WHAT WAS LUTHER DOING?
The Lutheran Church goes back to Jesus Christ
Himself. The Lutheran Church rests, not on
Luther, but on the Lord Jesus. Luther merely
cleansed the church of its impurity of his day.
Luther taught nothing new.
Luther's posting of the 95 Theses on the church
door at Wittenberg was not intended to be a dramatic act. The church
door served as a kind of bulletin board for the University and it was
quite customary for professors of the University to post there things
which they wished to debate with other scholars.
Luther posted his theses as an offer to debate these points. He
himself had little idea that these simple sentences would cause a stir
throughout the church. Even at this time Luther considered himself a
devout Catholic. It was not long before he realized that a break with
Rome could not be avoided. Luther never wanted to break with the
Roman Church; he wanted only that the church should reform itself and
put away its false teachings and unchristian practices.
The 95 Theses became the symbol of the beginning of the
Reformation period. Though there had been reformers before Luther's
time who tried to cleanse the church, they were martyred and killed for
their resistance to the church. This, again, was the fullness of time when
Luther was able to give the leadership that was necessary. This
leadership came for a number of reasons: the printing press coming into
being, the Scriptures being translated and made known to the common
people, so that Luther had the support of the common people who
ultimately helped to save his life.
The date that is used to commemorate the Reformation is October
31, 1517 when the 95 Theses were posted. Luther completed his
translation of the whole Bible into German in 1534.
-Pastor Starkey
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