Martin Luther and the Reformation he initiated are famous for the so-called three solas: sola scriptura, sola gratia, and sola fide‘Scripture alone, grace alone, and faith alone. This fame is justified, for these three emphases permeate Luther's thought. To understand Luther on the Lord's Supper or salvation, or on how God works in the secular realm, one must first understand the content and contours of the three solas. The solas may be thought of as a key to unlocking much of Luther's thought. This key works especially well on the door to Luther's view of the Holy Spirit’his pneumatology, as the theologians say. Specifically, he emphasized that the Spirit comes to us through the outward, tangible means of God's word in the Scriptures. Further, the coming of the Spirit is an act of God's grace, not a response to our works, and the Spirit both effects and comes by our faith.
We see this idea developed in Luther's 1524-25 treatise, Against the Heavenly Prophets in the Matter of Images and the Sacraments. He wrote this to correct the teachings of his one-time friend, colleague, and ally in the Reformation, Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt. Von Karlstadt had come to reject the view that the Lord's Supper was a means of grace. He also rejected the efficacy of infant baptism. He led his followers in forcibly removing and destroying church furnishings such as crucifixes and images of saints. Luther tells us that when von Karlstadt was asked to defend his teachings and actions, the latter did not lean on God's word but asserted instead that the Holy Spirit had spoken to him inwardly, instructing him in his own spirit. Further, von Karlstadt's followers could experience the same inward voice of the Spirit by remaining in a state of "self-abstraction"’that is, by concentrating on turning from material things, one can come to the Spirit and be taught internally.
Luther understood that von Karlstadt referred his followers to "some imaginary realm," where "a heavenly voice will come, and God himself will speak to you." There, Luther mocked, the faithful will "journey on the clouds and ride on the wind." But as Luther pointed out, von Karlstadt could provide no details about such a realm or how to get there, leaving him vulnerable to Luther's claims of spiritual fraud. Luther also saw fraud in von Karlstadt's downplaying of the importance of Scripture, his elevation of the importance of good works (especially works not enjoined by Scripture), and in the lack of miraculous signs to attest to the genuineness of von Karlstadt's new teachings.
Contrary to von Karlstadt and his followers’Luther's ironically named "heavenly prophets"’Luther explained that God teaches us through the external word of the Scriptures. The word, and the material signs of baptism and the Lord's Supper that accompany the word, serves as the "bridge, the path, the way, the ladder" between a person and the Holy Spirit. Moreover, the Spirit comes to the person by this path, rather than the person having to come to the Spirit. The Holy Spirit, said Luther, "is not acquired through breaking images or any other works, but only through the gospel and faith." That is, the Spirit comes to us through the word (sola scriptura) and faith (sola fide), not because of our works but by grace (sola gratia).
Central in Luther's teaching is the order in which these things take place. The external’that is, the word and the sacraments’precedes and effects the internal’that is, the Holy Spirit, faith, and salvation. A false and lying spirit (like von Karlstadt's, or more precisely, the spirit that motivated von Karlstadt's teaching’for our fight is not against flesh and blood) reverses this order. The internal is placed first. Bread, wine, water, and the letter cannot profit us, von Karlstadt argued; it is the Spirit, working internally, that benefits us. But this point merely raised the question of how the Spirit is acquired, in answer to which Luther pointed to the word and the sacraments: "God has determined to give the inward to no one except through the outward. For he wants to give no one the Spirit or faith outside of the outward Word and sign instituted by him."
Today's popular emphasis on the connection between the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues may lead the modern reader to wonder how Luther taught on that matter. Luther appears to have been unaware of the notion of a "personal prayer language" that characterizes much of the charismatic movement of the past several decades. When he taught on tongues, his focus was on the use of the Latin language in the mass. Von Karlstadt criticized Luther for permitting the continued use of Latin in the mass in churches under Luther's sway. Luther defended the practice on the grounds that in those churches the sacrament was provided only to those who had been instructed and understood the words of the sacrament. As Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 14, the use of a tongue not comprehended by the people is permissible if a translation or other interpretation is provided. Again, Luther's laser focus was on the efficacy of the external word, which leads to the gracious indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Against the Heavenly Prophets was a longer and more vitriolic rant than it needed to be. Its benefits are great, however, even today. Its basic message is clear, simple, and sound and therefore useful in any age. When confronted by a movement whose adherents claim to be inspired by the Holy Spirit, we must use the Scriptures to test their claims. Do they understand the external word to precede and effect their internal inspiration? Do they teach the gospel message of justification by grace alone through faith alone? If the answer to either question is negative, we face a lying spirit, not the Holy One.
