Martin Luther – What Does This Mean?

Who is Your God?

Encore Post: When St. Paul first visited Athens as a Christian, he noticed that it was a very religious place. Everywhere he went, he found a temple or sometimes just an altar to this or that god or goddess. That he expected. But what caught him by surprise is there was an altar on which to sacrifice to an unknown god. Someone really wanted to cover all their bases! (Acts 17:16-31)

Our world is also a very religious place. Everywhere you go there are churches, temples and gathering places. “In God we trust” appears on the money of the United States. Conversations often invoke a god, even if it just in cursing. At times of death and birth, a god is often called upon to provide blessings or comfort. For a secular society, gods are everywhere.

God made human beings so that we need to depend upon him. So, even when a person is not a Christian, even if they are an atheist, they need to depend upon someone or something, especially in times of need. Martin Luther describes it this way:

“A god means that from which we are to expect all good and to which we are to take refuge in all distress, so that to have a God is nothing else than to trust and believe Him from the [whole] heart; as I have often said that the confidence and faith of the heart alone make both God and an idol. If your faith and trust be right, then is your god also true; and, on the other hand, if your trust be false and wrong, then you have not the true God; for these two belong together, faith and God. That now, I say, upon which you set your heart and put your trust is properly your god.” (Large Catechism 1.1.2-3)

For Christians, God is not some fuzzy concept, one of many competing gods or goddess, or the whole universe merged together as a single being or something we are obsessed with or addicted to. God is our Father, who loved us before he made the world, who knit us together in our mother’s womb, who in the person of the Son of God, suffered, died and rose again, so that we might live with him forever. All other things that we can make into a god are either a product of human imagination or are not made to take the weight of our trust. Sooner or later they will fail. But God will never fail. He is with us, now, through death and into eternal life.

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Concordia Theological Seminary

Fort Wayne, Indiana

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Just Another Day that Changed the World

Encore Post: On a chilly October morning, Martin Luther left the Black Cloister to walk to the Castle Church. A light breeze blew a few leaves across his path. When he passed Saint Mary’s Church, a few students hurried to join him. As they walked along, they asked questions about their last lesson. The town was busy that morning. Children played in the street. Farmers came to sell their crops. and goods. Pilgrims walked along the same street. They hoped to see the relics on display in the church. Relics are parts of a deceased holy person’s body or belongings that are kept as objects of reverence. Luther walked up the stairs to the door of the Castle Church. He moved several notices nailed there to make room for his announcement. After nailing his call for a disputation — that is, a conference — to discuss the power of indulgences, he headed for his classroom. It was an ordinary day, but one that would change the world.

Luther’s announcement on that ordinary day, October 31, 1517, touched off an explosion throughout the Western Christian Church. Known as the 95 Theses, Luther’s announcement seemed to suggest that the pope did not have the power to offer indulgences. Pope Leo X sent a messenger to convince Luther to apologize for his comments and to be quiet. Instead, Luther studied the Bible even more carefully. Finally, at a disputation between the reformer and Johann Eck was held in Leipzig, Germany, Luther said that much of what Jan Hus had said was right. Then, in the days that followed the debate, Luther wrote that the church was mistaken about other beliefs.

In 1520, Pope Leo X condemned Luther’s teachings as heretical and threatened to excommunicate him. Undeterred, Luther burned the pope’s letter, as well as many of the church’s books, in a bond fire in Wittenberg. Later, at the Diet of Worms in 1521, an assembly of the officials of the Holy Roman Empire, Martin Luther was condemned as an outlaw.

The 95 Theses themselves were not all that important. Yet because they were like lighting the fuse for a bomb, they set off the explosion that brought the precious Gospel back to light in Christ’s Church. From the rubble of that explosion rose the the Lutheran Church. That is why we thank God for Martin Luther on October 31st.

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Concordia Theological Seminary

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Grace alone, Faith alone

Encore Post: You’ve seen plenty of ads on websites, TV, billboards, in stores and just about everywhere you go. You can lose thirty pounds if you just eat the new diet. You do not even have to exercise! If you buy that brand new sportscar, you can hangout with beautiful women! That brand new pan will make you into a chef and you can clean it in no time! People who know better will tell you if it’s too good to be true — it is! There is no such thing as a free lunch! And most of the time they’re right!

So, it’s not surprising that people think they need to do something — anything — to earn God’s mercy and eternal life. Every religion on earth is about what you have to do to win the love of their gods. Their gods bless those that do the most. Those that fail have at best a second or third place in their blessings.

Some Christians believe that God expects them to do some good works to match the grace God gives them in order to be saved. This may be as simple as accepting Jesus as their savior, inviting him into their hearts. Others feel they must do certain rituals, confess all of their sins, speak in languages they don’t understand or give substantial money for God to bless them. They may even say that they are saved by grace, just not grace alone.

The problem, of course, as we’ve discussed in other posts, that we are not able to please God by what we do. Without the work of the Holy Spirit we are dead in our sins. That is why it is such good news that Jesus already has paid the price for our salvation on the cross. Because he did this, God loves us, is gracious to us and gives us salvation as a gift — without strings attached. So it is by grace alone that we are saved. He even places the faith in our hearts that trusts this good news and cherishes this gift. It is this faith alone that saves us for Christ’s sake alone. This precious truth is the very center of Christian teaching and the most important of all the insights of Martin Luther and the Reformation.

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Rev. Robert E. Smith

Concordia Theological Seminary

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Meet Frederick III, “the Wise,” Elector of Saxony

Encore Post: Frederick III grew up in the noble German household of Ernest, Elector of Saxony. His father gave him a fine classical education in the Humanist tradition. Frederick grew up to be a patron of German renaissance painters, especially Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach the Elder and Lucas Cranach the Younger. He founded the University of Wittenberg and systematically built it up to become prominent. He was a pious and faithful Christian, a collector of relics, a supporter of the Augustinian observant movement in Saxony.

A skillful diplomat, he negotiated major reforms in the structure of the Holy Roman Empire, increasing the power and freedom of its electors, nobles and free cities. In 1518, he was the Imperial Vicar, second only to Emperor Maximilian I, who was approaching death. When the Emperor died in January of 1519, he was regent of the Empire. The Pope, the electors, princes and cities of the Empire preferred that Frederick be crowned the next emperor rather than young Charles V of the Hapsburg dynasty. Charles was already king of Spain, Austria, and Hungary, ruler of territories in the Netherlands, France and Italy. Becoming Emperor would make him the most powerful monarch in Europe.

Yet Frederick did not want to be Emperor. He negotiated with Charles to have the Empire repay its debts to Saxony and a number of other concessions in exchange for his vote and support. After Charles was elected Emperor, Frederick used his considerable political skills and influence to protect Luther and advance the Reformation. When he died in 1525, he was succeeded by his brother John, who was an ardent supporter of the reformation.

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The Ten Commandments

Encore Post: Etched in stone, framed as a print in calligraphy, the Ten Commandments appear in many places throughout the Western world. As the foundation of the English and French legal systems, they still define the basic moral framework of our society, even though they have been under attack for the last fifty years.

Like the two great commandments, the Ten Commandments sum up all of God’s law, spelling out in a bit of detail what it means to love God and neighbor. Yet they are not quite what we would expect from commandments. First, the original Hebrew calls them the Ten Words, not commands. In fact, Judaism counts “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the Land of Egypt..” (Exodus 20:2) as the First Word. Second, God does not number them, so Judaism, Lutherans and Catholics, Protestants and Eastern Orthodox all number them differently. Third, most of the verbs have a simple future sense to them. In short, the Commandments explain how God wants his people to live.

In the Small Catechism, Martin Luther divides the commandments into two tables. The first table is about the way God’s people should relate to God. The second table is about the way they should relate to their neighbors. He also looks not only at what each command forbids, but also what it implies we should do.

While for Christians all three uses of the law apply, the primary use that they focus on is the third use. As God’s children, we love God because he freed us from slavery to sin and want to do his will.

The Night Ride of Martin Luther

One year after Martin Luther posted the Ninety-Five Theses, Martin Luther settled back into his quarters at the Black Cloister in Wittenberg. The past two weeks had been filled with anxiety and much uncertainty. While far from settled, Luther was temporarily safe under the protection of his prince.

On October 14, the interview of Luther with Cardinal Cajetan had clarified matters, but solved nothing. The Cardinal had underestimated Luther’s knowledge and skill. Rather than finding something Luther could recant of, Cajetan found a scholar looking to be convinced he was wrong and willing to accept only the authority of Scripture. Rather than finding a fellow scholar willing to dialogue with him and bring matters to a resolution, Luther had found a bishop insisting on unconditional obedience and willing to threaten punishment to achieve compliance. True to his word, the Cardinal Legate intended to honor his safe conduct. Yet neither the Saxon counselors nor Luther and his superior Staupitz trusted him. After all, 100 years earlier, an emperor did not feel compelled to keep his word to a heretic and burned Jan Hus at the stake.

To protect both the Augustinian Order and Luther, Staupitz released Luther from his monastic vows. Luther’s mentor had tried to raise money to finance the monk a possible escape to France, but was unable to. So Luther’s former monastic brothers quietly left Augsburg. Luther formally appealed from the Cardinal to the Pope to buy some time. Luther wrote Cajetan to see if promising to stay silent about the disputed matters would resolve things. After waiting a few days to see if Cajetan would reply, Luther and his friends concluded it was too risky for him to stay in Augsburg.

At night on October 20, Luther’s friends opened an obscure gate in the city wall and he quietly slipped out of Augsburg. Riding on a horse supplied by friends, he galloped non-stop to Monheim. He reached Nuremberg on the 22nd, where friends helped him make the rest of the journey home. On October 31, he was back in Electoral Saxony. Relieved, yet not secure, he returned to his duties while beginning to make plans for a sudden escape should Wittenberg prove to be unsafe for him to stay — for his sake or for his protector.

Showdown at Augsburg: Luther and Cardinal Cajetan

On October 7, 1518, Martin Luther arrived in the city of Augsburg, in obedience to the summons of his prince, Frederick the Wise. The Elector, nearing the hight of his power and influence, had arranged a hearing between his popular theologian and Thomas Cardinal Cajetan, the legate (Ambassador) of Pope Leo X. With Emperor Maximillian I dying, the Pope wanted to see Frederick crowned as the next Holy Roman Emperor to deny Charles Hapsburg, king of Spain, Austria, Hungary and territories in the Netherlands greater power. Frederick valued Luther and the prestige in brought to the University. He was determined that Luther receive a fair hearing. The Cardinal was under orders to pressure Luther to take back his challenge to the authority of the pope.

The Elector had the Legate’s word that the hearing would be fair and that Luther would not be arrested. Luther traveled on foot with brothers from his monastic order. At each stop, friends tried to convince Luther he was in danger of execution and not to go to Augsburg. Unaware of the secret arrangements, friends secured an imperial safe conduct, to the irritation of Cajetan. In Augsburg, the Carmelite monastery provided lodging, with a Wittenberg University doctoral student, the prior, as host. Two of the Elector’s counselors were present to advise him and his friend and superior, Johann Staupitz, was on his way. The city of Augsburg, a self-ruling territory, was already partial to Luther and provided subtle support and intellegence. Luther sent notice to the Cardinal and delicate negotiations began. Although there was good will on both sides, everyone knew that the aims of Luther, his prince and growing list of allies were at odds with the Cardinal’s commission and commitments.

Luther was looking for a debate. He would not give up his teachings unless convinced from Scripture he was wrong. He was not at this time opposed to the authority of the pope, but saw that popes had made mistakes in the past. He was coming to the conclusion that people could be sure of salvation when they have faith in God’s Grace given in the Lord’s Supper. The Cardinal was the chief defender of Papal authority and convinced that a believer must contribute good works to be saved, and, since you could never know it was good enough, a Christian could never be sure they are saved. A collision was inevitable and everyone knew it.

Meet Phillip Melanchthon

In the last week of August 1518, a twenty-one year old humanist, Philipp Melanchthon settled into his quarters at the University of Wittenberg as a professor of Greek. He was the great-nephew of the dean of German Humanism, Johannes Reuchlin, who saw to it that the young scholar had the finest education available. A true renaissance man, he studied the classics widely, including philosophy, astronomy, pedagogy, theology and the Greek language. Before coming to Witteneberg, he accepted his great uncle’s advice and translated his German surname Schwarzerd (“black earth”) into Greek, Melanchthon. He soon published a grammar of Greek that drew praise from Erasmus.

When Martin Luther suggested to Elector Frederick the Wise that he reform the curriculum of the University, the Elector accepted the suggestion of Reuchlin to call the young Melanchthon to teach Greek there. In his first lecture, Philipp argued that, to really return to the sources of theology, scholars must learn Greek and Hebrew. Melanchthon and Luther very quickly became the closest of friends.

The two scholars shared a boundless energy, a commitment to the classics, especially language study, a devotion the Holy Scriptures and to teaching. There the resemblance ended. Melanchthon was calm, mild-mannered, systematic and a consensus builder. He was tactful and not given to hyperbole. Luther was exactly the opposite. They complemented each other and built on each other’s strengths.

Melanchthon went on to be the author of three of the Lutheran Confessions — the Augsburg Confession, the Apology of the Augsburg Confession and the Treatise on the Power and the Primacy of the Pope. His work on pedagogy ended up reforming the teaching of children throughout Germany and remained the standard for centuries. He became known as the “teacher of Germany.” His systematic theology Loci Communes became the foundation for all systematic theologies in Lutheran theology — in spite of a reputation for compromising with the Roman Catholics and Reformed traditions he earned after the death of Luther.

We will have much more to say about this remarkable man as time goes on. For now, we will be content to note that Martin Luther has now gained an important co-worker, sounding board and ally. He is going to need his “dear Philipp” soon enough.

Meet Thomas Cardinal Cajetan

In the weeks following Luther’s summons to Rome, Elector Frederick played his cards carefully — and well. The German princes and territories were highly irritated with the way Emperor Maximillian and Rome had handled funds sent to them to counter the Turks. Now Pope and Emperor were asking for more funds to raise troops, but the Germans suspected that their cash would not go to the intended purpose. They resonated with Luther’s call to end the abuse of indulgences and their Humanist education and sympathies liked his call to return to the Christian sources — to the Bible. They were in no mood to send a fellow German to Italy.

Pope Leo sent a legate — an ambassador — of the highest integrity, Thomas Cardinal de Vio Cajetan, Archbishop of Palermo. Cajetan was a humanist scholar of the highest caliber, to the imperial diet at Augsburg to calm their fears and assess the health of the emperor. He was a well-respected theologian, an expert on the work of Thomas Aquinas still cited today. He was Master of the Dominican order and thus superior to all of Luther’s early opponents. He was a steadfast guardian of the power of the papacy, yet known to be a very reasonable, even-handed man, and a trustworthy, skilled diplomat. He was initially sympathic to Luther’s concerns, but also determined to convince him to trust the papacy to correct abuses. The pope had chosen well.

Since it was widely suspected that Emperor Maximillian would soon die, Pope Leo wanted Elector Frederick to be on his side. Frederick was the Imperial Vicar and would be the Emperor Regent until a new Emperor was chosen. Maximillian’s grandson Charles was his crown prince, and would rule Netherlands, Spain, Bohemia, Austria, Hungary, Poland, portions of Italy and Spain’s new world holdings. The pope’s anyone-but-Charles campaign favored convincing Elector Frederick to take the crown.

So it was Elector Frederick’s campaign to move the inquiry into Luther’s theology to German soil was successful. Five Hundred years ago this week, Cardinal Cajetan was commissioned to settle the matter at the Diet in the imperial city of Augsburg. The Elector and the Cardinal began negotiations for the interview, soon to be scheduled for early October 1519.

Luther Summoned to Rome

Five Hundred years ago today, Martin Luther received a summons to Rome to defend the Ninety-Five Theses. It had been a long time coming because their impact caught everyone by surprise — including Luther. The German monk had intended to begin a discussion among scholars. He couched it in the prevocative form all such discussions were framed, but he anticipated nothing more than rejection of the abuses of indulgences that everyone condemned and a clarification of the doctines involved. Instead, they were translated into Geerman and distributed throughout Europe. The conference was never held.

What did happen was a steep decline in the purchase of indulgence letters. John Tetzel, the Dominican monk that so annoyed Luther responded by attacking the theses as heretical. The Archbishop of Mainz forwarded them to Rome, recommending a repremand for the Wittenberg professor. John Eck of Ingolstadt, who was to become Luther’s chief academic opponent wrote and circulated an extended hand-written review of the 95 Theses. To Luther’s great surprise, they accused Luther of limiting the Pope’s power and did not focus on his challenge to indulgences at all. In doing so, they turned Luther’s attention to the claims of the pope. He poured over the scriptures on the subject. Luther composed an extended defense of his theses in February 1518. He sent his Explanation of the Ninety-Five Theses to the Bishop of Brandeburg, promising not to publish it until he was permitted to do so. He was given leave do so, but a disputation in Heidelberg delayed him until August 21st.

In Rome, Silvester Prierias wrote an expert opinion of the 95 Theses for the commission charged with investigating Luther. His Dialog on the Power of the Pope maintained that the Scripture got its power from the Church, that the Pope is infallible when exercising his office and speaks for the Church. So, whatever the Pope says about indulgences is true. Anyone who taught otherwise, he found, is a heretic. This document came with the summons to Rome. Luther printed the Dialogue and appealed on August 8 to his ruler, Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony, to arrange for his trial to take place in Germany.