1. Luther's own test: "If this article stands, the church stands, if it
collapses, the church collapses." Luther was talking about justification
by faith in his Exposition of Psalm 130. 4.
2. The collapse: Luther misunderstood two key words, "justification" and
"faith."
He thought faith means taking Christ as one's personal Savior, confidence
that the merits of Christ apply to me. After this, he said: ("Epistle"
501): "Even if you sin greatly, believe more greatly." In other words, you
may sin as much as you want--it is all outbalanced by the merits of
Christ. So you are infallibly saved. In another letter: "Even if you
commit adultery and murder 1000 times a day, it will not separate you from
Christ"
Fatal flaw: By faith St. Paul means three things: 1) If God speaks a
truth, believe it in your mind (as in 1 Thes 2:13; 2 Cor 5:7). 2) If God
makes a promise, be confident in His promise (cf. Gal 5:5; Rom 5:1; 1 Thes
5:8). 3) If He tells me to do something, I must do it, must obey (cf.
Romans 1:5: "The obedience of faith", i.e., the obedience that faith
is." The large Protestant reference work, "Interpreter's Dictionary of the
Bible," Supplement, p. 333 explains faith the same way. --Therefore, faith
which includes obedience, cannot justify disobedience -- as Luther
thought!. So in Luther's system, one is not infallibly saved. If he
commits mortal sin, does nothing but thinks it is all right, that will not
cancel out a mortal sin! St. Paul surely took Christ as His Savior, yet
in 1 Cor 9:26-27, he says he has to be hard on his body to tame it, or it
might lead him into sin and he would fail to get salvation.
Another fatal flaw: He thought justification means we remain totally
corrupt (cf. his "Bondage of the Will"). But St. Paul says the Christian
is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who would not dwell in total corruption (
1 Cor 3:17; 6:19; 2 Cor 6:16). And a Christian is a "new creation", made
over completely: 2 Cor 5:17; Gal 6:15).
Another fatal flaw: He depended on Scripture alone. But he had no means of
knowing which books are inspired. He thought if a book preaches
justification by faith strongly it is inspired -but most books of
Scripture do not even mention justification by faith! 2 Tim. 2:2 called
for oral transmission of teaching.
Born again: This builds on Luther's error. In taking Christ as Savior, one
must have an [emotional] experience. Otherwise he is not Christian. So
Mother Teresa goes to hell. What a "God"!
Ecclesiastes 5:4-5 says we must keep vows. Luther broke all his vows.
