In Alton, the Halloween decorations have been up and will stay up for the foreseeable future.  This Halloween was the 500^th anniversary of Luther’s debate with the church. November 1 was All Saints Day; Hispanics honor the Day of the Dead with elaborate celebration. Some Christians honor All Souls day to consider those in purgatory. That notion helped to prompt Luther’s reform agenda that would include the bible. 

Basically, purgatory is an intermediate state of the afterlife where souls pay a penalty for their sins. Its occupants need to be purified, purged of sin’s penalties, before entering heaven.  Following II Maccabees 12:39-46, the Roman Catholic Church holds that our prayers and good deeds can speed the process along. It therefore maintains our links to the deceased as an example of prayer moving beyond the veil of this world. Luther’s basic issue was that prayers became a matter of commerce in that one paid for viewing a relic that could ease one’s time in purgatory. Over the years, his views changed, and he denied even the existence of that intermediate state.

He removed the Scriptural support for the doctrine by relegating some books in the Bible to a lesser status. Luther found himself unable to bow to the authority of princes, prelates, or even longstanding church tradition. He attempted to make the bible his lodestar. At times, this could lead to him using one and only one passage to make a point and to lose other Scriptural references.

When Luther was under protective custody by Elector Frederick, he used his time to begin the huge task of translating the bible in German. He wanted to make the bible more accessible to his fellow Germans. He began with the New Testament, as his Greek was fairly good, and he had access to a critical edition from Erasmus, the scholar. He wanted it to sound fairly conversational. In so doing, he essentially invented the literary German language. It was similar to the impact of the King James Version of the bible on our ear for English. Indeed his translation influenced the early English translator, Tyndale, and his great work had a marked influence on the KJV in 1611, about a century after Luther moved form Latin to his native tongue.

His translation struggled to make a classical language sound like his contemporary language. He took the liberty of making sure that the words of Scripture reflected his theological suppositions, as when he added the word alone to the doctrine of grace. (Rom. 3:28) Desert people may know chameleon, but Luther changed it to a familiar weasel.

His constant hope was that the Bible should move the reader toward Christ, our Savior, not a severe, strict judge. That instrumental movement allows us to embrace a God of love.  He saw the Bible as the “manger of Christ for us.” If a Scripture did not so move one to the gifts and mercies of God, he discounted it. He thought the epistle of James, with its emphasis on faith in action, lessened the grace of god and placed a notion of redeeming human effort into our minds. So, it was ‘an epistle of straw.”

 “The Holy Scriptures cannot be penetrated by study and talent is most certain. Therefore your first duty is to begin to pray, and to this affect that if it please God to accomplish something for His glory- not for yours or any other person’s- he very graciously grants you a true understanding of His words. ..You must, therefore, completely despair of your own industry and ability and rely solely on the inspiration of the Spirit.”  In other words, even interpreting the bible is a gift of god’s communication to us.