Here We Stand: A Review

Here We Stand: Luther, the Reformation, and Seventh-day Adventism. This monumental book just off the press is edited by Michael W. Campbell and Nikolaus Satelmajer. Altogether there are 28 separate authors of this new book. Although separated in time by centuries, Seventh-day Adventists see themselves as heirs of the Protestant Reformation started by Martin Luther King 500 years ago. This monumental volume explores the various faces and contours of Luther and compares them with Seventh-day Adventism.

George Knight, professor emeritus of church history, Andrews University says there is nothing like this book in Adventist literature.

For his part, Shawn Boonstra, speaker/director of Voice of Prophecy says, “Half a millennium after Luther, Christians are not as clear as their forefathers on some of the most important developments in sacred history,” adding “much of the twenty-first-century Christian world struggles to remember exactly what Luther’s contribution was” and goes on to conclude this volume “offers a golden-and comprehensive-opportunity to understand where we came from.”

Luther’s rejection of the teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic church found resonance Jean-Henri Merle d’Aubigne, the Swiss Protestant and minister whose thinking Ellen G. White embraced and quoted, thus, “Since your most serene majesty and your high mightinesses require from me a clear, simple, and precise answer, I will give you one, and it is this: I cannot submit my faith either to the pope or to the councils, because it is clear as the day that they have frequently erred and contradicted each other. Unless therefore I am convinced by the testimony of Scripture or by the clearest reasoning, unless I am persuaded by means of the passages I have quoted, and unless they thus render my conscience bound by the word of God, I cannot and I will not retract, for it is unsafe for a Christian to speak against his conscience. Here I stand, I can do no other; May God help me. Amen.”

One may ask the question, why does Luther matter? Or, put differently, is there anything in Luther that matters in the second decade of the twenty-first century?

The short answer is an emphatic Yes! Luther and his message matter today because he was propelled by those teachings that form the very heart of biblical Christianity.

First among those teachings is the issue of religious authority. Heiko Oberman put his finger on the importance of that topic when he wrote, “What is new in Luther is the notion of absolute obedience to the Scriptures against any authorities; be they popes or councils.”

A second teaching at the heart of why Luther still matters is Luther’s understanding of justification, or righteousness by faith. His teaching of salvation by grace alone has stood at the center of Christian history from Paul’s time up to the present.

A third reason for Luther’s relevance for our day is his teaching on the priesthood of all believers. Luther uplifted the fact that every individual can come before the throne of grace without the aid of an earthly priest or other human intercessor.

I personally found this book deep, profound and very readable and highly recommend it. For more information on this book and to read the first chapter for free on line click here.