Tuesday, October 21, 2014
1 Corinthians 16:9 For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries
REFORMATION RECAP: "THERE ARE MANY ADVERSARIES"
In the year of 1527, Luther responded to Henry VIII of England after the king fiercely denounced the Reformer's pamphlet "The Babylonian Captivity of the Church." (Wherein Luther shows the tyranny the Roman church had imposed on Christians by its scriptural teachings and practices.)
"Is this what is meant by 'A man's foes shall be they of his own household' (Matthew 10:36)? Why did I not understand this before? Are these the swine and the dogs that turn and tear us when we cast before them pearls and that which is holy (Matthew 7:6)? Lord God, who knew this? There you have it, my dear Sir Luther! Learn the next time what the warning means: Beware of men. Are you a doctor professing to know the devil very well and still do not know this!?!"
Luther found out the hard way that some of those he knew, such as Carlstadt and Zwingli, were led away by their reason. Teachings from God's Word that cannot fully be understood are to be treated with the simple "childlike faith" that our Savior encouraged (Matthew 18). Luther continued to emphasize this point with his friends just as we ought to as well. The devil, our greatest adversary, wants us to believe that the blood of one man could never take away the sins of the whole world. But we know and believe from the Word of God that that one man is also God's Son, Jesus Christ our Savior!
Thy truth defend, O God, and stay This evil generation;
And from the error of their way Keep Thine own congregation.
The wicked everywhere abound And would Thy little flock confound;
But Thou art our Salvation.
-- Martin Luther, 1523 (The Lutheran Hymnal, 260:6)
(Quotations taken from "What Luther Says," E. M. Plass, 1191)
