June 20, 2017
Devotions: Timeline of the Reformation: 1519 – The Leipzig Debate

The Leipzig was held soon after the Heidelberg debate. Luther was invited to Heidelberg to discuss his writings, especially the issues that led him to nail the 95 Theses on the church door in Wittenberg. However, in Heidelberg he did not discuss the indulgence controversy – instead he confronted the teachings that made indulgences possible in the first place. Luther did not speak at the debate himself, but as was the custom of the day, one of his students presented Luther’s position. One of the people who was really paying close attention to all that Luther was doing and writing was John Eck. Though Eck and Luther were friends at one time, Eck would soon turn against his friend. He would go on to write extensively in defense of papal authority and traditional doctrine. Traveling throughout Europe, he organized Roman Catholic opposition to German Protestantism, and in 1530 he would go on to draft the Catholic refutation of the Lutheran creed contained in the Augsburg Confession. As Eck studied the 95 Theses he saw principles behind the Theses that would justify the teachings of John Huss. If you recall my devotion on John Huss (May 2) Huss was arrested for his teachings against the moral authority of the Pope, that Scripture should be the final authority for the church, and that the Czech people were being exploited by the Pope’s indulgences. He would be burned at the stake on July 6, 1415. Eck not only argued against Luther for his apparent similarity to Huss, Eck also believed that Luther’s teachings would undermine the supposed supernatural power of the clergy as well as their power over the laity – and if carried to their logical conclusion, according to Eck, it would destroy the whole structure of the Roman Catholic Church. Therefore a second debate was scheduled to be held in Leipzig.

Karlstadt and Eck were to debate while Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon attended as spectators. Karlstadt, Luther and Melanchthon traveled in ordinary carts while two hundred students of Luther and Melanchthon walked on foot, some carrying spears to protect their teachers. Luther could not only watch the debate and soon jumped into the fray. Luther and Eck stood face to face with the debate raging back and forth. Eck would say that the Pope is the head of the church on earth, and Luther countered that Jesus Christ is the only head the church has and needs. Luther would go on to have the audacity to say that both the Pope and the Church Councils could err.

The Leipzig debate was an opportunity for Luther to further see clearly how indulgences were wrong for the church – and helped him focus more on his development of his understanding of the abuses of the church. This debate, Luther would go on to write, destroyed within him any basis for worship of saints, the reverence of relics, and the need for useless religious pilgrimages. From this debate Luther also began to form his understanding of the distinction between law and Grace, that all people can err, and Jesus Christ is the sole head of the church.

Pastor Dave

Please collect one pack of diapers size 1 or 2 for Trinity’s Table.