Martin Luther: Did he pass the Litmus Test?
David
his famous 95 theses on the Wittenberg church door, inviting a
disputation on the matter under his chairmanship. Although the
disputation never took place, he had unknowingly launched the
Reformation with this act.
The Church's sale of indulgences had been a means to raise funds by
offering spiritual merits in exchange for money. It proved to be a
tremendously lucrative source in the business of soul saving,
strengthened by the teaching that the dead had to expiate their sins in
the flames of purgatory before passing to paradise. "As soon as the
money in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory's fire springs."
After all, alms-giving was a good work. It was a splendid bargain for
the buyer and the seller. Little wonder that some of Luther's
parishioners acquired indulgences when their sale was offered in a
nearby town.
That's when the Reverend Father Martin Luther, Master of Arts and
Sacred Theology, and Lecturer in Ordinary, took action "out of love
for the faith and the desire to bring it to light..." He was troubled
by such practices and questioned their validity. His answer, as we
know, was: sola scriptura, sola gratia, sola fide - only Scripture,
only grace, only faith.
Luther firmly believed in and relied upon the Bible as the source of
truth. In his study of the epistles of the Apostle Paul he had come
across verses which had given him the understanding that only through
faith in Christ's redeeming passion does the Christian receive
salvation. Luther's perception of the gospel was this: Christianity
consists entirely in the belief in Christ; the substance of Christ's
teaching is unimportant. Or in his own words, "The Gospel does not
teach us what we must do or leave undone, but says: God has done this
for you, has made His Son flesh for you, has had Him gone to death for
you."[1]
All good works, from mere monastic exercises to the most fruitful
self-sacrifice, are of no account before God and have no effect and
value in His sight. All we can do is to throw ourselves on Christ's
mercy and believe in Him, to act and suffer in faith. By "good
works" Luther meant especially those forms of ritual piety
recommended by the Church - fasting, pilgrimages, prayers to the
saints, Masses for the dead, indulgences, processions, gifts to the
Church; but he also included all "works, whatever their
character."[2]
Christianity is a continual exercise in feeling that you have no sin
although you sin, but that your sins are thrown on Christ.[3] Luther
defines love and charity as purely spiritual qualities, stating that
for Christians there must be a spiritual way of approach, but "for
the rough people, for Master Everybody one must set corporally and
roughly about the task, and force them with the sword and the law, and
to be outwardly pious, as wild beasts are kept with chains and
cages."[4]
Of course he does not question the need of charity and love for a
healthy social life, but not as a criterion for faith, justification,
and salvation. Faith deals with a person's eternal standing before
God but not with his temporal standing in the world. The efficacy of
the sacraments depends on the faith of the recipient and not on his
forms and formulas. Faith is an individual matter, producing a mystical
(invisible) church.
The Litmus Test of True Faith
The book of James presents a litmus test for those who would claim to
possess saving faith. James stressed the importance of faith working
together with works. He called faith by itself (not having works) a
dead faith.[5] According to James, those who don't realize that faith
without works is useless, can be described as foolish. Luther rejected
the book of James as "an epistle of straw" since it did not agree
with his doctrine of "justification by faith alone."
As recorded in John 2:23-25, there was a time during a Passover in
Jerusalem when many believed in Christ, actually in His name,[6] seeing
the signs which He did. But Yahshua did not entrust Himself to them,
because He knew what was in them. The Greek text indiscriminately says
believe, but Yahshua distinguishes what kind of belief it is, as to
whether a person believes in his mind or his heart.
Paul distinguished, too. He taught that salvation was dependent upon
believing in the heart, and he also explained that such faith results
in obeying and comes by hearing a qualified preacher, or a "sent
one," as he calls it.[7] This is completely in line with Christ's
teaching, who made it clear that no one could receive Him without
receiving the one whom He sends.[8] The qualification for such a sent
one is John 7:18 (seeking the glory of the one who sends), and the
qualification for receiving faith is John 7:17 (being willing to do
God's will). So faith is ministered from someone who is doing God's
will to someone who is willing to do His will.[9]
Receiving faith in this way is believing in Him the way Scripture
teaches, with the promise that such a one will have rivers of living
water flowing out of him.[10] And this water will flow over to others,
giving everlasting life to them as well.[11] That's the Spirit and
the bride saying, "Come!"[12] And this bride has prepared herself
through doing the righteous deeds of the saints.[13] In other words,
nobody is qualified to proclaim the gospel except those who are doing
the righteous deeds of the saints.
Deeds are obviously very important, so much so, that Christ gave
Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and
purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good deeds.[14]
So the redeemed doing good deeds is obviously the purpose of His
redeeming sacrifice. For by grace you have been saved through faith for
works - not just to go to heaven.[15]
This says it all: Saved by God's doing alone, for the purpose of
carrying out the works He has ordained for those He saves. That's why
saving faith can only come to those who are willing to do His will.
After all He bought us with His precious blood for a purpose. Would
anybody in his right mind go into a store and buy something with his
precious, hard-earned money that wouldn't be useful to him or serve
him?
Paul then goes on to tell the Ephesians what these righteous deeds of
the saints are that they'd been saved to do. In Ephesians 4:12,16 he
makes it clear that this work of ministry of the saints is for the
building up of the Body of Christ. In other words, these works
represent church life. Now we can see why the apostles established an
actual, real community when they established the church.[16] It
wasn't an invisible church, as Luther fancied, but it was a city on a
hill, as Yahshua taught - a light to the world, where everybody could
observe the church life, the good works of the saints, and glorify God
in heaven.[17]
Since the church was such a city on a hill, we can see the works. They
are obvious. They were of one heart and one mind. They lived like a big
extended family, having their meals together with joy and gladness of
heart. They had been forgiven, cleared from guilt, and they obviously
enjoyed being with each other. Nobody claimed anything he possessed as
his own, but they had all things in common. There was nobody among them
that lacked anything. They simply did not live for themselves but laid
their lives down for each other, being continually engaged in the deeds
of love and charity they'd been saved for. And they knew that they
had passed out of death and into life because they were loving each
other in works and truth.[18]
To Luther the teachings of Christ were not important because all that
he knew about works was that they were of no benefit or merit in regard
to salvation. By this thinking, he reduced the gospel to only the
redeeming and atoning sacrifice of Christ on behalf of sinners. It
became the gospel of going to heaven. However Christ and His apostles
preached the gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore to the apostles
the teachings of Christ were very important, because teaching others to
keep the commandments of Christ would establish His kingship or the
Kingdom of Heaven.
(next week: Luther on community of goods)
[1] Unterrichtung wie sich Christen in Mosen sollen schicken, Vol. XVI,
p. 367
[2] Works, II, 316
[3] Werke, XL, 436; XXV, 330, 142, 130; Werke (Erlangen), XVIII, 260
[4] Wider die himmlischen Propheten, Vol. XVIII, p. 66
[5] James 2:14-26
[6] Jesus is the English transliteration of the Hebrew name Yahshua,
which means "YHWH's Salvation" or "I am mighty and powerful and
save" - a befitting name for the Savior of the world. See What's
in a Name for a more detailed explanation.
[7] Romans 10:9-17
[8] Matthew 10:40-41; John 13:20
[9] Matthew 10:41
[10] John 7:37-38
[11] John 4:14
[12] Revelation 22:17
[13] Revelation 19:7-8
[14] Titus 2:14
[15] Ephesians 2:8-10
[16] Acts 2:42-47; 4:32-37
[17] Matthew 5:14-16
[18] 1 John 3:14-24
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