Converted

Von Staupitz had sent Luther to the pope for asking advice and to find rest in his heart. At this time Luther was still convinced of the benefit of pilgrimages and relics. But this visit at the holy city, Rome, didn’t help him. Luther visited all the ‘holy places’ in Rome. Here he started to doubt about the teachings of Rome. He hated the life of many clergymen. After he came back to Germany, Luther was appointed professor of divinity at the University of Wittenberg. He had to explain the Bible to his students. After he started by the book Psalms, he came by Psalm 31. The vers: ‘Deliver me in Thy righteousness’, was a big problem for Luther. Luther thought that this word means that this the attribute of God makes Him punish sins and reward merits. Luther knew that he could not satisfy the law of God. He can’t  love God perfectly or truly love one’s neighbour. God has to punish him because of this. How can he be saved, like Psalm 31 said. When he had to explain Psalm 71, he found the same problem in verse 2: ‘Deliver me in Thy righteousness’. Luther found the answer when he read Romans 1:17: ‘For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith’. The Holy Spirit showed him that is was about God’s righteousness that Christ by His sacrifice obtained for sinners. Later Luther called this the foreign firghteousness. It was imputed by Christ! So Christ took his sins nd he received Christ’s righteousness, which made him perfectly right for God. It was like he had never committed any sin. God can have mercy, because Christ paid with his blood fors in. Later, Luther wrote: ‘For me it was like an open door into Paradise! I was so happy! All of Scripture took on a different meaning and with that, heaven was opened for me. I suddenly felt myself to be totally reborn.