Martin Luther

Luther at age 46 (www.wikipedia.org)

Martin Luther was born on 10th November 1483 at Eisleben, Germany. His father’s name was Hans Luder and his mother’s name was Margarette Lindemann. His father wanted Martin to become a government official. That was why he sent young Martin to study at Mansfeld, Magdeburg, and Eisenach. In 1501, at the age of 17, he passed the entrance exam at the University of Erfurt and got his degree in 1502. But everything was changed when he was almost hit by lightning. He cried and begged for help, “Saint Ana, please help me! I will become the monk if you help me.” Because he was saved from the accident, he left the university and became a monk at Erfurt.

When he became the monk at the church, Johann von Staupitz, Luther’s superior, ordered Luther to pursue an academic career. In 1508, he began teaching theology at the University of Wittenberg. He also got his Bachelor’s degrees in Biblical Studies and in Science. He also received the degree Doctor of Theology and became the member of the senate of the theological faculty.

His famous teachings are sola fide, sola gratia, and sola scriptura, which meant “only faith”, “only bless”, and “only Bible”. Luther believed that humans’ safety could be reached only because of their faith to God’s blessings which was brought through the death of Jesus Christ. By stating that, Luther rejected the Church’s teachings which promised humans’ safety through the selling of letters for the forgiveness of sins (indulgences). Luther stated that humans could be saved because of God’s blessing. These words are based on Paul’s words in Letters to Rome: "But God has shown us how much he loves us—it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us.” (Rome 5:8).

Because of his belief in Paul’s words, Martin Luther wrote “95 Theses”. Inside his ”95 Theses”, Luther requested the erasing of indulgences. He also wrote all of his objections about the tradition of the Roman Catholic Church, for example, the ruling power of the Pope. These Theses became the beginning of the Reformation of the Roman Catholic Church. In October 1517, he posted these Theses to the Church Door - which also functioned as a bulletin board.

Soon, because of his “95 Theses”, the Pope expelled Luther from the Roman Catholic Church. When Luther was in exile, he translated The New Testament from the Greek language into German. Luther also married an ex-monk, Katharina von Bora. His marriage with Katharina was believed to be the reasoning that meant that all Protestant monks were allowed to marry. Luther died in 1546. But, there were a lot of people mobilized by his philosophy and continued Luther’s fight until the Protestant Reformation happened. So, since the 16th century, Roman Catholic Church was separated into two, Roman Catholic Church and Protestant.

Right now, there are a lot of people whose religion is Protestant. The development of the Protestant religion was started by a lot of hard work from one founder, Martin Luther. His dedication to his own belief has made a lot of people touched and now, there are a lot of churches which use Martin Luther’s doctrines. These churches are widely spread around the world. These churches are called Lutheran.

One thing that I admired about Martin Luther was his courage to oppose something wrong and to hold tight to his own belief. Not only that, he also had a spirit that motivates me to face my own way of living and never be afraid of facing obstacles in living my own life. Because of that, I dedicated this story as an honour to one man whose belief has changed our ways of living, Martin Luther.