Church History Part 24

Part 24

Reformation 1 - Martin Luther

You may remember that in our series we looked briefly a the split between the Eastern and Western churches. Today we come to a greater split! A split within the Roman Catholic church – the beginnings of the Protestant church! The main person who will look at today is Martin Luther – one of the very giants of church history! .

Martin Luther (1483-1546) - Professor of Biblical Studies at Wittenburg University in Germany. Luther tried to find god as an Augustinian monk but he was unable to come to terms with God's righteous demands. He eventually realised that in order to satisfy God’s righteous demands, that he could do nothing of his own to fulfil them. He came to see that justification before Almighty God was by faith alone, through grace alone, which was a gift of God.
Included in the aftermath of this discovery, were these events! .

• 95 Theses - statements against indulgences nailed to the castle church door at Wittenburg on 31st October 1517. He rapidly gained a following in Germany, and was aided by the printing press.
  
• 1519 - denied the supremacy and infallibility of the Pope and Church.
  
• 1520 - excommunicated by Pope Leo X
  
• 1521 - Diet of Worms. Luther was outlawed by Emperor Charles V of Spain. He was hidden by friends for 8 months, during which he translated the N.T. into German.
  
• 1528 - Diet of Spruger. Each German state allowed to follow the religion of its reigning prince.
  
• 1529 - Diet of Speyer. Lutheran states to remain Lutheran and Catholic states to remain Catholic, not allowed to change. Evangelical princes protested at restriction and the Protestant was given to this movement.
  
• 1530 - Diet of Augsburg. Protestants submitted statement of belief witch was rejected, but became the basis of Lutheran doctrine.
  
• 1547 - War broke out between Catholic and Protestant. This war was won by the Catholics, but Protestantism was finally recognised legally in 1552.

Three main truths to come out of the Reformation.

• Final authority of God's Word.
  
• Justification by faith, a gift of God's grace.
  
• The priesthood of all believers. .

However it should be noted that, wrongly or rightly, Luther still accepted as truth

• Infant baptism as necessary for salvation.
  
• Consubstantiation - a 'real presence' of Christ's body with bread and wine. .

Lutheranism quickly spread from Germany to Denmark, Norway and Sweden. .

That’s it for this time! Next time in our series HAHA, we will continue looking at the great Reformers of the church!

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