The day was October 31st and the year was 1517. Previously, a German monk named Martin Luther had been struggling with the Scriptures that he had been reading. Why was he struggling? Well, the Catholic Church, which he served, believed one thing about this doctrine of salvation, yet the Scripture taught a different story: which story was he to believe? The Catholic Church taught that man was responsible to the pope and church leaders, not to God alone. They further taught that man needed to do good works to gain acceptance into heaven, or earn their righteousness. But the Scriptures that Luther read and the doctrine that his church taught did not agree.
As Luther struggled with this, a new fundraiser that the church instituted began to frustrate him further. Various methods of raising money for the building of St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome were being employed, but the one that irritated Luther the most was the selling of indulgences. The Catholic Church had authorized Johann Tetzel to sell indulgences as means of raising money for the building of St. Peter’s Cathedral. The term indulgence and what it means has a long history of use and abuse in the Catholic Church (something that could be a discussed in length on another occasion). However, for our purposes, we are looking at indulgences from the eyes of Luther and the aggressive marketing tactics of Tetzel. Tetzel taught the people a common jingle, “as soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from Purgatory springs.” Luther interpreted this phrase from Tetzel to mean that the Church is selling indulgences that would free loved-ones who were in purgatory and give themselves license to sin. In essence, Luther thought that the church was selling certificates of salvation! Many people still assumed that that Church had rule and authority over them and so they were purchasing these indulgences daily. This outraged Luther and he spoke out against this practice saying that it was not in line with the Word of God. The most famous display of his outrage was when he posted the 95 Theses on the Church doors in Wittenberg, Germany on October 31, 1517. A “theses” means a grievance. So, Luther posted 95 complaints he had with the Catholic Church and their teaching (now don’t you readers do this to your church doors, besides these grievances were doctrinal not because these disliked the color of the carpet or the music). In fact, Theses 28, specifically objected to the teaching of Johann Tetzel and his infamous jingle.
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| Printed indulgence certificate signed by Johannes Tietzel (Tetzel). The German text reads, "In the authority of all the saints, and in compassion towards you, I absolve you from all sins and misdeeds, and remit all punishment for ten days." |
Surely, Luther thought to himself, if I bring these discrepancies to the knowledge of the church leadership they will want to discuss this wrong doctrine that they were teaching and promoting. The nailing of a list of grievances on the church doors was a common practiced that often pushed for further study and debate on the issues posted; he wanted to initiate scholarly debate. Luther chose this date for posting his theses because the coming holyday would bring many of the community to services, ensuring that his statements would receive wide exposure. The reactions that he received were vastly different than what he had anticipated. First, the Catholic Church and its leaders did not want to debate, they did not want to change anything because they did not think that they were wrong. Second, the people of Wittenberg and many others had read Luther’s writings and were in agreement with them. Luther’s writings were spreading like wildfire and the church wanted to squelch them as quickly as possible. They brought Luther before a religious court and gave him opportunity to recant his teachings and his writings. He chose to respond in these words: “Unless I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason, for my conscience is captive to the Word of God, I cannot and I will no recant for it is neither right nor safe for a Christian to go against his conscience. Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen.” Charles V pronounced Luther an outlaw, he was to be apprehended and punished as a heretic (i.e. death), and anyone who helped Luther would be punished as well. Luther escaped death by the efforts of Frederick III (which is another story for another time) and taken to a Wartburg Castle, where his more influential work would begin. Luther continued to write, but he also translated the entire New Testament Greek into the German language so his countrymen could read it for themselves in their own language. It is very likely that the life and work of Luther influenced another great translator of the Bible named William Tyndale, one of my all-time heroes. Tyndale produced the first English translation of the New Testament Greek around 1525. He was not able to translate the Hebrew Old Testament into English, though he was gifted in the Hebrew language as well, because he was burned at the stake for the translational work he had already done.
And so, when I celebrate October 31st as Reformation Day, I am thankful for men like Luther and Tyndale who had a passion for translating God’s Word into their native language, all in the face of death. In like manner, I have a passion for helping people to understand, interpret, and apply the Word of God. God has not only called us to be communicators of His Word to others, but also to be translators of His Word to others. Translator means much more than taking words from one language and putting it into another language, translating means deciphering or decoding something. Christians are given the responsibility of deciphering or decoding the Words of God in such a way that others will better understand what God’s Word says. Yes, I am a preacher, and a teacher, but I am also a translator.
My favorite words from Martin Luther...
Scroll up to the top of the blog and look at the quotation under the title.