Luther, reformer and spiritual guide

Nov 08, 2016

By Claire Lesegretain
In the Lutheran Church, as in the Catholic Church, the understanding of Martin Luther has greatly evolved over the past five centuries. Today he is perceived not only as a daring reformer but also as a spiritual guide.

Even if Catholics and Lutherans have learnt, especially since the Second Vatican Council, to read and interpret Luther together, the place that this historical figure occupies in each of the two Churches will never be the same.

However, beyond the negative image that some Catholics still have of him, Luther never ceases to arouse interest and questions. And, curiously, Catholic priests and Lutheran pastors use the same words — or almost — to refer to him, taking into account the evolution of the way he has been viewed over the past five centuries and the current perceptions of him in their respective Churches.

The permanence of the message
“Of course, Luther belongs to the Germany of his day, but his message is permanent, because it recalls the primacy of grace and God’s unconditional love,” says Father David Gilbert, priest of the Saint-Martin Community and lecturer at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Sciences of the Catholic Institute of Paris (ICP – French acronym).

Among Lutherans, the interpretation of his message has changed over the centuries. “In each generation, the Lutheran Church has tended to use him for its own ends,” says Lutheran pastor Frédéric Chavel, who lectures on dogma at the Institut protestant de théologie (IPT) in Paris and also teaches at the ICP’s Higher Institute of Ecumenical Studies.

For example, after the Prussian victory against Napoleon, Luther was celebrated as a German hero. In 1917, during World War I, his primordial place in the culture and history of the German nation was highlighted again.

Spiritual authenticity
Today, however, Lutherans feel the need “to enrich the critical perception of their history and identity, as reflected in the eyes of others,” notes Pastor Chavel, recalling how much the German theologian Karl Holl (1866-1926) helped to renew interest in Luther’s writings and rediscover his “spiritual authenticity.” This is a point on which Popes John-Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis have all insisted.

Lutheran Pastor Alain Joly, assistant lecturer at the Evangelical Faculty of Vaux-sur-Seine, also insists on the “exemplary spiritual contribution” made by Luther.

“His word touches many of those who seek the truth of the Gospel. His place is alongside the Fathers of the Church, among the great witnesses of the faith who can inspire Christian action,” says Pastor Joly.

“Luther learnt to cast off the fear of salvation, to stop worrying about pleasing God, to welcome the grace of Christ and love others,” he adds.

The certainty of God’s infinite love
In fact, as he himself wrote, Luther, the monk, suffered from agonising qualms because of his conception of an avenging God and his powerlessness to avoid sin, until the day in winter 1512-1513 in the tower of the Wittenberg Convent, when he had a revelation while reading the Letter of Paul to the Romans.

“I began then to understand that the ‘justice of God’ is that whereby the merciful God justifies us through faith … At this I felt myself to be born anew, and to enter (…) into Paradise itself,” Luther wrote.

This certainty of the infinite love of God is Luther’s greatest contribution. However, many of his other theological and ecclesiological intuitions are sources of inspiration to this day. For Pastor Chavel, these include “the relationship with the Bible, the absence of separation between clergy and lay people, the great spiritual dignity of all stations in life in the eyes of God, whether one is a prince, banker or soldier.”

In this regard, Luther used the expression Dein Ruf ist dein Beruf (Your vocation is your profession) which suggests, says Pastor Joly, that “the vocation of every Christian is to seek God in his work.” For Frédéric Chavel, “this incarnational theology is particularly in line with spiritual research today.” -- La Croix