On the day before his death, a seriously ill Luther wrote a few lines on a note. These are the last written words we have from Luther. This short note is about the explanation of the Bible. Understanding the Bible is a task that exceeds our human capabilities. And that is why it is a tremendous wonder when someone understands something of the Bible. The last line of this note then begins with the familiar words: “We are beggars. That is true.” This term “beggars” reflects the whole of Luther’s theology and Luther’s life. A beggar lives from what another gives him. Without the gifts of another, he has nothing and he will, necessarily, die. That is how our beggarly status applies to the one who has to interpret the Scriptures: first he has to beg the help of the only One who can give the right insight. Actually this applies to all of life. Such is man—a beggar, a sinner, and a needy person who has to hold out his hand to God. That is his necessity. But man is allowed to hold out his hand to God, for that is God’s mercy. God gives to everyone who holds out his hand. Yet we remain beggars in the sense that we never possess grace. It remains the grace of God. But here we have also arrived at our theme: faith and doubt. Doubt occurs when we pay attention to our empty hand, to our condition as sinful people: in need, destitute, facing death. Faith is trusting in the generous hand of a living and gracious God.

Biography Is Theology⤒🔗

Whoever wants to understand something about Luther’s teaching must first know something about his life. The theology of this Reformer is intertwined in a very special way with his biography. This interconnectedness of his doctrine and his course of life certainly becomes clear when it comes to faith and doubt. The knowledge that the LORD is holy and that Martin Luther is sinful initially caused him much fear in his life. It was the fear of a sinful person before a just and especially a punishing God. Luther initially believed out of fear. He did things and he let things go, not out of love for God, but out of fear of being lost. For instance, he is afraid of dying suddenly because he will have to answer to God. Initially, therefore, he lacks love for God, and Luther even speaks of a kind of hatred toward God. Here we can only mention a few moments from Luther’s life. The fear becomes noticeable when on his way home from Erfurt, where he studied law, he experiences the well-known storm and swears to enter the monastery. It is noticeable when he tries to earn God’s favour in the monastery by fasting, praying and working. He does his best to live in such a way that it meets God’s norm, but fear and doubt strike when he realizes that even his best is not good enough before God. Also, even when, by the power of God’s Spirit, it has become clear that God is not only just but also merciful, that a person is saved not in the way of works, but in the way of faith, the challenge of doubt remains. Although the challenge changes in character, it is no longer a hopeless, desperate, frightening, and even panicky challenge. But it remains the struggle of someone who knows himself to be both a sinner and a righteous person.

Certainly, in the first phase of Luther’s reformational work, the question arises as to whether he is right. The emperor and the pope, and with them a whole army of theologians and princes, throw themselves against Luther and remind him of the age-old tradition of the church. “Would I then be the only one who is right?” is the question that torments Luther, and that is a question that is bothering many—and certainly many young people today. Luther has been sick a lot, so sick at times that people expected that he would die. At those moments his sins and shortcomings came to mind again, and they frightened him of God’s judgment. On such occasions he sent for his minister, Rev. Bugenhagen, to be comforted with the gospel of God’s promises. Such challenges also arose at other times: for example, on account of the agonizing question whether he was chosen by God.

Thus we see in his personal life the history of the association of a believing sinner with a gracious God, but also how Luther’s life is reflected in his theology. The great theme is man standing before God (in Latin: Coram Deo). In everything he says about this matter, he takes into account the experience of his own life. In doing so, he notes that this is the situation of every human being, simultaneously sinner and justified, doubtful and yet believing, sure of salvation and yet being tormented by the fear of being lost eternally.

Causes of Doubt←⤒🔗

Also for Luther—as is true for many before him, many after him and for multiple people of our day—predestination has been a significant cause for doubt. For him, the questions surrounding this doctrine also cause the fiercest challenges; yes, according to him, the question of whether or not a person is chosen is the greatest challenge there is. Satan is so persuasive in his temptation that man cannot but doubt. Luther says, “The devil’s greatest challenge is that he says: ‘God is an enemy of sinners; you are a sinner and therefore God is your enemy.’” Satan holds up our sins before us and he does it differently with everyone. Luther says that Satan keeps pointing out to him that he used to sacrifice and torture the Son of God in the Roman Mass and thereby blasphemed him. With other people, Satan continues to remind them of past sins, including by pointing again and again to sins committed in one’s youth. He knows how to torment us with the very smallest sins; yes, even with imagined sins. If he does not succeed with our past sins, he will first tempt us to sin. Once he has done this, he knows how to stir up the dread for God and to increase the sense of guilt, so that we try to make up for it again through the holiness of our works. A person can not succeed in earning his salvation through their works, and this causes uncertainty and doubt. Those who, as sinners, are focused on God’s wrath, will notice, “There is no way out, no comfort within or outside, on the contrary, everything accuses me.” With tears in their eyes, people then quote this verse: “I am cut off from your sight” (Psalm 31:22). At such a moment you do not even dare to say, “O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger” (Psalm 6:1). It may appear strange to say, but at such a moment the soul cannot believe that it will ever be redeemed.

Satan also uses sadness to make it difficult for people. Sorrow is like a hole in the fence around your faith: Satan crawls through it and makes you doubt God’s love and care: “Don’t you see? God does not care about you. He doesn’t watch over you.” Such are the difficulties of Luther, and for all of us. Being lonely is another cause of temptation, because when you are by yourself, Satan can bombard you with thoughts and memories that make things difficult for you. Luther speaks from experience, often needing to be alone in the monastery. This was because people imagined that man was better able to focus on God without having to deal with others and certainly without having to concern themselves with a family. The opposite is true. The Lord Jesus did not act like this either. He was almost always in the company of people and there was always noise around him, except when he wanted to pray by himself. That is why going to church is also important: “God wants us to go to church to hear his Word and to receive the sacrament together with other Christians.”

The Way out of Doubt←⤒🔗

We have seen how Satan aims to convince a person that he will be lost, but Luther does not leave it at this. The reasoning of Satan is in error, for it is not true that God is hostile toward sinners: “Now if the devil holds up against you Sodom and other examples of God’s wrath, then go ahead and show this person the Christ, God’s Son, whom God made man for the sake of sinners. If God were an enemy of sinners, then he really would not have sent his Son for our sake, and he would not have let him be so terribly hurt, despised, allowing him to suffer and to die. No, God is an enemy of those sinners who believe they are pious and righteous, that is, who do not see themselves as sinners. God does not want to hear or see them until they reach the correct knowledge of their sins and through faith in the Word alone hold on to Christ.”

Again and again, Luther points to Christ as the only way out of doubt. That is why Christ must always be preached to people, for only in him do we meet the gracious God; only in him does a person find rest. What matters is the proclamation of the promise, and for Luther that is identical to preaching Christ. This promise must take hold of a person so that in prayer he will plead on the basis of it. Luther even puts it this way: that we need to “catch God” in his own Word.

In doing so a person needs to exert himself in order to obtain that certainty: “Daily we need to strive more and more to achieve certainty based on uncertainty. We must endeavour to eradicate that utterly pernicious error that has deceived the whole world, namely, the error that a person cannot know for sure whether he is in grace or not. It needs to be rejected entirely. For when we doubt God’s grace and do not believe that God has his good pleasure in us for Christ’s sake, then we deny that Christ has redeemed us, yes, then we simply doubt all his benefits.” Doubt is of such a serious nature because it does not only affect man himself, but also the honour of Christ. The means to come to this certainty are the Word and the sacraments. “A Christian must be sure of his faith, or strive to be sure of it, and he needs to confess this faith freely and persistently when the opportunity or necessity presents itself. An uncertain heart needs to be taken out of his confusion through God’s Word and the sacraments.”

“Confusion” is a remarkable term. A person gets confused by looking at himself, because you see both good and bad things, you see good works but also many sins. This will make you confused: “What is the scoop in my life? No doubt I am heading the wrong way.” A person gets rid of his confusion by paying attention to Christ instead. Luther himself has taught how to deal with temptations, and the recipe he provides for healing is also very useful for man today: “Anyone who is plagued by sorrow, doubt or other heartache must first comfort himself with the divine Word. Next he should take some food and drink and then seek out the company of godly, Christian people to talk with. This is how things will improve.”

When the Elector Frederick the Wise, to whom Luther owed so much, fell ill in 1519, Luther realized that it is especially in times of illness that there can be struggles of faith. In an effort to help the Elector, Luther writes a “Comfort for the sick” entitled “Fourteen reasons of comfort for those who are tired and burdened.” In fact, it is not about fourteen grounds of consolation because Luther first of all deals with the seven hazards that surround a human being at all times. Over against these he posits seven blessings. The seven evils indicate without any adornment in what a difficult situation the human being actually finds himself. Man’s condition is characterized by sin, fear, danger, death, hell, injustice, temptation, and bearing his cross. But happily God presents seven blessings against that in grace. Man is endowed with the Word and with faith. He has received the promise of peace. Even in hell, God deals with man, both in a punishing and a liberating way. God leads our lives in a miraculous manner. Even through evil, God knows how to work the good. The Christian finds himself surrounded by the communion of saints, everywhere. The culmination of the seven blessings is the resurrected Christ, who is my resurrection and my righteousness. That is the greatest consolation and the final blow to the temptation. Such a person, although surrounded by these seven dangers, finds himself as in a chariot, and that chariot is the righteousness of Christ. On that chariot I am transported to heaven.

A Contested Security←⤒🔗

Even though Luther points the way out of the temptation, he realizes and knows from experience that the challenges in the life of God’s children will remain. The devil never gives up, even though he also knows that he will not win. For the Christian it gives certainty that the devil can only fight against the believers: “See how the devil only attacks the believers. He does not attack pagans, unbelievers and non-Christians; he does not attack those for they are attached to him like scales. But when he sees those who have God’s Word, who have faith and the Spirit, he cannot touch them. He knows well that he will not win, even if sometimes they stumble. He realizes very well that even if someone falls into a great sin, that person is not lost as a result. Such a person can get up again. That’s why he thinks he should do it differently and focus on the Head instead. When he manages that someone starts to doubt God’s Word, then he has won the game.”

With this doubting of God’s Word, Luther does not mean doubt about the authority of Scripture, but doubt whether God’s word of promise is indeed intended for me. It is a lifelong struggle with your own conscience; it is a struggle to put more faith in the gospel of the forgiveness of sins than in your accusing conscience. Luther says that the Holy Spirit gives us assurance through the Gospel, but that the law makes us doubt time and again. It is only in the future life that we are done with doubt and that certainty reigns forever and completely.

Therefore the certainty of faith is a contested certainty, but these challenges may actually reinforce the certainty. Temptations are not only to be regarded as negative; they are also useful: “Such challenges are very useful for us; they are good and necessary for us. They are not there to make us unhappy and to be lost, but so that we are taught by them and learn from them. Because every Christian must remember and realize that he cannot get to know Christ well without challenges and the cross. The spiritual contest is the school in which one learns to rightly know Christ as a person and as our Saviour.” In addition to being a school of learning, the temptations also ensure that a Christian does not become arrogant. The struggle of faith and the awareness of sin and grace remind man time and again of that fact: I am and remain a beggar, but I have a rich and generous God.