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GYC Southeast

Great in God's Sight Season 3

Rhonda Grakov

Martin Luther: Captive Conscience

Ulrich Zwingli: Of Switzerland and Sola Scriptura

Marguerite of Navarre: Faith over France

William Tyndale: Singing the Same Note

Menno Simons: A Forbidden Book

Albrecht Dürer: Brushstrokes of the Reformation, Part 1

Albrecht Dürer: Brushstrokes of the Reformation, Part 2

Katherine Parr: The Survivor

Philipp Melanchthon: Nothing but Heaven

Ursula Von Münsterberg: Escape Artist for God


Hello and welcome to great in God's sight the podcast that explores underrated heroes This is season 3 and we're so glad you've joined us for this episode entitled Martin Luther captive conscience Please be sure to subscribe and check out the terrific artwork that goes along with today's story on our website TheGreatPodcast.org. That's TheGreatPodcast.org. Thanks for listening! The amber glow of a roaring bonfire illuminated the crowd of young faces who had gathered around it on a chill December day. The warmth from the fire enticed them to move closer, Yet it was not the primary attraction.

All eyes were on the animated figure of a local university professor who had led the procession of students outside town to build the bonfire. Now he was hurling books into the flames. Most were of nominal interest, but the burning of 1 document would have long-lasting effects. Stamped with the Pope's official seal and signature, the imperious document consigned the professor and his brand of Christianity to hell and called for others to excoriate him as well. When Martin Luther publicly burned the papal bull of excommunication in December of 1520, it was not his first controversial action.

In fact, his decision to nail 95 theses to the door of Wittenberg Castle Church 3 years before had led to the cascade of events that had prompted Pope Leo X to excommunicate him from the Roman Catholic Church. In the bull, 41 of Luther's 95 theses were labeled heretical or scandalous or false or offensive to pious ears or seductive of simple minds or repugnant to Catholic truth. The acrid language the document contained did not stop Luther from fearlessly casting it into the fire, atop works by medieval theologians and copies of canon law. In defiance, Luther declared, They have burned my books, I burn theirs. Perhaps he and his students didn't fully appreciate the magnitude of the event that transpired that chill December day, but his feisty decision to burn the papal bull would deepen his divide with the papacy and fan the flames of the Reformation.

Time would come to value Luther's boldness. It remains difficult to take a fresh look at Martin Luther's life and contributions. More books have been written about him than any other individual in the Church except for Jesus himself. The intrepid monk has been approached from every angle imaginable, yet he remains an intriguing figure. His father was a copper miner and severe disciplinarian who was ambitious for his son to become a lawyer.

With Martin's talent for academic excellence, his future seemed to be lining up nicely with his father's plans until a thunderstorm changed it all. While traveling home from school, a lightning strike nearby left him desperate and deeply panicked. In terror, he cried out to the patron saint of minors, Saint Anne, save me, and I will become a monk. Though his promise was an impulsive 1, he would make good his vow, and so, in a moment, the trajectory of his life was forever altered, while priming him for the yet unknown future. Martin Luther threw himself into monastic life with all severity and rigor.

I kept the rule so strictly, he recalled years later, that I may say that if ever a monk got to heaven by his sheer monkery, it was I. If I had kept on any longer, I should have killed myself with vigils, prayers, reading, and other work." Above all, he was painfully aware of his condition as a miserable and doomed sinner. In 1510 he was sent on a trip to Rome. Here he visited the Scala Sancta, or Holy Stairs. These were purported to be the steps Jesus ascended to stand before Pontius Pilate.

On his knees, Luther kissed each step and recited the Lord's prayer, Kiss, recite, and climb, kiss, recite, and climb, for twenty-eight steps. While in Rome, His dedication to the life of the ideal monk confronted him with a nasty surprise. He was shocked and acutely troubled by the self-indulgent, opulent lives of the local clergymen. Priests and monks alike lived in open scandal and were wholly devoid of the piety he had expected of them. What Martin Luther saw in the so-called Eternal City would gnaw at his conscience for years.

Luther also continued to struggle with understanding how a sinful monk could be saved in spite of himself. A breakthrough finally came in 1515 while he was carefully studying Paul's epistle to the Romans. There he found the hope-filled words. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. All his vigils, fasting, and self-torture now appeared meaningless, as he realized they would never satisfy the void in his heart.

Night and day I pondered, Luther later recalled, until I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement that the just shall live by his faith. Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise." Luther's liberating paradigm shift resulted in his replacing works with faith in Jesus in the process of salvation, but it also left him placing greater and greater value on the Scriptures. His conscience became captive to the Word of God instead of his sins. Luther's convictions were soon put to the test.

A Dominican friar named Johann Tetzel wove his way throughout much of Germany on a mission to raise funds for the construction of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. With the Pope's blessing, Tetzel hawked indulgences, documents granting the alleged forgiveness of sins, general or specific, of persons dead or living. The wily Tetzel even used a little jingle to market his product. When the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.

Luther was incensed. How dared Tetzel twist and abuse the religion of Christ to steal from God's sheep? He responded with his now well-known 95 Theses, otherwise known as a disputation on the power and efficacy of indulgences. At this point he became a public threat to papal authority and doctrine. 1 of his 95 theses stated that the Pope neither desires nor is able to remit any penalties except those imposed by his own authority.

During this time, Luther also notably stated that scriptures, not popes or councils, are the standard for Christian faith and behavior. Clearly, his scriptural stance was placing him in direct opposition to the Pope and contemporary church practices. Martin Luther's bold denouncement of indulgences and papal authority provoked church leaders to retaliation. Whoever dared threaten their revenue and reputation must be silenced. Like many reformers before him, Luther was branded a heretic and arraigned before an assembly of high-ranking officials representing both church and state.

Luther's trial at Worms, Germany, in 1521, set alone, unheralded monk in opposition to a powerful array of religious political authorities. Here, Luther received the ultimatum. He must recant all his writings if he wished to be cleared of the charges of heresy. He asked for time to consider, and was granted 1 day. When he returned to court, he plainly stated, My conscience is captive to the word of God.

I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen." Luther could not bring himself to swerve from what the Scriptures plainly taught.

When he left Worms, the assembly was divided and could not decide what to do with him. Soon, however, Emperor Charles V passed an edict banning Luther's writings and declaring him a heretic. By the hand of Providence, Luther found hiding at Wartburg castle under his prince's protection. This time in solitary, under the alias of Knight George, provided Luther with a golden opportunity to translate the New Testament into German. His opponents would have to contend with more than the Reformers' own writings as the scriptures became available to the German people.

Bold, controversial, and gritty, Martin Luther left the world different than he found it. Fusing his conscience with the Word of God prepared him to stand firm amid great trials and work for the uplifting of the Gospel. Perhaps a less conscientious Luther would have ignored his vow to become a monk or recanted before the Diet of Worms. Today, God calls for people who will hold fast to their convictions. As 1 author states, "...the greatest want of the world is the want of men and women who will not be bought or sold, those who in their inmost souls are true and honest, who do not fear to call sin by its right name, whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole, who will stand for the right though the heavens fall." Will you hold fast to conscience and the teachings of the Bible as Martin Luther did?

Thank you for listening to Great In God's Sight, a podcast by GYC Southeast. We hope you have enjoyed this adventure through time and pray it serves to deepen your relationship with God. While we strive to bring you a unique perspective on each believer, we encourage you to use your God-given curiosity to explore these topics for yourself. Please remember to hit the subscribe button and share this episode with your friends via text or social media. You never know who might be encouraged!

Until next time, we wish you God's blessing as you seek to be great in His sight too. Of God. You

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Martin Luther: Captive Conscience

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