Replies

From Luther's letter to the Christians at Antwerp:

We believed, during the reign of the pope, that the spirits which make a noise and disturbance in the night, were those of the souls of men, who after death, return and wander about in expiation of their sins. This error, thank God, has been discovered by the Gospel, and it is known at present, that they are not the souls of men, but nothing else than those malicious devils who used to deceive men by false answers. It is they that have brought so much idolatry into the world.

The devil seeing that this sort of disturbance could not last, has devised a new one; and begins to rage in his members, I mean in the ungodly, through whom he makes his way in all sorts of chimerical follies and extravagant doctrines. This won't have baptism, that denies the efficacy of the Lord's supper; a third, puts a world between this and the last judgment ; others teach that Jesus Christ is not God ; some say this, others that ; and there are almost as many sects and beliefs as there are heads.

Available here: http://beggarsallreformation.blogspot.com/2007/07/luther-there-are-almost-as-many-sects.html

So in context we see that Luther is not responding to Sola Scriptura at all. His analysis of the diversity of belief is a change of tactics by Satan. From the same letter:

When the pope reigned we heard nothing of these troubles. The strong one (the devil) was in peace in his fortress; but now that a stronger one than he is come, and prevails against him and drives him out, as the Gospel says, he storms and comes forth with noise and fury.
Dear friends, one of these spirits of disorder has come amongst you in flesh and blood; he would lead you astray with the inventions of his pride: beware of him.

First, he tells you that all men have the Holy Ghost. Secondly, that the Holy Ghost is nothing more than our reason and our understanding. Thirdly, that all men have faith. Fourthly, that there is no hell, that at least the flesh only will be damned. Fifthly, that all souls will enjoy eternal life. Sixthly, that nature itself teaches us to do to our neighbour what we would he should do to us ; this he calls faith. Seventhly, that the law is not violated by concupiscence, so long as we are not consenting to the pleasure. Eighthly, that he that has not the Holy Ghost, is also without sin, for he is destitute of reason.

The disorderly individual he was referring to here was apparently an Anabaptist who was claiming special revelation, direct divine authority equal to Scripture, and contradictory to Scripture, which is alien to both the spirit and practice of Sola Scriptura, and has greater analogy to how Rome regards its own Delphic oracle. Luther was persuaded by neither.

You might think it is hardly fair to assault the "unity" of Rome as the work of Satan, but you must admit in principle some forms of unity are positively satanic. In one word. Islam. Which we know is also somewhat subject to division (Sunni versus Shiite, and others perhaps less well known). Yet what uniformity of darkness they have in regard to the person of Jesus Christ. And as long as unity is working for the Devil, it remains an effective strategy to deceive sinful men and women en masse.

But the good news is that Rome was not even that unified in Luther's day! As Luther points out:

“…there is no other place in the world where there are so many sects, schisms, and errors as in the papal church. For the papacy, because it builds the church upon a city and person, has become the head and fountain of all sects which have followed it and have characterized Christian life in terms of eating and drinking, clothes and shoes, tonsures and hair, city and place, day and hour. For the spirituality and holiness of the papal church lives by such things, as was said above. This order fasts at this time, another order fasts at another time; this one does not eat meat, the other one does not eat eggs; this one wears black, the other one white; this one is Carthusian, the other Benedictine; and so they continue to create innumerable sects and habits, while faith and true Christian life go to pieces. All this is the result of the blindness which desires to see rather than believe the Christian church and to seek devout Christian life not in faith but in works, of which St. Paul writes so much in Colossians [2]. These things have invaded the church and blindness has confirmed the government of the pope.”

Available at the same link given above

So by an inescapable logic, Luther sees that heresy has it's source in Satan, and that it has never ceased to operate, but that tactics do change with changing circumstances. And where else can heresy come from but those who once associated with true Christian faith? So it would be stunning if Satan had stopped taking good churchmen and making them into heretics for hundreds of years while Rome stretched it's power over the kingdoms of the earth. The false doctrines Luther encountered were not derived from godly men exploring Scripture in their own language, but from false visions of false spirits antithetical to the sound doctrine of the written word of God. It seems impossible to my tiny mind how feeding, as Jesus said we must, on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, should be conflated with the work of devils. But I'm sure old Screwtape would approve.

Peace,

SR

The quote I posted, which you responded to, was taken from the same website you reference, ‘beggarsall.’

How can one be a disorderly Anabaptist individual by simply doing what Luther said all men should do? Doesn’t this cause a problem to those who elevate the Anabaptists as the forerunners of the Baptist Church?

Also, this article references the Waldensian’s. What did Luther think about their beliefs? If you know.

Pardon my rambling but I would be surprised that this was simply one disorderly Anabaptist as the letter was describing the Christians of Antwerp. Luther says “this one won’t” this and “that one rejects this,” etc.

There seemed to be much infighting even amongst the reformers as to who was a heretic and who was not.

This quote by Luther needs a lot of explaining. He seems to be pointing the finger at different Catholic religious orders. Those orders, while having different rules, were all obedient to the teachings of the Church. (or should have been). And he speaks in vague terms about religious life falling to pieces but there are no examples given.

“…there is no other place in the world where there are so many sects, schisms, and errors as in the papal church. For the papacy, because it builds the church upon a city and person, has become the head and fountain of all sects which have followed it and have characterized Christian life in terms of eating and drinking, clothes and shoes, tonsures and hair, city and place, day and hour.” etc...

I guess it boils down to authority. Bottom line, Luther rejected the authority of the Church and started his own. Then criticized others for doing the same thing that he himself had done.