Worms, 1521 · Story · Courage
Luther at Worms
Martin Luther stood before the Emperor Charles V and the princes of the empire at Worms in April 1521 and would not take back his books.
A friend reminded Luther on his way to Worms that John Hus had been burned in spite of an imperial safe-conduct.
Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father in heaven.
- When
- 16 to 18 April 1521
Summary
Luther came to the Diet of Worms under summons to say whether the books under his name were his and whether he would take them back. At the first hearing he took a day before giving his answer. At the second he said that only Scripture or clear reason could move him, because his conscience was bound to the word of God. Soon after he left, the emperor acted against him by edict.
- Luther arrived at Worms on the morning of 16 April 1521.
- His questioner at both hearings was John Eck, the Official of Trier.
- The earliest records of the speech close it with “God help me. Amen.”
- The edict against him is dated 8 May 1521 and was signed on 26 May.
The Road to Worms
Luther set out for Worms under the emperor's summons.
This story follows two days of hearings at Worms in 1521. It belongs to the value of courage, because Luther faced the emperor and the princes and would not move from what he held Scripture to teach.
The question the story answers is what Luther said and did at Worms, as the records of the time give it. This study follows the days in order from the editions of the records, sets out his answer in English, and weighs the question of the words most often quoted from it.
Preserved Smith gives the letter Luther wrote from Frankfurt to his friend Spalatin in The Life and Letters of Martin Luther (1911). On the road Luther wrote, “Truly Christ lives and I shall enter Worms in the face of the gates of hell and the princes of the air.”
The saying that Luther would go to Worms though there were as many devils there as tiles on the roofs comes from Spalatin's later annals, and Smith judges that Spalatin was probably recalling this letter.
From Frankfurt to the Edict
Luther was at Worms for ten days, from his arrival to his departure.
The two hearings fell on consecutive days, and the edict came weeks after Luther left.
- 14 April 1521Luther writes to Spalatin from FrankfurtSmith, page 111
- 16 April, morningHe arrives at Worms to a great crowd and lodges with the Knights of St. JohnSmith, page 112
- 17 April, near six in the eveningHe is admitted to the Diet, owns his books and asks for timeSmith, pages 112 to 113
- 17 April, eveningHe writes to John Cuspinian that he will never recantSmith, page 114
- 18 AprilHe speaks in German and in Latin and refuses to recantSmith, pages 115 to 118; the Diet's records
- 26 AprilHe leaves WormsSmith, page 118
- 8 MayThe date the edict bearsSmith, pages 119 to 120
- 26 MayThe emperor signs the edictSmith, pages 119 to 120
A timeline of eight dated steps from Luther's letter at Frankfurt to the signing of the edict, each with its date and the account it comes from.
8 May, 26 May
The First Hearing
The first hearing was short, and it ended with a day's delay.
Eck asked whether the books laid out were Luther's and whether he would recant them. Smith notes that this Eck is not the theologian of the same name who had debated Luther.
Jerome Schurf asked for the titles of the books to be read. Luther said the books were his, and he asked for a delay before he answered whether he would recant.
Luther gave Christ's warning against denying Him before men as his reason for asking for time (Matthew 10:33).
Eck granted him one more day. That evening Luther wrote to his friend John Cuspinian: “Truly, with Christ's aid, I shall never recant one jot or tittle.”
The Answer
Luther answered at length and then gave the short answer Eck demanded.
Luther sorted his books into three kinds, books on piety and morals, books against the papacy, and books against private persons. Of the last he confessed that he had been “more bitter than is becoming to a minister of religion”. He would recant none of them.
Eck demanded an answer “without horns”.
Luther replied, in Smith's English, “Since your Majesty and your Lordships ask for a plain answer, I will give you one without either horns or teeth.”
He set his condition, “Unless I am convicted by Scripture or by right reason (for I trust neither in popes nor in councils, since they have often erred and contradicted themselves)”.
He went on, “unless I am thus convinced, I am bound by the texts of the Bible, my conscience is captive to the Word of God”.
His answer continued, “I neither can nor will recant anything, since it is neither right nor safe to act against conscience. God help me. Amen.”
Back at his lodging, Smith reports, Luther cried out, “I am through! I am through!”
The Words “Here I Stand”
Readers have long asked whether Luther said the words most often quoted from his answer.
Adolf Wrede's edition of the Diet's records (1896) prints the close of the speech in German, “Gott helf mir. Amen”. Wrede found the longer ending, I cannot do otherwise, here I stand, only in two prints of 1521, one Latin and one German, from the same press in Wittenberg.
Because the two prints share one press, Wrede counted them as one source, and he judged the longer words an addition. Every manuscript and printed copy of the German version of the speech that he knew ends with “God help me. Amen.”
By Wrede's report, the historians Burkhardt and von Bezold accepted only the short ending, while the church historians Köstlin, Knaake and Kolde held the longer words to be genuine. Merle d'Aubigné, in his History of the Great Reformation (1844), printed them as spoken.
What Followed
Luther left Worms, and the emperor acted against him after his friends had gone.
Luther left Worms on 26 April. The emperor drew up the edict after Luther's supporters had gone home. It put Luther under the ban of the empire, forbade anyone to shelter him, and forbade his books.
The doctrine Luther defended at Worms, that Scripture judges popes and councils, is taught on the page on the solas of the Reformation.
Courage Bound to the Word
Luther's courage at Worms rested on a conscience held by Scripture.
The two days at Worms show a courage that took time to weigh its words and then stood by them.
Peter and John had given the council in Jerusalem the same kind of answer, leaving the judgment to the court and stating what they themselves would do.
Sources
Scripture is the Berean Standard Bible.
- Preserved Smith, The Life and Letters of Martin Luther (1911)
- Deutsche Reichstagsakten, Jüngere Reihe, vol. 2, ed. Adolf Wrede (1896)
- J. H. Merle d'Aubigné, History of the Great Reformation (1844)
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