Martin Luther: the preacher

In today's D.min seminar, we spent all day talking about Martin Luther (the German Reformer)….his bumps, his bruises, his foibles, his strengths, his brilliance, and his pastoral excellence. Dr. Steve Lawson led our discussion into the heart of this Reformer’s ministry. As we are all pursuing doctorates it was fitting that we hear from Luther on the matter who said in his Table Talk, “Be assured that no one will make a doctor of the Holy Scripture save only the Holy Ghost from heaven.” Preachers need to drink deeply from the well of Martin Luther. No protestant preacher today can rightly know where his feet are planted without having Luther fixed somewhere upon his compass. Here are a few quotes to get the juices flowing;

“I simply taught, preached, wrote God’s Word; otherwise I did nothing. And then, while I slept…the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that never a prince or emperor did such damage to it. I did nothing. The Word did it all.”

“A good preacher invests everything in the Word.”

“When I was young, I read the Bible over and over and over again, and was so perfectly acquainted with it, that I could, in an instant, have pointed to any verse that might have been mentioned.”

NOTE: If one has not studied Luther, where should he begin? I would recommend to the novice that he get Stephen J. Nichols’s Martin Luther: A Guided Tour of His Life. Next I would recommend the classic biography of Luther by Roland Bainton called Here I Stand. After becoming familiar with his life and context, start reading his sermons and tracts. Luther believed his greatest work was Bondage of the Will and I believe history has proved him right so if you read nothing else…read Bondage.