BIO:Martin Luther 1483-1546 German reformer. Martin Luther was converted

to Christ from the priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church by reading
the Epistle of Paul to the Romans. He became professor of theol- ogy at
the University of Wittenburg in 1512, and retained that position until
his death in 1546. He nailed his famous Theses, in which he denounced
the unscriptural position of the Catholic Church on many doctrines, to
the church door in Wittenburg in 1517. This brought protracted and
endless opposition from Rome. He was summoned to appear before the
German Congress at Worms in 1521 to answer charges of heresy. Using the
wit- ness stand as a pulpit, Luther made his well-known defense of the
Scriptures, which ended with the immortal statement, “Here I stand…I
cannot do otherwise…God help me!” He was promptly excommunicated from
the Catholic Church. He firmly established in Europe the three great
truths of the New Testament, which had been buried for centu- ries
under ritual and dead formality. Those truths are (1) that man is
justified by faith alone, (2) that every believer is a priest with
direct access to God through the Lord Jesus Christ, and (3) that the
Bible apart from tradition is the sole source of faith and authority
for the Christian.

  Ruckman ’66