Was Martin Luther truly saved? He remains as an enigma to me....

[Charles Spurgeon]

Ever since I've learned more and more about Luther, he remains an enigma to me... he discovered salvation by faith alone and basically was the catalyst to start the reformation... yet later on in his life, in either his catechisms, and his dealings with the Anabaptists, he seemed to be a rather wicked and godless man... He basically wrote that the Anabaptists needed to be killed, and in the catechisms he reiterated the need for children to be baptized in order to be saved....

Here's the enigma... he understood salvation by faith alone, at least from what I can see.... He was the catalyst to start the reformation, but you have these really bad fruits.... can we know for sure he was saved... beyond a shadow of a doubt this side of glory?

 

[farouk]

Ever since I've learned more and more about Luther, he remains an enigma to me... he discovered salvation by faith alone and basically was the catalyst to start the reformation... yet later on in his life, in either his catechisms, and his dealings with the Anabaptists, he seemed to be a rather wicked and godless man... He basically wrote that the Anabaptists needed to be killed, and in the catechisms he reiterated the need for children to be baptized in order to be saved....

Here's the enigma... he understood salvation by faith alone, at least from what I can see.... He was the catalyst to start the reformation, but you have these really bad fruits.... can we know for sure he was saved... beyond a shadow of a doubt this side of glory?

Charles Spurgeon:

The question is not first of all to try delve into the recesses of his conscience (a thankless task, anyway.)

But it's to look at his doctrine.

From the point of view of his understanding of Romans and Galatians and the central truth of justification, he is truly very accurate and seemingly in the enjoyment of it.

From the point of view of eschatology and church state relations, he retained an Erastian understanding of state patronage of the church. For him, the church was Israel, an earthly and temporal institution. For him, it was the duty of the state to root out heresy.

Instead of trying to look at his conscience, look at some of his doctrine some areas and you may then see why he acted in a certain way, which brings bafflement to many contemporary Bible based Christians who benefit from the idea of church state separation and a clear distinction between the church and Israel, and also a distinction in Scripture between the Lord's coming for his church (1 Thess. 4) and His coming in power and glory.

Blessings.

 

[Danus]

Ever since I've learned more and more about Luther, he remains an enigma to me... he discovered salvation by faith alone and basically was the catalyst to start the reformation... yet later on in his life, in either his catechisms, and his dealings with the Anabaptists, he seemed to be a rather wicked and godless man... He basically wrote that the Anabaptists needed to be killed, and in the catechisms he reiterated the need for children to be baptized in order to be saved....

Here's the enigma... he understood salvation by faith alone, at least from what I can see.... He was the catalyst to start the reformation, but you have these really bad fruits.... can we know for sure he was saved... beyond a shadow of a doubt this side of glory?

If you are questioning Luthers salvation based on his works, then two things.

1. Luther would have agreed with you at one time, since he also questioned his own salvation due to his inability to be a good person and keep the law...


And 2. You may not see what Luther finally did. If that's the case you'll need to change your name so that you may honnor the real "Charles Spurgeon".


This is the verse that changed Luther:
Romans 1:17
New International Version (NIV)...of corse for him it would not be the NIV
<sup class="versenum">17 </sup>For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed —a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,<sup class="footnote" value="[<a href=&quot;#fen-NIV-27948a&quot; title=&quot;See footnote a&quot;>a</a>]"></sup> just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

After meditating day and night, finally the breakthrough came when Luther gave heed to the words at the end of 1:17, "He who through faith is righteous shall live." Then he realized that the verse was not talking about the active righteousness that God demands, but the passive righteousness that He freely gives to those who believe the Gospel.

The sinner is justified (declared righteous) by God through faith in the work and death of Jesus, not by our work or keeping of the Law. Put another way, the sinner is justified by receiving (faith) rather than achieving (works). Later Luther would say that we are saved by the alien righteousness of Christ, not by a righteousness of our own doing.

It's important to note: Luther was not the only one to understand salvation in this way. He just had position and a new internet of his day...the printing press.

 

[reba]

These questions remind me of the joke about heaven how surprised every one is to see every one they see.

I cant remember the joke just the moral...

 

[DarkHorseRising]

I doubt it. He was a vitriolic antisemite and very insincere in public (he allowed a rich follower to marry two women, helped him cover it up, and then publicly lied about it until caught).

 

[Tri Unity]

He was the catalyst to start the reformation, but you have these really bad fruits....

He was an enigma to me too. I don't think we can answer the question of salvation for most people. Jesus said that His followers must have "love among themselves," yet plently of christians here condone killing other christians if there is a war. Luther was not against killing other christians either; he sanctioned the killing of thousands of his own church followers when they were no longer useful to him (in the Peasants Rebellion). He said to test if a Jew was saved by throwing him over a bridge first. These sort of comments are not much different to other peoples sentiments today. Are they really saved? I don't know. Doctrines don't prove our authenticity - the demons believed! If you find a good christian litmus test, let me know.

 

[John O]

He was an enigma to me too. I don't think we can answer the question of salvation for most people. Jesus said that His followers must have "love among themselves," yet plently of christians here condone killing other christians if there is a war. Luther was not against killing other christians either; he sanctioned the killing of thousands of his own church followers when they were no longer useful to him (in the Peasants Rebellion). He said to test if a Jew was saved by throwing him over a bridge first. These sort of comments are not much different to other peoples sentiments today. Are they really saved? I don't know. Doctrines don't prove our authenticity - the demons believed! If you find a good christian litmus test, let me know.

Salvation is first the establishment of the Kingdom of God once more in the heart of man restoring the spiritual connection between Man and God. The soul is redeemed progressively as all who have walked with God for any length can agree when they look at their own life. Each of us have areas of our soul that are unredeemed firmly rooted in this world and not the next, Luther had his very clear soul issues (he was most certainly antisemitic) while this would have major consequences on the rewards God had for him in heaven they did not preclude him from salvation.

We all too often see salvation as perfection but again anyone who has walked with God for any length of time knows it can not be so because none of us would qualify. God looks to the redeemed heart (soul) and is patient to deal with the unredeemed part of the heart (soul) on a progressive ongoing basis.

John O

 

[craigmn3]

He was human

he never claimed to be infallible like the forces he was fighting