A
Short Biography of Dr. Martin Luther
��� Martin attended grade school in Mansfield, and went to high school in Magdeburg and Eisenach.� At� the age of 17 he entered the University of Erfurt, and graduated with his Master's Degree four years later, in 1505.
��� His father wanted him to study law, but Martin was more interested in religion.� He therefore entered the Augustinian monastery at Erfurt in 1505, since he thought that being a monk was the best way to be sure of being saved.� He was ordained as a priest in 1507.� It was in the monastery that he found a Bible-the first Bible he had ever had a chance to read; and now he devoted his spare time to studying the Scriptures.
��� In 1510 Martin was sent to Rome on moonastery business.� While on this trip he saw saw corrupt the church of his day had become, and how ignorant the people were.� After his return he continued his studies and was made a Doctor of Theology in 1512.� then he was called to become a professor at the University of Wittenberg, a position he held until he died.
��� On a mission to Rome in 1510--11 he was appalled by the corruption he found there. Money was� greatly needed at the time for the rebuilding of St Peter's, and papal emissaries sought everywhere� to raise funds by the sale of indulgences. The system was grossly abused, and Luther's indignation at� the shameless traffic, carried on in particular by the Dominican Johann Tetzel, became irrepressible.
��� At Wittenberg Luther lectured on the bible, and it was there that he made his great Discovery "discovery"-that a person is not saved by his own good works, but by trusting in the merits and death of Jesus.� This biblical teaching had been almost completely forgotten for several hundred years among the monks and priests of the church, simply because the Bible itself was seldom studied, even by priests.
��� In 1517 another priest came to a nearby town in a province just beyond the border of Saxony on his mission of selling indulgences.� People were told that by the purchase of these certificates of penance, which were a cancellation of works if penance, they could gain release from purgatory for themselves and even for friends or relatives who had already died.� Luther then decided that he must without delay share with others what he had learned about the way to salvation.� He published 95 theses(sentences) on�� indulgences, which showed how far the church had moved away from the teaching of the Bible, and denying the pope any right to forgive sins. He nailed them on the church door at� Wittenberg. Tetzel retreated from Saxony to Frankfurt-an-der-Oder, where he published a set of counter-theses and burnt Luther's. The Wittenberg students retaliated by burning Tetzel's, and in 1518 Luther was joined in his views by Phillip Melanchthon. This was on October 31, 1517, which we now celebrate as Reformation Day because it marks the beginning of the great Reformation Era of the Church.
��� These theses were ot favorably received by the church�
authorities, however, and Luther was sharply criticized.� The Pope
issued a ban, ordering him to be silent and to day or write no more on
this topic.� His writings were attacked by other leading men in the
church.� In 1519 Luther had a great public debate with a famous professor,
Dr. Eck, in Leipzig;� it was there that Luther boldly declared that
the Pope and the church were teaching things contrary to the Bible.
�
��� The result of Luther's criticism of the church was
that the Pope excommunicated him in 1520 and ordered him to take back all
that he had said.� In 1521 Luther was required to appear before Emperor
Charles V in the city of Worms, to be questioned about what he had said
and written.� Here he bravely stated that he would not take back any
of his statements, since he was simply teaching what the bible taught.�
Then the emperor issued the order making Luther an outlaw, subject to arrest
and death.
��� However, the Elector of Saxony, Prince Frederick, was a great admirer of Luther and would not permit the Emperor's men to arrest him anywhere in Saxony.� Luther therefore stayed in Saxony, spending all his time teaching, counseling and writing.
��� In 1522 Luther translated the entire New Testament from Greek into German to replace a number of inadequate translations of the official Bible.� In 1534 he completed the translation of the Old Testament from the Hebrew language.
In 1525 Luther married Katherine von Bora, a nun who had withdrawn from convent life.
��� In his concern for the pure Gospel, which he had
learned from Scriptures, Luther visited all the churches in Saxony.�
On his trip in 1527 he learned that most of the priests did not know very
much about the Bible or the way of Salvation, and that the people were
terribly ignorant.� the result was that in 1529 he published his Small
Catechism,� so that the priests and the people would have a clear,
simple summary of the main teachings of the Bible.�
��� In 1530 Luther and some of his co-workers were asked to write out a complete statement of what they believed, so that the emperor could determine what their doctrine really was.� this document was then delivered to the emperor in the town of Augsburg on June 25th and has ever since been known as the Augsburg Confession.� this is still the basic statement� of what Lutheran's believe.
��� For the next sixteen years Luther continued to be
very busy.� He taught his classes at the University; he preached several
times a week;� he wrote hymns, articles, books and letters-so many
that his writings fill more than 50 volumes in english.� He died on
February 18, 1546, at the age of 62, in Eisleben, where he had been born-one
of the greatest servants God has given to His Church.
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