The Printing Press

After Leipzig Luther wrote with a fury, as if every book was his last. … His approach was a success; hundreds of thousands of copies of his work were published in 1519 alone.

The Reformation as Renewal: Retrieving the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, by Matthew Barrett

After his encounter with Eck, Luther would write dozens of tracts and books, fanning the flame of his reform.  His target audience was no longer academia or the clergy; he went populist.  He wrote in the vernacular; he wrote short pamphlets that could be easily understood by a large audience.

He tackled penance and baptism.  He would invoke the authority of the state – the German nobility – over the authority of the Roman Church.  This idea was pivotal to the success of the Reformation.  He dealt with the three walls that Rome had erected in order to defend its position as supreme.  This was the subject of the first of three tracts published in 1520, To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation.

The first wall: Rome, when pressed by temporal powers, would decree that the temporal power had no authority over the Church.  In fact, the Church was superior.  Luther wrote that this must change.  As noted in several of the writings of both Peter and Paul, the temporal authority held the sword, and held it for good – and to punish evil.

Should the church turn wicked, which Luther was convinced had already occurred, then the temporal power has every right to punish and reform the spiritual power.

“The temporal Christian authority ought to exercise its office without hindrance…”

Luther believed that these temporal authorities would act in favor of the church and in favor of good and against evil; a temporal Christian authority was assumed.  No mention of what happens when the temporal authority turns wicked. 

Given the sword by God, the temporal power had authority over all men – including the men who happened to be clergy in the church.  Rome, of course, resisted such a notion; it was intolerable to imagine that the pope could be reprimanded, let alone deposed, by a civil authority. 

The second wall was regarding Scripture: when any attempt was made to reprove Rome with Scripture, the reply would be that only the pope has authority to interpret the Scripture.  The third wall ensured that even a council could not override the pope, because only the pope had authority to call a council.

Luther’s rhetoric was thick in this work.  Had he gone too far?  Given the mountain of opposition, it is difficult to blame Luther for his approach.  Was his approach through this tract successful?  Thousands and thousands of copies were sold; a second printing quickly followed the first. 

However, one consequence affected Luther personally: Staupitz told him he could no longer be vicar general of the Reformed Congregations.  Luther’s excommunication was imminent, and when this happened, Rome would demand that Staupitz turn him over – and Staupitz would not want to do this.

But this way, Staupitz relieved himself of the dilemma and removed Luther from any immediate danger on his account.

In the minds of many Germans, Luther brought these three walls down in a heap on Rome.  Rome was now quite vulnerable, and Luther went for the jugular: the sacraments.  The Roman Church held to seven sacraments.  Luther would take a run at all seven of these in his second tract, The Babylonian Captivity of the Church. 

I want to be clear about my intent before moving forward: obviously, in examining this history, theological battle lines will be drawn and crossed by Luther.  My intent is only to present the history as seen through Barrett’s work.  I purposely avoid the sections where Barrett dives into the battle, and I try my best to limit statements regarding my views…albeit I suspect these come through at times.

My desire in working through this book is merely to understand where the Reformers differed from the then-current Roman Church, and where they had foundation either in Scripture or the early Church.  My hope is that those who read this who come from other traditions – Roman Catholic, Orthodox, non-Lutheran Protestant – will approach the work with the lens that each tradition has its warts, therefore, plenty of humility is on order from all of us.

With that said…

Luther would initially winnow the list of sacraments from seven down to three: baptism, penance, and the bread.  He eventually would take even penance off of the list: if a sacrament is a physical sign which efficaciously signifies God’s grace, there was no physical sign in penance.  In any case, even on these that remained, in Luther’s understanding, the definition was all wrong.

The cup was withheld from the laity.  On what basis?  On what authority?  There was none in Scripture, nor did Luther find it in the early Church fathers – in fact, they wrote the opposite. 

Rome violated not only the Scriptures but the testimony of the church catholic.

Transubstantiation became official church teaching in 1215.  Luther was not convinced that this corresponded to the view of a majority of early church fathers; instead, it came out of the application of Aristotelian categories.  Luther was not yet in a place to offer his alternative to this idea in a mature form, but his direction was revealed based on his Christology.

The third tract was The Freedom of a Christian.  Unlike the first two, which were polemical, this one was collegial – an attempt to offer a presentation of his newfound beliefs and how these beliefs should influence the Christian life.

Why the change?  Karl Miltitz arranged for Luther to spend time with people Luther would respect, in order to persuade Luther to write to Leo X himself, in order to reassure the pope that his concerns were a matter of right doctrine and reform, not revolution.

Luther did write to the pope, a letter with this book included.  Luther still presented as if those around the pope were acting without the pope’s knowledge or understanding:

Leo sat “as a lamb in the midst of wolves” and “like Daniel in the midst of lions”; he was Ezekiel: “You live among scorpions.”  “How can you alone oppose these monsters?”

Luther saw the pope separate from the curia; the pope saw no such dichotomy.  In fact, even before Luther began writing these tracts, the pope was taking action.  He issued a bull promising excommunication if Luther did not recant in sixty days and communicate his change of mind to Rome after another sixty days.  Although this papal bull was issued on June 15, 1520, Luther did not receive it until the end of the year – as late as December.

It was clear that the writing of the bull was rushed, and it was equally clear that Eck’s hand was in the indictment.  Forty-one statements of Luther’s were identified, and he had to recant each one or face excommunication.  However, many of the statements were not accurate reflections of Luther’s positions, nor was there focus on some of the most important issues.  For example, none of the forty-one touched on Luther’s view of justification based on faith alone.

“Far from clarifying the controversy, the bull was bound to intensify the uncertainty among the theologians and the common people,” said Hans Hillerbrand.  Observers “were forced to conclude that the sloppiness of the bull was evidence of Luther’s unfair treatment by the church.”

Now that Luther had received the bull, his rhetoric regarding separating the pope from his curia had changed.  The pope is the antichrist.  On January 3, 1521, the pope issued a final bull.  It was now official: Luther was a heretic. 

Luther, attempting to reform from within the church, did not break with Rome; Rome now broke with Luther.  This was supposed to be the end of Luther, but Luther remained well-protected as long as he stayed within Germany. 

The emperor, Charles V, summoned Luther to give an answer to his writings: the Diet of Worms.  Charles was hesitant to get involved in this issue: the church excommunicated Luther; that should be the end of it.  But Charles also needed the support of the nobility, and the German nobility was not ready to hand Luther over for execution when they felt he still had not been fairly heard.

In March, 1521, Luther received notice to attend.  Some thought Luther would be a fool to go, having in mind Jan Hus.  Frederick would receive letters from the emperor and the princes ensuring safe passage, but Hus had similar assurances.

John Von der Ecken (not to be confused with Eck) ran point in questioning Luther: acknowledge his publications and retract each one.  Luther asked for time to consider, as what was being asked of him was a matter of faith: he did not wish to do damage to the divine Word.  Luther was granted one day.

Luther divided his works into three categories: morals, attacks on the papacy, and private debates with specific individuals.  He could not deny his works on morals: both friends and enemies agree on these; he could not deny his works on attacking the papacy, for this would merely add to the tyrannical state; he would not retract his private writings either, as, again, tyranny would gain.

Regardless which work was in view, Luther challenged Ecken to identify where he erred.  If he had erred, then he promised to be “quite ready to renounce every error, and I shall be the first to cast my books into the fire.” 

Ecken demanded a simple reply: stop expecting debate, just give your answer.  He got one:

“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 will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience.”

In the next days, further dialogue ensued, without progress.  Charles would publish an edict about a month after Luther left Worms, labeling Luther and anyone who helped him an outlaw.  Frederick convinced Charles not to press this edict in Frederick’s territory.  Charles went along with this: to press this edict in German territory might instigate insurrection by the German people and cost Frederick’s support.

Conclusion

Charles mishandled this edict.  He published it and issued a verdict without the estates; he unraveled the entire fabric of the diet.  Charles left quickly for Spain; he did not remain present to enforce the edict.  By the time Charles understood that he was not dealing with a lone monk, but a large group that followed and supported Luther, it was too late.  In time, he would come to curse his agreement for safe passage.

On his return from Worms, Luther was kidnapped. 

Had Luther’s safe conduct guarantee been violated much like Hus?  To the public, it appeared Luther had been kidnapped, and they now awaited, expecting to hear the worst: Luther was executed.

Of course, it wasn’t this at all.

Epilogue

Charles already faced issues with Francis of France and with the Turks in the southeast.  He could not also afford to lose Frederick and the German nobles.  They pressed Charles to call a council, something he did not want to do.  This council was eventually held, more than twenty years later.  We know it as the Council of Trent.