The Turning Point: A Change in Location and Vocation

Our earthly lives sometimes take a sudden turn because of the people that are close to us. This was the case in the life of Martin Luther 500 years ago. He had returned to Erfurt after his journey to Rome and was about to be assigned to what would be his final earthly home and to the profession that would consume most of his remaining time and energy while on this earth. In the providence of God, the primary human instrument in this turning point turned out to be Luther’s monastic superior, Johann von Staupitz.
Luther referred to Staupitz, regarding the spiritual struggles he had experienced as a monk in 1510, saying, “I owe everything to Staupitz.” Staupitz held the young monk in high regard. Luther was one of the two monks sent to Rome to argue for a stricter set of rules governing the Augustinian order over which Staupitz was the vicar general. After the delegation returned in March 1511, the matter was not yet settled. The effort to unify and reform the German monastic system met with resistance in Nuremberg and Erfurt. By September 1511, Staupitz concluded that continuing the effort was useless. As a result Luther was transferred to the new university in Wittenberg.
There in September 1511, Staupitz had just completed the promotion of four doctoral candidates when he met Luther under a pear tree in the garden just north of the cloister. He told Luther that he should prepare for the preaching profession and begin the work required to attain the office of a Doctor of Theology. Luther resisted Staupitz’s plan, citing many reasons including poor health. It is obvious that Luther did not aspire to this position. In a letter dated September 22nd the following year, Luther expressed his unworthiness and inadequacy for the rigors of this teaching position and stated that the only reason he had undertaken the task was in obedience to the vicar general. He later viewed Staupitz’s 1511 assignment as an event that changed the course of his life. By becoming a teacher of the church who would initially lecture on the Psalms and the Epistles of Saint Paul, Luther was driven to an intense study of the Scriptures. The Scriptures themselves became his counselor and authority. This is what actually freed Luther from his troubled conscience and his dread of God.
In only a few years (as his 1513 lectures on the Psalms reveal), he began to understand the “righteousness of God” as a gift, not as an achievement. Martin Luther was not the only student of the Scriptures during medieval times. There were others that are referred to as forerunners of the Reformation. Very often their teachings, when these conflicted with the established tradition of the Roman Church, brought them trouble. Some were driven from office. Some were hanged. Some were burned at the stake. By the providence of God, Luther was protected in his new home by his prince even when the pope and the emperor sought his apprehension and execution. It was meant to be. Staupitz was the apparent instrument that brought this about. Staupitz made Luther his successor as professor of Biblical Studies at Wittenberg and the rest is history. By God’s grace and providence the memories of his life and his teaching remain with us.
In 1518 Staupitz freed Luther from his vow of obedience. Staupitz himself continued as the vicar general of the German monasteries until 1520 when he was accused of heresy and abdicated as Vicar General of the Augustinian Hermits. Although he did not officially join the Reformation, a number of his sermons reveal themes that were dominant in the Reformation and put Luther on the road to the Reformation. In particular he emphasized that, according to the Word of God, salvation comes from outside the sinner. For Staupitz, the sinner is not a partner but instead the instrument of God, used by God and upheld by Him above the abyss to which he would otherwise return. Neither is the sinner called by God on the condition that he first be penitent or give his best effort, but on the grounds of God’s unconditional and eternal election in Christ. For him, faith in Christ was the only condition for salvation. Staupitz argued that, where fellowship with Christ is established, good works will surely follow spontaneously. It’s easy to see why Luther maintained that Staupitz had opened the path for the Reformation.
Thomas Smuda is pastor of Peace Lutheran Church in Deshler, Ohio.