(November 10, 1483–February 18, 1546), was the leader of the Protestant Reformation in Germany, and was renowned for his enduring literary contribution of translating the Bible into the German language. He became an Augustinian friar and in 1507 was ordained. In 1510 he visited Rome, where he was shocked by the worldliness. He received his doctorate of divinity and in 1512 was appointed professor of philosophy at the University of Wittenberg, where he was promoted to the position of district vicar.
Martin Luther preached daily, and grew immensely popular through his exposition of the Holy Scriptures in the common language. After objecting to the methods Johann Tetzel employed to sell indulgences, Luther posted for debate his 95 Theses, October 31, 1517. He was fiercely attacked, especially by Johann Eck.
On April 18, 1521, when the 21 year old Emperor Charles V summoned him to Diet of Worms to renounce his views, Martin Luther stated:
Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me. Amen.74
Declared an outlaw, Martin Luther was protected by Frederick III of Saxony in the Wartburg castle. There he translated the New Testament into the German language in just six months. He attempted to be a moderate, opposing the Peasant’s War and resisting the more progressive elements of reformation. In 1525 he married a former nun and together they had six children.
Among his many works, Martin Luther wrote:
I am much afraid that schools will prove to be the great gates of hell unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures, engraving them in the hearts of youth.
I advise no one to place his child where the scriptures do not reign paramount. Every institution in which men are not increasingly occupied with the Word of God must become corrupt.75
The Bible was written for men with a head upon their shoulders76
If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ.
Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved and to be steady on all the battlefield besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that one point.77
Where there are no Christians, or perverse and false Christians, it would be well for the authorities to allow them, like heathens, to put away their wives, and to take others, in order that they may not, with their discordant lives, have two hells, both here and there. But let them know that by their divorce they cease to be Christians, and become heathens, and are in the state of damnation.78
In his life, Christ is an example, showing us how to live; in his death, he is a sacrifice, satisfying our sins; in his resurrection, a conqueror; in his ascension, a king; in his intercession, a high priest.79
In 1529, Martin Luther wrote his hymn, A Mighty Fortress (Ein ’Feste Burg):
A mighty fortress is our God,
A bulwark never failing.
Our helper He amid the flood
Of mortal ills prevailing.80
Martin Luther wrote in his Table Talk, 1569:
Reason is the greatest enemy that faith has: it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, but—more frequently than not—struggles against the divine Word, treating with contempt all that emanates from God.81
Martin Luther remarked:
Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection not in books alone, but in every leaf in the springtime.82