This is the second part of a review of John Piper’s The Legacy of Sovereign Joy: God’s Triumphant Grace in the Lives of Augustine, Luther, and Calvin. Piper’s book is less a detailed biography and more a pastoral treatment of the lives of great saints. Augustine, Luther and Calvin—great men indeed in the history of the Church—yet each is human, and Piper shows us how they ticked, and why their lives shined for Christ.
Each of these men had flaws. We looked briefly at Augustine’s in part 1, and we cannot escape Luther’s. But God’s grace met these flawed men in such a way as to transform the world through them. With God still moving today, we can look to the lives of these men and find hope that God may stoop to use us, frail and human though we be.
Luther
Luther was a passionate and very emotional man. He lived in a harsh world, and was hounded on all sides as he helped lead one of the world’s true and great reformations. Perhaps this explains Luther’s harsh tongue. At times crude and almost vulgar, Luther knew how to use his tongue, and how to put his words down on paper. Piper does not try to explain away Luther’s tendency to be mean with his opponents, and he rightly calls “Luther’s sometimes malicious anti-Semitism” as “an inexcusable contradiction of the Gospel he preached” (Legacy, pg. 31).
Yet for all of Luther’s faults, he singlehandedly gave us the Reformation. And central to the Reformation stands the authority of the Bible, unfettered by church tradition. Luther in many ways recovered the true Scripture, which had been lost and obscured through Roman tradition and general neglect.
Luther prized Scripture since “the Holy Spirit himself and God…is the Author of this book” (quoted in Legacy, pg.78). He further said, “The Word of God is the greatest, most necessary, and most important thing in Christendom” (quoted in Legacy, pg. 79). The following comments on Psalm 119 show why Luther felt this way:
In this psalm David always says that he will speak, think, talk, hear, read, day and night and constantly—but about nothing else than God’s Word and Commandments. For God wants to give you His Spirit only through the external Word. (quoted in Legacy, pg. 78)
Piper draws from Luther’s emphasis on the Word, as well as his example of rigorous study of the Word, and encourages pastors to be students of Scripture:
The Word of God that saves and sanctifies, from generation to generation, is preserved in a book. And therefore at the heart of every pastor’s work is bookwork. Call it reading, meditation, reflection, cogitation, study, exegesis, or whatever you will—a large and central part of our work is to wrestle God’s meaning from a book, and then to proclaim it in the power of the Holy Spirit. (Piper in Legacy, pg. 79).
As one who preached often 2 or more times a day, Luther has much to say to today’s pastor. And Piper distills six primary lessons for the Pastor and his study from Luther’s life.
- Luther came to elevate the biblical text itself far above the teachings of commentators or church fathers.
- This radical focus on the text of Scripture itself with secondary literature in secondary place leads Luther to an intense and serious grappling with the very words of Paul and the other biblical writers.
- The power and preciousness of what Luther saw when he “beat importunately” upon Paul’s language convinced him forever that reading Greek and Hebrew was one of the greatest privileges and responsibilities of the Reformation preacher.
- Luther employed extraordinary diligence in spite of tremendous obstacles.
- For Luther, trials make a theologian. Temptation and affliction are the hermeneutical touchstones.
- Key to Luther are prayer and reverent dependence on the all-sufficiency of God. And here the theology and methodology of Luther become almost identical.
This last point is key. For all the emphasis on mental rigors and study, Luther remains like Augustine, dependent on a Sovereign God. Christian, faithful pastors study hard, but are often on their knees. I close with a final quote from Luther, let it encourage all of us to use this study method more often.
You should completely despair of your own sense and reason, for by these you will not attain the goal…. Rather kneel down in your private little room and with sincere humility and earnestness pray God, through His dear Son, graciously to grant you His Holy Spirit to enlighten and guide you and give you understanding. (quoted in Legacy, pg. 108)
Stay tuned for part 3.
In Luther’s Galatians Commentary
To put on Christ according to the Gospel means to clothe oneself with the righteousness, wisdom, power, life, and Spirit of Christ. By nature we are clad in the garb of Adam. This garb Paul likes to call “the old man.” Before we can become the children of God this old man must be put off, as Paul says, Ephesians 4:29. The garment of Adam must come off like soiled clothes. Of course, it is not as simple as changing one’s clothes. But God makes it simple. He clothes us with the righteousness of Christ by means of Baptism, as the Apostle says in this verse: “As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”
He makes the same points here, teaching baptismal regeneration:
https://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/catechism/web/cat-13.html
From the Foreword of Luther’s Commentary on Galatians:
“For thus do the Anabaptists teach, that baptism is nothing except the person do believe. Out of this principle must needs follow, that all the works of God be nothing if the man be nothing. But baptism is the work of God and yet an evil man maketh it not to be the work of God. Moreover, hereof it must follow, that matrimony, authority, liberty, and bondage, are the works of God; but because men are evil, therefore they are not the works of God. Wicked men have the sun, the moon, the earth, the water, the air, and all other creatures which are subject unto man; but because they be wicked and not godly, therefore the sun is not the sun, the moon, the earth, the water, are not that which they are. The Anabaptists themselves had bodies and souls before they were re-baptized; but because they were not godly, therefore they had not true bodies and true souls. Also their parents were not lawfully married (as they grant themselves,) because they are not re-baptized; therefore the Anabaptists themselves are all bastards, and their parents were all adulterers, and whoremongers; and yet they do inherit their parents’ lands and goods, although they grant themselves to be bastards, and unlawful heirs. Who seeth not here, in the Anabaptists, men not possessed with devils, but even devils themselves possessed with worse devils?”
Consider this from Luther’s Works, 47:268-271, concerning the Jews. Think Germany in the 20th century.
Recommendation One:
“First, to set fire to their synagogues or schools and to bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of them. This is to be done in honor of our Lord and of Christendom, so that God might see that we are Christians, and do not condone or knowingly tolerate such public lying, cursing, and blaspheming of his Son and of his Christians. For whatever we tolerated in the past unknowingly—and I myself was unaware of it—will be pardoned by God. But if we, now that we are informed, were to protect and shield such a house for the Jews, existing right before our very nose, in which they lie about, blaspheme, curse, vilify, and defame Christ and us (as was heard above), it would be the same as if we were doing all this and even worse ourselves, as we very well know.” (Luther’s Works, 47:268).
Recommendation Two:
“Second, I advise that their houses also be razed and destroyed. For they pursue in them the same aims as in their synagogues. Instead they might be lodged under a roof or in a barn, like the gypsies. This will bring home to them the fact that they are not masters in our country, as they boast, but that they are living in exile and in captivity, as they incessantly wail and lament about us before God.
Recommendation Three:
“Third, I advise that all their prayer books and Talmudic writings, in which such idolatry, lies, cursing, and blasphemy are taught, be taken from them.
Recommendation Four:
“Fourth, I advise that their rabbis be forbidden to teach henceforth on pain of loss of life and limb. For they have justly forfeited the right to such an office by holding the poor Jews captive with the saying of Moses (Deuteronomy 17 [:10 ff.]) in which he commands them to obey their teachers on penalty of death, although Moses clearly adds: “what they teach you in accord with the law of the Lord.” Those villains ignore that. They wantonly employ the poor people’s obedience contrary to the law of the Lord and infuse them with this poison, cursing, and blasphemy. In the same way the pope also held us captive with the declaration in Matthew 16 [:18], “You are Peter,” etc., inducing us to believe all the lies and deceptions that issued from his devilish mind. He did not teach in accord with the word of God, and therefore he forfeited the right to teach.”
Recommendation Five:
“Fifth, I advise that safe-conduct on the highways be abolished completely for the Jews. For they have no business in the countryside, since they are not lords, officials, tradesmen, or the like. Let them stay at home. I have heard it said that a rich Jew is now traveling across the country with twelve horses—his ambition is to become a Kokhba—devouring princes, lords, lands, and people with his usury, so that the great lords view it with jealous eyes. If you great lords and princes will not forbid such usurers the highway legally, some day a troop may gather against them,? having learned from this booklet the true nature of the Jews and how one should deal with them and not protect their activities. For you, too, must not and cannot protect them unless you wish to become participants in all their abominations in the sight of God. Consider carefully what good could come from this, and prevent it.
Recommendation Six:
“Sixth, I advise that usury be prohibited to them, and that all cash and treasure of silver and gold be taken from them and put aside for safekeeping. The reason for such a measure is that, as said above, they have no other means of earning a livelihood than usury, and by it they have stolen and robbed from us all they possess. Such money should now be used in no other way than the following: Whenever a Jew is sincerely converted, he should be handed one hundred, two hundred, or three hundred florins, as personal circumstances may suggest. With this he could set himself up in some occupation for the support of his poor wife and children, and the maintenance of the old or feeble. For such evil gains are cursed if they are not put to use with God’s blessing in a good and worthy cause.”
Recommendation Seven:
“Seventh, I recommend putting a flail, an ax, a hoe, a spade, a distaff, or a spindle into the hands of young, strong Jews and Jewesses and letting them earn their bread in the sweat of their brow, as was imposed on the children of Adam (Gen. 3 [:19]). For it is not fitting that they should let us accursed Goyim toil in the sweat of our faces while they, the holy people, idle away their time behind the stove, feasting and farting, and on top of all, boasting blasphemously of their lordship over the Christians by means of our sweat. No, one should toss out these lazy rogues by the seat of their pants.”
Must be a slow news day, huh, Kent?
Hey, Bob, this one’s a good read! Of course, the one on Augustine was a good read, too, but I have no disputes on this one, however, since we’re quoting Luther on this thread, here’s one cited by Phillip Schaff regarding Luther’s opinion of Augustine’s grasp of the “first article”:
“Augustine has often erred, he is not to be trusted. Although good and holy, he was yet lacking in true faith as well as the other Fathers.” I cite the source if I could understand what the abbreviated citation meant–if you’re interested, it’s in the New Advent article.
John,
It took me about seven minutes to do my research, since all those quotes come from his complete works (which are all over the place online). I didn’t have to break a sweat on Luther. I’m not comfortable with Luther being considered a believer. Your quote seems to do something similar as I did—Luther saying that he didn’t think Augustine was a believer. They were historic figures who should be given their place in history. I’m fine with that. I believe God used Martin Luther greatly. That’s my view of history.
Luther’s still a hero of mine. I still think he was saved, even if he had some attitude problems, and some less than entirely Reformed ideas about the sacraments. That was my point about Augustine, too.
In Bob’s previous post on Augustine, I only intended to point out that we can’t project our current Reformed theology back onto Augustine completely. He carried the ball on sovereign grace so far, and the Reformers picked it up and filled in the biblical blanks left by the previous generations.
Kind of the way successionist IFB’s shouldn’t project current fundamental Baptist doctrine and practice back onto pre-Reformation persecuted heretics. Shoe fits both Reformed and successionist Fundy feet.
John, I have a different view of history than you. I’m not a state church guy. I believe the promises of perpetuity and I don’t think God preserved doctrinal truth through Roman Catholicism.
I take that to mean you do affirm Baptist successionism. If that’s true, then you are looking at the history of your tradition in a way that is akin to the way Roman Catholics look at their history with their “apostolic succession.” One difference, however, is that the Roman Catholics have better historians making the case for their form of succession. The level of scholarship among Baptist successionism rivals that of new world order conspiracy theorists. History isn’t as neat and tidy as our nice, spiritual sounding ideals, as your list of less than tidy Luther quotes exemplify.
Perhaps we should leave room for Bob’s readers to talk about Luther now . . .
The whole point of this post is to see what we can learn from Luther. Let’s not turn it into a “was Luther saved?” deal.
I fully believe someone can be inaccurate, inconsistent or wrong in parts of their theology and yet be trusting Christ alone, for salvation. I believe this was Luther.
On Augustine, I am preparing a response to John. I think he’s reading too much into the Catholic Encyclopedia’s version of Augustine’s beliefs. Catholics turned semi-Pelagian, and it would be natural to paint Augustine their color as well. Of course us reformed might have a paintbrush in hand too, so I’m going to explore that issue.
I personally believe Augustine was converted and savingly trusting in Christ too. Especially when you read the life change, effected through preaching and the Word, that he experienced.
But–but!!!
Not even the saved Luther himself thought Augustine was saved . . .
Looking forward to the fruits of your labor.
John, I say perpetuity and so you assume successionism. I believe spiritual kinship. So you don’t believe in perpetuity? And I guess I should assume that you are a state church supporter since you didn’t comment on that, or perhaps we shouldn’t just assume so much. What do you think John?
But Bob, can someone be wrong on salvation, adding baptism, and still be trusting Christ alone? That’s not another area of theology. I could appreciate Luther like I would, say Churchill, but you seem now to appreciate him more as a church leader.
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