Translator's Note
One of the most important people was a man by the name of Andreas Bodenstein.
And he came from a town which was called Karlstadt.
And so he became known as Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt.
Have you heard of him?
Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt, later on he just became known as
Karlstadt.
So when you speak about Karlstadt, that's not his given name, that's the town
that he came from.
Now, he was a contemporary of Martin Luther and his history is fascinating.
So while Luther and his friends were uncovering the great truths of the
Reformation, there were nevertheless differences of opinion with regard to the
pace of reform and the issues of reform.
So besides the great Sola, Scriptura, Fides and Christos, there were other
things.
What about the other truths?
What about these other precious pearls in the Bible?
Weren't they to be gathered as well?
So Karlstadt was the dean of the University of Wittenberg.
He was the one who conferred the doctorate on Martin Luther.
So he was Martin Luther's superior.
In the beginning, Karlstadt didn't want to go along with the Reformation,
but once he embraced it, he was enthusiastic.
And he was a fighter together with Martin Luther and in the beginning, he was the
main spokesperson, besides Luther.
So he was born in the same year as Luther and was only a few months older than him.
And he first opposed Luther, but by 1517, he was one with Luther on the question of
justification by faith alone.
And Karlstadt was ahead of Luther on the question of Sola Scriptura.
He was the first one to say, the Bible and the Bible alone should be our criterion.
Regarding faith and works, he was also ahead of the Reformation, because the
Reformation, having uncovered this beautiful truth of justification by faith,
was a little bit slow in terms of sanctification.
And so Karlstadt said that the moral law was extremely important.
So he regarded the model law as binding, stating that far from abrogating the law,
it makes us lovers and doers of the law.
And he also introduced the communion in both kinds.
This Huss had done before, but Martin Luther hadn't studied Huss in any shape or
form.
He had started the Reformation on the basis of indulgences.
And he also said it was idolatry to elevate the host.
And while Martin Luther was incarcerated in Wittenberg, or in the Wartburg at
least, Karlstadt was associated with what they called the Bildersturm, the storming
of the statues.
Because Karlstadt realized that the veneration of statues and images was
contrary to the law of God.
Remember he said that the law of God was not to be abrogated.
And so he started introducing what they called the Bildersturm, storming of the
images.
And he had the images of Mary and the symbols in the Marian shrines removed and
some of the shrines on the roads he had removed.
And the pace of reform was a little bit too fast for the general German.
And Luther eventually became involved and said, whoa, whoa, whoa, we have to slow
this down.
So Karlstadt was too progressive.
If you go to the story of Protestantism by Holderstein-Gayle, he tells the story of
Andrew Bordenstein.
And he said, John Eck, this was the Catholic prelate who argued against Martin
Luther, the chancellor of the University of Ingolstadt had attacked Luther's
opinion in a work entitled The Obelisks.
And to this counterpart had been issued by Andreas Bordenstein, better known as
Karlstadt, who was now challenged by Eck to one of those public disputations which
played no mean part in the controversy in the days when there was no newspaper
press.
But before the day was fixed for the disputation, arrived Eck must needs
publish 13 theses in which he plainly attacked Luther and thus the professor's
self-tied bonds were loosed and Luther himself was drawn into the war of words
with Eck.
And both of them were involved in this early conflict.
The disputation is important for it marks a distinct stage in the drawing of the
line between Rome and the reformers.
Free will was first debated, Eck and his friends maintained that man, note this,
without the aid of the Holy Spirit and simply of himself has the power to choose
what is spiritually good and to obey God.
That is exactly what Rome believes to this very day.
That man has the capacity to decide for himself what is right and what is wrong.
And that is exactly what the serpent said in the Garden of Eden.
That you will know good and evil.
You will be able to distinguish.
You don't need God to tell you.
So Luther and Calstat first contended on this issue.
And Eck began by claiming that the supremacy of a divine appointment,
basing his argument on Christ's work, thou art Peter and the rock, and on this
rock will I build my church.
And Luther replied, as do Protestants today, that it is an unnatural
interpretation to make Peter the rock.
And then, interestingly, Eck said that they were patrons of the heresies of
Wycliffe and Hus.
And Martin Luther remembered those words.
And when he got home, he thought to himself, I must find out what these people
had said.
And this is Eck's reference to Hus and Wycliffe made Luther study the writings of
Hus.
In quietness and confidence, Luther and his growing band of friends pursued their
way at Wittenberg.
At Leipzig, as we have seen, Eck had taunted Luther with being a patron of the
heresies of Wycliffe and Hus.
Once back in his university, Luther set to work to study the writings of Hus and
found in him to his delight an exposition of that same doctrine which he had himself
learned from St. Paul, the doctrine of justification by faith.
And he exclaimed, we have all, he exclaimed in his joy, Paul,
Augustine, and myself been Hussites without knowing it.
It's interesting how something that is against something can make you interested
in something.
And it happened in my own life.
In my own life, I was once confronted on the telephone by someone who had nothing
good to say about an author that we consider very enlightened.
And screamed at me for being in an organization that embraces the writings.
And that made me study them.
I thought to myself, such animosity, there must be something interesting.
And so I had a look, just like Martin Luther did.
But the problem was, Karlstadt was too progressive for Luther.
These are the history sources.
And in order to accommodate the elector, actually reversed some of the reforms,
thus creating tension between himself and Karlstadt.
Karlstadt was going too fast for Luther.
And Karlstadt even recognized the Sabbath.
He didn't distinguish it as the seventh day being Saturday at that stage.
But he wrote enough about it that Martin Luther eventually wrote, if Karlstadt were
to write further about the Sabbath, Sunday would have to give way,
and the Sabbath, that is Saturday, must be kept holy.
So these truths were being set aside and not embraced.
But the thoughts were put into the public mind.