Martin Luther

Portraits

Who was Martin Luther? His life, the 95 Theses, faith, the translation of the Bible and the heritage of the Lutheran churches.

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Portrait · Reformer

Portrait of Martin Luther (workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder)

Martin Luther

1483 – 1546 · Wittenberg · faith alone

  • Born10 November 1483, Eisleben (Saxony)
  • Where he was activeWittenberg; Worms and the Wartburg
  • LegacyThe German Bible, salvation by faith alone, the Lutheran churches

The son of a miner, Luther becomes an Augustinian monk and anxiously searches for a way to be righteous before a holy God: fasts, vigils, confessions — nothing calms his conscience. As professor of Holy Scripture at Wittenberg, he discovers while studying the Epistle to the Romans that the righteousness of God is not the righteousness that condemns, but the righteousness that God gives: salvation is received by faith, as a gift. On 31 October 1517 his Ninety-five Theses against the trade in indulgences are spread by the printing press across Europe within a few weeks.

Excommunicated and summoned before Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms (1521), he refuses to recant unless he is convinced “by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason”. Placed under the ban of the Empire and hidden at Wartburg Castle, he translates the New Testament into German in eleven weeks (1522), then the whole Bible (1534): from now on the people read Scripture in their own language. Back in Wittenberg, he reorganises worship, writes hymns — “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” — and two catechisms for families.

His marriage to Katharina von Bora, a former nun (1525), inaugurates the Protestant parsonage: an open table, six children, students given lodging. The Augsburg Confession (1530), drafted by his friend Melanchthon, defines the Lutheran faith. A man of strong convictions who could be harsh in controversy, he dies in 1546 in Eisleben, his birthplace. From him come the Lutheran churches of Germany, Scandinavia and Alsace.

Why he matters for today’s churches

Every time an evangelical church proclaims that salvation is received by faith, not earned by works, it repeats the discovery of Wittenberg. The Bible in the language of the people, singing by the whole congregation, the family catechism: three of Luther’s practices that have become so natural that we forget they were a revolution.

“The righteous will live by faith.”

(BSB) — the verse of his deliverance, discovered in his study at Wittenberg
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Online guide · church families and key points · 2026 edition

GOING FURTHER

Further reading

Three key points to understand Martin Luther better.
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What the 95 Theses challengedIndulgences, forgiveness and repentance

In 1517 Luther proposes a debate on indulgences and on the way they are preached. He challenges the assurance of salvation that some preachers attach to buying them. In his view, a letter of indulgence replaces neither repentance nor trust in God.

Theses 36 and 37 affirm that the repentant Christian shares in the benefits of Christ without having to buy a letter of pardon. Thesis 43 gives priority to helping a person who is poor or in need.

A pointer for reading the text

The 95 Theses open a controversy over indulgences. To understand the Lutheran theology that takes shape afterwards, the texts of the following years must also be read.

Source: Luther, 95 Theses (1517), especially 21, 27, 36–37 and 43 — English translation.

Understanding justification by faithSalvation received as a gift, and the place of works

In the Lutheran understanding, to be justified means to be accepted as righteous before God because of Christ. The person receives this forgiveness by faith; it is not earned through religious or moral achievement.

This conviction does not make good works pointless. The Augsburg Confession distinguishes the ground of salvation from its fruits: faith must bear fruit in life, but these works are not the price of forgiveness.

Two questions to keep apart

How is salvation received? By grace, through faith. How does this faith show itself? Through a life called to love and to the service of one’s neighbour.

Sources: Augsburg Confession (1530), Article IV, Of Justification and Article VI, Of New Obedience — English translations.

The practical consequences of the ReformationThe Bible, worship and church life

Luther’s work also transforms the everyday life of congregations: translation of the Bible into German, preaching in the people’s own language, congregational singing and catechisms designed to pass on the faith.

These changes take shape gradually. The Reformers do not agree on everything: Luther and Zwingli differ notably over the Lord’s Supper. This is one of the reasons why Protestant history leads to several families of churches.

Connecting the portrait to the history of the churches

The page on the Lutheran churches presents this heritage. The portrait of Ulrich Zwingli introduces another path of the Reformation.

Source: Musée protestant, Martin Luther (1483–1546) (in French).

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Sources and key references

Bibliography of the journey

  • Sébastien Fath, Une autre manière d’être chrétien en France. Socio-histoire de l’implantation baptiste (1810-1950) [Another way of being Christian in France: a social history of the establishment of Baptist churches in France, 1810–1950], Labor et Fides.
  • Sébastien Fath and Jean-Paul Willaime (eds.), La nouvelle France protestante. Essor et recomposition au XXIe siècle [The new Protestant France: growth and reconfiguration in the 21st century], Labor et Fides.
  • André Encrevé (ed.), Les protestants [The Protestants] (Dictionnaire du monde religieux dans la France contemporaine), Beauchesne.
  • Patrick Cabanel, Histoire des protestants en France, XVIe-XXIe siècle [A history of Protestants in France, 16th–21st century], Fayard.
  • Jean Baubérot, Histoire du protestantisme [A history of Protestantism], PUF, “Que sais-je ?”.
  • Musée virtuel du protestantisme (Virtual Museum of Protestantism) — thematic and biographical entries (in French).

See all the sources of the journey

Further reading