MARTIN LUTHER
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Luther was born at Eisleben, son of Hans and Margaretha Luder, on November 10th,
1483.
His father was a peasant who became a respectable copper mining entrepreneur
moving to Mansfeld in 1484
His mother’s family included doctors, lawyers and university professors and would
have encouraged him in his studies.
His first school was the Latin School in Mansfield (1488 - 1496) where his parents
had moved shortly after his birth. In 1497 he went to Magdeburg and from 1498 1501 the Georgen School in Eisenach.
From 1501 - 1505 he studied at Erfurt University and graduated with a Masters
degree.
His father dreamed of him becoming a lawyer and was furious at first when he
decided to enter a monastery.
On July 2nd 1505, as a 21-year-old law student, he was caught in a fierce lightning
storm and cried out “Help me St Anne! I’ll become a monk”. A statue of St Anne was
in Erfurt Cathedral. He kept his vow.
He joined the Augustinian Hermits in Erfurt that year.
He was ordained to the priesthood April 4, 1507 in Erfurt Cathedral and commenced
studying theology.
In 1508 he transfers to the Augustine-Eremite Monastery at Wittenberg. He is
appointed Lecturer for Moral Philosophy and at the same time studies theology at the
university
He returns to Erfurt in 1509 and receives his Bachelor of Theology
During 1510-1511 he visited Rome on business for his order.
In 1511 his order called him back to Wittenberg.
Sometime that year, while sitting together under a pear tree, his superior - a Dr
Staupitz, told him that he should become a professor of theology and a preacher.
Luther responded “It will be the death of me!” “Quite all right” said Staupitz; “God has
plenty of work for clever men like you in heaven!”
October 18, 1512 he received his Doctor of Theology and a commission to be a
sworn doctor of Holy Scripture” which commission he took seriously, and was Bible
Professor of Wittenberg University. Andrew Karlstadt was the dean of the university
who conferred on him his doctoral degree.
In his view, the Reformation happened because the pope tried to hinder him from
fulfilling his vocation of expounding Scripture.
The archbishop of Mainz had commissioned Tetzel to sell indulgences, who began
selling plenary indulgences in Wittenberg on All Saints Eve 1517. The funding was
to assist the building of St Peter’s Cathedral in Rome.
Erasmus brought out a new edition of his Greek New Testament in 1516. This was
used by Luther in his attack on indulgences. Thus it was said, ‘Erasmus laid the egg
that Luther hatched.’
Luther had developed a clear understanding of salvation and on October 31, 1517
nailed the 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church.
In December 1517, the archbishop of Mainz complained to the pope about Luther.
Luther refused to recant and became even more firm in his stand.
In the spring of 1518, he was asked to debate the underlying theological issues at
Heidelberg during the Augustinians regular meeting.
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Summoned to Augsburg before Cardinal Cajetan in the fall of 1519, Luther was in
agony with diarrhoea as well as presenting his theological viewpoints. This issue
had become the authority of the church. Not whether human beings could draw on
Christ’s merits deposited with the church - but whether the church could declare what
was so and expect obedience.
In Leipsig in late June 1519, the Duke of Saxony had sponsored a debate originally
intended to feature indulgences. Luther declared that “a simple layman armed with
the Scriptures” was superior to both pope and councils without them. Luther had set
his face fairly towards a revolution.
At this same debate, Eck forced Luther to concede that Hus had been right in some
of his points, thus aligning Luther somewhat with Hus.
During 1520 he publishes a number of protest articles.
Luther’s writings were publicly burnt in Cologne.
On 10th December 1520, Luther received the papal bull excommunicating him from
the church. At the Luther tree which was outside the Elster Gate of Wittenberg he
burnt copies of Canon law and the writings of his opponents and lastly consigned to
the flames the Bull which threatened excommunication.
Luther believed he had the same right to exclude the pope from the church as the
pope had to excommunicate Luther, and wrote a public explanation of this.
The Pope bans Luther on 3 January 1521 – excommunicating him
Luther was summoned to Worms by the Emperor Charles V in the spring of 1521
(March 6).
Luther believed he would now get the hearing he requested in 1517.
He left Wittenberg on April 2, arriving in Worms on April 16.
The next day, on April 17, the Imperial Marshall delivered the command of Charles
V, to appear before him and the Estates of the Realm at 4 o’clock that day.
Charles V was surrounded by his Spanish troops and representatives from Rome as
well as bishops, electors and princes.
It was intended to separate Luther’s case from the Imperial Diet by holding the
proceedings in the Bishop’s Palace where the Emperor was residing, rather than the
City Hall and the Mint where the Diet was held.
Luther’s books (20 or so of them) were displayed on a bench.
He was asked if he wished to recant or retract any of them.
Recognising that there was to be no debate he begged for another day. “This
touches God and His Word. This affects the salvation of souls...I beg you, give me
time”. He was given one day.
The next day, April 18 - again at 4pm, but the Emperor was busy and arrived at 6pm
with torchlight.
When asked if he would recant - he said there were three types of books, the first
about Christian faith and good works, and he wouldn’t recant those. The second
group attacked the papacy and if he recanted those he would encourage tyranny and the third group was about individuals. He may have been too harsh there - but
the individuals had been defending papal tyranny and so could not be retracted.
He was ordered (in Latin and in German) to give a clear and simple answer – “Will
you, or will you not recant?”
His immortal reply was "If I cannot be proved wrong by words from Scriptures or by
some other clear reason - for I do not believe in the Pope or in the councils alone,
since they have been shown often to err and to contradict themselves - then I am
bound by those passages from Scripture I myself have quoted. As long as my
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conscience is bound by the Word of God, I cannot, and will not recant, because
acting against conscience is unsafe and threatens salvation. God help me. Amen.”
The Emperor abruptly adjourned the proceedings.
The Spanish guards shouted as Luther left "Into the fire with him!”, but most of the
crowd roared their approval of him.
On April 19, the Emperor denied any continuation of the hearings, emphasising his
descent from an ancient lineage that had always been loyal to the traditional Faith,
and a single monk could not be right in opposition to the testimony of 1500 years of
the Christian Church.
The Archbishop of Trier spent the remaining days attempting to effect a
reconciliation.
On April 20, notices were posted around the city saying that 400 knights and 8,000
troops were ready to do battle for Luther’s cause.
The Archbishop had invited Luther to his quarters on April 22nd. Luther arrived at
6am. The discussions continued until April 25 with a final attempt by the Archbishop
to dissuade Luther - even promising him a priorship.
Elector Frederick the Wise and his councillors decided to withdraw Luther from public
view and between 9 and 10 o’clock Luther set out for home, preaching in Hersfeld
and in Eisenach.
Beforehand he had been granted 21 days in which to return, but on his return he was
abducted: by emissaries of Frederick the Wise and whisked away to Wartburg Castle
near Eisenach. During this time he grew a beard and adopted the alias of Jonkers
Jorg.
It was during his stay in the Wartburg Castle that he translated the New Testament
into German plus other writings.
In March 1522 Luther returns to Wittenberg
In 1524 Luther put aside his monk’s habit and left the monastery.
The next year on June 13, 1525 he married Katharina von Bora - a former nun. They
had three sons and three daughters. When they married neither Martin nor
Katharina felt ‘in love’ yet their love blossomed throughout their 20 year marriage.
On his wedding night at 11.00 pm a radical reformer - Andrew Karlstadt, who had
been fiercely opposed by Luther, was fleeing the peasant’s war and needed shelter.
Luther took him in.
Luther died at Eisleben, the place of his birth, on the 18th February 1546 and was
buried four days later in the Palace Church in Wittenberg.
Interestingly, Columbus set sail for America while Luther was in Grammar School
and Michelangelo was completing the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel as Luther began
teaching theology.
In 1530 Luther stays at Coburg Castle during the meeting of the Parliament in
Augsburg
Luther knew most of the New Testament and large sections of the Old Testament
from memory.
In 1534 both his translations of the Old and the New Testaments are published
Luther made singing an integral part of Protestant worship.
Luther said he would rather have all his books destroyed so that only the sacred
writings of the Bible would be diligently read.
He also said, “God creates out of nothing. Therefore, until a man is nothing, God
can make nothing out of him”. And another saying, “Faith is the ‘yes’ of the heart, a
conviction on which one stakes one’s life”.
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Martin Luther was deeply affected by the death of his daughter Magdalena (14
years) on 20 September 1542. "Magdalena, darling daughter, is it not true that you
would like to stay here with your father, and yet that you want to go to your Father
above?" "Yes, dear father, just as God wills!" She died in his arms. As Luther
gazed at her in her coffin, he exclaimed, "Dear Lenchen, thou shalt rise again, and
shine as a star, aye, as the sun."
Luther travels to Mansfeld three times in January/February 1546 to settle disputes
between the counts of Mansfeld
Luther's last days came after a visit to Wittenberg where he never wanted to return the indecent dresses of the young ladies, and later to Mansfeld to mediate in a
dispute. He had chest pain and slept upon a lounge till 10 pm. He walked to his
sleeping room and said, "Into thy hands I commend my spirit." He asked his friends
and pastor to pray against the machinations of the Council of Trent. At 1 am he
suffered another bout of pain. He repeated the above words of Christ. He then
prayed, "I thank Thee, O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that thou hast
revealed thy Son to me, on whom I have believed, whom I have loved, whom I have
preached and confessed and worshipped, whom the Pope and all the ungodly,
abuse and slander. O Lord Jesus Christ, I commend my poor soul to Thee. O
Heavenly Father, I know that, although I shall be taken away from this life, I shall live
forever with Thee. ‘God so loved the World that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life'. ‘Father into
thy hands I commend my Spirit.’"
The two pastors shook him and asked, "Reverend Father, do you die in the faith of
your Lord Jesus Christ and in the doctrine which you preached in His name?" The
answer was a clear and distinct "Yes". He then turned on his side and died, 2:45
am. He had written in his Psalter and Prayer-book more than 20 consolatory
passages in the year prior to his death
Luther passes to his rest on 18 February 1546