The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1910, Page 76

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76

The Lutheran Pioneer.

Luther at Marburg.

When Luther began the reformation of the
Church, there were men who also wished to help
the Church, but who had a spirit different from
Luther’s. Whilst Luther took his stand on the
Bible only and opposed the false doctrines of the
Romish church, not because they were against human
reason, but because they were contrary to the Word
of God, these men rejected plain doctrines of the
Bible, because these doctrines did not agree with

In the year 1529 Luther had a conference with
Zwingli at Marburg, in which also the doctrine of
the Lord’s Supper was discussed. Imther stood
firm on the Word of God, and when Zwingli, in the
course of the debate, said that God does not ask us
to believe anything unreasonable, Luther replied,
“What God speaks is always for our salvation.”
The question with Luther was not whether a doc-
trine agreed with human reason, but whether it
agreed with God’s Word. To the Word of God
he held fast over against all the arguments of

LUTHER AT MARBURG.

man’s reason. One of these men was Zwingli, pas-
tor at Zurich, Switzerland, and one of the doctrines
in which he would follow human reason rather than
the plain, clear Word of God was the doctrine
concerning the Lord’s Supper. The plain words of
Christ, “This is my body, this is my blood,’ he
would not accept as they read, and although the
Bible clearly teaches that Christ’s true body and
blood are present with the bread and wine and are
partaken of by all communicants, Zwingli denied
this doctrine because his reason could not compre-
hend it. Luther opposed the false doctrine of
Zwingli and his followers and defended the truth
of God’s Word.

human reason. At the beginning of the conference
he had written with chalk on the table the words
of Christ in bold letters: Turis 1s my Bopy. And
in our picture we see him pointing with his finger
to these words, to which he clung so firmly, because
Christ Himself had spoken them. He demanded
of his opponents to give all glory to God, and to
believe the clear, simple words of the Lord. By
refusing to do this, Zwingli made‘it impossible for
Luther to give him the hand of fellowship. Luther
had -to say to him, “You have a different spirit
from ours.” : :

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