Who was Martin Luther?
"God’s grace has saved you because of your faith in Christ. Your salvation doesn’t come from anything you do. It is God’s gift. It is not based on anything you have done. No one can brag about earning it" (Ephesians 2:8-9).
"Say with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord.’ Believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. Then you will be saved" (Romans 10:9).
"Then everyone who believes may have eternal life in him" (John 3:15).
Martin Luther is known as the father of the Protestant Reformation.Martin Luther was originally a monk before he became a Protestant. He was born in Eisleben in 1483 and studied at the University of Erfurt, which was the top school in Germany. After he got his master’s degree, he was caught in a thunderstorm and nearly struck by lightning. He took this as a sign that God wanted him to be a monk. Through his studies at an Augustinian monastery, he started noticing many of the Catholic beliefs weren’t the same teachings as the Bible.
For example, the idea of indulgences was not in the Bible. Martin Luther spoke out openly against these things, causing the leaders of the Catholic Church to get upset with him. He nailed the 95 Theses on the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. This acted as a clear message Luther was opposing the Catholic views. He became a huge figure in the Protestant Reformation, alongside John Calvin and Zwingli. Luther’s main teaching was that salvation is through faith in Christ alone.
Due to the intense hatred against Martin Luther, many of his works were ordered to be burned, so Luther hid from danger. While he hid, he worked on his German translation of the New Testament. Even though the Catholic Church persecuted Luther greatly, he still stood by what the Bible says. There is much we can learn from Luther’s life. Luther still made mistakes, but he is still an historical figure in Christianity who helped start the Reformation.
