To be tired of Luther...
January 16, 2014
... is to be tired of life.
Most of those who know anything about Luther's life tend to think of his appearance at the Diet of Worms in 1521 as the point at which he was most vulnerable --- the isolated reformer surrounded by the massed forces of the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic Church. In fact, it is clear that Electoral Saxony had a well-thought out strategy for keeping him safe.
Luther is probably most at risk in 1522, when he is recalled from the Wartburg to restore civil order in Wittenberg. As radical iconoclasm and rioting has taken hold in his absence, he needs to bring some stability and sanity to the Wittenberg reformation or his protector, Frederick the Wise, will have no choice but to abandon his cause. It is then that Luther really has nothing an no-one to rely on other than his own personal presence and his preaching ability. Of course, we know that these are enough. Luther triumphs. Karlstadt and Zwilling are forced out. And the Reformation moves forward.
In the struggles of early 1522, Luther preached a famous sermon on March 10 which contains one of my favourite quotations, revealing the secret of Luther's Reformation success:
In short, I will preach it [the Word], teach it, write it, but I will constrain no man by force, for faith must come freely without compulsion. Take myself as an example. I opposed indulgences and all the papists, but never with force. I simply taught, preached, and wrote God's Word; otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept, or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends Philip and Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it. I did nothing; the Word did everything.
There you have it: the success of the Reformation depended upon the sheer power of
God's Word. And, of course, on the quality of Wittenberg beer. Not sure how much ground for optimism that gives for the ongoing reformation among the Southern Baptists -- perhaps sweet tea has a similar effect -- but I hope it is of encouragement to more than just the Lutherans out there.
Most of those who know anything about Luther's life tend to think of his appearance at the Diet of Worms in 1521 as the point at which he was most vulnerable --- the isolated reformer surrounded by the massed forces of the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic Church. In fact, it is clear that Electoral Saxony had a well-thought out strategy for keeping him safe.
Luther is probably most at risk in 1522, when he is recalled from the Wartburg to restore civil order in Wittenberg. As radical iconoclasm and rioting has taken hold in his absence, he needs to bring some stability and sanity to the Wittenberg reformation or his protector, Frederick the Wise, will have no choice but to abandon his cause. It is then that Luther really has nothing an no-one to rely on other than his own personal presence and his preaching ability. Of course, we know that these are enough. Luther triumphs. Karlstadt and Zwilling are forced out. And the Reformation moves forward.
In the struggles of early 1522, Luther preached a famous sermon on March 10 which contains one of my favourite quotations, revealing the secret of Luther's Reformation success:
In short, I will preach it [the Word], teach it, write it, but I will constrain no man by force, for faith must come freely without compulsion. Take myself as an example. I opposed indulgences and all the papists, but never with force. I simply taught, preached, and wrote God's Word; otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept, or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends Philip and Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it. I did nothing; the Word did everything.
There you have it: the success of the Reformation depended upon the sheer power of
God's Word. And, of course, on the quality of Wittenberg beer. Not sure how much ground for optimism that gives for the ongoing reformation among the Southern Baptists -- perhaps sweet tea has a similar effect -- but I hope it is of encouragement to more than just the Lutherans out there.
