While the books were burning, Luther decided to throw into the fire the papal bull that threatened to excommunicate him. From a letter Spalatin wrote to Elector Frederick on December 3, Luther had at least a week earlier “decided to burn the bull publicly in the pulpit unless they mend their abuses.”[1] He burned the bull, not as a rebel against the authorities or as a great hero who had no fear, but “with trembling and praying.”[2] Never had he set out to position himself against the church; his desire was a reformation of the church from within. He only wanted to ensure that the gospel of Christ would be preached in the church, not human tradition focused on the contributions human beings must make.[3] The bull seemed to indicate, however, that the Roman church had no interest in discussing the Scriptures’ teaching. While the burning of a papal bull seems rather dramatic, an action that probably ought to have been accompanied by stirring music, it may not have been all that remarkable at the time. It’s possible that only a few people recognized what Luther had done.[4] Luther biographer Heinz Schilling suggests that “only subsequently, reworked by the public and through memorialization, did Luther’s action become a revolutionary repudiation of his threatened excommunication.”[5]
Ultimately, Luther’s action was at best only symbolic. After all, burning a decree wouldn’t put an end to the false teachings that had become prevalent in the church. Burning the bull wasn’t going to give comfort to burdened consciences. It was, however, a statement. Eric Metaxas, in a recent popular biography of Luther, argues that “Luther’s fiery statement was that he was turning the tables” by “symbolically excommunicating the false church that had thought to excommunicate him.”[6] If the Roman church refused to listen to the Scriptures, to the voice of Jesus himself speaking there, then Luther knew it could not and would not speak for Jesus. Specifically, the Roman church would not proclaim the unconditional gospel: that the righteousness that counts before God comes through faith in Christ alone. And that was Luther’s primary concern.
When Luther failed to meet the demands of Exsurge Domine, and even defied the decree by continuing to speak and write against the church’s gospel-denying teachings, Pope Leo X acted. He issued another papal bull, this one called Decet Romanum Pontificem (it befits the Roman pontiff), on January 3, 1521. In that decree, Leo X dealt decisively with the Augustinian monk whom he accused of tearing apart “the seamless robe of our Redeemer and the unity of the orthodox faith.” He declared Martin a heretic. What’s more, the pope passed the same sentence on all “who have cared nought of their own salvation but publicly and in all men’s eyes become followers of Martin’s pernicious and heretical sect.” By giving them the title “Lutheran,” the Roman pontiff intended to do two things. First, he wanted to shame them, since they had foolishly chosen to follow a solitary man instead of the church. And second, he wanted to make it clear that they “shall likewise share his punishments.” The punishments prescribed were significant. “The men in question are everywhere to be denounced publicly as excommunicated, accursed, condemned, interdicted, deprived of possessions and incapable of owning them. They are to be strictly shunned by all faithful Christians.”[7] The pope and the Roman Curia were not going to engage a heretic in a doctrinal discussion. If Luther wished to retract his writings, they would listen. They had no interest in anything beyond that. The pope’s decree carried significant weight even beyond the church. The authorities of the Holy Roman Empire typically followed the lead of the ecclesiastical authorities, which would have meant exile from the empire for Luther as well.[8]
[1]. Luther’s Correspondence, 405.
[2]. LW 48:192. A month after the burning of the bull, in a letter addressed to John von Staupitz, Luther’s confessor as an Augustinian monk, Luther wrote: “I have burned the books of the pope and the bull, at first with trembling and praying; but now I am more pleased with this than with any other action of my life, for [these books] are worse than I had thought.”
[3]. In a letter written to Emperor Charles V on August 30, 1520, a month before he became aware of the details of the pope’s decree, Luther emphasized his concern for the gospel of Christ: “I strove for nothing other than spreading the truth of the gospel against superstitious opinions stemming from human tradition.” After three years of trying to engage in a discussion of how the church was obscuring the gospel with its teachings, Luther could sense what was going to happen: “There is only one thing prepared for me: to be annihilated, together with the whole gospel.” LW 48:178.
[4]. Martin Brecht, Martin Luther: His Road to Reformation, 1483–1521, translated by James L. Schaaf (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985), 424.
[5]. Heinz Schilling, Martin Luther: Rebel in an Age of Upheaval, translated by Rona Johnston (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017), 165.
[6]. Eric Metaxas, Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World (New York: Viking, 2017), 198.
[7]. “Decet Romanum Pontificem: Papal Bull of Excommunication of Martin Luther and his Followers, Pope Leo X–1521,” https://www.papalencyclicals.net/leo10/l10decet.htm.
[8]. Herman Selderhuis, Martin Luther: A Spiritual Biography (Wheaton: Crossway, 2017), 151.