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Author’s Note: The following account is fictional, but based on a composite of numerous historical facts. It serves as the backdrop to my forthcoming series in honor of the 500th anniversary of William Tyndale’s translation and publication of the New Testament in English. I hope you enjoy this letter, written to you today from a 16th-century plowboy.
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I love studying the Reformation at this season of the year. I am invigorated by listening to lectures about it on sunny, summer walks, thinking about the coming fall, which points toward another Reformation Day.
Recently my mind was drawn back to the Wartburg Castle, and I thought of Luther spending nearly a year in hiding there from May of 1521 to March of 1522, following his victorious stand at the Diet of Worms. I wonder if, while he was enduring such a trial, he ever considered his stay to be a waste of precious time.
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I must confess, I have never seen anything like the intensity shown for Halloween this year—in stores, around homes and now, of course, in advertisements for the most frightening movies imaginable. It began in earnest by midsummer, which made me wonder if it could really last all the way to October 31! But it surely has, demonstrating the grip that the fascination and “fear of death” (Heb. 2:15) has upon so many in our culture.
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With the election of a Chicagoan, Cardinal Robert Prevost, to be the first American pope, the world was understandably intrigued. His selection of the papal name Leo XIV only added to the public’s fascination with him—and mounting speculation regarding the type of international ecclesiastical leader that Leo might become.
As we continue to follow the events of the Reformation, 500 years later, we would be remiss if we failed to recall that half of a millennium has now passed since the dawn of the modern era of Bible translation. It began officially this month in 1522 with the release of the September Testament—the New Testament translated by Dr. Martin Luther into a language that he helped to form in Germany.
A placard at the Lutherhaus in Eisenach, Germany, captures the spirit of this endeavor: “Luther wanted the Bible to be understood. Everyone was supposed to be able to read God’s word on their own.”1
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Those who love holding a Bible in their hands—which they can read in their own language—should be aware of and grateful for the monumental importance of Dr. Martin Luther’s 10-month stay at the Wartburg Castle in 1521 and 1522.
It was during this time that Luther first translated the New Testament into German—in just 11 weeks! In so doing, he literally began the modern era of Bible translation.
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Why should we praise God—or, for that matter, even care—that Dr. Martin Luther has triumphantly “driven the devil away with ink”?1
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We visited Eisenach and the Wartburg Castle on the Sunday of our 500th anniversary Reformation trip.
The day was gloriously dark and dreary. Fortunately, we felt only a few raindrops. But it was an absolutely perfect day for a ride through the Thuringian Forest.
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One of the most fascinating sights that we saw on our 500th-anniversary Reformation tour was the Luther Monument—sometimes called the Reformation Monument—which is located across the street from the park where Dr. Martin Luther’s famous stand before the Diet of Worms is memorialized.
It was a warm, sunny autumn Wednesday afternoon when our bus rolled into Worms, Germany—the second-to-last stop on the final day of touring on our 500th anniversary Reformation trip.
The town was decorated almost as if Luther himself were returning.
At the side of the road, we saw signs that read “Solus Christus,” “Sola Gratia,” “Sola Fide” and “Sola Scriptura”—like the placards that city residents might post to salute a winning sports team.
