Martin Luther: The Work of a Shepherd

Many people have negative views on Martin Luther, especially Roman Catholics. It's not surprising that there are negative views of Luther. There are reasons that we should have a balanced view. We can sometimes have a romanticized view of Luther, as if everything he did was perfect; that certainly is not the case. He had areas where he struggled. He had theological areas he didn't really work out very well and he had practical things that he really struggled in. There are errors he taught but on the main things, he was truly a gift of God to the people of God. C. S. Lewis coined or popularized a phrase, "chronological snobbery", desctibing how we tend to look at people in the past and tend to judge them by our present standards. That is, we judge them by the things that we know today. We look back at someone in the past and look down upon them as if they should know everything that we know today. Lewis said that's foolish and ridiculous. You have to put yourself in the position of the person.