Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - October 1979

Contributor - Engelina Van Essen

Title - Luther and His Rib

Topic - Katharina Luther

Luther 1517 REFORMATION Martin Luther 'posted the 95 theses on the door of the castle church in Wittenberg on October 31st.

All was quiet in the classroom, but a moment before we had read the above statement from our history textbook in unison. Now we had to memorize it; this date, and many more important dates in history. Pretty son 'maister' would tell us the story of Martin Luther. As children we were always looking forward to those exciting stories from history. Besides that, 'maister' was an excellent story-teller, and we would be right there in that terrible thunderstorm when the student Martin was thrown off his horse by a bolt of lightning and cried out in terror: "St. Anne, help me! I will become a monk."

The year was 1505 and Martin Luther was studying law at the university in Erfurt Two years later he was ordained as a priest and taught for a while at the university of Wittenberg. in 1512 Luther received a doctor's degree in theology, also at Wittenberg, and held that position for the rest of his life.

Luther was a faithful son of the Roman Catholic church, and for him the ordered life in a monastary provided many remedies for the questions and worries he had in relationship to the judgment of God. There in the quietness of the cloister he would say more prayers, fast more strictly and whip himself more merciless, thus trying to please God. But all those efforts didn't bring the effect he expected and he became more miserable all the time. he realized that he was depending not on God, but on his own efforts.

The answer came somewhere between 1513 and 1517. When he studied and lectured on the book of Psalms and on the Epistles to the Romans and Galatians. That which was the Damascus road for Paul, so was the simple study in the tower of the Augustinian monastery. Then Luther realized that God's favour is not a prize to be won, but a gift to be accepted. Only when he would stop trying to achieve God's favour by his own abilities and accomplishments, could he understand the grace of God.

God justifies men, - that is makes them righteous before Him - not through their moral goodness or faithfulness, but because of His kindness to men. This doctrine of justification by faith in Christ alone was the heart of Luther's belief. It contradicted the Church's teaching of grace and good works as a way to salvation.

His Rib

"It is not until the Protestant Reformation that the minister's wife is seen with clarity. Her appearance on the scene was refreshing, for it imparted a certain dignity to the pastor's residence long enshrowded by illicit relationships with mistresses and illegitimate children". (the role of the minister's wife, by Wallace Denton) New dignity and honour to woman's role as a wife came about when clergy were properly married. This brought a distinct change in family life in the western world.

Luther's teaching caused a change of mind; not only monks were leaving the cloisters but also nuns. Roland H. Bainton credits Martin Luther as the founder of the Protestant parsonage. When Luther learned that some monks and nuns had married after they left the cloisters, he is said to have exclaimed: "Good heavens! They won't give me a wife." But when some sisters who had evangelical persuasions" sought his advice, he arranged their escape. A merchant who delivered barrels of herring to the convent, concealed twelve nuns in empty barrels and brought them out in his covered wagon. Three of them returned home and the other nine remained at Wittenberg. Luther felt the responsibility to find them homes, husbands, or positions of some sort. After two years Martin Luther married the last one of the nuns that remained.

In June 1525, at 10 o'clock in the morning Luther led Katharina von Bora to the sounds of bells through the streets of Wittenberg to the parish church, where at the potal in the sight of all the people the religious ceremony was observed. "There is a lot to get used to in the first year of marriage," Luther reflected. "One wakes up in the morning and finds a pair of pigtails on the pillow which were not there before". He must have said, that before he was married, his bed became foul with sweat and wasn't made for a whole year. He worked so hard and was so weary at night, that he tumbled into bed without noticing what it looked like. He also discovered that a husband must take the wishes of his wife into account, and punning upon the name Katie, he turned it into the German "Kette", meaning "chain". Jokingly he refer-red to her as "my rib", but he called her just as often "My lord".

To Luther marriage was an honourable estate, not only for the layman but for the clergy as well. because the principle of marriage runs through all creation, and the flowers, as well as the animals are male and female.

If marriage brought new responsibilities for Luther, it brought vastly more so for Katie. Keeping house for him was no light task. His giving was so extravagant that the local banker refused to honour his draft. In an irritatingly, joyful manner, he would comment: "I do not worry about debts because when Katie pays one, another comes." At one point he was of real help. He took care of the garden, which produced all kinds of vegetables. Katie looked after an orchard beyond the village. She also had a fishpond from which she netted trout, carp, pike and perch. It is said that she slaughtered her own hens, ducks, pigs and cows. Luther mentions some of his wife's activities in a letter of 1535. "My lord Katie greets you. She plants our fields, pastures and sells, etc. In between she has started to read the Bible. I have promised to give her 50 gulden if she finishes by Easter. She is hard at it and is at the end of the fifth book of Moses". From: Here I Stand, By: Bainton

The picture of this first Protestant minister's wife is that of a woman deeply devoted to her husband. She usually addressed him as "doctor". She looked after him when he was sick, and that was quite often. She was a master of herbs and home remedies. Six children were born between June '26 and December '34. Besides these children there were all those whom the Luthers took in. Four orphaned children from relatives were brought up with their own six. Guests who came to talk were an ever present commodity and Martin was always the center of activity. And although he overshadowed Katie she did not resent it. She was the hostess and kept in touch with the household, though the servants did much of the house work. However all this work could not have been done without love and devotion.

Martin Luther said: "The dearest life is to live with a Godly; obedient wife in peace and unity.'

"A good wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. But a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." Romans 31:10-30

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