He committed his cause to God, who alone could help him ultimately. He did not know if he would live or die. But he had confidence that he had served the Lord faithfully according to His Word and had preached the gospel of Jesus Christ.
On April 18, 1521, Martin Luther stood for the second day before Emperor Charles V at the diet being held in Worms. The diet anticipated hearing his answers to the two questions that had been put to him the day before: First, was he the author of the twenty-five works that had been gathered there, and second, would he now recant of the false teachings in them? Luther readily acknowledged the authorship of the works and then tried to engage in a discussion of what were the false teachings in his works. This ploy did not work, and he was informed that he was the theologian and knew full well the heresies that he had taught.
Luther then delivered one of the most important speeches in the history of the church. We have no full text of the speech, but we do have several accounts from various observers and so have quite a detailed record of what he said. But ironically, we are not certain about one of the most-quoted and well-known statements in the address: “Here I stand; I can do no other.” Not all the accounts include this declaration, and many historians doubt that Luther actually said it. But we do know that he stood there before the powers of the world and the church with remarkable courage and commitment.
Luther had been remarkably brave to come to Worms. He was courageous to resist the pressure to make peace for himself and others by repudiating what he had taught and submitting to what the church had long taught. He showed that remarkable courage again in the bold words with which he concluded his address:
Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Holy Scriptures or by evident reason—for I believe neither pope nor councils alone, as it is clear that they have erred repeatedly and contradicted themselves—I consider myself convicted by the testimony of the Holy Scriptures, which is my basis; my conscience is captive to the Word of God. Thus I cannot and will not recant, because acting against one’s conscience is neither safe nor sound. [Here I stand; I can do no other.] God help me. Amen.
With these words, Luther made clear the source of and authority for the theology for which he was on trial. He had already been excommunicated by the church, and now he was at risk of being declared an outlaw by the state, with his life and property forfeit, for this teaching.
The church had insisted that his conscience had to submit to its teaching. The church had developed over the centuries authority structures that it believed spoke for Christ. The pope, as the successor of Peter and the vicar of Christ on earth, had the authority to teach and bind the consciences of Christians. Ecumenical councils of the church also spoke the truth with the authority of Christ. The authority of popes and councils had been accepted for centuries in the Western church. How did one man dare to stand against those authorities?
Luther had faced such questions before, and he had prayed earnestly about this matter again during the night preceding his second meeting at the diet. There before the emperor he stated clearly the remarkable conclusion to which his studies had led him. First, his study of church history and theology had led him to the conviction that various popes and councils in their official teachings had contradicted one another. How could they have the authority of Christ and be without error when they failed to agree with one another?
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