Journal: Reformed Presbyterian Theological Journal
Volume: RPTJ 04:1 (Fall 2017)
Article: Here I Stand: Human Conscience And Ecclesiastical Authority
Author: John Bower

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Here I Stand:
Human Conscience And Ecclesiastical Authority

John Bower

Adjunct Professor of Church History
Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary

Introduction

Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason … I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience … May God help me, Amen.1

On April 18, 1521, Martin Luther appeared before Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and protector of the Holy Catholic Church, at the Diet of Worms, and uttered these words of defiance against Rome’s charges of heresy. Originally summoned to Rome for trial, Luther’s protector, Duke Frederick of Saxony, had prevailed upon the Emperor to intervene and conduct the proceeding in the German city of Worms.2 But in appearing before Charles V, it was ultimately to the Pope, Leo X, that the Wittenberg monk answered; for the central issue did not concern authority over man, but over man’s faith. And by refusing to submit to the church as the ultimate authority, Luther dramatically illustrated the operative principle of the Reformation that a believer’s conscience is bound to Scripture alone: a principle that effectively turned the emerging medieval society of the early 16th century upside-down.3

Although the reformer’s stand at Worms has at times been styled a precursor to modern concepts of religious liberty of conscience and toleration of religion, such views were entirely foreign to Luther. By declaring independence from Rome’s spiritual bondage, Luther was not rejecting the Holy Catholic Church’s authority to declare – and enforce – what the Scriptures taught. What Luther did seek was a fundamental reconfiguration of the church’s hierarchy – where pope, bishop, and priest maintained their offices but answered equally to the rule of

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Scripture in exercising spiritual authority and oversight. In this sense, Luther ushered the late medieval Christian into a radically new relationship with church rule, one established not by fiat, but by a liberated conscience that brought a willing obedience to the church through service. Commenting on this new relationship, historian Heiko Oberman remarks that at Worms, “Luther liberated the Christian conscience, liberated it from papal decree and canon law, but he also took it captive by the word of God and imposed on it the responsibility to render service to the world.”