Reflection 7

 Who is Martin Luther? Martin Luther was a theologian, but his thought influenced many other areas. Perhaps his most important cultural contribution was translating the Bible into German. He believed ordinary people had the right to know the Word of God without the intervention of a priest. His vision for the German Bible involved two aspects. First, Luther is widely recognized as one of the great shapers of German language, a profound contribution to his culture. Even the notorious twentieth-century Jewish philosopher, Franz, calls Luther’s translation of the Bible a “sensational fact.” But a translated Bible that no one can read is useless, which leads to the second part of Luther’s literary legacy, and his efforts to educate the German people. Thus did an Augustinian friar decisively influence the education, and the overall development, of his people. As we all know that his influence was very known to all people because he did not only influence them by education but he was also an advocate of Reformation.

As we all know that Reformation brought a new governance model for society. Not surprisingly, the foundations of modern democracy are found there. The reformers had rejected the notion of the government which embodied all authority in one man, the example of this is the pope. Rather,they built a congregational government in their Churches. The brothers would choose their authorities.

With this fact, these are the lessons that we should all take into account just like when dealing with error within the church. It would be wise of us to consider the cost, as uncomfortable as it may be, to “split” from false teaching, error, and heretical doctrines that seem to be spreading even within the evangelical world. In some sense, we should always be reforming ourselves and the church to the Scriptures and what it says in contradistinction from what the culture (the world) and the culture-infiltrated (Christ-less Christian) church says. True reform should start within each individual so that it will influence the other people and the society.