****A MIGHTY FORTRESS IS OUR GOD (2)

A MIGHTY FORTRESS IS OUR GOD

At the age of 21, during a severe thunderstorm, a bolt of lightning struck the ground within a few feet of Martin Luther. In fear he cried out, “Help me Ste, Anne; I will become a monk!”

Soon after that, he gave away everything he owned and entered a monastery. As a monk, he devoted himself to long hours of prayer, fasting, and other ascetic practices. He deprived himself of sleep and he refused a blanket for the cold nights. And he often beat his body.

He thought he had to do all those things to find favor with God and to know His love. But he never found rest. He became increasingly terrified of God’s wrath and eternal punishment.

During his studies in the scriptures, he was disturbed by the word “righteous” in Rom. 1:17. He rightly understood that, according to the text, only people who were already made righteous could live by faith. The text was clear; "the JUST shall live by faith."

In his own words, Luther remarked, "I hated that word, 'the RIGHTEOUSNESS of God,' by which I had been taught according to the custom and use of all (my) teachers ... [that] God is righteous and (He) punishes the unrighteous sinner." 

He reasoned that he could not live by faith because he was not righteous.

Later in life, in a testimony similar to that of the Apostle Paul, he remarked that "If anyone could have earned heaven by living the disciplined and sacrificial life of a monk, it was I."

While he was lecturing a series of studies in Romans, the the Word of God pierced his heart and God saved him. He wrote, "At last, meditating day and night, by the mercy of God I ... began to understand that the righteousness of God, through which the righteous (shall) live, is a gift of God (acquired) by faith (alone)… Here I felt as if I were entirely born again and had entered paradise itself through the gates that had been flung open."

Luther realized, then, that Roman Catholicism was contrary to biblical Christianity. His studies in Scripture revealed that salvation doesn’t come by the sacraments, but by faith. The idea that all human beings have a spark of goodness sufficient to seek God, was not a foundation of biblical theology but was taught only by "fools." Humility was not a virtue that earns grace but a necessary response to the gift of grace.

Luther’s faith no longer consisted of accepting and trusting the church's teachings but of trusting the promises of God and the merits of Christ.

Those revelations were the beginning of the Protestant Reformation that started over 500 years ago and spread throughout all of Europe and abroad to America.

Martin Luther wrote the hymn, A MIGHTY FORTRESS IS OUR GOD, which has been called the Battle Hymn of the Reformation.

Here is an old video recording of Steve Green's acapella rendition of this hymn.  Years ago, I heard him sing this live.  It is one of my favorites.