October is the month in which we typically remember and
celebrate the Reformation. While some Protestants have described the
Reformation as a tragedy, it would have been a far greater tragedy if it
had never happened. Nevertheless, there is in the contemporary
evangelical world a tendency to romanticize Luther, to remake him as a
modern evangelical. Yes, it is hard for some of us to imagine, but I am
sure there are some out there who see Doc Martin as the kind of
precursor to those who would think the secret of a successful ministry
lies in wearing torn jeans, paying regular visits to the tanning booth
and launching an international campaign against librarian-led fashion
trends and British dentistry.
So, in honour of
the good Doctor and in the cause of saving him from the domesticated
historiography of the Beautiful Young Things, here are a series of
theses about the Wittenberger, the cumulative force of which is to
prove that in today's evangelical world he would have made a most
excellent taxi driver.
Thesis One: Martin Luther saw church leadership as primarily marked by servanthood.
For
Luther, the servant nature of the ministerial calling was not some
abstract principle but was part of his everyday practice, linking his
understanding of the God who is revealed primarily in the crucified
flesh of Christ to the necessary attitude, outlook and expectation of
Christ's ministers.The minister, like his Saviour, was to serve the poor
and despised and the things that are not. This is why, when his barber,
Peter, expressed concern over how difficult he found prayer, Luther
went home and wrote him a treatise on prayer. Nor did he forget Peter
thereafter. When the tragic barber killed his brother-in-law in a
drunken dare and was sentenced to death, Luther intervened to have the
sentence commuted to banishment for life. As busy as he was, Luther
never forget whom it was he was meant to be serving. Continue at Carl trueman
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