Smart “Quote”

“Reformation may keep you out of jail,

but it will take Christ to keep you out of hell.”

– Marshall Smart, 3/15/99

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New Leaf? You CAN do better.

Reformation [“Resolution”] while good, is man’s substitute for Regeneration

– A “new Leaf” is does not compare to a new Life.

– eab, 2/6/12

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Posting of the 95 Theses

ON THIS DATE

10/31/1517 Luther nailed 95 Theses to Wittenberg castle church door.  He was not the beginning nor end of the Reformation but the Key Man!  It is no accident that Halloween has been pushed to keep us from remembering Luther’s heroic act. 

Luther gave the Germans the Bible in their native tongue (similar to the KJV) and wrote “A Might Fortress Is Our God.”

This hymn was sung at the funeral of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, National Cathedral, Washington, DC, March 1969.

Part of it reads:

“And though this world, with devils filled,

Should threaten to undo us;

We will not fear for God hath willed

His truth to triumph through us.”

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Translation Trouble – Mat 25.13

 

 

AV “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.”

 

NIV – Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour. _______________

 

What was the reason these words

 

were omitted? – Remember there are

 

two main Greek sources – one more

 

in agreement with the Reformation cause –

 

used for the KJV.  The other aligns

 

more closely with the Romanist cause.

 

I chose the Reformation.

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Luther – published German New Testament, Sep. 21, 1522

Martin Luther, on his way away from Wurms, was “kidnapped” (by friends) and wisked to Wartburg Castle.  Here he, “Sir George,” a knight (the nicest knight the castle ever knew), translated the New Testament into the German language, making brief visits to neighboring villages to listen to “everyday German” being spoken.  He translated from Erasmus‘ Greek New Testament (2^nd edition), the Textus Receptus, avoiding the Vulgate “official translation” of Roman Catholics.

 

This feat was to prove a defeat for Romish heiarchy.  Now folks had the NT in the venacular.  It was now a Book of the people.  Schaff says it “was so much multiplied and spread by printers that even tailors and shoemakers, yea, even women and ignorant persons who had accepted this new Lutheran gospel, and could read a little German, studied it with the greatest avidity as the fountain of all truth.” – Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1910), 6

 

It appears that though Luther’s Bible wasn’t the first translation into German, it had the greatest influence – influence in church, home, school and yea, in helping create a national spirit for Germany.   

 

Martin Luther on this date, 9/21/1522,  first published his German translation, six months after his return to Wittenberg.  Luther was extrmemly important in what is commonly called the Reformation, his hymn “A Mighty Fortress” has earned him a high rank among the best hymn writers, but his New Testament (and translation of the entire Bible, 1534) is probably his greatest literary achievement.

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Martin Luther – reported, Jan. 10, 1538

DATE Regarding doctrine of purgatory, Martin Luther reported in a “Table Talk” 1538:

“God has placed two ways before us in His Word: salvation by faith, damnation by unbelief (Mark 16:16). He does not mention purgatory at all. Nor is purgatory to be admitted, for it obscures the benefits and grace of Christ.”

Luther was not the first of the Reformation nor the last but was clearly a Large Key in its success.  Raised a devout Roman Catholic he was soundly converted and sought Biblical answers no longer satisfied with merely man’s methods. 

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Martin Luther – birth, Nov. 10, 1483

“A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”   (stanzas 3,4)

 

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

 

That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

 

Written by Martin Luther born 11/10/1483, Eisleben, Germany.  Luther saw in the Holy Scriptures that the Just Shall Live By Faith  (Hab 2.4, Rom 1.17, Gal 3.11, & Heb 10.38).  This revolutionized his life, increased the Reformation (already started at least by John Hus’ time), and caused rejoicing among souls freed from the system of works, works, works.

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