Sword & Trowel 2018: Issue 1


number 33 for which Luther is condemned reads: ‘It is contrary to the will of the Spirit that heretics be put to death by burning.’


Painting of Luther burning the papal bull – heresy


 which Luther is condemned reads: ‘It is contrary to the will of the Spirit


that heretics be put to death by burn- ing.’ Luther was excommunicated for believing in religious liberty. Luther was outspoken on the sub- ject, especially between his initial protest against the sale of indulgences in 1517 and the Diet of Worms in 1521. We could gather a treasure- trove of thrilling statements from the German Reformer on the essential and inalienable rights of the human conscience. The state, the political power, he argued, had no authority either to dictate religious belief or to punish people for whatever religious belief they might hold. God alone is the Lord of the conscience, and he alone therefore has the authority to command belief and punish unbelief. Luther affi rms that ‘no human being is able to command or ought to com- mand the soul. This belongs only to God, who alone can show the soul the way to heaven.’ Again, he says,


‘the thoughts and mind of man are known to God alone’; that ‘it is use- less and impossible to command any person’s belief, or by force to compel it’; that ‘heresy is a spiritual thing which no axe can chop down, no fi re burn, and no water drown’; and that ‘belief is a free matter which cannot be enforced.’


This is perhaps highly paradoxical in that of all the Magisterial Reform- ers, Luther was the most violent in his words. We sometimes shudder when we hear his thunderous de- nunciations of those who opposed his reforming movement and ideals, especially when he condemns fellow Reformers. Yet it must be acknowl- edged that Martin Luther’s bark was far worse than his bite. Violent with words he may have been, but no one was more gentle in deeds. Despite his strong opposition to the German Anabaptists, who in the 1520s could be quite a wild bunch, Luther recoiled in horror from the


page 24 Great Advances Sown by the Reformation


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