Author: The LCMS

Between 1537 and 1540, Martin Luther and his onetime colleague John Agricola fiercely debated the role of the Law in the Church.

Even before the meeting at Marburg, Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli had each written forcefully against the position of the other regarding whether the true body of Jesus Christ was present in the Lord’s Supper. In what came to be known as the Great Controversy, it was clear that Luther and Zwingli could not come to agreement on this doctrinal issue.

Luther’s use of Scripture to challenge the pope came to a climax in the early summer of 1519 when Luther and the renowned theologian John Eck met face to face in Leipzig to debate the main topics of contention raised by the Wittenberg theologians.

Many events were set in motion by Luther’s posting of the 95 Theses on October 31st, 1517, but ironically, not the very thing he intended. The 95 Theses were meant for theological debate, a debate that never occurred. Any expectation of a lively academic disputation was consumed by a firestorm that reached far beyond Wittenberg and Germany to the pope himself.

The burning of the bull was not something Luther did lightly, or with great pomp necessarily. He later told his friend and superior Johann von Staupitz that he did this while “trembling and praying.”