This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
Having the understanding darkened,
being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them,
because of the blindness of their heart:
Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
Ephesians 4:17-19
"Oh, how precious to Luther was this new and glorious light
which had dawned upon his dark understanding and driven away his superstition!
Raising his voice against the errors and sins of the papal
church, he earnestly endeavored to break the chain of darkness which was
confining thousands.
He longed
to be enabled to open to their minds the true riches of the grace of God and
the excellence of salvation obtained through Jesus Christ. In the power of the
Holy Spirit he cried out against the existing sins of the leaders of the
church; and as he met the storm of opposition from the priests, his courage
failed not.
As he pushed the
battle closer and closer, the rage of the priests was kindled still hotter
against him.
They did not wish to be reformed.
They chose to be left in ease,
in wanton pleasure,
in wickedness;
and they desired the church also to be kept
in darkness."
E.G.W.