicts the plain teaching in the Bible that we have all come short of the glory of God (ROM 3:23).

To raise the astronomical sum of money required to rebuild St. Peter's Cathedral in grand style, the pope decided to have a "grand sale" of indulgences. The licenses to sell these indulgences were sold in each district of the Holy Roman Empire to the highest bidder. The man who won the bid for the license in Germany was a super salesman by the name of Tetzel.

The typical indulgence salesman went from town to town in an impressive procession - with the cross, beating of drums, waving of flags and pealing of church bells. In each town they "set up shop" in the cathedral, and proclaimed to the ignorant masses that never in history had the gates of heaven been open so widely so cheaply. (Previous generations of poor who could not afford the high price of indulgences had to risk their lives in foreign crusades against Muslims to earn indulgences.)

Each sin had a particular price. Of course, the rich paid more. Each payer received a letter of absolution from the Roman Church. Indulgences were even sold for future sins and for the dead! The salesmen declared: "At the very instant the money rattles at the bottom of the chest, the soul escapes from purgatory!"

Decent people were shocked at the excesses that were committed by the salesmen in their frantic attempts to recoup their huge investment. Even worse than the commercialization of the church, was the impact that it had on the morals of Europe. Men were indulging in gross immorality believing that they had already paid the price for forgiveness. Even Luther was grieved to see some of his own flock indulging in immorality. Instead of opening the gates of heaven, the sale had opened the gates of hell!

Unknown to men, God was preparing the people for the preaching of the true Gospel through this unprecedented event.

Luther strikes: On October 31, 1517, the day before All-Saints Day, as the crowds flooded into his church at Wittemburg to view the relics (bones) of dead saints, Luther nailed his Ninety-five Theses on the church door.

In his thesis, Luther attacked the doctrine of indulgences and the other false doctrines of the Roman Church. The crowds read his thesis and news of it spread rapidly. If Tetzel had not prepared the hearts of the people against the Roman Church, Luther would probably have been lynched by the crowd for attacking the Church. Copies of it were printed and widely distributed. It was also translated into many other European languages and soon became a household tract all over Europe and Luther became a household name.

By writing his thesis, Luther had committed two unpardonable sins against the church - he had attacked the pope and the bellies of the monks. Rome sent their top theologians to challenge Luther. Needless to say, they were easily defeated by Luther's knowledge of the Bible. At each of these debates, the differences between Luther's doctrines and those of Rome became clearer and clearer. Furthermore, these public debates gave Luther the opportunity to preach to the German nobles.

Luther was summoned to Rome to answer charges of heresy against him. He knew that if he went, it was as good as going to his death. His ruler at first protected him but later, fearing reprisals from Rome, requested him to leave Wittemberg. God would not allow the Reformation to flourish under the protection of any man because it would have robbed Him of His glory!

Rome tried every way to remove Luther. They first used flatteries and made generous offers to him. When they were unable to get him to recant, they excommunicated him. Luther publicly burned the excommunication letter. Rome would have killed him if she could but Luther was now the German hero.

Until this time, Luther had regarded the Roman Church as God's church in spite of its false doctrines and corruption. However, he finally realized that the Roman church was "none other than the kingdom of Babylon….The papacy is a general chase led by the Roman bishops to catch and
destroy souls."

Luther began to launch numerous tracts against the Romanist system and to write many commentaries on the Bible, that were widely read in Germany. Luther's commentary on the book of Galatians is a still regarded as one of the finest commentaries on that book.
As a result of his numerous attacks against Rome, the demand for indulgences stopped and sales ceased.

During this time of great need, God sent Luther a valuable ally, Melancthon. He was a gentle Bible scholar who complimented Luther, the fighting preacher.

Rome reacts: The emperor at this time, Emperor Charles, was a devout papist. He was determined to exterminate Luther but was afraid of the response of the other German rulers who favored Luther.

A Diet (ie, a great gathering of the rulers of Europe) was summoned in the city of Worms, to try Luther before the German leaders. Luther attended the Diet with the likelihood of being sentenced to death there. However, instead of charging Luther, the German rulers censured the pope for his extravagance! Again, Luther had the wonderful opportunity to preach to all these nobles. He spoke for two hours before them as he defended himself - and warned them of God's judgment and presented the Gospel. Instead of being charged before them, he charged them with God's impending judgment.

Finally, when asked if he would recant of his "sins" against the church, he replied: "Here I stand, I can do no other. May God help me. Amen." Many of the nobles were moved by Luther's preaching and courage and thereafter became supporters of the Reformation. The Emperor desired to burn Luther but he needed the support of the German princes because he was on the brink of war with France. To everyone's surprise, Luther emerged alive from the Diet.

From that hall, Luther's protest rang throughout all Europe, summoning nations to break the yoke of Rome. This solitary monk became the representative of man's conscience, enlightened and upheld by the Word against all the powers of darkness.

As Luther traveled back from Worms, he was mysteriously "kidnapped" by a group of masked men sent by his friends and brought secretly to the Castle of Wartburg for his own safety. At the Diet of Worms, he had risen to great heights of fame and God wanted to keep him from public view to humble him.

In his friendly ten-month "imprisonment" at Wartburg, Luther translated the New Testament from Greek to German. His enforced imprisonment liberated the German people from superstition and papist oppression. While translating the New Testament, Luther was viciously attacked by Satan. He heard terrible noises at night, dogs howled and Satanic apparitions in the form of a lion walked round him. His song "A mighty fortress is our God" describes these attacks. Besides translating the New Testament during these ten months, he wrote many commentaries. In spite of his busyness, Luther was frustrated by his enforced "idleness" at Wartburg.

Luther gathered a group of friends to improve his translation of the New Testament. And the completed German New Testament set the standard for the German language (in the same way that Wycliffe's English translation had set the standard for the English language.)