This quick study on Reformation History was given at the end of service at St. Peter–Immanuel Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, WI, on December 17, 2017. The text of the study is included and you may play the audio of the study here.
Wittenberg was a light in a dark time. The year was 1527 and plague struck the city of Wittenberg. The Luthers, Martin and Katie, had been living in Luther’s old cloister, the place where all the monks lived, since they were married. It was a big house, and they didn’t fill it all yet. So, they opened it up as a hospital. You can see Katie tending the sickness while Martin preached the hope of the resurrection in Christ. And yet, tragedy would strike the Luthers. The plague would take the life of their daughter, Elizabeth, not nine months old. Martin was devastated, yet his faith was sure. Because of that tragedy, in his grief and sorrow, he penned the hymn, A Mighty Fortress, based on Psalm 46, which is obviously still with us to this day.
Patrick Hamilton was a Scottish reformer. He turned to the doctrine of Luther and found it to be what God’s Word taught. He was on the faculty of St. Andrew’s University, and when he was found to be a Lutheran, he was tried in a churchly court, convicted and sentenced to death. Hamilton was the first Lutheran martyr. Albrecht Dürer, the famous artist and famous Lutheran, whose works still continue to inspire deep devotion died as well. He didn’t die a martyr, but the people grieved. The Muslims were literally at the gates of Vienna, Austria, threatening to destroy everything if the people wouldn’t convert. They were, thankfully, rebuffed, but the Turkish threat loomed over the empire.
The world was going crazy. All Luther wanted during this time was a fair hearing. He wanted a council of the Church. It wouldn’t happen for quite a while. In the meantime, Luther and Melanchthon went to Marburg, a city on the western side of Germany, to meet with Ulrich Zwingli, the priest who said that all the sacraments were only symbols, but still wanted to aid Luther in the Reformation.
The story goes that Luther heard Zwingli out. There was much they agreed on. Rome had gone too far and needed to br brought back to the Word of God. But, as Luther listened, he put a napkin over his hands and started carving something into the table. When Zwingli finally asked Luther if they could work together with all they agreed upon, Luther pulled the napkin back and revealed the words, carved into the wooden table, hoc est corpus meum, this is my body. Luther threw Jesus’ words at Zwingli and declared that they were of a different spirit. If Zwingli wouldn’t believe Jesus’ plain words, they could not work together. The Anabaptists never forgave Luther for that, though they have, through the centuries been attempting to coopt Luther’s theology for their gain–hence, the reason so many of them threw a Reformation festival this year, claiming Luther for their own.
Finally, an invitation was issued. The emperor would hear the theology of Luther in a town called Augsburg in 1530. Wittenberg, other cities, other leaders of the empire, were invited to present their theology and make their case. Melanchthon started preparing the document which would come to be called the Augsburg Confession, a document that, still today, is the foundational and first confession of Lutheran theology, outside of the Word and the creeds. Luther approved it and it was sent to those who would go to Augsburg. They approved as well.
So, on June 25th, John the Steadfast, George, Margrave of Brandenburg. Ernest, Duke of Lüneberg, Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, John Frederick, Duke of Saxony, Francis, Duke of Lüneberg, Wolfgang, Prince of Anhalt, Senate and Magistracy of Nürnberg, and the Senate of Reutlingen, went before the emperor and presented their theology. As they did so, the knelt before their emperor and bared their necks, saying to him that they would rather lose their life than forsake their faith. These brave men waited for the emperor to make his decision. And we’ll hear what that was next week.
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