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

by Eric Metaxas

Oecolampadius and Zwingli reiterated their position that while it was true that Jesus was by faith spiritually present in the Communion elements, nonetheless he could not be bodily present in any way. Their

Luther again contended that God could do many things we could not understand and if the Scripture said “This is my body” we need not worry about the details. We had enough in those words to have what we needed. The words were not fuzzy or complicated in any way, and to pretend they were was a simple lack of faith or worse.

Our spirit is different from yours; it is clear that we do not possess the same spirit, for it cannot be the same spirit when in one place the words of Christ are simply believed and in another place the same faith is censured, resisted, regarded as false, and attacked with all kinds of malicious and blasphemous words. Therefore, as I have previously said, we commend you to the judgment of God.5

Again he had brought up the dubious and ironically unbiblical idea of “the spirits.” And that was that. So Luther effectively showed the back of his hand to this man, who was on the verge of tears. As a result, Zwingli now actually wept. But it seems that Luther would not even allow himself to lean in Zwingli’s direction, much less share in his warm desire for friendship.

That he categorized Zwingli’s good faith attempts to explain himself as in any way “malicious” or “blasphemous” is patently strange, for who else would have characterized them that way? Certainly not anyone else in the room, including all those on Luther’s side. So the question remains: Was Luther being insufferably, abominably, perversely bullheaded, or was he being a divinely inspired and immovable outpost of

truth?

He rightly believed that the Scriptures had much to say on this subject, and what they seemed to say was that the sphere of the empire and state did not extend as far as a person’s religious beliefs, provided those beliefs were not openly seditious. If

So Luther was from the Gospels themselves establishing what would become the future idea of religious liberty that the American founders would enshrine in the U.S. Constitution.

Nonetheless, Luther consistently maintained that the Bible he read ordered him to respect the governing authorities—as per Romans 13:1–7—so any kind of rebellion was not possible. This was also why Luther was willing to die for his faith and why he exhorted other Christians to be willing to die for their faith too;

This list included marriage of the clergy, rejection of the idea of the Mass as a sacrifice, the Lord’s Supper in both kinds to everyone, and the end of monastic communities. There were a few additional things, as well as a clear statement that the “Sacramentarians”—meaning

On and on he thundered, aiming particular fire at the single lie that lay at the rotten black heart of it all, that men and women could themselves “make satisfaction” for their own sins, that the free gift of God’s grace did not exist, and that Jesus had therefore suffered and died in vain. “This doctrine,” he wrote, “has filled hell and has troubled the kingdom of Christ more horribly than the Turk or the whole world could ever do. . . . Alas, where are the tongues and voices that can say enough about this?”15

Your blood be on your own head! We are and want to be innocent of your blood and damnation, since we pointed out to you sufficiently your wrongs, faithfully admonished to repentance, prayed sincerely, and offered to the uttermost all that could serve the cause of peace, seeking and desiring nothing else than the one comfort for our souls, the free, pure gospel. Therefore we may boast with a good conscience that the fault has not been ours. But may the God of peace and comfort give you his Spirit, to direct and lead you to all truth through our Lord Jesus Christ.16

One night while at the Coburg, Luther had a powerful dream in which he lost a tooth, but the size of the tooth filled him with amazement. Such dreams were generally taken as portents of an impending death, and indeed two days later Luther was staggered to receive word of his own father’s death.

The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. I love her very much. . . . In the last thousand years God has given to no bishop such great gifts as God has given me (for one should boast of God’s gifts). I am angry with myself that I am unable to rejoice from my heart and be thankful to God, though I do at times sing a little song and give thanks. Whether we live or die, we belong to God.5 Here was the very wound at the heart of human existence: even when we know as much as or more than anyone else of the truth of God, we are nonetheless sufficiently mired in the fallenness of this world so that we are unable fully to comprehend what we know to be true. Lenchen died in her father’s arms at 9:00 a.m.