A Man Of Influence

A Man Of Influence

On this day was born a man whom God used to change the course of history.

HIS NAME was Martin Luther, and he was born on November 10, 1483, in a peasant family in the town of Eisleben in Prussian Saxony. The next day he was baptized and named after St. Martin, the saint for that day. Growing up, he was taught to pray to God and to the saints and to honor the church and its priests. Over time he became a devout worshiper of the Virgin Mary.

Luther enrolled at the University of Erfurt in 1501, receiving a bachelor of arts degree in 1502 and a master of arts in 1505.

That same year Luther was returning to Erfurt from a visit to his parents when he was overtaken by a violent thunderstorm. Terrified, Luther fell to the ground and cried out, “St. Anne, help me! I will become a monk.” Fifteen days later Luther kept his vow and entered the monastery of the Hermits of St. Augustine in Erfurt. Two years later he was ordained a priest.

The following year Luther transferred to the University of Wittenberg, where he earned the doctor of theology degree in 1512. He received a permanent appointment as a professor of theology at the university, a position he held for life.

Luther probably would have lived out his life as a little-known university professor of theology had it not been for the following experience, told in his own words:

I had been possessed by an unusually ardent desire to understand Paul in his epistle to the Romans. Nevertheless, in spite of the ardour of my heart, I was hindered by the unique word in the first chapter: “The righteousness of God. . . .” I hated that word “righteousness of God,” because in accordance with the usage and custom of the doctors I had been taught to understand it philosophically as meaning, as they put it, the formal or active righteousness according to which God is righteous and punishes sinners and the unjust.

As a monk I led an irreproachable life. Nevertheless I felt that I was a sinner before God. . . . Not only did I not love, but I actually hated the righteous God who punishes sinners. . . .

Day and night I tried to meditate upon the significance of these words: “The righteousness of God is revealed in it, as it is written: The righteous shall live by faith.” Then, finally, God had mercy on me, and I began to understand that the righteousness of God is that gift of God by which a righteous man lives, namely, faith, and that this sentence—“The righteousness of God is revealed in the Gospel”—is passive, indicating that the merciful God justifies us by faith, as it is written: “The righteous shall live by faith.” Now I felt as though I had been reborn altogether and had entered Paradise. . . .

Just as intensely as I had before hated the expression ‘the righteousness of God’, I now lovingly praised this most pleasant word. This passage from Paul became to me the very gate to Paradise.

After his rebirth, God went on to use Martin Luther to lead the Reformation and to found the Lutheran Church and Protestantism itself.

Reflection

Do you understand what it means to be justified by faith? It means that because Christ paid the penalty for our sins on the cross, God declares us righteous on the basis of our faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We are justified when we first trust Christ, but then we are to continue trusting him day by day for the specifics of life. We are to live by faith.

This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”

Romans 1:17