The Insanity of Luther is the name of the chapter. How could a man who has realized that peace with God is a gift from God be so unhinged? I got a little insight to this question in the part of the chapter where Luther says that he would gladly pass his days in peace and happiness but the cause is God’s. To me Luther is saying “where is my part in this amazing plan of salvation”. He asks for God’s help in this endeavor. This is kind of where I find myself in my faith journey. I guess there will always be that desire to fit into the plan of God while I am still a sojourner and never a true peace until I hear that voice speaking to me …….. Well done good and faithful servant……. At that time God will prove that He is a God that is both just and the justifier. Until that day I will continue to strive to enter through the narrow gate experiencing a little of Luther’s insanity knowing that in the end it is all by the grace of God through the faith that He has given me. Not by my works lest I take any credit. Striving to enter but receiving as a gift. Yes. A little crazy but true. Thank you Jesus.

Hi everyone! Agree with Lee that Sproul was a bit verbose and admittedly found this chapter a little less interesting than its predecessors. However! It was super interesting to read about Luther as I had very little knowledge of his life.

One message that God has been repeatedly revealing to me in this season is that Christ is my reward, and knowing and loving God is the chief aim above all things. All other worries are temporary and fading distractions. I felt this message continue to shine through as I read this chapter. The point that stuck out was the idea of the greatest commandment vs. the greatest transgression. If the greatest commandment is, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength,” then our greatest transgression is the opposite- to not love the Lord with all heart, soul, mind and strength. I found myself reflecting on this because it’s one of those concepts that is so simple yet so complex. Each and every sin struggle we face traces back to the root of failing to love God. With our infinitely sinful hearts, it is impossible without Christ to love God the way he deserves to be loved. At the same time, the goal of our entire lives can be summarized in two words: love God.

Lastly, I like the way he wrapped up: the just shall live by faith. God is both just and the justifier.

‘We’re all mad here’, famous quote that kept coming to mind when reading about Luther. “Some theorists argue that people may have a more accurate view of reality when they’re insane than when they are sane. There’s a fine line between genius and insanity.” And so I see a continuum, and how we usually strive for balance in most areas of life. On the one extreme end I see where Luther falls with his guilt complex, being labeled “abnormal because he lost his defenses to ignore danger. Yet he saw things that many(way too many) people miss.” I’d much rather err on this end of the spectrum, focusing on how far I am from God’s holiness than the other where sadly I feel too many fall- overusing the defense of denial of sin. I read a devotional on Jeremiah 6 yesterday, ‘the people “were not ashamed,/they did not know how to blush”, a version of the unpardonable sin- a state of soul in which people have so shut themselves off from correction that they are incapable of response. And to think that this could happen to a people chosen by God! A slow process of hardening of the heart.’ I guess we can’t accuse Luther of that and we pray for the same softening our own hearts as well as other’s. So that echoed Sproul discussing the “great transgression- to fail to love God with all the heart; He is concerned about our deepest motivations, not our tarnished good deeds.” So funny but probably true that people would want “God to compromise his holiness and grade (our negative behavior or thoughts) on a curve”!
Love the image of standing in front of and “being undone and shattered by the mirror of a holy God.” May we repent and lay all our guilt and sin at the foot of His saving Cross and only see Christ when we look at ourselves in the mirror but also as we reflect that image to the world.

I thought I knew something about Luther, but this chapter revealed a LOT that I didn’t know. I think I had read about his experience of the lightening strike, but didn’t associate it with his becoming a monk and his self-flagellation. Sproul made Luther’s response make sense to me as well as other people’s conclusion that Luther was insane. And I found Sproul drawing a parallel between how God called Paul and how God called Luther insightful.
God’s call to each of us seems so tailor made. Yet I sometimes regret that my own calling to believe in Him seemed so mild, and my response so luke-warm, hopefully growing warmer as my understanding grows of God’s love and Christ’s death in my place. Dare I hope that my love would be so passionate that I would be willing to act as counter-culturally as Luther?