Here I Stand: Martin Luther's Captive Conscience

Today, October 31, 2024, we observe the 507th anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses to the door of All Saints’ Church, commonly known as Castle Church, in Wittenberg, Germany. This event sparked the Protestant Reformation, in which the doctrine of sola fide, salvation by faith alone, was a central point of contention between the Roman Catholic Church and the Reformers.

On April 18, 1521, at the Diet of Worms, Luther was called before the church authorities and even the emperor himself to publicly recant and retract his teachings on sola fide. At that time, Luther gave his now-famous reply:

“Unless I am convinced by sacred Scripture, or by eminent reason, I will not recant, for my conscience is held captive to the Word of God, and to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me. Amen.” *

We’ve all heard the saying, “Let your conscience be your guide,” or a similar motto, “Follow your heart.” Generally speaking, what we call the “conscience” is actually a good gift from God. It's something that tells us when something we’re about to do is wrong, or when there’s something that we ought to do but may not want to do. That's one aspect of what we call God’s “common grace,” the good things that he does for all people everywhere, even unbelievers. It's something that he designed every human being to have at creation, which was originally “very good” (Gen 1:27, 31).

But what happened? Sin entered the picture. Adam and Eve sinned against God, and so every aspect of what it means to be a human being was affected by sin. This is what the Reformers meant by the doctrine of radical corruption: not that every individual person is as evil and depraved as he or she could possibly be, but rather that every aspect of every person is affected by sin, all the way inward to the core of our being, our “heart.” This is also what the prophet Jeremiah was getting at when he wrote, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jer 17:9) Because of sin, our consciences are not always trustworthy guides. Following our heart will only lead us to destruction.

So how then could Luther make such a bold stand on the basis of his own conscience? Because he was not standing on his conscience alone, in and of himself; his famous phrase, “Here I stand,” was referring to the supreme authority to which his conscience was bound: The Word of God!

One of the key aspects of the Reformed doctrine of salvation is that, apart from God’s working in us by the Holy Spirit, we are dead in our sins and unable to live in a way that pleases him (Eph 2:1-4). We need to be given a new heart, so to speak, one that will animate us to exercise true saving faith and live a life of good works (Ezek 36:26-27; Eph 2:5-10). Once we have a new heart, then, the rest of our being begins to live accordingly. This begins the lifelong process of sanctification, of becoming more and more like our Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn’t happen by accident, though! It takes diligence, dedication, and discipline. God doesn’t just zap us into instant Christlikeness; he uses normal, everyday, earthly means to mold and shape us into the image of Christ. And one of the key means by which he does this is his Word.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1-2)

When we become Christians, we begin the long and often painful process of being changed, shaped and molded, conformed no longer to the world, but to Christ. We won’t achieve it until we die, or he comes back again. But as we study the Scriptures, as we meditate on his Word day and night (Ps 1:2), as we let it become the lamp to our feet and the light to our path (Ps 119:105), we will find our hearts and our minds becoming more like that of Christ. And guess what? Our consciences will be shaped and molded as well. The longer you live the Christian life, the longer you hunger and thirst for righteousness and let that hunger drive you to God’s Word (Matt 5:6), the more your conscience will be equipped to direct you in the way that you should go, to make decisions that are honoring and pleasing to God.

It's important to keep a few key concepts in mind here:

1. All of Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, is the inspired and inerrant Word of God. We must not artificially separate Old and New Testaments, or set one biblical writer or part of Scripture against another. The same God who spoke the world into existence also breathed out the words of Scripture and recorded them through the pens of his faithful servants (2 Tim 3:16-17; 2 Pet 1:19-21).
2. Because all Scripture is breathed out by God, Scripture alone is the supreme standard by which we must judge all things. The Reformation doctrine of sola scriptura doesn’t mean that Scripture is the only source of truth and knowledge in the world; it means that Scripture alone carries the authority of God, and as such, Scripture alone has the authority to shape and bind our consciences. All other people, documents, and institutions are only authoritative insofar as they align with and properly reflect the truth of the totality of God’s Word.
3. In matters of conscience, this means that where Scripture speaks, we as Christians are obligated to submit and obey. For example, the Ten Commandments are still authoritative and binding on Christians today, because they reflect God’s holy nature. If a Christian’s conscience tells him that committing murder or adultery is acceptable, he is wrong, and it is clear that his conscience is not being formed by God’s Word. Where Scripture is silent or gives freedom, though, we are free to act according to our conscience. The classic example of this is in Romans chapter 14, where Paul discusses the issue of Christians in Rome eating meat sacrificed to idols. It was not inherently sinful to eat that food, since idols are false gods made of wood and stone. But some people felt that their conscience would not allow them to eat it, and so for them to violate their conscience in that way would have been sinful. We must have our hearts, minds, and consciences formed by and obedient to the authority of the totality of God’s Word.

The more your heart and mind is renewed by God’s Word and so conformed into his likeness and image, the more you will be able to discern God's will. The more you discern his will, the more you will be faced with difficult decisions, unpopular courses of action, and opposition for obeying God's will. And when you face overwhelming opposition, the only way you will be able to stand on your conscience as Luther did, is to have your conscience held captive to the Word of God, as Luther did. Then and only then will you be able to stand and say with Luther, “Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me. Amen.”


* There are several reported variations on what Luther said here, but all of them contain essentially the same information, just with slightly different wording.