What I Learned from Martin Luther (Again)

I was born and raised a Lutheran. During confirmation classes, I laughed wildly at Martin Luther being tried by a “Diet of Worms.” (“Diet” meant “Council” and “Worms” was the city where the gathering took place.) 

You get the drift of my teenage stupidity.

Five years hence, I learned two invaluable things from the German Reformer that I missed in confirmation class. Now fifty years later, I’m rediscovering the same two pillars of truth.

Here’s what I learned from Martin Luther (Again).

What I Learned from Martin Luther (Again)

I’ve always enjoyed books. This winter I’m reading about the 16th century Reformation that changed the world. I agree with Rene Descartes that: 

The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest (people) of the past centuries.

Those people include Martin Luther, John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli, Philip Melancthon, John Know, and many others who helped to create the modern world during the wild tempest of the 16th century. 

None made more impact than Martin Luther (1483-1546). The “angry” monk rose from humble origins to become one of God’s heroes in the Church and global history despite his human weaknesses (just like us). 

Here’s his brief story. 

On a quest to get right with God, Martin Luther became a monk, priest, professor, and religious reformer during a time of great corruption and upheaval in Europe while many waited for the Return of Christ.  

It Martin Luther almost a decade to re-discover the power of the Early Church: trust Jesus for salvation–justification by faith (sola fide) and trust God’s Word–the Bible–as our compass for life and practice (sola scriptura). 

Here’s his timeline of revelation and proclamation: 

• 1508-09 – Through intense study, the Bible became more important to him than all other writings.
• 1514 – “Tower Experience” where, in reading the book of Romans, he declared: “I see the answer. God punished Jesus in my place. We are justified by our faith in Jesus alone.”
• 1517 – He famously posted the “95 Theses” on the Wittenberg Door (calling for a public debate).
• 1519 – During the Leipzig debate he stated, “The Bible is the only true guide in faith and practice.”
• 1521 – At the Diet of Worms before King Charles V, Luther risked his life proclaiming: “Show me from the Bible where I have been falsely taught…I am tied to the Scriptures which I have quoted and by my conscience. I cannot and will not renounce anything…Here I stand. God help me!”

In that courageous act, Martin Luther steered the world back to its most important “Truth” foundations–faith in Jesus and trust in the Bible. 

There are no greater authorities in this world.

I learned to base my life on trusting Jesus and the Scriptures from the example of Martin Luther. So have billions of others. 

Billy Graham struggled with the Bible’s authority just before his “watershed” Los Angles Crusade in 1949. His autobiography (Just As I Am) describes this God-encounter: 

Was the Bible completely true? I pondered the attitude of Christ toward the Scriptures. He loved those sacred writings and quoted from them constantly. Never once did he intimate they could be wrong. In fact, he verified some of the stories in the Old Testament that were the hardest to believe…He delighted in the law of the law of the Lord and the Scriptures.

As the night wore on, my heart became heavily burdened. Could I trust the Bible? With the Los Angeles campaign galloping toward me, I had to have an answer. If I could not trust the Bible, I could not go on. I prayed, ‘O God! There are many things in this book I do not understand. There are many seeming contradictions…that do not seem to correlate with modern science…At last the Holy Spirit freed me to say it. ‘Father, I’m going to accept this as Thy Word–by faith! I’m going to allow faith to go beyond my intellectual questions and doubts, and I will believe this to be your inspired Word.’

When I got up from my knees at Forest Home that August night, my eyes stung with tears. I sensed the presence and power of God that I had not sensed for months…In my heart and mind, I knew a spiritual battle in my soul had been fought and won.

From then on Billy Graham preached that Jesus alone saves and “The Bible says!” Scores of millions were reconciled to God through his proclamation of the truth.

Recently in Washington, D.C., Episcopal priest Marian Edgar Budde appealed to President Trump during a prayer service at the National Cathedral. Rob Pacienza pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church commented: 

“The problem was none of her arguments were rooted in biblical truth…yes, there is a time and a place to petition our leaders. There’s a time and place to speak truth to power. But the question is, how do you define that truth? [Budde’s] certainly wasn’t biblical truth. It wasn’t grounded in God’s Word. It was grounded in progressive politics and secular, woke ideologies.”

We must base our understanding of reality on Jesus and His Book.

In his ground-breaking novel, Piercing the Darkness, author Frank Peretti shares a poignant example how the Bible is the necessary “fence” in our lives. The main character in the story, Sally Beth Roe, is on a journey from secular humanism to biblical faith. She writes to a friend:

“There was a catch to all this freedom: I had to accept the idea that I was just an accident, a mere product of time plus chance, and not only myself , but everything that exists. Once I bought that idea, it was impossible to believe that anything really mattered…So what was the value of anything? Of what value was my own life?

So, all “maximum autonomy” wasn’t the great liberation and joy I thought it would be. I felt like a kid let loose to play in an infinitely huge yard–I started to wish there was a fence somewhere. At least then I would know where I was, I could run up against it and tell myself, ‘Uh-oh, I’m outside the yard,’ and feel strong about it…At least then I would know where I was. I would know something for sure.

In a later letter she says:

As I’ve said before, an all-out plunge into humanism and its total lack of absolutes can leave you groping for fences, wondering where you are, knowing something for sure. Now that’s despair…I lived behind that fence for seven years.

Then a final discovery: 

I’m working my way through Psalm 119, and if I understand the message correctly, there are at least two absolutes being presented, two things I can know for sure: 1) There is right, and you’ll be happy and blessed. 2) There is a wrong: To disobey God’s laws and not follow his ways…Can I accept the Bible’s explanation for it? Dare I trust this book? If the Bible is trustworthy and if I did choose to believe it, then I could once and for all determine who and where I am–in the wrong, outside of God’s favor, put to shame. Not a comfortable thought, but at least I would have an immoveable rock under my feet.

Exactly. 

In the story, Sally Roe finds true salvation through faith in Jesus and trusting the Bible. 

Who do you ultimately trust? Do you see the fence?

It’s the living Word (Jesus) and the written Word (The Bible).

That’s what Martin Luther taught me (again). 

All the rest is sinking sand.