Friday, November 4, 2016
John 8:31-32 Jesus said, "If you hold to my word, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT
When Martin Luther secretly traveled to Wittenberg from the safety of the Castle Wartburg, he went a bearded knight under the name "Junker Jorg." As "Knight George" he had a sword strapped to his waist. When he saw how the common people of Wittenberg were being pushed this way and that because they did not have Bibles to read or hearts grounded in Jesus the Savior, he went back to the Wartburg determined to put a different sword in their hands-- the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
There were a limited number of Bibles available to the the people of Germany at that time, often simply a single one per church, and it was in Latin, the language of the learned, not of ordinary people.
Luther also had a limited number of books available in his little study high on the Wartburg's castle wall. But while he surely had a Latin Bible at hand, the Reformer translated the New Testament from the original Greek. He put it in a German that could be read and understood throughout the provinces of his native land. What a gift God gave thousands through this New Testament Luther brought to life in just eleven weeks before he returned to Wittenberg for good.
Martin Luther was 37 years old and intimately familiar in the Greek New Testament when he crafted his translation in the seclusion of the Wartburg. God has also tasked you and me and every believer in Christ with bringing the message of the New Testament to people in our land. To do this we need to be intimately familiar with the Word of forgiveness and life we are called to share. Therefore, let us each this day renew our commitment to walk in the Word we have in our own language.
To this help us, Heavenly Father.
