Martin Luther on the Bible and saved by grace

                Martin Luther on the Bible and saved by grace
 Introduction:

Christian today are so privileged to have the freedom to read numerous resources regarding anything they need to know and study concerning their faith. Have you ever wondered where we got this freedom from?  To hold an English bible or to understand certain doctrines in a language you understand. In the modern life that we live today, we are often found enjoying privileges and yet we do not want to know where we get this from and what the story behind it is.  To understand what happened in the past can sometimes help us to make sense of today.

Today, we will talk about the historical background of Reformation in Germany, especially of the influence of theologian named Martin Luther. There will be two key topics I would like to discuss: the bible before and the after Reformation, and the real meaning of ‘saved by grace’ in Luther’s understanding. However, before that I would like to give two illustrations; stories that would be relevant in the Middle Ages. From these illustrations we will go on to a general explanation of the situation in Luther’s time that changed the history of Church in Europe and the world.

There is a story about a girl who is very devoted to Jesus Christ. She prayed, fasted, forgave, did charity, paying indulgences and did many good works to secure her faith. At the end of her day, after all her long task finished, she cries out of frustration because she feels that whatever she did earlier is not good enough. She feels imperfect despite everything she did, and God is not pleased with what she does. She feels she is not really a good and godly Christian.  On the other side of the coin, her younger brother sees her devotion life to Christ and realizes he will never be a good Christian in the way his sister is in her life towards Christ. A reflection of his lifestyle shows in everyday life was far from his sister lifestyle. He is hopeless because he feels he does not have the resources to do and live that kind of life. Two kinds of frustration under one roof. One who live their life in the way they think will please God, but with uncertainty and doubt that even that is not good enough. The other one is losing their confidence to even try, losing the battle before it has even began.

A story like this could reflect anybody in any century- a devotional person constantly trying to be but never feeling good enough, or a person who wants to be more spiritual but does not know what to do and how to begin.

 The second story of this: a little girl reaching out, asked her mother if she can read the dusty big book on a shelf. As soon as her little hand was about to remove the book, her mother’s hand pushed the book back to the original position and said to her daughter “don’t touch that my dear, it is God’s book, difficult to understand.”

Before Martin Luther’s reformation the Bible was very exclusive and mostly owned by the scholars, nobles, and ecclesiastical lords. The reason behind this because the process of writing and copying the bible was expensive and time consuming since the material used for the writing was mostly on papyrus or parchment (from the back of a sheep) and it works took many years to finish due to the slow and careful handwriting of the monks who copied entire book one word at a time. Only the privileged got a first hand chance to read the Bible. The common people would not even get the chance, perhaps in their lifetime, to touch the Bible let alone read it. Furthermore, not many people back then read Latin, and the Bible was only in Latin.

On Sunday when people went to church they would hear the Word of God in a language they mostly did not understand. This tradition did not allow enriching in spiritual growth. Most of the Church leaders of the Roman Catholic used this as an opportunity to gain money benefit for the church. In example of this would be the selling of repentance paper. To make the most out of their marketing strategy in adding to the guilt of people, they would make a system of repentance that would allow payment to take that guilt out of your heart. In a way it really worked for a long time, people constantly came and confessed their sins and repented by paying the right amount of money for that sin - till the next date they needed to repent again.

The church become too worldly, in the sense that it become very corrupt in its teaching. Such as the idea that after death people would be waiting for earthly payment from their relatives so as to have less and less time in on the waiting place after death  (purgatory) before going to Heaven. In the powerful writing of Luther’s book ‘The Babylonian captivity of the Christian Church’, Luther argued that “the gospel had become captive to the institutional church. The medieval church, he argued, had imprisoned the gospel in complex system of priests and sacraments. The church had become the master of the gospel, where it should be its servant.”[1]

Martin Luther saw the injustice of the church’s actions against the teaching of God. The lack of knowledge of the word of the Bible to almost all common people had been used and abused to gain profit. For the sake of ‘religion’ people had to make sacrifices that were not biblical. This injustice gave such a courage to Martin Luther, courage to fight the good fight; to open the eyes of ‘the blind’ common people, to encourage the theologian scholars, and to reveal the hidden criminal in the house of God for all public to know. He was to fight against the authority that controlled everything in a town. Luther wanted to bridge the separation of the people and God. By learning the struggles of the common people he came to a conclusion on what needed to change.

One of those changes was the language of the Bible. He suggested every story will make more sense, and be better understood in the native language of the people who read it. By understanding every word of it, people would no longer be holding a blind faith. Part of the progress he took towards bringing the people closer to God was the launch of the Bible in the German language. This was at the very perfect time as the newborn modern innovation of the printing press by Gutenberg come to be. The Bible was printed on normal paper at an affordable price and was ready to be distributed around Germany and the kingdoms near by. The Reformation’s spirit in the air, the people ready for a change-the courageous men stood firm and ready to welcome God back into the people’s heart.

Luther become overnight a spiritual celebrity, loved by the common people and hated by the ecclesiastical lords of the Catholic Church. He presented sharp teaching in his preaching, no time should be wasted this is the moment to change the situation and only by the grace of God this things possible.

Looking back at the early life of Luther who was born on the 10th of November 1483 in a German town called Eisleben. He was first son of Hans and Margarethe, who held the last name Luder, later on in Martin’s adult life he decided to change it to Luther. His parent were expecting Luther to be somebody who could support the family. Hans already had plans on what he wanted Martin to do with his life; Martin was to get a better education than he had ever been able. After sometime the family moved to a town called Mansfeld. Martin’s father Hans started a small copper mining business while his mother Margarethe tried her luck in renting lodgings.

 They saw the potential in Martin’s bright mind and because of this they were determined to educated him, despite the financial difficulties they whilst experienced. Hans believed that if Martin became a lawyer it would be very profitable, both for his son and the family. Hans expected Martin to study law, Martin often found himself more interested in humanist subjects that teach concerning the learning the philosophical aspect of being human in a remarkably religious setting. He did not want to disappoint his parents, by promising them he would pursue law and by being determined to do well, at least he tried to keep his promise.

One rainy day young Luther on his way to one place, as he is riding a horse, got hit by lightening and at that very second he screamed out loud and made a vow to Saint Anne, the patron of the mining he promised that he, Martin Luther , would pursue Godly teaching and join a monastery as a theology student. Despite facing disappointing his parents, he was certain in his heart that he was choosing the right path and that God had prepared him for, this for a purpose, a purpose he needed to discover.

At the monastery, living as a monk, Luther’s meditation on God’s word did not make him feel secure in his salvation. The guilt of not good enough constantly haunted him and in his angst he found the real meaning of salvation. For many years he thought that by doing good things, having an admirable quality, God would grant him grace. Every night he cried out to God, he knows God is just, and the justice of God is revealed when He punishes sinners and the unjust.

 The problem was even though Luther was a monk he is extremely troubled by his own sins, by the original sins, by breaking the Ten Commandments and any other kind of sin he committed with or without realizing it. Because of these guilty thoughts, Luther started to hate God, the God who punishes sinners, the fear of the Judgment Day and the punishment in Hell, by the measurement of their good deeds drove him even more to focus on good works on merits, and on God’s standard without knowing if it was enough or not. Luther once asked: “why does God heap sorrow upon sorrow through the gospel and through the gospel threatens us with his justice and wrath? This was how I was raging with wild and disturbed conscience. Thus I continued badgering Paul about that spot in Romans 1 seeking anxiously to know what it meant.”[2] In his struggle Luther realised there was something missing in his understanding of God’s grace, and many time he refers to St Augustine’s teaching on salvation by grace.

The first illustration story can thus related to Luther’s struggle. Doing just good things seems not enough, there is more to pursue, a confirmation without doubt, indeed, assurance that comes only from God.

            Salvation as the foundation of Christianity comes by grace not by works, it is a gift from God. In this new hope and a secure understanding of salvation, Luther determined to change what needed to be changed- this lead to the reformation of the Christian faith. In Luther’s despair and at the point where his own resources were no longer enough, he realized that there is nothing else he could give to God beside the heart. Hopeless he cried out anxiously to God for mercy. Powerless, he realized he had to rely on the powerful God to grant that grace. The grace in which is free, and nothing he could bring out could pay for it or be good enough. As Luther later put it “God only saves sinners, only teaches the stupid, only enriches the poor, only raises the dead.”[3] Luther realized there are two approaches people took to establish a relationship with God; one is by doing works and other is by having the basis of faith and as trust in God alone.

In doing works we bring all the good things that we do, that may please God, before him. Works such as our prayer, humility, religious attendance, acts of generosity, forgiving one another, and feeling sorrow for our sins. With all that we offer, we pray that God will accept our offerings and help us to do more. But the problem with this view that we end up feeling anxiety for not doing enough, and that the motives for doing the works are right, we question if we are really pure and sincere enough.

The second way Luther suggested was a relationship based on faith in Jesus Christ that is; trusting God who sent his only begotten Son to die on the cross as a declaration of love. The God who forgive and welcomes us, His children, into His kingdom despite all the sins we have.

Many people try to have a holy life, thinking that then they will come to Christ with less guilt- thinking that God will now love them and accept them. But the truth is, by having a relationship with the living God, He who is powerful enough to help us and to change us to be more and more like Jesus Christ, He will bring that change in our lives to enable us to accept His love and live justify by Him.

“The image of God who had been demanding, condemning God, transferred to good, generous, big hearted God, whom he could genuinely love rather than secretly hate.”[4] Luther undercut this mediaeval religious ideology of poverty with his doctrine of justification by grace alone apart from human works: “Since righteousness before God is gained by grace alone, and since salvation is the source of life rather than the achievement of life, poverty and the plight of the poor cannot be rationalized as a peculiar form of blessedness.”[5]

Luther did bring change to the German people, and in a broader spectrum to other nations and kingdoms. Most importantly he changed people’s hearts. In knowing how much God has, and will love us gives security in our faith to God. The word ‘trust’ is established in our hearts. This alongside the change God brings into our life to be more like him everyday, helps us to do things gladly and without having to measure if it this enough to reach God’s standard. Just like flower is worship God for being flower, we also worship God by being humans who have been redeemed by the sacrifice on the cross. May the faith grow and grow till the day we will be face to face the day we are in be at the presence of the living God. Till that day, let us enjoy our fellowship with the living God and love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

                                           

Soli Deo Gratia,
Tracy Trinita

                                           Bibliography

Tomlin, Graham. Luther and his world. Lion publishing Plc. Oxford - England. 2002

Lindberg, Carter. The European Reformations. Blackwell publishing Oxford –UK . 1999

McKim, Donald K. The Cambridge companion to Martin Luther. University press – Cambridge – England . 2003

Mc.Grath. Alister E. Reformation thought. Blackwell publishing Oxford- UK.

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[1] McGrath, Alister A. Reformation thought  page 89

[2] McKim, Donald K. The Cambridge companion to Martin Luther page 88-89

[3] Tomlin, Graham. Luther and his world page 59

[4] Tomlin, Graham. Luther and his world page 61

[5] Lindberg, Carter. The European Reformations page 114