Luther: The Greatest Years

1520-1522

Luther’s children

• Johann (Hans) June 7, 1526-October 27, 1575; studied law • Elizabeth December 10, 1527; died at 8 months • Magdalena May 4, 1529; died September 20, 1542 • Martin November 9, 1531-March 2, 1565 studied theology,

spent his time in academia • Paul January 29, 1533-March 8, 1593. A physician, had six

children; his line died out in 1759. There are “Luthers” who are descended from Martin’s brother Jakob

• Margaretha December 17, 1534-1570. All descendants of Martin Luther stem from her. Many of the 351 “Lutherides” in Germany trace their ancestry back to Luther’s grandfather, including Paul von Hindenburg.

• Average age at death: 32

Luther’s siblings

• 1483 birth of Martin Luther as oldest son

• 1484 second son born

• Other brothers and sisters

• One brother named Jacob, born 1490

Purgatory

• Do prayers for the dead contribute to purification of people after they die?

• 2 Macc 12:42-46 Jewish soldiers had died with statues of idols in their pockets. Judas made atonement for the dead, so that they might be delivered

• Dante: purgatory = a mountain in the southern hemisphere 14c.

• Purgatory defined by the Second Council of Lyon (1274), the Council of Florence (1438-45) and the Council of Trent (1545-1563) as a place.

Purgatory

• The state of those who die in God’s friendship; assured of their eternal salvation, but who still have need of purification to enter into the happiness of heaven.

• The faithful who are still pilgrims on earth are able to help the souls in purgatory by prayers, almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance.

Purgatory

• Book of Concord: We know that the ancients speak of prayer for the dead, which we do not prohibit; but we disapprove of the application of the Lord’s Supper on behalf of the dead. The mass does not merit the remission of guilt and punishment even for the unjust to whom it is applied.

• Apology of the Augsburg Confession 24:96

To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation August, 1520 From the Rare Books Collection at LSTC

To the Christian Nobility

• Against papal malpractice and its claims to temporal power

• Advocated the Priesthood of all believers • It’s time for the nobility to take over the church

as “emergency bishops.” • All the baptized are worthy equally to stand

before God, forgiving and praying for others without priestly mediation.

• The clergy are deputies for the whole body of believers as they carry on pastoral tasks.

To the Christian Nobility

• Luther was less concerned for the emancipation of the state than for the purification of the church.

• The spiritual power is not above the temporal

• If God spoke by an ass against the prophet Balaam, why should he not now speak by a righteous person against the pope?

• The clergy should be permitted to marry because they need housekeepers (!), and to place man and women together under such circumstances is like setting straw beside fire and expecting it not to burn.

Concerning the Babylonian Captivity of the Church Intended for theologians and scholars and consequently written in Latin October, 1520 Erasmus, on reading this book: The breach is irreparable From the Rare Books Collection at LSTC

The Babylonian Captivity of the Church

• Do this: receive body and blood of Christ • The sacrament is a gift, not a sacrifice • Luther rejected as sacraments

– Last rites – Ordination (all baptized were already priests) – Confirmation (no biblical command) – Marriage (a civil rite blessed by the church) – Penance sometimes misused (it had some sacramental

values but no visible sign)

• This treatise turned John Bugenhagen into an ally. He became Luther’s pastor and preached at his funeral.

The Babylonian Captivity

• Withholding of the cup from the laity summarizes the tyrannical, power-oriented side of the medieval church (cf. the followers of John Hus)

• The doctrine of transubstantiation is a speculative philosophical imposition on the simple faith that Christ is present in bread and wine as he promised

• The doctrine of the sacrifice of the mass turns a gracious gift of God into a human work

• The Lord’s Supper does not have efficacy apart from faith (vs. ex opere operato)

Penance

• Contrition, of course, is necessary

• Absolution

– A declaration by humans of what God has decreed in heaven

– Not: a ratification by God of what humans have ruled on earth

Baptism

• Repudiation of monasticism since it is not a second baptism, and no vow should ever be taken beyond the baptismal vow.

The Response of Henry VIII

• “Defender of the Faith”

• Her majesty Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas Queen, Defender of the Faith, etc.

Leo X 1475-1521 (Pope 1513-1521) Painting by Raphael Diet of Augsburg. Luther was opposed by Cardinal Cajetan 1518. Papacy not part of biblical church Debate with Eck at Leipzig 1519. Neither popes or church councils are infallible Exurge Domine June 24, 1520. Gave Luther 60 days to recant or face excommunication. This papal bull was burned publicly by Luther on December 10, 1520. Luther excommunicated January 3, 1521

Bull against the Errors of Martin Luther and his Followers “Arise, O Lord” June 15, 1520 Gave Luther 60 days to recant. People should feel free to burn Luther’s books From the Rare Books Collection at LSTC

Exsurge, Domine

• Ps 74:22 Rise up, O God, plead your cause; remember how the impious scoff at you all day long.

• Called on God and the emperor for help against the “wild boar” that wreaks havoc in the vineyard of the Lord.

• December 10—students invited by Melanchthon burned, papal decretals and copies of canon law; Luther threw the bull on the fire.

• Luther was excommunicated in the bull Decet Romanum January 3, 1521. Luther was put under the ban.

Against the Execrable (detestable) Bull of Antichrist This bull condemns me from its own word without any proof from Scripture, whereas I back up all my assertions from the Bible. I ask you, ignorant Antichrist, do you think that with your naked words you can prevail against the armor of Scripture. I demand that they show absolutely,

not respectively, clearly and not obscurely, point by point and not in a lump, just what is heretical. Let them show where I am a heretic, or dry up their spittle.

Assertion of all the Articles Wrongly Condemned by the Roman Bull November 29, 1520 I was wrong, I admit it, when I said that indulgences were the pious defrauding of the faithful. I recant and I say, Indulgences are the most impious frauds and imposters of the most rascally pontiffs, by which they deceive the souls and destroy the goods of the faithful.

I say now, Not some but all the articles of John Hus were condemned by Antichrist and his apostles in the synagogue of Satan. And to your face, most holy Vicar of God, I say freely that all the condemned articles of John Hus are evangelical and Christian, and yours are downright impious and diabolical.

Why the books of the pope and his disciples were burned by Dr. Martin

Luther

• Lists 33 erroneous claims for papal power

December 10, 1520

I look upon you less as Leo the Lion than as Daniel in the lion’s den of Babylon. Do not think, Father Leo, that when I scathe this seat of pestilence (the papacy) I am inveighing against your person. Do not listen to those who say that none can be Christians without your authority, who make you the lord of heaven, hell, and purgatory. I am sending you this tract as an auspice of peace, that you may see the sort of thing with which I could and would more fruitfully occupy myself if your adulators would leave me alone.

Luther in a letter to Pope Leo X

The Freedom of a Christian Nov 1520 • A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none (freedom from the

law of the Old Testament)

• A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all

• Freed from the constraints of the law, the believer has become heir to Christ’s holiness, justice, and piety. Since Christ has filled our needs, our faith can be active in love, serving our neighbor in his wants and for his betterment. We are bound to the needs of the neighbor

• The happy exchange: the sinner brings sin; the righteous Christ brings righteousness. Christ changes places with sinners

• Faith was to be active in love for the needs of the neighbor

• Insofar as a Christian is free, no works are necessary. Insofar as a Christian is a servant, all kinds of works are to be done.

• Appeared in ten editions before the end of the year 1520

Luther’s popularity

• Aleander: 9/10 of Germans cry “Luther” and the rest cry “death to the pope.”

• Best supporter: Frederick the Wise

• Strong opponent: Eck

• Middle position: Erasmus

• Luther invited to a hearing at Worms and given a guarantee of safe conduct

• Luther would enter Worms even if there were as many devils there as tiles on the roofs.

Toward the Diet of Worms

• Kaspar Sturm, the imperial herald, presented summons to Luther on March 29

• John von der Eck asks Luther to recant [not the same Eck as at Leipzig].

• Luther: can’t deny first set of books—all agreed to them; 2nd set against the popes since they have acted against Scripture and church fathers. 3rd set more vehement than necessary. Eck demands simple answer.

• Luther left Worms on April 26; outlawed on May 26!

• “Kidnapped” on May 4. Luther stays 10 months at Wartburg. Duerer grieved for the “dead” Luther.

Diet of Worms 1521. Charles V presided. I cannot and will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. God, help me. Luther threatened with arrest—declared an outlaw

The Diet of Worms From the Rare Books Collection at LSTC

Luther’s Answer at Worms

• Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason—I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other—my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen.

Decision of the Diet

• Luther is to be regarded as a convicted heretic. No one is to harbor him. His followers also are to be condemned. His books are to be eradicated from the memory of man.

• But by the time this was issued, several of the electors had already left Worms.

Albrecht Duerer

• I know not whether he lives or is murdered, but in any case he has suffered for the Christian truth….O God, if Luther is dead, who will henceforth explain to us the gospel? What might he not have written for us in the next ten or twenty years?

Junker Jörg 1521 Luther kidnapped by agents of Frederick the Wise after the Diet of Worms

The edition of the New Testament by Erasmus. Luther used the 2nd edition of this work in his translation of the New Testament From the Rare Books Collection at LSTC

1 John 5:7

• There are three that testify in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one.

• Text below is from a 16c ms that was copied from a 10c manuscript that lacked this verse!

Title Page of December Testament From the Rare Books Collection at LSTC

In this table of contents, Luther gives numbers only to the first 23 books. He does not give numbers to Hebrews, James, Jude, and Revelation since he had misgivings about their canonical status. This same table of contents was used by Tyndale in his translation of the New Testament into English.

Depictions of the Dragon

• The following slide shows the depiction of the dragon in Revelation in the September and December testaments of Luther in 1522.

• The picture on the left is the September testament and shows the dragon wearing the papal tiara.

• The picture on the right is the December testament and the papal tiara has been removed. Luther had been advised that the first picture was not appropriate.

Translation of the Bible

• September and December Testaments 1522

• First edition 5,000 copies

• Based on 2nd edition of Erasmus New Testament in Greek

• Hebrew, James, Jude, and Revelation not given numbers in Table of Contents

• Complete Bible 1534

• Significant contribution to German language

At Wartburg

• Translated New Testament into German in eleven weeks • Published a commentary on Psalm 68 • Published a commentary on the Magnificat LW 21 297-358 • Published a reply to James Latomus (U. of Louvain) LW

32:229. • Published “On Confession: Whether the Pope has the

Power to Require it” • Published “On the Abolition of Private Masses” LW 36, 179-

180 • Published “On Monastic Vows” LW 44:251 • Published “Against Sedition” LW 45:57-74

Changes in Wittenberg while Luther was at the Wartburg

• Priests and nuns were marrying—sometimes to each other

• Private masses were discontinued

• Wine offered to laity in communion

• Luther made a trip to Wittenberg incognito in early December: Preach, pray, but do not fight

• Carlstadt attacked images and music

• Luther returned permanently on March 6, 1522 and preached for eight straight days!

Cartoon depicting Luther and Hus Giving the communion cup to the electors of Saxony

Frederick the Wise (left) reigned 1486-1525 John the Steadfast (his brother) reigned 1525-32

John Frederick the Magnanimous

1503-54. Elector of Ernestine Saxony 1532-47 Luther: If I were to drink as much as the elector, I’d drown. If he drank as much as I, he’d die of thirst

Electors of Saxony

• Frederick III the wise 1463-1525. Had collected 19,000 relics by 1520. Founded U. of Wittenberg in 1503. He never met Luther but protected him. He had Luther “kidnapped” after Diet of Worms and taken to Wartburg. He abandoned veneration of relics in 1523. Took communion in two kinds on the day of his death.

• John the Steadfast (1468-)1525-1532. Brother of Frederick. On August 16, 1525 declared Saxony evangelical. Took a heroic stand against Charles V at Augsburg 1530. Motto: Word of God abides forever.

• John Frederick the Magnanimous 1503-1554. Elector: 1532-47.

Zwickau prophets

• December 27, 1521

• Thomas Muentzer was their pastor

• Luther returned to Wittenberg on March 6, 1522

Congregation has the right to call and judge teachers

• LW 39: 305-314

Charles V: Henceforth I will view Luther as a notorious heretic