God’s Truth

“People gave ear to an upstart astrologer who strove to show that the earth revolves, not the heavens or the firmament, the sun and the moon. This fool . . . wishes to reverse the entire science of astronomy; but sacred Scripture tells us that Joshua commanded the sun to stand still, and not the earth.” – Martin Luther

Those of us who are Protestants owe our faith, “sola scriptura,” to the legacy of Martin Luther. But as right as he was about many things, even he could be terribly wrong. The quote above was made by the Great Reformer in reference to the controversy brought about by Galileo. In the 16th Century the teachings of this Italian mathematician and astronomer were taking hold and Luther would have none of this heliocentric idea that the earth revolved around the sun. Today, we know that Luther was wrong and Galileo was right, and even the Catholic Church has been forced, somewhat belatedly, to apologize for persecuting the man who gazed at the stars and brought about a scientific revolution. Truth turned out not to be what Luther thought it was, even with his astute view of Scripture. This illustration should give us caution when declaring God’s view on things that may not be fully supported by the Bible – God’s truth. What then is safe for certitude? Christ, for He is the way, the life, and the truth (John 14:6). He himself is truth. What He said is truth, when His words are clear without needing interpretation. This is not to say that we should be silent on issues of social and scientific significance, as if we had no right to declare what we believe God says. But the words of Luther above should give us caution to keep our eyes on Jesus, the truth, and be careful what we say about what He said, that may not be true.