A Word from Bob: Today’s post is Part 3 in a week-long blog mini-series on Reformation Week and the life and ministry of Martin Luther. You can read Part 1 here: How Do We Find Peace with a Holy God? You can read Part 2 here: Luther’s Spiritual Separation Anxiety. This blog mini-series is taken from chapters 1 and 2 of my book, Counseling Under the Cross: How Martin Luther Applied the Gospel to Daily Life.
Luther’s Anfechtungen
Always the astute soul physician, Luther supplied a spiritual diagnostic label for his spiritual trials: anfechtungen (the plural form of the German word anfechtung). No single English word can translate anfechtung, but an image captures the idea:
An angry, finger-wagging, judgmental, harsh, condemning, aloof, holy God.
Anfechtungen paints the image of a hopeless sinner in the hands of an angry God.
With anfechtung, Luther pictured the opposite of the father in the parable of the prodigal son:
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him” (Luke 15:20).
Anfechtungen are spiritual doubts that we could ever be forgiven
To continue...read the full-length post originally published on this site.
