This quick study on Reformation History was given at the end of service at St. Peter–Immanuel Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, WI, on November 5, 2017. The text of the study is included and you may play the audio of the study here.
Pope Leo X wrote to the entire Church, he wrote to Luther, he wrote to everyone, a document called Exsurge Domine, Arise, O Lord, ordering Luther to recant his position and his teachings or be excommunicated from the Church. When one is excommunicated by the true Church, it is to say, you need to repent or you are going to go to hell, and this is done in love for you because we don’t want you to be there. When this is ordered by the pope, it is to say you will recant because we’re losing money and prestige to you! Which do you think is right?
Well, if you said the former, you’re right, and are in good company with Luther, because it was in December of 1520, where Luther finally began to really put his finger on the Gospel, that he took that document, called a papal bull, and burned it. He may have only burned it in Wittenberg, but news of its ashes spread around the empire like wildfire.
You can imagine the pope’s response. In just 20 days, the news of what Luther did reached him, and Luther’s prompt excommunication got all the way back to Wittenberg. This kind of rapidity was pretty unheard of, which should tell you about the seriousness of everything going on.
One thing Luther had always wanted, in terms of this entire affair, was for the Church to meet in a council to discuss the abuses, the Roman doctrines that were false. Luther always wanted a council. A council is when all the churches of the world are invited to come together, usually in response to a heresy, in order that a clear teaching may go forward. Usually, too, the authority of the council isn’t denied: what they say goes. In Roman Catholic tradition, the judgment of the Councils cannot be in error. You’ve heard of one, at least, the Council of Nicaea, from where we get the Nicene Creed. In reality, councils could and did err, and that was always a problem that most of the Roman theologians ignored. Yet, the Council’s were beneficial for discussion. That’s what Luther demanded. But the pope wasn’t about to give in to an excommunicated heretic. The pope wanted Luther dead. But Luther’s elector, Frederick the Wise, wasn’t about to send his citizen to Rome to be put to death without a trial. He, again, showing wisdom, insisted that Luther be tried in a court that was run through the empire, that Luther could be judged by his countrymen.
So, Leo got the emperor, Charles V, to call an Imperial Diet in April of 1521. That doesn’t mean that everyone gets to lose weight together. It’s where the rulers of the empire, the electors, the princes, and the imperial cities would vote on matters of imperial interest. The diet would be held at Worms, a major imperial city. There, Luther would be presented with all of his works, asked if they were his, and asked if he would recant. Luther thought he was invited to Worms to participate in a bit of discussion. Instead, it was demanded that he recant his writings. Luther asked for more time.
He came back the next day, and was told to recant once more. First, Luther stated that he was no lawyer, and apologized for his lack of courtly etiquette. Luther admitted that all the books that were in front him were his, but he couldn’t recant blindly, because all the books were different. The first kind of books even his enemies liked, and he couldn’t recant those because they were in agreement. The second kind of books attacked the abuses of the Roman church and the pope, and he couldn’t retract those because then the problems they addressed would just get worse. The third kind, were where he attacked his opponents, and he apologized for his harsh tone, but not the substance of the critique. Of course, they chafed under these answers.
So, Luther then offered his most well known saying, “Since then your serene majesty and your lordships seek a simple answer, I will give it in this manner, neither horned nor toothed: Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. I cannot do otherwise, here I stand, may God help me, Amen.”
Luther that day was judged guilty of heresy, a crime, in the Empire where the Church and the State were nearly melded into one, that was punishable by death. The Emperor wanted Luther found so he could die, and the one who delivered him over would be rewarded. However, Luther and his accomplices, whoever they may be, would die, one way another. The emperor gave Luther twenty days to put his affairs in order. After that, Luther was fair game. So, as Luther made his way back to Wittenberg from Worms, he was nervously looking over everyone’s shoulder. He supposed it could happen any time. And he was right; he never arrived in Wittenberg.
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