The Lutheran subscribers, the defenders of the faith, knelt down and bared the lack of their necks to the emperor, that he could remove their heads with ease. They’d rather give up their life over their faith. And the emperor, Charles V, considered the German situation. He had just signed a peace treaty with France, he was trying to defend everyone against the Turkish invasion, he was trying to assuage fears that another peasant revolt was coming. The only end he could come to was to allow, for a time, the German princes and rulers to do as they saw best. He allowed the subscribers to live and to leave in peace.
The Romans formed their own defense against the Augsburg Confession called the Confutation. It started doubling down on the Roman Catholic errors the Lutherans had called out. So, the Lutherans responded with the Apology to the Augsburg Confession. This doesn’t mean they were sorry for anything they wrote; the word “apology” literally is pointing to the Latin for defense. The Lutherans doubled down right back at the Romans. Theologically, none of this was very pretty, and it ended with the formation of the Smalkaldic League.
The Smalkaldic League was an alliance formed by different territories that wanted to protect the Reformation doctrines. They wanted to make sure that the recess the emperor called for after Augsburg, the peace after Augsburg until everything could be decided rightly, continued on and protected their people. They didn’t do too badly, actually, at least for a while, until the Smalkaldic War in 1546.
During these 15 years of the League, Ulrich Zwingli decided to lead the troops of Zurich to fight against much larger cities and their allies because they didn’t like his theology. In fact, the Zurich army started leading wars against other areas because they felt isolated having been lead into Zwingli’s doctrines. Ultimately, Zwingli would fight for Zurich and lose badly. Sadly, his symbolic theology still exists today.
Henry VIII, a staunch Roman Catholic, and an avowedly anti_Lutheran, wrote to his friend, the pope, regarding his marriage. His wife had given him no son, and it wasn’t acceptable to Henry that a female daughter take his throne. So, he wanted an annulment so he could try again for a son with a new wife. The pope steadfastly refused, and could not be bribed with any amount of money. So, Henry VIII declared a separation from the Romans and began the Church of England, of which the monarch was the head. In the beginning the Church of England was more Roman Catholic than anything else, but today its become largely, and liberally, Protestant, with very squishy doctrine everywhere you look.
Probably the most positive thing Henry did was to allow the English Bible to be read legally through the land. The Roman church would not allow the Bible to be published in anything but Latin, and so they hated Luther’s German translation, and many others, too. But, with the pressure now from England, it eventually made the Roman church give way and all anyone to read the Bible in their own language.
All through this time, the Lutherans continue to preach, teach, and confess the Christian faith according to the Word of God. Towns, cities, and entire countries begin to leave the Roman church. The Lutheran confessional documents begin to be written. There's so much more we can talk about, but the idea is to give us a knowledge of where we've come from and where we're going. This will end, for now, our Reformation study.
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