In the early 1500s, the Roman Catholic Church held tight control over most of Europe with a monopoly on the access to God and salvation. The Bible was mostly written in Latin and not accessible to the average commoner.  A devout monk, Martin Luther, from a very humble beginning began earnestly studying the Bible and had a strong issue with the sale of indulgences. As time went, on he did much to expose the corruption and greed of the Catholic Church. Martin Luther thus became the forerunner of the great Reformation that swept across Europe, and from this movement Protestantism was born.

Martin Luther was born on November 10, 1483 in Eisleben, Germany to a poor family with many children. His father worked long, hard hours in the village mine and was eager to provide the best he could for his family. Education was very important to Hans Luther, and he felt it his duty to make sure his children got the best education they could. Martin was a sensitive child with a keen mind, and his father became determined that his son should have every opportunity he could. Hans Luther’s dream for his son was to study law so at the age of eighteen, Martin entered the University of Erfurt. One day upon entering the library, he was thrilled to find a book he had never seen before. For the first time in his life, he held the entire Bible in his hands. The young Martin was fascinated and spent many hours becoming acquainted with the scriptures.

In 1502 he graduated with a Masters of Arts degree, and his teachers proudly predicted a brilliant future for him. Knowing his father’s desire for him to become a lawyer, he continued his studies. As time went on he became more and more troubled as the enormity of his sins loomed over him. He was deeply disturbed with his struggle to find faith and salvation and felt very restless with the traditional ways of thinking. He confided to his closest friend, Alexis, his turmoil and feelings of despair. Shortly there after, Alexis was killed in a freak accident, and as Martin stood looking at the body of his friend he kept thinking, “Suppose it had been I? Suppose I had been summoned last night to the judgment bar of God!” (Robinson 17).

After the death of his friend, Martin had no peace of mind and became convinced that he had to do something different with his life. On his next visit home, he confided to his mother his desire to enter the monastery. Martin’s mother was horrified and told him it would surely break his father’s heart.  Martin knew of the dreams and hopes his father had for him, so he finally agreed not do anything rash. The next day on his way back to school, he felt extremely troubled. The conflict between his hearts desire and his feelings of duty to his parents was extremely overwhelming. He was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he did not notice the severe thunderstorm until it was suddenly upon him. As the flashes of light and the rumbling of thunder exploded around him, he felt sure it was the anger of God and that he was to be killed. Suddenly, just in front of him, a great bolt of lightening struck the road, and he immediately fell to his knees promising the saints, if they would just save his life, he would become a monk.

Shortly after entering the monastery, Martin wrote a letter home to his father trying his best to explain the burdens of his heart and begging for his forgiveness. Hans Martin was furious! He wrote back telling his son since he had made this decision, he was completely cut off from the family and their love. His father went on to tell Martin that he was dead to them, and he never wanted to hear from him again. Martin was heartbroken by this response, but still felt he had been called by God. He felt that he had no other choice but to follow the path God had placed before him.

Martin continued to be weighed down by the guilt of his sinfulness. He spent many hours subjecting himself to different types of discipline and mortification so he could find peace for his soul. In his own words he said, “If ever a Monk got to heaven by his monkery, I would have gotten there!” (Nuelsen 31).  His greatest joy was found in the hours he was able to spend reading the Holy Bible.  He was especially fascinated with the epistles of the Apostle Paul. As he studied the Bible, he became more and more dissatisfied with the ignorance he saw around him and superficiality of religious leaders.

During a visit to Rome, he went to the famous staircase that was believed to be the one that lead up to the palace of Pilate in Jerusalem. Several popes had promised rich blessings to anyone who would climb this staircase on their knees. While painfully climbing it with a prayer on every step, the humbled Luther was shock when the words of Paul, quoted from Habakkuk, seemed to ring out in his mind, “The just shall live by faith!”  (Romans 1:17).  Suddenly the truths of the scripture became clear to him, and he realized the mockery of trying to earn his salvation. He quickly rose from his knees

and left the building without looking back. Through out the rest of his visit, he was filled with intense feelings of disappointment with the Church’s material wealth and power in contrast to its lack of spiritual truth. Everything he saw and heard in Rome was the opposite of what he had expected.  Everywhere he went he was horrified by the greed, hypocrisy, and sin. After he returned to Wittenberg, he casually remarked to one of his friends, “If there is a hell, then Rome is built over it!” (Robinson 33).

Shortly after this experience, Luther became even more indignant when a monk, Tetzel, entered Northern Germany and began selling indulgences. Indulgences were a document signed by the pope that promised forgiveness of sins and also, depending on the amount of money paid, decreased the amount of time a loved one spent in Purgatory. Luther argued that forgiveness of sins was a free gift of God and not something that could be bought or sold. Luther became very angry at the greed, hypocrisy, and arrogance of the Church On the morning of October 31, 1517; he nailed his ninety-five Theses, or arguments against the sale of indulgences, on the heavy, oak door of the Wittenberg Church. 

Luther soon found himself drawn in into a major debate with the Church leaders, and he soon became labeled as a dangerous heretic. Pope Leo X sent a bull, or official sealed document, to Luther demanding him to recant or be excommunicated. Luther, in defiance, posted a notice that there would be a bonfire the next morning at the eastern gate of town. Early the next day in the presence of over six hundred bystanders, he built a fire and thrust the bull into the flames.

 In retaliation, Leo X ordered an assembled court of law; know as a diet, to judge what he considered to be Luther’s erroneous views. The most famous of these diets was held in the City of Worms.  Here Luther defended his position by claiming the authority of the Bible greater than the authority of the pope. “Scripture! Scripture!” was yelled back at him by the Cardinal, “Do you not know that the pope is above the scripture!” (Robinson 44).

 Luther refused to back down and, in never to be forgotten words, he stood firmly against the greatest power of his day and said,  

Unless I am refuted and convicted by testimonies of the scripture or by clear arguments—since I believe neither popes nor the Councils alone, it is being evident that they have often erred and contradicted one another—I am conquered by the passage of the Holy Scriptures I have quoted, and my conscience is bound in the word of God. I can not and will not recant anything, since it is unsafe and dangerous to act against one’s conscience (Nuelsen 117,118).

Until this day in history, the Roman Catholic Church had held tight control over most of Europe with its monopoly on access to God and salvation. In the early 1400’s John Huss and his fellow martyr, Jerome, had been burned at the stake for daring to defy the authority of the pope. When Luther became famous after his publication of the ninety-five Theses, the Church feared that he was the spiritual heir of Huss. During his trial the questions of indulgences and of justification by faith were briefly set aside, and he was asked if the Church was right to condemn Huss. Much to the horror of the assembly, Luther said that Huss had been unjustly condemned. The whole question of the authority of the popes and Councils was raised. To have the courage to stand against the Church, to face its rule of terror, or break the spell it held over the common man was considered a crime punishable by death. People believe that to be excommunication was an eternal damnation to hell and, thus, they were bound to the teachings of the Church. Without access to the Bible, they were unable to know the truths of the scriptures which were completely contrary to the teachings of the church.

Luther found courage to stand against the tyranny of the Church because of the hours he devoted to personal study of the scriptures and prayer. He had a passion for translating the Bible into the German language so the people could read it for themselves rather then hearing it read to them. In that day the Bible was written in Latin, which they could not understand. Martin Luther was a firm believer in justification by faith alone and became the founder of the great Protestant Reformation. Because of Martin Luther, this great movement swept across Europe and started the wheels in motion for the religious freedom we are blessed with today.

WORKS CITED

Primary Sources

The Holy Bible. New King James, Nashville: Cornerstone, 1973.

Luther, Martin. Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses. 31st ed. Philadelphia: Fortress Press,  

1957.

Secondary Sources

Bentley, Jerry H .and Herbert F. Ziegler,. “The Transformation of Europe. “Traditions &

Encounters. 4th ed. 2008.

Kerr, Hugh T. “Luther, Martin 1483-1546.” The New Book of Knowledge. 1993.

Kiefer, James E. “John Huss, Priest and Martyr 6 July 1415.” Biographical Sketches of

Memorable Christians of the Past, 06 July 1415

http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/7.html.

Nuelsen, John L. Luther: The Leader. New York, NY: Abingdon Press, 1906.

Robinson, Virgil. Luther the Leader. Washington, D.C: Review & Herald, 1963.

White, Ellen G. The Great Controversy. Nampa, ID: Pacific Press, 1888.