Who was Martin Luther?

One of the most prominent figures of the Reformation was Martin Luther whom God used mightily to recall souls to the sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures and to the recovery of the great gospel truth of justification by faith alone. Born in Germany in 1483, he saw a Bible for the first time in a library at Erfurt in 1505. After years of deep exercises of soul, he was brought into true peace with God by the words of Romans 1:17, "The just shall live by faith." Henceforth he became the great proclaimer of justification by faith as the peculiar doctrine of the Gospel and exposed the falsehoods of Popery and brought the reign of Rome to an end. In 1517 Luther nailed his theses to the Church door at Wittenberg . Therein in ninety-five propositions he challenged the whole Catholic Church, as to its sale of indulgences. In 1520 he burned publicly the papal bull which ex-communicated him from the Church and thus threw off the yoke of Rome and became an open and uncompromising antagonist of this evil system. This was a bold and courageous step and the nation of Germany rallied around God's faithful servant and the power of Rome was broken for the first time in one thousand years.

After Luther's courageous and firm stand before the august assembly of over five thousand of the great ones of the day at the Diet of Worms in April 1521, he was carried off by friends to the Castle of Wartburg where he was secretly kept in safety for nearly a year. Here he commenced the greatest and most useful of all his works, the translation of the Bible into the German language. He published the New Testament in September 1522 and a second edition appeared in December 1522. It spread from one end of Germany to the other and to many other countries, and was read by almost everybody throughout Germany . It became the book of the people, a national book, the Book of God. The Reformation was now placed on the solid foundation of the Word of God. By 1533 fifty-eight editions of the New Testament had been printed. By 1530 the whole Old Testament had been translated by Luther with the help of Melanchthon and other friends and published. Now the complete Word of God was in the hands of the people in their own tongue and God Himself could thus speak to the hearts and consciences of men.

This was Martin Luther of Eisleben. He was the voice of God that awoke Europe to this great work and called the labourers into the field. But if we would form a just estimate of God's chief instrument in this mighty work, and of the grace that qualified him, we must glance at what is important in the early life of the great Reformer. D'Aubigné, in his love of Luther, speaks of him as having experienced in his own soul the different phases of the Reformation before they were accomplished in the world, and exhorts his reader to study his life before he proceeds to the events that changed the face of Christendom.

God had seen the want, and gave to the church and Europe, Martin Luther.

Hence we come to see the great work for which God had raised up Luther: it was to bring to light hidden truth, and especially the truth of justification by faith. Man had thought that it was to be obtained by works and by punishing himself. Luther thought so once, and, as we have seen, he nearly killed himself in his endeavours to attain to it. Now he knew better. Now he preached that "sin is pardoned on account of God's Son, and that man receives this blessing through faith."

His precious meditations on these portions in his quiet cell both at Erfurt and Wittemberg, gave a character to his lectures altogether new. He spoke, not merely as an eloquent schoolman, but as a Christian who felt the power of the great truths he taught. When he reached, in his expositions, the last clause of Romans 1:17, "the just shall live by faith," a light, we may say, beyond the brightness of the sun, filled his whole soul. The Spirit of God clothed the words with light and power to the understanding and to the heart of Luther. The grand doctrine of justification by faith alone he received into his heart as from the voice of God. He now saw that eternal life was to be obtained not by penance but by faith. The whole story of the German Reformation is connected with these few words. In their light he explained the scriptures of the Old and New Testament; by their truth he exposed the falsehoods of popery, he thrilled the heart of Europe, he brought the reign of imposture to an end, and accomplished the great Reformation. Alone he stood before all authority — before all the world — on the truth of the word of God, "the just shall live by faith." God's word is true popery is a lie; the one must fall, the other must triumph truth is health to the soul, a lie is deadly poison. These principles of eternal righteousness were now firmly fixed in the heart of Luther by the Spirit of God; and, simple as they may appear, he was enabled, through faith in the word of God, to triumph over popes, bishops, clergy, kings, and emperors, raising the standard of salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, without works of law.

He also learned much from the passage of scripture "the just shall live by faith," and was used by God to teach the doctrine that man is not justified by prayers, alms-giving, penances, etc., but by faith — faith in what Christ did on the cross for sinners who were too bad to be saved in any other way. It became a great part of Luther's work to maintain, amid much opposition from Rome, the doctrine of "justification by faith."

While they waited for the Diet, the truth was rapidly spreading. Luther's writings were printed and reprinted and sold by thousands over England, Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy and Spain. At this time there were but very few Bibles and Testaments, and people knew but little of their contents except what was read in the churches, and what was told them by the priests. Those were indeed days of darkness and error; and in every place where the writings of Luther came they were hailed with delight. Though not faultless in many respects, yet they contained a great deal of truth — and especially that truth, that great truth, that sinful man was to be justified by faith — simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and not by works and penances.

Originally Luther only called for a reform of the indulgence system. But by 1521, both he and Pope Leo X realized a complete break between Luther with his ideas and the Roman Church would take place. Luther was given opportunity to recant, but he refused and was excommunicated. Luther declared he would recant if the Bible could prove him wrong. This did not happen.

In the meantime, Luther's ideas were being spread and receiving wide acceptance in Germany. In a series of writings, Luther attacked the papal hierarchy, the sacramental system (rejecting that salvation must come through the sacraments), and the theology of Romanism (which had replaced the priesthood of all believers). Luther soon translated the Bible into German, and it was widely read by the German people. In 1529, following the second Diet (council) at Speier, that a group of Lutheran nobles wrote a 'protestation' to the decisions of the Diet (which had been led by Roman Catholics) and the word 'Protestant' came into use.

After this, he was appointed as a professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg, and there he began to lecture his students using the Bible as his text. It was there, around 1513-17, that he understood and accepted that justification[3] of a sinner by God comes through faith, and by implication not from the clergy through the sacraments or by one's own efforts.

When God at the beginning of the sixteenth century caused His light to break forth on a world deeply sunk in darkness, Martin Luther was the instrument specially chosen by Him to spread the truth in Germany. This labourer, full of faith, occupied himself principally with the work with which God had entrusted him. To gain this object he used the Bible, which he himself translated for this end. Others followed him in this, in various lands, some of whom were even compelled to forfeit their lives in attaining the object of their holy zeal. Far be it from us to despise the toil and labour of love of these blessed instruments in the Lord's hand! Surely God Himself has not despised them, and many lands have enjoyed for these three centuries the fruit of their labours. But the requirements of our day are new. While the energy of the Holy Ghost three centuries ago was directed to laying bare the foundations of truth, hitherto buried under a countless multitude of human institutions and traditions, and Luther's translation was blessed as a valuable instrument in this work, the Spirit is active at the present time in meeting other wants. In our days men go farther than formerly. Everything is sought into; the scriptures are searched: and who will blame this? Men desire to understand (not only some truths such as are indispensably necessary for salvation, but) the whole truth, and therefore the mind and will of God in so far as His counsels and revelations with regard to the world and with regard to the Church are concerned.