A Word from Bob: Today’s post is Part 4 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. You can read Part 3 here: A Hopeless Sinner in the Hands of an Angry God. I’ve developed this blog mini-series from my book Counseling Under the Cross: How Martin Luther Applied the Gospel to Daily Life.
In Abject Failure, Luther Turned to the Merits of the Saints
For Luther, no amount of human effort worked:
“I saw that I was a great sinner in the eyes of God and I did not think it possible for me to propitiate him by my own merits.”[i]
Since his own merits would not suffice, Luther fled to the merits of the saints.
Luther, who had prayed to St. Anne for her protection before he entered the monastery, exponentially expanded the list of saints he clung to once he arrived at Erfurt:
“I chose twenty-one saints and prayed to three every day when I celebrated mass; this I completed the number every week. I
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