Turmerlebnis

As we consider at this time of year, the mercy of God in bringing about the Reformation, which many date to the October 31, 1517 posting of the 95 Theses on the church door at Wittenburg, Germany, by Martin Luther, it is worthwhile to note that his own account traces his personal "born-again" conversion experience to an event that occurred two years later in 1519 known as "Turmerlebnis," or, "The Tower Experience." He was studying Romans 1:17 in his study in the tower of the Black Cloister in Wittenberg at the time and wrestling with a text of Scripture: Romans 1.17. In his own words, Dr. Luther explains.

Martin Luther (trans. by Bro. Andrew Thornton, OSB in from the "Vorrede zu Band I der Opera Latina der Wittenberger Ausgabe. 1545" in vol. 4 of Luthers Werke in Auswahl, ed. Otto Clemen, 6th ed., (Berlin: de Gruyter. 1967). pp. 421-428), Preface to the Complete Edition of Luther's Latin Works (1545) by Dr. Martin Luther, 1483-1546 (c)1983 by Saint Anselm Abbey:

Meanwhile in that same year, 1519, I had begun interpreting the Psalms once again. I felt confident that I was now more experienced, since I had dealt in university courses with St. Paul's Letters to the Romans, to the Galatians, and the Letter to the Hebrews. I had conceived a burning desire to understand what Paul meant in his Letter to the Romans, but thus far there had stood in my way, not the cold blood around my heart, but that one word which is in chapter one: "The justice of God is revealed in it." I hated that word, "justice of God," which, by the use and custom of all my teachers, I had been taught to understand philosophically as referring to formal or active justice, as they call it, i.e., that justice by which God is just and by which he punishes sinners and the unjust. 

But I, blameless monk that I was, felt that before God I was a sinner with an extremely troubled conscience. I couldn't be sure that God was appeased by my satisfaction. I did not love, no, rather I hated the just God who punishes sinners. In silence, if I did not blaspheme, then certainly I grumbled vehemently and got angry at God. I said, "Isn't it enough that we miserable sinners, lost for all eternity because of original sin, are oppressed by every kind of calamity through the Ten Commandments? Why does God heap sorrow upon sorrow through the Gospel and through the Gospel threaten us with his justice and his wrath?" This was how I was raging with wild and disturbed conscience. I constantly badgered St. Paul about that spot in Romans 1 and anxiously wanted to know what he meant.

I meditated night and day on those words until at last, by the mercy of God, I paid attention to their context: "The justice of God is revealed in it, as it is written: 'The just person lives by faith.'" I began to understand that in this verse the justice of God is that by which the just person lives by a gift of God, that is by faith. I began to understand that this verse means that the justice of God is revealed through the Gospel, but it is a passive justice, i.e. that by which the merciful God justifies us by faith, as it is written: "The just person lives by faith." All at once I felt that I had been born again and entered into paradise itself through open gates. Immediately I saw the whole of Scripture in a different light. I ran through the Scriptures from memory and found that other terms had analogous meanings, e.g., the work of God, that is, what God works in us; the power of God, by which he makes us powerful; the wisdom of God, by which he makes us wise; the strength of God, the salvation of God, the glory of God.

I exalted this sweetest word of mine, "the justice of God," with as much love as before I had hated it with hate. This phrase of Paul was for me the very gate of paradise. Afterward I read Augustine's "On the Spirit and the Letter," in which I found what I had not dared hope for. I discovered that he too interpreted "the justice of God" in a similar way, namely, as that with which God clothes us when he justifies us. Although Augustine had said it imperfectly and did not explain in detail how God imputes justice to us, still it pleased me that he taught the justice of God by which we are justified.

Directions How to Live Well

William Perkins, et al., A Garden of Spiritual Flowers:

Directions How to Live Well

In the Morning awake with God; and before all other things, offer up unto him thy morning Sacrifice of Prayer: wherein remember, First, to give hearty thanks unto him for all his mercies bodily and spiritual; and namely, for thy late preservation: Secondly, make an humble Confession of thy sins, with earnest desire of pardon: Thirdly, ask such necessaries as are requisite for thy soul and body, with fervent request to be relieved in them: and namely, desire his blessing upon thy labours in thy calling in the day to come.

In what place soever thou art, let this persuasion abide in thine heart, that thou art before the living God: and let the remembrance hereof strike thine heart with awe & reverence, and make thee afraid to sin.

Make Conscience of idle, vain, unhonest, & ungodly thoughts: for these are the seeds and beginnings of actual sin in word and deed.

Have a special care to avoid those sins which thou findest thy Nature most prone unto; and eschew those provocations which were wont most to prevail against thee.

Follow with faithfulness and diligence thy lawful particular Calling in which thou art placed.

Think evermore thy present estate and condition to be the best estate for thee, whatsoever it be; because it is of the good providence of God.

Look well to thy carriage in company, that thou do no hurt by word or example; nor take any from others; but endeavour rather to do good.

Use civil honesty towards all men: good Conscience, and good Manners must go together.

If at any time against thy purpose thou be over-taken with any sin, lie not in it, but speedily recover thyself by repentance.

When any good motion or affection doth arise in thine heart, suffer it not to pass away, but feed it by reading, meditating, or praying.

Esteem of every present day, as of the day of thy death: and therefore live now, even as though thou wert now dying: and do those good duties every day, which thou wouldest do, if this were thy dying day.

At the end of the day, before thou lie down in thy Bed, call to mind how thou hast spent the day that is passed: thy misdoings repent, and praise God for assisting thee with his grace in the duties which thou hast performed.

Sleep not at night, before thou hast commended thyself by prayer into the hands of God: for thou knowest not whether (fallen asleep) thou shalt rise again alive.

Let prayer be the Key to open the Morning: and the Bar to shut in the Evening.

Walk as the Children of Light.

As the just live by Faith; so the just live the life of Faith. Now they live the life of Grace; one day they shall live the life of Glory.

Jiminy Cricket Theology

R.C. Sproul, Sr., Essential Truths of the Christian Faith, p. 151:

It was Jiminy Cricket who said, "Always let your conscience be your guide." This is good advice if our conscience is informed and ruled by the Word of God. However, if our conscience is ignorant of Scripture or has been seared or hardened by repeated sin, then Jiminy Cricket theology is disastrous.

There is an important role for the conscience to play in the Christian life. It is vital, however, that we have a proper understanding of it.

Conscience has often been described as an inner voice of God through which our mind either accuses or excuses us from sins. It includes two basic elements: (1) an inner awareness or consciousness of right and wrong and (2) a mental ability to apply laws, norms, and rules to concrete situations.

In Romans 2:15, Paul teaches that God has written His law on the human heart. The human conscience is informed by the revelation of God's law, which He has implanted in the human heart.

People have a moral responsibility to follow their conscience. It is sinful to act against one's conscience. At the Diet of Worms, Luther declared, "My conscience is captive to the Word of God...to go against conscience is neither right nor safe."

Luther's reply displays two important biblical principles. First, the conscience is to be informed or "captured" by the Word of God. It is possible for the conscience to be misinformed or to become seared or dulled by repeated sin. We can become so hardened by habitual sin or societal acceptance of sin that we stifle the voice of conscience and sin without remorse.

On the other hand, if our conscience persuades us that something is unlawful or sinful, though, in fact, it isn't sinful, then it is still wrong for us to do it. To do what we deem to be evil, even if it is not in fact evil, is to sin. Paul teaches that whatever is not of faith is sin (Romans 14:23). In this instance to act against conscience is neither right nor safe.