History of Bible-Believing Christianity IX

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

Luther And The German Reformation (Part III)

Germany wakes up: The German New Testament, which Luther translated, "woke" Germany from the Dark Ages. Luther continued to attack the Romanist Mass and other false practices by his writings. Soon half of Germany turned to the Gospel - and the Romanist churches in these parts of Germany were purged of their grosser evils. The other half of Germany remained Romanist. The reception of the Gospel influenced every aspect of German life. For example, in the field of literature, there were only 35 literary publications in Germany in 1513, but in 1523 there were 498.

Satan responds: As the Gospel was being preached and the Romanist Church was shaken to its very foundations, a group of Christians were stirred up to cause problems. They were called the "Zwickau fanatics." They were Anabaptists (ie, re-baptizers) who claimed to be led by an inner-light. This inner-light enabled some of them to prophesy and their prophets predicted that the end of the world was near and that the reign of the saints in the New Kingdom was soon coming. They also taught that since they had the inner-light to guide them, it was not necessary for them to study the Bible. (Many of their teachings are similar to that of the present-day Charismatic Movement.) Many seminarians, enticed by this easy method of knowing God's truth, left their arduous studies in the seminaries to join the Anabaptists. Luther preached hard against the false teachings of the Anabaptists, and their influence was soon ended.

Rome also reacted to the German Reformation by reforming some of her grosser corrupt practices. However, their false doctrines were left unchanged. She was willing to change her form, so that her substance would not need to be changed. Luther, however, continued to attack her doctrines and was determined to destroy the whole Romanist system.

At this time, when the iron-grip of Rome was lessened but the teaching of the Gospel had not yet been fully grasped, the long-oppressed peasants rose in revolt against Rome. They were fighting the oppression in the only way they knew - by destroying their oppressors' property. The Reformation was blamed for this, though the root-cause was not the Reformation but the oppressive and corrupt Romanist system. In the areas where the Gospel had taken deep root, there was no revolt. Luther pleaded with the peasants to stop but failed. About 100,000 of them were slaughtered by the rulers. In countries that were not affected by the Reformation, far greater upheaval took place later (eg. during the French Revolution about 200 years later).

Luther falters: In the earlier part of his ministry against Rome, Luther was clear that the Romanist Mass of re-sacrificing Christ was wrong. However, later on he taught the doctrine of consubstantiation. It was a compromise between the Romanist doctrine of the Mass which teaches that Christ is literally sacrificed during the Mass and the Christian doctrine of the Lord's Supper which teaches that the elements of the Supper are only a "memorial" of His sacrifice (1CO 11:24,25). Luther's doctrine of consubstantiation teaches that the elements of the Lord's Supper remain as bread and wine, ie, Jesus Christ is literally present in them. The word "con" means "with," ie, Jesus Christ is literally with the bread and wine of each Lord's Supper.

Luther's compromise split the Reformation into two opposing camps - Lutheran and Reformed (ie, Zwinglean and Calvinistic). Many debates ensued between the two camps but Luther never budged from his erroneous position. This split caused no end of problems to the Reformation. The Mass still continues to have a mystical grip on many Romanists and former Romanists.


Protestants recognized: Europe, after 1000 years of stable stagnation, was undergoing tremendous upheaval. The Emperor summoned a Diet at the city of Spires. The Reformed rulers went under the banner "The Word of the Lord endureth forever." They were greatly outnumbered by the Romanist rulers. In the face of impending defeat for their cause, news suddenly arrived of a break between the pope and the Emperor. It was necessary for the Romanist and Reformed factions to unite under the Emperor against the pope. In this mood of reconciliation, a decree was passed at this diet to legally recognize the Protestants and to grant them a degree of toleration. It was the beginning of an era of toleration in matters of conscience. This initial step recognized the right of the individual rulers to obey their conscience and to decide for their subjects whether they would be Romanists or Protestants.

At another diet held in Spires in 1529, the Reformed party argued for their right to obey God according to their conscience and not according to the teachings of the Church. A decree was passed declaring that all men were allowed to obey God through His Word (according to their conscience) and that they were not obliged to obey the Church speaking through its priests. It was from this "protest" that the Protestants got their name.

Every diet that was called to suppress the Reformation ended up furthering its cause!

Compromise sets in: Luther went about to organize the Lutheran Church as the German state-church. Melancthon, who was put in charge of many matters, compromised. He left the Latin liturgy (ie, form of worship), though he added some Lutheran hymns. The idols were left in the niches. Priests' robes and candles remained.

Today, the German Lutheran Church remains a state-church (ie, a government department employing pastors as civil servants). Children are sprinkled as infants and confirmed in their "faith" as teenagers. The Gospel is hardly, if ever, preached. It can hardly be recognized as Luther's work! His faithful, though imperfect, work was undone by a compromiser.

Luther's death: Luther died at the age of 63 on his own bed. For twenty-three years, the pope's anathema and the Emperor's ban hung over his head. These religious, political and military powers could not hurt a hair on his head. Instead they feared his tongue and his pen more than he feared them.