Posted on 06/30/2017 4:43:54 PM PDT by Gamecock
The year 2017 is the year of Martin Lutheror at least it should be. Nearly 500 years ago on October 31, 1517, Luther nailed (or mailed, for some historians debate this point) his 95 theses to the door of Wittenberg Castle Church.
Even so, Luther didnt become a full-fledged protestor of the church in that single moment. It took him about eight years (1513-1521) to challenge and hammer out a more robust understanding of the gospel.
Have you ever wondered what Martin Luther was reading during this crucial time in his life? Maybe Im just a nerd, but I thought at least someone else might be interested in what Luther was reading during his slow, but steady, transition out of the medieval church and into the world of reformation.
Remember, Luthers goal wasnt to invent or start an entirely new church. His goal was to reform the church and call her to repentance and faith in the abiding Word of God.
Here are four books Martin Luther read that made him question everything:
1. The Psalms Luther spent time studying and lecturing through the Psalms in the Bible. He began to realize that the Bible teaches we are not generally sinful, we are totally sinful. Here, Luther had the beginnings of what theologians later would refer to as total depravity, meaning that we are sinful in our thoughts, words, and deeds.
2. Romans After that, Luther lectured through Pauls letter to the Romans. He came across Romans 1:17, For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, The righteous shall live by faith. The last part of this verse is a direct quotation from Habakkuk 2:4.
Luther began to see something that he never saw before. He began to see the doctrine of imputationthat we are declared right before God not by our own righteousness, but by the righteousness of another. He began to understand that the righteousness of God that was such a terror to him as a priest (because it told him that he was unholy and unworthy), was actually the righteousness from God that told him he was holy and worthy. God gives this right standing by faith alone. It is a righteousness that is received as a gift and not earned.
3. Galatians It wasnt until Luther started lecturing through Galatians that he began to realize that faith does not justify us before God. Faith is merely an instrument that God uses. Faith is a tool by which we embrace Jesus Christ as he is offered to us in the gospel.
Faith is, as John Murry once said, extrospective. It looks outwardnot inwardto embrace the God who gives himself. In other words, faith is only an empty hand. It justifies because it grabs hold of the Jesus who justifies (Rom. 3:26).
4. Hebrews The last book that turned a medieval priest into a true Reformer was the letter to the Hebrews. Luther began to embrace an entirely different understanding of how the Old and New Testaments relate to one another. He realized that the law is not simply the Old Testament and the gospel is the New Testament, but that the gospel of God can be seen as preached throughout both Old and New Testaments.
The same Jesus of the same gospel was offered freely to both Jew and Gentile alike, throughout the whole Bible. Sure, there was a greater and fuller proclamation of that message, such that it went out to the whole world instead of only Israel and their close neighborsbut the gospel was preached nonetheless!
In short, reading and studying the Bible is what ultimately made Martin Luther protest the medieval church. Luther was convinced that the Bible was worth listening to. So this year we celebrate the anniversary of a recovery of the bright light of the gospel. To God alone be all the glory (Soli Deo Gloria).
Yes.
Yes I did.
And then you changed the definition of ‘grace’ right in the middle of it to include works. Yep.
Which, you know, is against the plain words of both Jesus and Paul.
173, 173... I don’t remember exactly what I posted in that one.
I... think it was supposed to be a hypothetical, not an actual reference.
But okay, if that’s against the rules even as a hypothetical, I’ll try not to do that again.
Sorry!
I asked you precisely one question.
Just one.
“Where did the poster you maligned preach salvation by works?
You wrote seven paragraphs without answering that one, straightforward, uncomplicated question. So now here’s one more for you:
why?
PFFHAHAHA.
Really?
The guy posted from the Catholic catechism, which specifically says that you have to do works in order to earn salvation.
Sorry dude; you didn’t read above, didja?
Ha ha ha.
Man, that’s hilarious.
No, I didn’t.
Which post was that?
JESUS is coming in the air, soon, to gather HIS EKKLESIA to Himself and return to the Father’s House. Don’t be left on this planet After that event. It will be the worst period in the History of the Planet.
Hardly. The 95 thesis was the culmination of Luther's work to design a pseudo-Christianity whereby he could keep his clerical vocation while simultaneously getting himself out from under the authority of the true Church.
He DESIGNED it to resist scrutiny by the real Church, just like every other cult.
Heh.
Heh heh heh.
Heh.
What, you’re so busy white-knighting for afvet that you can’t even remember whether you’re trying to defend yourself or him?
You said that HE didn’t say anything about salvation by works. Whereas, he posted from the Catechism, which DID say that you had to have salvation by works.
And if you’re a Catholic and don’t believe that, then it seems that you are either a liar or a heretic.
Read the thread, buddy, and know that I am smirking through my screen at you the whole time.
So why are you being so evasive instead of just providing the reference I asked for?
Why should I do your research for you?
Scroll up like 3 pages on the thread and you’ll find it. It’s in bright blue text. You can even do a word search on ‘Grace’ if you want.
Or if you want, you can look up ‘Grace’ in a Catholic catechism.
The fact that you’re complaining that I’m not holding your hand is in itself evasion; I’m just gonna assume you concede the point about salvation by grace vs. works and just ignore what you say now, mmk?
Wow man; I’m pretty sure you haven’t even READ Luther.
I’m going to start ignoring you now, lest you drag me to your level and beat me with experience.
Allow me to smirk at you from across the Internet. If this is the best that Romanists can come up with, I pity them.
Correction: Bright blue OR red text, depending on whether you clicked the link.
Whatever the case, the reference is painfully easy to find.
*cough post 179 cough*
Because people who make such claims are dishonest and avoid giving the ACTUAL text they refer to so they don't have to explain how they inserted their "interpretation" into what was actually stated.
For example, you claimed "You said that HE didnt say anything about salvation by works."
That's either a deliberate lie, or as the song says "what a fool believes, he sees." In either case I defy you to prove your quoted claim.
Neither do I see what you claim the Catechism says, so what is the exact text you are referring to?
Nope, sorry. You’ve lost my interest and my respect.
If you can’t see what’s plainly written, then I won’t bother casting pearls.
Catch you on the flip side.
(2001 and 2002 in the reference, incidentally. Collaboration, pfft. As if that’s anything but works-righteousness by a different name.)
Bye-bye!
And while I’m at it, let me post a little from your own catechism.
2009 Filial adoption, in making us partakers by grace in the divine nature, can bestow true merit on us as a result of God’s gratuitous justice. This is our right by grace, the full right of love, making us “co-heirs” with Christ and worthy of obtaining “the promised inheritance of eternal life.”60 The merits of our good works are gifts of the divine goodness.61 “Grace has gone before us; now we are given what is due. . . . Our merits are God’s gifts.”62
2010 Since the initiative belongs to God in the order of grace, no one can merit the initial grace of forgiveness and justification, at the beginning of conversion. Moved by the Holy Spirit and by charity, we can then merit for ourselves and for others the graces needed for our sanctification, for the increase of grace and charity, and for the attainment of eternal life. Even temporal goods like health and friendship can be merited in accordance with God’s wisdom. These graces and goods are the object of Christian prayer. Prayer attends to the grace we need for meritorious actions.
With an emphasis on: “we can then merit for ourselves and for others the graces needed for our sanctification, for the increase of grace and charity, and for the attainment of eternal life.”
Hmm.
Looks like that’s works-righteousness to me.
Looks like that SERIOUSLY contradicts St. Paul’s words about salvation (eternal life) being by grace and not by works.
Looks like Luther was right and Catholics are wrong.
QED.
Thanks for playing.
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