Main A Unique Vessel A Strong Stand A Reformer and Shepherd

VI. Diet of Worms (A.D. 1521)

A. Papal Ban

As he was no longer able to tolerate Luther, the pope issued a ban against him. He hoped that the German people would rally around him and follow the edict of the ban, which read as follows:

Arise, O Lord, and judge thy cause. A wild boar has invaded thy vineyard. Arise, O Peter, and consider the case of the Holy Roman Church, the mother of all churches, consecrated by thy blood. Arise O Paul, who by thy teaching and death hast and dost illumine the Church. Arise, all ye saints, and the whole universal Church, whose interpretation of Scripture has been assailed. We can scarcely express our grief over the ancient heresies which have been revived in Germany. We are the more downcast because she was always in the forefront of the war on heresy. Our pastoral office can no longer tolerate the pestiferous virus of the following forty-one errors. [They are enumerated.] We can no longer suffer the serpent to creep through the field of the Lord. The books of Martin Luther which contain these errors are to be examined and burned. As for Martin himself, good God, what office of paternal love have we omitted in order to recall him from his errors? Have we not offered him a safe conduct and money for the journey? [Such an offer never reached Luther.] And he has had the temerity to appeal to a future council although our predecessors, Pius II and Julius II, subjected such appeals to the penalties of heresy. Now therefore we give Martin sixty days in which to submit, dating from the time of the publication of this bull in his district. Anyone who presumes to infringe our excommunication and anathema will stand under the wrath of Almighty God and of the apostles Peter and Paul. Dated on the 15th day of June, 1520 [1]

It was up to Eck, the papal theologian whom Luther had debated at Leipsic, to bring this papal ban to Luther. An additional letter was sent by the pope to Frederick the Wise, who was the elector of the state in which Luther lived. These were the pope’s instructions:

Beloved son, we rejoice that you have never shown any favor to that son of iniquity, Martin Luther. We do not know whether to credit this the more to your sagacity or to your piety. This Luther favors the Bohemians and the Turks, deplores the punishment of heretics, spurns the writings of the holy doctors, the decrees of the ecumenical councils, and the ordinances of the Roman pontiffs, and gives credence to the opinions of none save himself alone, which no heretic before ever presumed to do. We cannot suffer the scabby sheep longer to infect the flock. Wherefore we have summoned a conclave of venerable brethren. The Holy Spirit also was present, for in such cases he is never absent from our Holy See. We have composed a bull, sealed with lead, in which out of the innumerable errors of this man we have selected those in which he perverts the faith, seduces the simple, and relaxes the bonds of obedience, continence, and humility. The abuses which he has vaunted against our Holy See we leave to God. We exhort you to induce him to return to sanity and receive our clemency. If he persists in his madness, take him captive. Given under the seal of the Fisherman’s ring on the 8th of July, 1520, and in the eighth year of our pontificate.[2]

Upon receiving the ban, Luther responded by writing a letter to one who was considering leaving his post:

Our warfare is not with flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places, against the world rulers of this darkness. Let us then stand firm and heed the trumpet of the Lord. Satan is fighting, not against us, but against Christ in us. We fight the battles of the Lord. Be strong therefore. If God is for us, who can be against us?

Be strong therefore. If God is for us, who can be against us?

You are dismayed because Eck is publishing a most severe bull against Luther, his books, and his followers. Whatever may happen, I am not moved, because nothing can happen save in accord with the will of him who sits upon the heaven directing all. Let not your hearts be troubled. Your Father knows your need before you ask him. Not a leaf from a tree falls to the ground without his knowledge. How much less can any of us fall unless it be his will.

If you have the spirit, do not leave your post, lest another receive your crown. It is but a little thing that we should die with the Lord, who in our flesh laid down his life for us. We shall rise with him and abide with him in eternity. See then that you do not despise your holy calling. He will come. he will not tarry, who will deliver us from every ill. Farewell in the Lord Jesus, who comforts and sustains mind and spirit. Amen. [3]

Luther also responded to several items in the pope’s list of forty-one “errors”:

I was wrong, I admit it, when I said that indulgences were “the pious defrauding of the faithful.” I recant and I say, “Indulgences are the most impious frauds and imposters of the most rascally pontiffs, by which they deceive the souls and destroy the goods of the faithful.” [4]

I was wrong. I retract the statement that certain articles of John Hus are evangelical. I say now. “Not some but all the articles of John Hus were condemned by Antichrist and his apostles in the synagogue of Satan.” And to your face, most holy Vicar of God, I say freely that all the condemned articles of John Hus are evangelical and Christian, and yours are downright impious and diabolical. [5]

Adding further insult, Luther publicly burned the ban along with various books common to priests which defined church policy, church law, church doctrines, etc. Explaining his actions, he said:

Since they have burned my books, I burn theirs. The canon law was included because it makes the pope a god on earth. So far I have merely fooled with this business of the pope. All my articles condemned by Antichrist are Christian. Seldom has the pope overcome anyone with Scripture and with reason. [6]

Luther had been given sixty days to repent. After sixty days had passed, however, the papal ban was not carried out due to the pope’s poor relationship with the new emperor and with the elector over Luther’s state. Since the ban had directed Luther to appear before an official governmental assembly, or diet, in Worms, Luther was in a quandary. He had been promised safe passage. Should he go? Should he risk his life? Should he take this opportunity to stand and defend the faith? After considering these matters, he said:

You ask me what I shall do if I am called by the emperor. I will go even if I am too sick to stand on my feet. If Caesar calls me, God calls me. If violence is used, as well it may be, I commend my cause to God. He lives and reigns who saved the three youths from the fiery furnace of the king of Babylon, and if He will not save me, my head is worth nothing compared with Christ. This is no time to think of safety. I must take care that the gospel is not brought into contempt by our fear to confess and seal our teaching with our blood. [7]

B. Appearance Before the Diet

Luther made his initial appearance before the Diet of Worms on April 17, 1521. This was an impressive assembly of persons. It was not merely an ecclesiastical court of the Roman Catholic Church, but involved the emperor himself, as well as many lesser officials.

The scene lends itself to dramatic portrayal. Here was Charles, heir of a long line of Catholic sovereigns—of Maximilian the romantic, of Ferdinand the Catholic, of Isabella the orthodox—scion of the house of Hapsburg, lord of Austria, Burgundy, the Low Countries, Spain, and Naples, Holy Roman Emperor, ruling over a vaster domain than any save Charlemagne, symbol of the medieval unities, incarnation of a glorious if vanishing heritage; and here before him a simple monk, a miner’s son, with nothing to sustain him save his own faith in the Word of God. Here the past and the future were met. [8]

Luther was examined by John Eck, a representative of the archbishop of Trier (not the Eck of the Leipsic debate). Eck confronted Luther with a pile of books and asked whether they were his. He answered:

“The books are all mine, and I have written more.” The door was closed, but Eck opened it again. “Do you defend them all, or do you care to reject a part?”

Luther considered the matter carefully:

“ This touches God and his word. This affects the salvation of souls. Of this Christ said, ‘He who denies Me before men, him will I deny before My father.’ To say too little or too much would be dangerous. I beg you, give me time to think it over.” [9]

A day was given for him to consider his answer. The next day he appeared and said that he would not retract anything he had said in his writings. He stated that if he were to be shown error from the Scriptures, he would be the first to throw his books into the fire. To this Eck responded:

Your plea to be heard from Scripture is the one always made by heretics. You do nothing but renew the errors of Wyclif and Hus. [10]

Luther answered:

Since then Your majesty and your lordships desire a simple reply, I will answer without horns and without teeth. Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason—I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other—my conscience is captive to the word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen. [11]

C. Condemned

A stormy debate ensued over what was to be done with this heretic. The more Luther was pressed to recant, the more he persisted in his views. When the time allotted to Luther expired, the matter was closed; Luther was pronounced a heretic.

The following edict to all the people of the Empire was drawn up declaring Luther to be an outlaw:

You shall refuse the aforesaid Martin Luther hospitality, lodging and bed; none shall feed and nourish him with food or drink; … wherever you meet him … you shall take him prisoner and deliver him to us…. As for his friends … and supporters … we order that you shall attack, overthrow, seize and wrest their property from them, taking it all into your own possession…. As for the books of Martin Luther … we order that nobody shall dare to buy, sell, keep, copy, print them … or support, preach, defend or assert them in any way…. We decree … that the works of Luther are to be burned and by this and other means utterly destroyed. [12]

The final draft of the Edict of Worms read:

He has sullied marriage, disparaged confession, and denied the body and blood of our Lord. He makes the sacraments depend on the faith of the recipient. He is pagan in his denial of free will. This devil in the habit of a monk has brought together ancient errors into one stinking puddle and has invented new ones. He denies the power of the keys and encourages the laity to wash their hands in the blood of the clergy. His teaching makes for rebellion, division, war, murder, robbery, arson, and the collapse of Christendom. He lives the life of a beast. He has burned the decretals. He despises alike the ban and the sword. He does more harm to the civil than to the ecclesiastical power. We have labored with him, but he recognizes only the authority of Scripture, which he interprets in his own sense. We have given him twenty-one days, dating from April the 25th. We have now gathered the estates. Luther is to be regarded as a convicted heretic. When the time is up, no one is to harbor him. His followers also are to be condemned. His books are to be eradicated from the memory of man. [13]

D. “Kidnapped”

Luther had been promised safe passage to and from the Diet of Worms. A century prior, Hus also had been promised safe passage but instead was burned at the stake. This time, however, the government stood behind its word, and Luther was allowed to leave. It is evident, though, that the pope had endeavored to set up an environment to crush this rebel.

No sooner had Luther set off for Wittenberg, when for his safety he was seized by the elector Frederick. Writing to a friend later, Luther described what happened:

I was stripped of my own clothes and dressed in those of a knight. I am letting my hair and my beard grow and you will hardly know me—indeed for some time I haven’t recognized myself! I am now living in Christian freedom .... Farewell, and pray for me. [14]

He was hidden in the Wartburg castle from April 1521 to early 1522 and even changed his name to Junker George. He called his stay in the castle his desert, his Patmos, or his wilderness. During his absence, Albrecht Durer, who would later make woodcuts for Luther’s Bible, wondered what had happened to Luther:

I know not whether he lives or is murdered, but in any case he has suffered for the Christian truth. If we lose this man, who has written more clearly than any other in centuries, may God grant his spirit to another. His books should be held in great honor, and not burned as the emperor commands, but rather the books of his enemies. O God, if Luther is dead, who will henceforth explain to us the gospel? What might he not have written for us in the next ten or twenty years? [15]