22 February 1546 A.D. Martin Luther’s casket borne through the doors of the Castle Church in Wittenberg

22 February 1546 A.D. Martin Luther’s casket borne through the doors of the Castle Church in Wittenberg.

 

 

The photos are the pulpit in Castle Church, Wittenberg and the burial site of Martin Luther to the right of the staircase.

Dr. Rusten tells the story.

Rusten, E. Michael and Rusten, Sharon. The One Year Christian History. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2003.  Available at: http://www.amazon.com/The-Year-Christian-History-Books/dp/0842355073/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393302630&sr=8-1&keywords=rusten+church+history

Backstory.

In 1517, a Dominican huckster, Johann Tetzel, was selling salvation for the building of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.  Purgatory was up.  People were burning for centuries in a clean-up operation prior to the beatific vision. Justification was by grace and human works prevailed. There was no assurance of salvation.  Christ’s Person was gutted.  Everything was done in Latin.  Ignorance was manipulable. But sales were up.  Business was good.  Rome needed money.  Tetzel was a good huckster with a catchy punchline: “As soon as the coin in the coffers rings, the soul from purgatory springs.”

Luther was infuriated.

Luther was a professor of biblical studies at the University of Wittenberg.  He decided to have an academic disputation on the corruption, deceit, theft and manipulations of God’s people. He nailed his famous 95 Theses to the great wooden door of the Castle Church of Wittenberg. It was written in Latin, but was soon translated into German and hiked around the Continent, opening up debate.  Luther posted the Theses on 31 October 1517, now hailed and remembered as Reformation Day in the true churches of Christ.

A few of the disputed points:

1.      “Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ in saying, `Repent ye,’ intended that the whole life of believers should be pentitence” (32).

2.      “Those who believe that, through letters of pardon, they are made sure of their own salvation, will be eternally damned, together with their teachers” (37).

3.      “Every true Christian, whether living or dead, has a share in all the benefits of Christ and of the Church, given to him of God, even without letters of pardon” (62).

4.      “The true treasure of the Church is the Holy Gospel of glory and the grace of God.”

The game was on.  While intended for scholarly debate, Luther noted:  “In a fortnight, they flew all over Germany.”  They also landed in Rome.  And it became more than a university exercise.

Luther lived to see 2^nd generation Reformers sing the hymns he wrote, read the German Bible he translated, and learn the catechism he wrote.

On his deathbed, he prayed:

“O Lord Jesus Christ, I commend my poor soul to Thee.  O Heavenly Father, I know that, although I shall be taken from this life, I shall live forever with thee.  God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit.”

Luther died on 18 February 1546.  He was 62.  He died in the town where he was born, Eisleben.  Bells tolled,  people crowed the streets, wanting to pay their final respects to the great Reformer.

On Monday, 22 February 1546,  Katie his wife, his four children, and his followers escorted Luther’s body and casket through the same doors of the Castle Church at Wittenberg to which he had nailed his 95 Theses some 28 years earlier.

Questions:

1.      What are we to make of this?

2.      What about Mr. (Bp.) Tom Wright?

3.      What about Mr. (Rev. Dr. Prof.) James Packer’s relations and publications with Evangelicals Catholics Together?  What is the history to that event and after that event?

4.      What about Prof. Shepherd?  Has the PCA dodged this bullet?

5.      Does this get publicity with TBN?

6.      Does this get press in ACNA?  Why has ACNA-Bob never mentioned this but always refers to “transformative love?

7.      Has Rome changed its views here?

8.      Is this dominant or present with Mr. (Rev.) Rick Warren?

9.      Or, more largely, is the Reformation over? Forgotten?

10. How do Tractarians handle all this?  Think of Mr. (Bp.) Steven Neill’s foul comment.

11. Did Luther realize what he would unleash on 31 October 1517?

12.  Should Luther have confronted the theological errors of his day?  Does doctrine matter?  Does this doctrine matter?

13.  What are our present duties at Churchmen?

Sources

Bainton, Roland H. Here I Stand. New York: Abingdon, 1950.

MacCuish, Dolina. Luther and His Katie. Ross-Shire: Christian Focus, 1999.

Nuelson, John Louis. Luther: The Leader.  Cincinnati: Jennings and Graham, 1906.