Our Position On Martin Luther
German Theologian (1483-1546)
Rock of Offence Special Commentary
The following is a special insert included
on certain commentaries dealing with Martin
Luther and his teaching on the New Covenant.
It will repeat some things, but may also
provide answers to some questions not
previously covered.
Readers should not interpret our constant references to Martin Luther as agreement with the modern day denomination that carries his name. At one point, Luther stated that he never wanted his name associated with a church. Yet, that's what eventually happened. Today, some 500 years after his death, the Lutheran denomination has slowly moved away from his original teachings. The Rock of Offence ministry draws attention to Martin Luther only because he was one of the few influential preachers from church history that correctly taught the New Covenant theology of Saint Paul, which includes the believer's position "in Christ" and the need to "rightly divide the Word of God". Despite his failures later in life - embracing Paul's New Testament teachings and rejecting the popular Augustinian theology of his day - is what made Martin Luther's ministry truly unique in the annals of church history. Much of this influence continues under the modern day evangelical movement that started during the Great Awakening revivals in America - and later gained momentum and popularity through the ministry of Billy Graham - and many other like-minded ministers too numerous to mention here. Graham is said to have reached over 2 billion people with the gospel of Christ during his lifetime and remains alive at the time of this writing.
The Positive and Negative Aspects
Of Martin Luther's Life
During the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther was one of the most vocal supporters of Christ's New Covenant salvation. Other popular Reformation preachers, such as John Calvin, claimed to teach the same message, but didn't. Luther's ministry was correctly established on "free justification by faith" taught by Saint Paul and provided by the cross of Christ (Romans 4:4-8 and Ephesians 2:4-9). This New Testament truth later became the foundation of the modern-day Evangelical movement. When Billy Graham gave an invitation to "come forward and receive Christ" in his crusades (with the hymn, "Just as I am" playing in the background) he was echoing Paul's (and Luther's) "free justification" gospel message. The Evangelical movement didn't embrace this teaching because Luther taught it, but because Saint Paul (who wrote nearly half of the New Testament canon) taught it nearly 1400 years earlier.
Unfortunately, no one is without flaws and imperfections. Some students of church history point out that Luther developed an intense dislike for Jewish people and started to put his criticisms in writing. This happened toward the end of his ministry. At the beginning, he didn't seem to have these same beliefs. Certain historians think that some of his colleagues and close associates were to blame for this negative influence and change in behavior. Hundreds of years later, during the Second World War, officials in the German government used Luther's writings (we should remember that Luther was German) as justification for the Holocaust. Citing the writings of a major and highly respected historic Christian leader helped to provide the moral foundation for their plans to eliminate the Jewish race. Some political officials and church leaders are doing the same thing today in their continuing effort to persecute the nation of Israel. These efforts run contrary to the teachings of Scripture, which promise that God has not permanently rejected His people. In the New Testament, Saint Paul warns against anti-Semitism and says that God will, once again, turn his attention and favor toward Israel for the purpose of bringing them into His salvation.
"I say then, hath God cast away his people (The Jews)? GOD FORBID. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. GOD HATH NOT CAST AWAY HIS PEOPLE WHICH HE FOREKNEW." (Romans 11:1-2)
“For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. AND SO ALL ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED....” (Romans 11:25-26 - Emphasis Added)
Luther's anti-Semitism is both a grievous and unfortunate fact of history. It's a permanent stain on a life that uniquely possessed the call of God. However, in spite of this flaw, God mightily used him (and others aligned with his ministry) to successfully move the church away from the religious error coming from Rome. During any study of church history, we find that many individuals had various character defects, yet still made major contributions to the cause of Christ. When you study the Bible you find people like Moses, who murdered an Egyptian soldier and buried him in the sand to hide the crime. Aaron led Israel's rebellion against God at Mount Sinai. Rahab was a gentile harlot who helped the Jewish spies at Jericho and was added to the Messianic blood line as a result of her act of faith. King David ordered a soldier in his army to be killed so that he could satisfy his lust and marry Bathsheba, the soldier's wife. Before he met Christ on the Damascus road, Paul persecuted the Church and tried to destroy it. There are others. These things are not mentioned to make excuses for sin or to malign the Bible in any way. According to Scripture, character defects and other weaknesses stand as a testimony to God's ability to use imperfect and seriously flawed people to accomplish His will. In his letters to the Corinthian Church, Paul said it this way :
"For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God - and righteousness and sanctification and redemption--that, as it is written, 'He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.'" (1 Corinthians 1:26-31)
A Different Society
and Culture
Life was vastly different during the time of Martin Luther. Information and facts were hard to find. We didn’t have the Bible in print as we do today. If you owned a copy of the Scriptures, they were hand-written in an ancient language and very expensive. There were no telephones, television, radio, computers - or Internet. As with any religious leader, both negative and positive things can be found in their lives. Regardless of what the critics say, the important question to ask is: Did God use Martin Luther - and why did He use him?
Luther is a prime example because God used him to correct a distorted gospel message taught by the church of his day. His ministry launched what modern theologians call the Protestant Reformation. This was a powerful “protest movement” that began in Germany against the corrupt teachings of the organized (institutionalized) church. The “protest” gained momentum when average everyday people began to understand the New Covenant teaching about God’s free justification apart from works (Romans 4:4-8 and Ephesians 2:4-9). Under various names and labels, Luther’s Gospel message of "free justification by faith in Christ" continues today in the Evangelical movement. In the 1500’s, the Catholic Church was teaching a justification (or conditional salvation) through works, merit and religious obedience to church teachings. Today, students of church history often refer to this as "Legalism". Saint Paul correctly called it "a different gospel of Christ". Like some Christian leaders today, the ones living in Luther's time ignored the context of Scripture and misapplied the epistle of James as the Scriptural authority for this works-based legalistic gospel.
Within a few years, Luther became an enemy of the Roman Catholic religion he once supported. You might think of him as a commander in “the stealth war to preserve the truth of the gospel” during the 1500’s. His ministry completely changed the spiritual direction of the church. Many of his critics wanted him executed as a heretic because his teaching interfered with their political power and ministry ambitions. He was also accused of betraying the Roman Catholic Church, which was viewed as the only source of salvation during that period of time. At one point, he was sentenced to death for crimes against the church and state. With the help of some believers, he managed to escape and lived in exile. His ministry and message was so influential that modern day critics FROM WITHIN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH continue to attack his beliefs for the same misguided reasons.
In the 1500’s, church leaders who opposed Luther's ministry constantly misapplied Scripture by failing to separate the program of Old Covenant Law from Christ's New Covenant program - which didn't begin until after the cross. They insisted on mixing these two vastly different systems of faith together, which resulted in a disastrously misleading theology that was said to carry the authority of God’s Word - but didn't. Many churches and denominations do this exact same thing today. Martin Luther was a Roman Catholic priest and intimately understood the Scriptures. The Catholic Church held unimaginable political power in the 1500’s and was teaching a corrupted gospel message. Many (but thankfully not all) of the more traditional sectors of the Catholic Church teach it the same way today. It was this corrupted gospel that Luther aggressively opposed in private and in public. Part of Luther's opposition involved the practice of paying indulgences to the Church, which was thought to either shorten someone’s time in purgatory or ransom a loved one from hell. As a priest, Luther was both frustrated and angered by these false teachings which allowed the church to practice a form of “spiritual fraud” by preying on someone’s grief in order to enrich itself. It infuriated him so much that he nailed his famous "95 Theses" to the cathedral door of Castle Church in Wittenburg, Germany, on October 31, 1517. This radical act was essentially a declaration of war against the corrupt teachings of the church and was not well received.
We should remember that it was
a "truth seeking Roman Catholic
priest” that began this “protest
movement” which later became the
Protestant Reformation. Protestant
churches and denominations did
not yet exist at the time.
Today, the church has once again assaulted the gospel message of God’s Grace through Christ. As stated earlier, this effort to corrupt the gospel is not insignificant. It is now mainstream and pandemic in size and scope. This time it’s not just the Roman Catholic Church at fault - it's now spreading within Protestantism. Many of these denominations and church groups can trace their historical roots to The Protestant Reformation that Luther and others began. Yet, they attempt to redefine his teachings into something more agreeable to their religious agenda. Since all these “changes” appear to be established on God's word - nobody challenges the teaching. Yet, God’s Word is not the problem. Distorting and abusing its context (failing to rightly divide the Word) is the problem everyone ignores. Some evangelists have expressed concern over a teaching that is now gaining popularity called “Protestant Purgatory”. It’s the Protestant version of the Catholic teaching and represents the most reckless disregard for Biblical context seen so far. It will destroy the faith of many of God’s children if not firmly confronted. We've personally experienced the damaging effects of this teaching, which is well documented with Scripture. But, once again, the Scriptures are not the problem. The problem is how the context of Scripture is manipulated and misapplied to validate the teaching. Today, corruption caused by money, political influence, and ministry ambition has once again changed God’s original intention found in the Gospel of Christ. Catholics, Protestants, Pentecostals, Charismatics, and a whole list of other groups have perverted the message of the cross for various different reasons, none of which are good. This is why our comments will not provide a solution to this ongoing spiritual war. The institutional Christian Church is currently “going over a cliff” and only the return of Christ can stop it. Once again, history is repeating - and the church world has corrupted itself. We are in need of another evangelist with like passions as Martin Luther (maybe without his weaknesses) who will risk everything including their life to defend the message of Christ’s New Covenant.
Empowering The Public With A
Printed Copy of the Scriptures
We’ve all heard the saying, "Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat its mistakes." The Gospel of Christ appeared in the first century as a bright spiritual light and a beacon of hope for all nations. However, with each passing generation, the "light of Christ" continued to diminish. Today we call this process "incrementalism". It's a series of small changes slowly introduced over a period of many years that corrupts a central truth or ideology. The light of Christ's Gospel was reduced to a dim "flicker" during what's known in history as "The Dark Ages". Despite the best efforts of the early Christian disciples, a political power struggle began, which threatened to destroy the truth of the Gospel. Religious leaders in those days possessed a tremendous advantage over the uneducated public.
The average person lacked the knowledge to understand and interpret the Scriptures, which were written in different languages. The few books that did exist at the time, especially those that preserved the Holy Scriptures, were painstakingly hand-written. They were outrageously expensive and remained only in the possession of the politically powerful and wealthy. The uneducated public had to depend on the "clergy" to tell them what God was saying. This privileged group quickly learned that their knowledge gave them a new powerful tool to control the people. They discovered that by becoming "God's mouthpiece" you could effectively manipulate a person's devotion to God. This allowed them to control the individual, as well as their money and whatever influence they possessed in society. Most earthly religions use these same methods today - including, unfortunately, some leaders of the Christian Church (But thankfully, not all). In those days, any effort to end this religious tyranny and political hold on power was considered a crime that carried the death penalty.
Around 1350 A.D., God began to call some heroic individuals to bring an end to this oppressive and corrupt religious system. The plan was to translate the original languages of Scripture into the common languages of the people. This allowed the public, for the first time, to understand the Holy Scriptures without interference from the corrupt ecclesiastical system of the day. This effort involved men such as John Wycliff (1380), William Tyndale (1516) and Martin Luther (1530). Tyndale translated the first New Testament Bible into English. In anger, the Bishop of London made an unsuccessful attempt to confiscate and destroy all copies of his work. Tyndale was eventually arrested and executed. What was his crime? He threatened the religious power structure of the day by giving the public the ability to understand the Scriptures for themselves. Johannes Gutenburg invented the printing press in 1450. The first book printed on Gutenburg's new invention was the Latin Bible. Later, the first English Bibles were printed illegally, which was also an offense that carried the death penalty.
Today, almost no one is executed for printing an English Bible. No one can stop us from reading the Scriptures in our native language. It is a privilege many of us take for granted. Lives were sacrificed to give us access to this Divine knowledge. Yet, the future descendants of the oppressive religious system of Wycliff and Luther's day will continue their efforts using a different strategy. Today, they invent different "theologies", or ways of interpreting the Scripture that we now have in our own native language. In some ways, if we submit to these methods, it puts us back under the tyranny of the corrupt system of the past, where God's voice must be interpreted for us by a privileged few.
All of these individuals, AND MANY OTHERS, collectively defeated the oppressive system that had all but silenced the Gospel of Christ. Martin Luther, a former Roman Catholic priest and German evangelist probably had the most influence. He possessed a great understanding of the Pauline Revelation and the new covenant Gospel of Grace. Christ's "New Covenant" was the foundation for everything he taught. In many ways, Luther was ahead of his time. His teaching allowed the bright light of Christ to shine once again.
Some of Martin Luther's
Famous Quotes (1483-1546)
"For where God built a church, there the Devil would also build a chapel."
"Peace if possible, truth at all costs."
"Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times."
"If he have faith, the believer cannot be restrained. He betrays himself. He breaks out. He confesses and teaches this gospel to the people at the risk of life itself."
"Christ Himself is my righteousness. I look at Him as a gift to me, in Himself; so that in Him I have all things. He says, I am the way, etc.; not, I give thee the way, etc.; as if He were working on me from without. All these things He must be in me, abiding, living, speaking in me; that I may be the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. v. 21); not in love, nor in gifts and graces which follow; but in Him."
"If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battlefield besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point."
"(reply to the Diet of Worms Inquisition) Since your majesty and your lordships desire a simple reply, I will answer without horns or teeth. Unless I am convinced by Scripture and by plain reason (I do not believe in the authority of either popes or councils by themselves, for it is plain that they have often erred and contradicted each other) in those Scriptures that I have presented, for my conscience is captive to the Word of God, I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me. Amen."
"Either sin is with you, lying on your shoulders, or it is lying on Christ, the Lamb of God. Now if it is lying on your back, you are lost; but if it is resting on Christ, you are free, and you will be saved. Now choose what you want."
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