Much to the horror of his father, Luther had left his studies of law and entered a monastery as an Augustinian monk. He had had a life saving experience in a forest during a thunderstorm. He felt that God, whom he deeply feared, had spared his life. Luther wanted to serve Him in the only way he knew by becoming a monk.
He wanted to appease the angry God who was continually laying burdens on people, never satisfied with our performance.
Luther would study, pray, beat himself, perform rituals, have extensive and frequent times in the confessional, so that in end his spiritual father told him to go and do something that was worthy of confession. Luther lived in fear of God and couldn't find any peace.
It was suggested he apply for the post of professor of New Testament at the newly opened Wittenberg University. Luther agreed to this and thought it might be a good idea to read the New Testament.
During his studies Luther discovered the doctrine of Justification by Faith. This means that we cannot appease God by any means. God was appeased by the death of His perfect Son Jesus Christ. Now man's part is to believe this - accepted it by faith. Faith being a gift of God.
Luther doing this, was filled with peace. It was faith and not works that justified us with God.
This was Luther's message. He was a monk, a professor and now a simple church pastor. He was very happy in this role and had not aspirations to be the world changer he was to become.
No comments:
Post a Comment