Every Christian person, who has spent any time in reading the history Martin Luther, has undoubtedly come to the realization that he was indeed God’s chosen man for the task of the 16th century Reformation. The circumstances, both prior to his birth and during his own life, surrounding his rise from the most humble and obedient of Augustinian monks, to becoming the father of the Reformation, show the hand of God’s providence in His holy Church and upon history at large. In the very same way that we see His Providence in calling Abram out of Haran and making a people out of him, a people that would become the very first “Church in the wilderness”(Acts 7:38); so too, we see God re-making a people for Himself, via the Reformation, in the image of the New Testament Church that God consecrated on the Day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2. There are so many providential acts by which God ensured the reformation of His Church, endless in number if we really knew.
“And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.”(Jhn.21:25)
But, one thing that we do know about Luther is that at every promotion, and every exhortation from his peers to take higher office and responsibility, concerning the greater things of God, he always made an attempt to excuse himself; not of pride, or for lack of zeal, but out of a true sense of humility and unworthiness to ascend to such heights. Thus, God borne him along at the hands of others; of whom, Luther, by and through his natural sense of humility, was forced to listen and reason with their exhortations and ultimately to obey them out of duty to God and to Church.
One such man was Johann von Staupitz, the first professor of ‘Biblical Studies’ at the University of Wittenberg, the new university of which Luther had to be first exhorted to teach at. The role of Dr. Staupitz’s influence on Luther cannot be spoken of in it’s depth, but let us know this quote from Luther himself,
“If it had not been for Dr. Staupitz, I should have sunk in hell.”
And, it was on the occasion of Staupitz, the Vicar General and professor of ‘Biblical Studies’, at the end of the summer in 1512, that he urged Luther to accept a Doctor of Divinity of Theology. Luther, of course, argued with his mentor, making all excuses from unworthiness, to his youth, and even the fact that he was prone to illness and might die very young; all of which the Vicar General refuted in terms of God’s service, that it will be done on earth or in heaven, by youth or by aged, and that none truly are worthy; and, “besides,” said the Doctor, “you have taken an oath to obey us.” Thus, Luther accepted the Doctorate, and on the 18th of October, 1512 he swore this oath, “I swear to defend the evangelical truth by every means in my power.” The next day, on the 19th, Luther received the order of being a Doctor of Divinity in Biblical Studies and daubed ‘Knight of the Bible’; hence, he would continue in the place where his mentor, Dr. Staubitz, began.
In taking this position Luther was now avowed to preach the purity of Scripture, teach the truth, devote himself to the study of Scripture, and defend the Word at all costs. He had essentially taken the oath of becoming the Reformer that God had willed him to become. And, all of this was sworn to the institution of which had become so grievously oppressed by the Papacy. This was essentially the birth of the foundation of the ‘Reformation’, — Scripture Alone!
In an interesting note, concerning the providence of God, Dr. Staupitz’s theology was not so wrong in so many ways. People tend to think of Luther as a man all of his own; a man that emerged out of a sea of absolute darkness. Well, contrary to this misnomer, there were many who had already rediscovered the writings of St. Augustine, Luther and Staupitz were but two of many; after-all, let us not forget that Luther was an ‘Augustinian monk’ and not a ‘Dominican’, nor was he a ‘Benedictine’. Staupitz wrote, “…man’s nature is incapable of knowing or wanting or doing good. For this barren man, God is sheer fear.” Staupitz also understood the doctrine of ‘election’, and was not far off in his understanding of ‘justification’; and it would be this very doctrine of ‘justification by faith alone’ that Luther would see in the light of ‘Scripture alone’. And, ultimately he would correct this essential doctrine from the errors of the Papacy. These two doctrines of ‘justification’ and ‘Scripture alone’ are those that would define God’s reformation of His Church.
Scripture Alone 