Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World

by Eric Metaxas

Luther had argued that the Catholic Mass, by being a reenactment of the sacrificial death of Christ, put forth an idea that was unscriptural, so the Mass as it had been practiced was theologically wrong.

Luther, of course, had also made it clear that separating priests into a special caste apart from laypeople was unbiblical, and therefore the idea that only they and not the laypeople should take the bread and the wine both during Communion was wrong.

one may see evidence of Luther’s pastor’s heart. He was concerned more about the people than about the correctness of the theology.

Do you think that the purchase price that was paid for the redemption of our sins by so great a Lamb is too small?

He counseled in it that God could not be stopped from doing what he was already doing,

to take up arms or resort to any violence to push it along was a lack of faith and would only do the devil’s work by bringing the Gospel into ill repute.

He then said that the Scripture commands us to “test the spirits” (1 John 4:1) and not to feel rushed into making any decisions about them.

he went to some pains to say that the mark of someone who has encountered God or who is truly called by God is suffering.

but Karlstadt went further yet, asserting that church music too was beyond the pale. “Relegate organs, trumpets, and flutes to the theater,” he wrote. “The lascivious notes of the organ awaken thoughts of the world.”