From the ‘Men of Faith’ series re Martin Luther: “At the age of twenty-eight, the pattern of Martin’s life appeared to be set. He would lecture twice a week, every week, to progressive generations of students at Wittenberg, until he became so old and feeble that he could only croak out his last lecture.
The courses that he now began to teach were a constant source of pleasure. Previously he had taught philosophy, but now he was reunited with his first love—theology. Martin was a scrupulously dutiful lecturer. Though his students may have found him quirky and pedantic[i] at times, he was a popular professor. Martin loved to debate with his students on the finer points of theological issues. This debating forced him further and further into his study of the original Greek and Hebrew in which the Bible was written. There, digging like a persistent and methodical miner, he finally struck pay-dirt. In those times of private study between lectures, Martin was at the same time bidding farewell to one age and assisting in the birth of a new age.
The breakthrough occurred one very ordinary day, when Martin was in his private office…. He was preparing to teach the lecture on Paul’s letter to the Romans. Methodically reading through the letter, he came upon the passage that was to put an end to his fears forever.
“I am not ashamed of the Gospel,” Martin read, pondering the words of the Apostle Paul. “It is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed, through faith, for faith. As it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith; “[ii].
Well, thought Martin, the first part is easy enough to understand; it simply says that God’s Word, the gospel, shows the way of deliverance from eternal death. But what about this bit; the righteousness of God?
The very idea filled him with panic! Still a guilt obsessed sinner, Martin felt a deep fear and hostility toward those words. Surely if God is just, then Martin Luther is damned, he thought. He had confessed his sins, repented—turned from the things he had done wrong—and confessed again; but there was no way he could make God forgive him.
When Martin had lectured on Psalm 31, he had quickly passed on when he reached the line: “Deliver me in thy righteousness.” Every night for years, though his students had not realized it, their professor was battling in his tower room with the Devil.
“The righteousness of God” had tormented Martin from the very beginning of his studies. What did it really mean? When he talked to Staupitz about the matter…his mentor told him that “repentance is not genuine unless it begins with a love of righteousness and God.”
Staupitz words struck Martin like a “sharp arrow of the Almighty,” and he began to compare them with the rest of the scriptures that teach penitence. Where his knowledge of Greek had improved sufficiently, he realized that the actual meaning of the word was “to repent or turn one’s back on wrong doing,” rather than “to do penance—by fastng, pilgrimages,… etc.”
But God shows His righteousness by punishing sinners every time that they do wrong, Martin kept saying to himself. He shows his righteousness by punishing me, sinner that I am! The only way a man can become righteous is to do all that God wants him to do… isn’t it?
Martin stopped suddenly. No, that can’t be right!
Then he realized he’d been wrong all those years! God wasn’t cruel and harsh at all!
St. Paul says that man is made righteous—or just—by believing in something that God has done for him. But what has God done for man to make him righteous and holy?
He sent Jesus Christ to make us holy! Jesus Kept the law perfectly, and yet He was punished by being put to death. He had not done anything wrong, but I have!
That’s it! God punished Jesus in my place, by letting His own son be punished by death. Now I am holy in God’s sight because I know and believe that Jesus is righteous and holy for me, and He has taken my punishment!
Yes, Martin finally realized how he could be sure that God would forgive him. Whereas he had previously thought of God as a stern father, like his own natural father, Martin now saw Him as a loving and gracious, ready to reach out and forgive him—and to help him through his life—if he only had faith and believed with a confident surrender and a firm reliance.
I feel as though I have been reborn and gone through open gates into paradise.” ~ Men of Faith series, ‘Martin Luther’ pg. 62-65 by Mike Fearon, 1986, Bethany House Publishers
[i] pedantic – professional, pompous, stuffy; perfectionist, scrupulous, overscrupulous (Oxford dictionary)
