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The Diet of Worms
The danger of looking at men such as Luther and even the Apostle Paul is that if we’re not careful, we raise them to such a lofty position they appear larger than life. This is the problem with canonizing some of the early church fathers and the Apostles. I’m sure that I can safely say these men would be the first to voice their unworthiness of such honors. If we overlook this fact when looking at great men in History (except Jesus Christ), we will not see the providential hand of an all wise and all purposeful God. A good and almost perfect illustration of this is Jean Henri Merle d’Aubigne` autobiography of Luther. On Luther’s appearance at the Diet of Worms in 1521, d’Aubigne` commented that this historic event was God’s way of fulfilling His own design. He further stated “It was His will that this light, which He had kindled in the world, should be set upon a hill; and emperor, kings, and princes immediately began to carry out his purpose withour knowing it. It costs Him little to elevate what is lowliest…In His sight there is neither small nor great, and in His own time Charles (Charles V, Emperor of Rome) and Luther met” (The Triumph of Truth, A Life of Martin Luther, Jean Henri Merle d’Aubigne`, Bob Jones University Press, emphasis added). In Luther, as well as other godly men before him, we see personified the essence of the twenty-eighth verse of Romans eight. In that passage, the emphasis is mostly placed upon our love for God. However, that is quite wrong. Paul’s focus is not our love, which is fickle at best and incapable of loving God, as we should (cf. Rom. 7:19,20). Instead, at the heart of it all is God’s love for us (cf. Rom. 5:5). That same love (of the Spirit) compels us to do those things that will glorify Him. Why is this? Mainly or solely because it agrees with God’s purpose. So them Luther’s life is one reflective of a man’s will wrapped up, tie up and tangled up in God’s own. As a result, he act confidently and boldly knowing he is in God’s will (cf. Jn. 15:5,7-8). Having said that, let us looked closer at Martin Luther’s greatest testimony for his Lord. The time was April of the year 1521. Charles V was Emperor of Rome. As stated from the previous insert, Charles had issued a Papal Bull or summon for Luther to appear before the Diet of Worms. The only problem was that by now, Luther was an enemy of the state because of his so called heretical teachings. Therefore, to ensure his safety, and allow him the opportunity to appear at this diet, the emperor of Rome granted him safe passage. As expected, his friends pleaded with him not to go, but even they knew such pleas were futile and would by no means sway Luther’s decision to appear before Charles and the religious establishment. On his way to Worms, he stopped at various cities giving words of encouragement and preaching sermons as he had opportunity. Many of his followers and those who came to admire his courage warned him that he would suffer the same fate as Huss, if he remained on his chosen course. However, instead of becoming words of discouragements, they strengthened his resolve to continue his journey. When Luther arrived in Worms, a crowd of more than two thousand greeted him. History records that on the following day (the appointed time of the Diet of Worms), the crowd on the street leading to the hall of the diet became so great, it became impossible and unsafe for Luther and his escorts. This was not because they wanted to kill him (although there might have been some who wanted to), but because of his fame and courage. In a sense, he had become a kind of national hero. Therefore, to ensure his safety, his escorts changed his route from the streets to private houses and gardens. This must have been some scene! People climbed on top of roofs, ran to windows and crowded the pavement just to get a glimpse of Luther. When he reached the hall of the diet, there was already “more than five thousand spectators” (Triumph of Truth). Every corner of the hall was packed. The only thing more imposing and unbelievable was the caliber and status of Luther’s accusers. There was the Emperor Charles V, archdukes, dukes, archbishops, bishops, ambassadors and so forth. In all they numbered two hundred and four people (Triumph of Truth). The irony of all this were the kind and encouraging words given by some of the princes of this body. Finally Luther was ushered before Charles (the only person with a seat) and John an Eck, representing the theologians said in aloud voice, “Martin Luther…do you acknowledge these books to have been written by you?” Eck question was about the twenty or more books written by Luther stacked on a table in the center of the hall as evidence of his heresy. Eck’s second question was, “Are you prepared to retract these books and their contents; or do you persist in the opinions you have advanced in them” (Triumph of Truth)? Just as Luther was about to admit the books were his, his counsel interrupted and exclaimed aloud, “Let the titles of the books be read.” This was a brilliant move by the counsel because the list showed that many of the books were devotional in nature and without controversy. This also allowed Luther to acknowledge safely that the books were his and at the same time point out that some of them involved faith and salvation. Because of those particular writings, he felt it unwise to give an answer without proper meditation and prayer. Therefore, he asked the emperor to give him twenty-four hours to meditate and pray so he would be able to give an answer that would not offend his Lord. Charles did grant Luther’s request giving him another day. Space will not allow the powerful testimony presented before that assembly on April 18th, 1521 by Luther. However, I do believe God was pleased and glorified. Just as He was when our Lord defended His Deity, Sonship and willingness to die for man’s sin before the religious leaders of His day. Like Stephen, Peter, John, Paul and all the other martyrs who chose death over compromise, Luther stood before this august body for Christ’s “name sake.” After testifying about why his writings were true and in agreement with Scripture, the court commanded him to speak plainly and “give a clear and precise answer. Will you or will you not, retract?” Luther had previously given his answer in German. The problem was that Charles did not like the German language. Therefore Luther repeated in Latin, “Since your most serene majesty and your high mightinesses require from me a clear, simple, and precise answer, I will give you one, and it is this: I cannot submit my faith either to the pope or to councils, because it is clear as the day that they have erred and contradicted each other. Unless therefore I am convinced by the testimony of Scripture, or by the clearest reasoning—unless I am persuaded by means of the passages I have quoted, and unless they render my conscience bound by the Word of God, I cannot and I will not retract, for it is unsafe for a Christian to speak against his conscience” (Triumph of Truth). Needless to say, this was what many of those representing the papacy wanted to hear for they knew that Charles only alternative was to declare Luther a heretic and sentence him to death; and so he did. Here again we see the Sovereign and Providential hand of God at work. For as Luther was being transported to his place of death, hooded men rushed out of the bushes, overpowered the guards and took Luther into custody. However, what appeared to be a kidnapping was the clever scheme of one of Luther’s friends. His supposedly kidnappers took Luther and hid him in a castle where he grew a beard, changed his named and was able to continue his writings. One of the most important things he did was to translate the Bible into German. Luther’s contribution to Protestantism was important. However, we must not place his contribution above any of the other brave men used of God to keep the light of His Church burning. As stated earlier, sparks of the reformation is traceable as far back as the second or third century when Tertullian wrote against infant baptism and into the fourth and fifth century with the formulation of the various creeds and confessions. The men who stood for God were not islands to themselves but planks of the house being meticulously built by an all-wise and all purposeful God. In our next session, we will look at how the Reformers’ dogma became the instrument that naturally led to a much more refined faith and eventually to divisions among the ranks. These divisions brought about other Protestant groups. One such group was the Baptists.
In Christ, Minister John Cobb
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