A Lightning Strike and a Life Changed
Around 1501 two bright law students were walking through a field in Germany, perhaps discussing the great careers and fortunes that lay ahead of them as lawyers. The dark clouds that had gathered overhead only made them hasten their pace a little, but they were not concerned about the gathering storm. The last thing they remembered of their walk was the white flash. When one of them awoke, he was dazed for a moment and then realized what had happened. He had been struck by lightning. Amazed that he had survived, he turned to his friend to wonder at their luck, but his friend was not as fortunate he was dead.
A Life-Altering Event
Devastated by this event, Martin Luther dropped out of law school without telling anyone why and joined the hermitage of St Augustine, hoping he would find an answer there to why his life had been spared when he should have died with his friend. As he was always a student, it was not long before Martin Luther had read the writings of St. Augustine and others who left their writings in the library of the hermitage. One day while looking for something else to read in the library, he happened upon a Latin Bible, which he had never seen before. He devoured the contents of the Bible quickly over the following weeks and was surprised at how little the church of his day had to do with what was written in it.
The Call to Ministry
Thus he felt the call to the ministry and became a priest. His scholarship in the Bible and knowledge of the Christian fathers became so well known that he was invited to become a teacher at the newly forming University of Wittenberg sometime in 1508. Though the university had wanted Luther for his reputation and standing to give credibility to their faculty, Luther was more interested in continuing to learn himself.
Questioning Church Teachings
He had lengthy discussions with another more experienced Augustine monk there whom Luther greatly respected. They talked about various subjects in their time together, but again and again, their discussions retired to the topic of the forgiveness of sins. At that time the established church taught that only through a priest could one’s sins be forgiven, and often there were certain works or payments that had to accompany that. But Luther’s friend pointed him to the writings of St. Bernard for a response to this “This is the testimony that the Holy Ghost gives you in your heart, saving your sins are forgiven. For this is the opinion of the apostle, that man is freely justified by faith.”
Justification by Faith
We are justified by faith. The thought seemed to take possession of Luther’s mind as he began to see it everywhere in things he read, especially in the letters of Paul to the church. This stayed with him for some time as he saw more and more that the practices of the state church seemed to have very little to do with faith in Jesus Christ and everything to do with obtaining more power and wealth.
A Trip to Rome
He especially saw this when he went to the Church in Rome to represent his university in debating an issue there before the church leadership. Upon returning from this trip to Germany, Luther was made a doctor of divinity and started teaching directly from the Bible rather than from other texts, especially the books of Romans and Psalms.
A New Era Dawns
His words were so different from what any of the other teachers were teaching that “there seemed, after a long and dark night, a new day to arise, in the judgment of all pious and prudent men.” He pointed to Jesus as the only remitter of sins and taught that people should gratefully embrace this free gift and not despise what it cost Jesus on the cross to win it. If people would truly come to Jesus and ask Him to forgive their sins, then there would be such a change that all around should notice. The more he taught this, the more he felt his own heart.
Tale Tuesday 032
Date: 14th March 2023
Title: Martin Luther – I Am Tied by the Scriptures
Source: A Heritage of Faith: A History of Christianity in Nigeria
Author: Ayodeji Abodunde
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