What will a holy God do with sinful people? This question nearly drove Martin Luther to despair. Today, R.C. Sproul explains where Luther found relief: in the righteousness that God Himself provides to all who trust in Jesus Christ. Request the new 40th-anniversary edition of R.C. Sproul’s book The Holiness of God, plus lifetime digital access to both the classic teaching series and the extended teaching series, with your donation of any amount: https://gift.renewingyourmind.org/3885/donate Meet Today’s Teacher: R.C. Sproul (1939–2017) was known for his ability to winsomely and clearly communicate deep, practical truths from God’s Word. He was founder of Ligonier Ministries, first minister of preaching and teaching at Saint Andrew’s Chapel, first president of Reformation Bible College, and executive editor of Tabletalk magazine. Meet the Host: Nathan W. Bingham is vice president of ministry engagement for Ligonier Ministries, executive producer and host of Renewing Your Mind, host of the Ask Ligonier podcast, and a graduate of Presbyterian Theological College in Melbourne, Australia. Nathan joined Ligonier in 2012 and lives in Central Florida with his wife and four children. Renewing Your Mind is a donor-supported outreach of Ligonier Ministries. Explore all of our podcasts: https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts
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Before Luther ever studied theology, he had already distinguished himself with brilliance as a student of the law. And he took that sharply acute, trained, legal mind, and he applied it to the law of God. And then he would look at the law of God and its demands.
He kept evaluating himself, not by comparing himself to other human beings, but by looking at the standard of the character of God, the righteousness of God. And he saw himself so awful in comparison to the righteousness of God that after a while, he began to hate any idea of the righteousness of God.
Was Martin Luther, the 16th century reformer, insane? Some have suggested he was, or perhaps he understood the law of God and the demands of the law and just how far he fell short of it. This is the Thursday edition of Renewing Your Mind as we spend a week reflecting on God's holiness and marking the 40th anniversary of the publication of R.C. Sproul's landmark book, The Holiness of God.
Today, R.C. Sproul considers Martin Luther, what led to his perceived insanity, and then Luther's discovery of the good news as he read the Book of Romans. Here's Dr. Sproul.
like to begin this session with a question from church history. See if you can identify for me the famous theologian who was once described by a contemporary who had more authority than he did as a wild pig. By now, obviously, the name has popped into your mind. I'm referring, of course, to Martin Luther. And the one who referred to him as a wild pig was Pope Leo.
In the papal bull that excommunicated Luther, the name of the bull was Ex Sergei Domine, which is taken from the opening lines of this papal statement that was sent from the Vatican. And the opening words mean this, Rise up, O Lord. Defend your cause, for, as the Pope goes on to say, there is a wild boar loose in your vineyard.
According to legend, Pope Leo had other things to say about Luther after Luther had posted his 95 theses and had created such a stir throughout Germany, and that controversy had spread across Europe and had reached the Vatican and Rome. When it came to the attention of Leo, Leo said, "'Ah, he is a drunken German. He'll change his mind when he's sober.'"
And I say that to call attention to the fact that in the 16th century, it was acceptable in theological disputation to discuss matters not in a genteel, polite form of dialogue, but rather in a rather acerbic form of polemical debate. And so if you read the writings of the 16th century on both sides of the controversy, it seems as though these people are ruthless in their attacks upon each other.
But even in that crowd of ruthless debate, Martin Luther was in a class by himself. He was so intemperate, so bombastic, so rude at times that people have even suggested that he suffered from a mental problem. That's what I'd like to consider in this session, the judgment from the perspective of 20th century psychoanalysis that Martin Luther was in fact insane.
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