Journal: Global Journal of Classical Theology
Volume: GJCT 11:3 (Jun 2014)
Article: Luther On The Spiritual Life
Author: John W. Kleinig

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Luther On The Spiritual Life

John W. Kleinig

Abstract: Martin Luther developed three themes in his teaching on spiritual life: the common call for all Christians to participate in it, its receptive stance, and its reliance on the power of God’s Word as the instrument of life. He taught that the spiritual life is the common life of faith for all Christians and they can think and act spiritually only because Christian meditation is empowered by God’s Word and done with his Word. In contrast to the monastic tradition, Luther proposed the practice of devotion for spiritual reception rather than spiritual self-enhancement. This involves three things: prayer, meditation, and temptation, all of which are interactively entwined. The practice of active spirituality is based on prayer for the gift of the Holy Spirit imparted through the Word. Meditation is focused on “the external Word,” which is heard, spoken, written, sung, and self-preached. Because Christians are people of faith, the devil attacks them, seeking to destroy their faith, but through the power of the Holy Spirit his attacks are counterproductive and only serve to strengthen faith by driving believers back to God’s Word as the only basis for their spiritual life. Then the process begins anew again with prayer and meditation on God’s Word. In Luther’s own devotional life, he followed a simple pattern that still serves as a good model for today’s Christians; he prayed the catechism.

Luther is largely unacknowledged as a teacher of the spiritual life even in the Lutheran church. Yet that has begun to change as scholars gain a new appreciation of him as a pastoral theologian. This, in turn, has led to growing appreciation of his teaching on Christian spirituality, a teaching that is simple and yet profound, personal and yet communal, experiential and yet sacramental.

It is, however, easy to misrepresent the spiritual riches and pastoral wisdom of teaching because he developed it piecemeal by the ongoing application of the Scriptures to the problems that he faced in his own life, the church, and the world around him. That tends to obscure the comprehensive reach of his teaching and its practical coherence. While certain themes recur, he did not draw together his insights into the nature and practice of evangelical piety systematically in any work apart from the two catechisms in 1529 and the preface to the Wittenberg edition of his German writings in 1539.

Receptive Piety

Luther repeatedly develops three themes in his teaching on the spiritual life: the common call for all Christians to participate in it, its receptive stance, and its reliance on the power of God’s Word as the instrument of the Spirit.

Luther maintains that the spiritual life is the common life of faith for all Christians. Karl Marx ...

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