Continuing Luther's Work....... By Undoing It?

History is full of people (past and present) who have said a great many good things about Dr. Luther.

Quite often, I come across theologians who have found themselves in the 500 year wake of the ongoing Lutheran Reformation who make magnanimous-sounding statements that all can be summarized as:

"What Luther did was a great start with the right intentions, but he just didn't go far enough."

Red flag. Right there. Run away. You can tell this is going to end badly. It's one thing to respectfully disagree with Luther... I just get really nervous when someone seeks to out-Luther Luther.

It never fails. As soon as they get that sentence out of their lips, every single one of them then proceeds to outline their doctrines and "fixes" that are intended to continue what Luther started... AND COMPLETELY UNDO EVERYTHING LUTHER STOOD FOR AND PROFESSED! What you end up with is not a continuation and perfection of Luther's work... but a complete repudiation of his ideas that would turn us back towards the very medieval superstitions that Luther sought to combat.

Look... either you're down with Luther's work or you're not. Please don't try to co-opt him for your own purposes in order to drape your shabby ideas in the regal robes of a true theologian.