Luther

The Movie Luther has a host of stars with the lead role taken by Joseph Feinnes and a strong supporting cast including Bruno Ganz, Jonathan Firth (brother to Colin), Alfred Molina and Peter Ustinov in the last role before his death. It was released in 2003. It tells the story of the famous Augustinian Monk who was catalytic in initiating what has become know historically as the Protestant Reformation. Luther recovered the truth that salvation is not achieved through good works, but is a free gift of God, received only by grace through faith in Jesus as the redeemer from sin.

Luther was born in 1483. His father leased copper mines and worked hard to provide Luther with a good education, wanting him to become a lawyer. He graduated from the University of Erfurt with a Masters degree in 1501. He then went on to study law but dropped out the same year, sold his books, and entered a closed Augustinian friary in Erfurt on 17 July 1505. His father was furious over this decision and saw it as a waste of Luther's education and a snub against him personally.

Luther dedicated himself to monastic life, giving himself to fasting, long hours in prayer, pilgrimage, and frequent confession. He would later remark, “If anyone could have gained heaven as a monk, then I would indeed have been among them.” He described this period of his life as one of deep spiritual despair. We pick up the movie with a scene of Luther berating himself and the devil for his deep sense of sinfulness. Notice what his perception of God is at this time, before he has read the New Testament and discovered the teaching of justification by faith.

Movie Clip Time 5.41-7.55
Condemnation – Luther Tormented
Luther’s greatest problem at this time lay in three areas. The first was his ignorance of scripture. He had never read the New Testament until this point. All he knew of faith was passed on to him through the traditions and practice of the Catholic Church and his monastery in particular. He did not yet understand the liberating truths that would so radically change his life and establish God’s word as the final authority in all matters of faith. This ignorance of scripture gave him a distorted view of God. He saw Him as vengeful, angry and condemning. As the movie scene shows, he longed for a God of mercy who loved him and he could love.

Ignorance of scripture lies at the heart of many problems in the church even today. Men like Luther gave their lives so that ordinary people could read the Bible in their own language. We have a plethora of translations today but how many believers take time to read the scriptures devotionally or even study them? Many show more dedication to their favourite sport than they do to God’s unchanging word. If we are to remain distinctive as ‘the people of God’ then we need to know our rights and responsibilities laid out in scripture. Joshua was commanded, “This Book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night that you may observe to do all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success”, Josh 1.8. Notice three things in this verse;

1. It had to be in his mouth – it had to be a spoken word. For that is how God’s creative power is released, Gen 1. God said, God said, God said; over and over again. Under pressure we often speak what we really believe. Through meditation God’s word is to find such a home in our hearts that it changes our way of thinking and consequently our way of living. Our life follows our confession.

2. The focus here was on doing what the word commands not just knowing the word. Jesus said; “If you know these things, Happy are you if you do them”, John 13.17. Action turns a desire into a reality.

3. Success is guaranteed to those who choose to live this way. Failure in life often comes down to ignorance of God’s truth or a lack of obedience to the truth we already know. David didn’t need to be told that adultery was wrong. The problem did not lay in his understanding, but in his obedience. He knew better!

The second area lay in trying to deal with his feelings of guilt. He constantly felt bad about himself. Part of this was the real guilt he carried because he was not born again. There is such a thing as conviction that comes from God. As the finger of God this is always specific and points to the sin we often hide from others. The Holy Spirit is sent to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgement, John 16.8. He witnesses to the truth that we speak when we share the gospel. It is part of God’s kindness in leading a person to repentance, Rom 2.4; 2Tim 2.24-26. They in turn feel an inward drawing to God to seek for forgiveness for the sin they are aware of.

However, the third part was down to his oversensitive conscience. There is a great line in the movie where his mentor says, “In the last two years I’ve heard your confession I haven’t heard anything remotely interesting”. Despite all his confessing he could not find real lasting forgiveness. Instead he went from confessional to confessional. Forgiveness for him at that time lasted as long as his behaviour met his own rigorous standards. When he fell short, he immediately felt condemned. The word, condemn means separation or judgement. This is exactly what Luther felt; separated from God and under His judgement. His poor understanding of scriptural truth made him a victim of superstition and error.

In 1508 his wise mentor took the decision to send Luther to Wittenberg where he could study the scriptures for himself. It proved to be a history making decision; one that would literally change the face of Europe.

Movie Clip Time 21.05-22.21
Conversion – Luther Preaching
While at Wittenberg, Luther studied the New Testament. For the first time he could evaluate his received theology and practice in the light of his personal study of scripture. Within four years He gained his Doctorate and in 1512 became professor of the university. During this time he began to understand the gospel and what justification by faith really meant. He saw that salvation could not be earned. It was a gift, rooted in the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus.

One of his favourite texts was the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15. This parable gave him a totally different picture of what God the Father was like. He also understood Paul’s technical use of a word like justification. It was a legal term that described the verdict of a trial where someone was acquitted. This person was said to be Justified or Righteous, (just and righteous come from the same root word in the Greek language). This does not mean that they are morally perfect, only that God sees them as being ‘in the right’. This righteousness is given to us because of the merits of Jesus who died in our place, 2Cor 5.21 “He who knew no sin became sin that we might become the righteousness of God in Him”.

Luther loved Paul’s argument in Roman’s, “Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness”, Rom 4.3. Abraham believed God’s word. He had faith in what God said. His faith in and of itself earned him nothing, but God credited him with something. ‘Counted’ or ‘credited’ is an accounting term. Something was added to Abraham’s account – Righteousness. He didn’t earn it or work for it, but received it as a gift. He was justified by faith. And that is how we all get into the Kingdom. Listen to Paul explaining it:

“But the free gift (Justification secured by Jesus death on the cross) is not like the offense (Adam’s sin that resulted in the fall of humanity). For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgement which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification”, Rom 5.15-16. (My understanding in brackets).

Let me unpack that a little. Paul is contrasting Adam and Jesus. Adam sinned and it plunged humanity into sin and death – condemnation. Jesus died on the cross and forgiveness could now be extended to all those who put faith in Him leading to justification. To use shorthand, ‘in Adam’ we are all condemned; ‘in Christ’ we are all justified. By natural birth we are all in Adam, by a new birth we can be in Christ.

Luther recognised that justification doesn’t depend on religious practice or observance, continual confession and absolution, paying indulgences, making pilgrimages or hallowing sacred relics. It depended only on faith in Christ; trusting in the person and work of Jesus.

Movie Clip Time 38.06-40.12
Correction – Luther begins his challenge
Not only did this truth radically change his own understanding, it allowed him to see how far the church had moved away from the simple truth of the Gospel. In particular he ragged against people like Johann Tetzel who sold indulgences that promised relief from time in purgatory. In 1517 Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Cathedral challenging this and other Catholic practices. His intention was to reform the church from within. However, a new invention at that time was about to change everything; the printing press. Luther’s ideas were published and within two weeks, copies of the theses had spread throughout Germany. Within two months they had spread throughout Europe. The whole issue had suddenly become very public.

Luther’s knowledge, including that of church history, Papal edicts, Catholic theology and New Testament theology, uniquely placed him to be able to challenge, with some authority, the received dogma of his day. This is in fact the bedrock of all Protestant theology today. We continually go back to see what scripture has to say. Scripture itself declares that this is one of its purposes; “All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work”, 2Tim 3.16.

Luther’s challenge was embarrassing to the church but given that the Bible was only available in Latin and most of the people did not have an education that included the classics the dispute remained largely a scholastic one. What is also important to understand is that Luther was a professor of theology and so he studied, taught and wrote extensively from a pastoral heart. He wanted people to know the truth. And his writings were incredibly popular. He simply could not be ignored. So the church demanded Luther to recant and he was summoned to appear at the Diet of Worms in 1521 having been ex-communicated the year before.

Movie Clip Time 1.12.15 – 1.16.37
Confrontation – Luther before the Diet of Worms
In this final clip Luther stands before the church council and the Emperor Charles V. The pressure to recant was enormous. For him to defy the authority of Rome, both civil and ecclesiastical, meant he would face almost certain death. (Remember that at this time the church and State were linked). At his first appearing he felt the intimidation and pressure of the council and so asked for more time to consider his answer.

His final answer to the court came the following day. It is compelling. He divided his works into three categories. The first group contained writings that even his opponents had commended. He refused to recant of accepted Christian truth. It was unthinkable! The second category was directed at the errors of the popes and church councils past and present. The third category were writings directed as specific individuals. Here Luther admitted that at times he had been too harsh and acknowledged his lack of grace. Given the nature of his conflict with Rome it showed remarkable humility.

There is a lesson for us here too. Sometimes we can be so aware of the glaring errors in others that we can develop a superior attitude. Pride can creep in. We develop an attitude not dissimilar to the Pharisees in Jesus day. In doing so, we lose ground. Luther acknowledged his error. He had written publicly and he repented publicly. We could argue that in comparison to the errors he was dealing with this was small. True, at one level. But like David in 1Sam 24.5 who cut the hem of Saul’s garment, he responded to conviction. And that is the point. Luther dealt with any wrongdoing on his part and this gave him the moral and spiritual authority to deal with error in others.

Sadly Luther’s answer was not what the council wanted to hear. They demanded one answer. Recant or not? This is where Luther becomes bold: “Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. May God help me. Amen”.

And the rest as they say is history! Luther stands as an example of what it means to stand for the truth. He knew that the destinies and freedom of millions where at stake. I love his statement, “My conscience is captive to the Word of God”. What arrests you? What has captured your heart? What would you give all for? His resolute stand was the mark of a true shepherd.

From here on Luther became an outlaw. He went into hiding and over the next three years translated the New Testament into German. Eventually the reformation spread to the point that he could live freely in Germany. He married Katherina Von Bora, an ex-nun, and set a new precedent for clergy being married. They went on to have six children. At the same time Luther wrote new forms of liturgy more suited for the simple people he cared for and introduced congregational singing in the church service. He was by all counts an outstanding individual. Nearly five hundred years later we still speak of him. What a legacy. What a life. What an impact.