Martin Luther (Part 3)

Off to a Bad Start

At the Diet of Worms, Luther was condemned, excommunicated and placed under imperial ban. However, because he had been promised safe conduct he was not arrested there and then. In order to preserve his safety, Frederic of Saxony sent a squad of horsemen to arrest Luther and take him to the Castle of the Wartburg. He spent a year there during which time he translated the New Testament into German. Indeed he apparently achieved this work in only eleven weeks.

In March 1522, Luther returned to Wittenberg to find the town in turmoil. Certain fanatical "prophets" from Zwickau, including one Claus Störch, were stirring up fanatical hatred of the Roman Church. One of Luther's own earlier supporters, Carlstadt, was preaching sermons attacking the Church rituals and vestments. It took eight days for Luther to calm the situation and to get his own movement back onto the moderate lines he preferred. This, however, alienated him from Carlstadt. Within the next few years there were two revolts, one of the Nobles and one of the Peasants. Luther was blamed for both of these despite his opposition to them. The real causes were social and economic but it was easy to blame Luther. Moreover, Luther's opposition to these revolts lost him some of his support and many of his followers joined the Anabaptists.

More Diets

In 1526 Emperor Charles V called a Diet at Speier with the intention of condemning Luther and his followers. Somehow things went wrong for Charles and, instead of condemning Luther's movement, the Diet found in favour of toleration. The decision was made that each German state should follow the religion of its ruling prince.

1529 saw the second Diet of Speier deciding to limit this tolerance. It decided that those states which had already become Lutheran should continue to be Lutheran but all other states must remain Catholic forever. The princes and other leaders of the Lutheran states placed on record a Protest and its signatories became known as Protestants.

Luther's Success

Martin Luther was the right man for the right time. He appeared on the scene when the various movements protesting against Rome's corruptions needed a leader and God raised him to be that leader. He was an incredible worker. He wrote tracts and sermons at an incredible rate. He used the growing nationalism of the Germans to draw in the nobility but, at the same time, he was able to reach the ordinary people. He gave the Germans a Bible in ordinary German and a book of powerful hymns.

Luther's Weakness

However, Luther made mistakes. His love for moderation caused a fear of excess which later drove him to an excessive zeal in putting down opposition. He actually encouraged persecution of the Anabaptists and in 1530 he demanded "the use of the sword against them by right of the law". This against unarmed pacifists! He quarreled with the Swiss Protestants, led by Huldreich Zwingli, over their views of the Communion and this split the Protestants at a time when they desperately needed unity against the attacks from the Roman Church. Many would criticise him for not going far enough in reform for he left in place the vestments, candles, crucifixes and other Roman elements which other felt were inappropriate.

Luther's Legacy

However, Luther left for all time some of the great distinctives of the Protestant faith. He declared

Sola Fide - justification by faith alone.
Sola gratia - salvation by grace alone.
Sola Scriptura - the Bible as sole authority for Christian doctrine and practice.

He taught that

every believer had access to God without the intervention of priests and that Christ was the only mediator between God and mankind.
every believer had the right to interpret Scripture under the guidance of the Holy Spirit
every believer was a priest before God.

Luther's beliefs were to spread over much of Northern Europe - but where he had started others also were quick to take up the challenge.