Similarities Between Luther And John Calvin

It is August 1940 and there is war everywhere. Hitler has been attacking neighboring countries like a maniac and I am afraid, soon I will have to enlist and fight for him. My best friend Johannes and I have been arguing for hours about the right decision. We either have to join the army and fight for everything we fin atrocious or join the resistance and potentially go against our own religion. It might be important to emphasize that I am a Lutheran and I will be basing my arguments off On Secular Authority by Martin Luther. As Calvinist, I assume he will base his arguments On Civil Government by John Calvin. Martin Luther and John Calvin were two reformers that overlapped in many of their beliefs. But they had as many differences as they had similarities, which explains why Johannes and I got to different conclusions and we decided to take different paths from each other.

As a Lutheran, one must recognize that our first allegiance is to God and not to a political leader.

Despite this being the case Martin Luther author of On Secular Authority, complicates things as he also argues that whoever is in power, it was ordained by God. “For there is no power but from God and the power that exists everywhere is ordained by God. And whoever resists the power, resists God’s ordinance. But whosoever resists God’s ordinance shall receive condemnation on himself.” (Luther 6). As a Lutheran, I recognize that all power comes from God and if Hitler is in power right now, that is because god wants him to be. Furthermore, this suggests that I should enlist and go to war as of petition of Hitler. Given that disobeying him would be directly disobeying God and therefore I would have to be punished for

resisting.
Similarly, Johannes, my good friend who happens to be a Calvinist has a similar argument that encourages him to join the war. John Calvin, the author of On Civil Government, suggests a similar argument to that of Luther in which all leaders should be respected because that is what God himself wants. “Thus we cannot doubt that we must serve anyone who has manifestly had kingship conferred on him. In the very act of raising someone to the exalted rank of king, the Lord thereby reveals to us that it is his will that that person should rule. And there are general testimonies to the truth of this to be found in Scripture.” (Calvin 79). Johannes acknowledges that Hitler even if we find his ideology abominable, must be obeyed. With the reasoning that if Hitler is immensely powerful at the moment, it could be interpreted as his kingship. Therefore, if Hitler ranks as a king, it means that God gave him that position and must be respected. Johannes believes that he must join the army and obey God’s commands, even if he does not morally agree.
Moreover, neither Johannes or I agree with Hitler’s methodologies that seem to be based on torture and highly unjust. A complete insult to humanity and everything my religion stands for and should defend. Luckily, according to Luther, there are cases in which leaders can be wrong. “For God Almighty has driven our princes mad: they really think they can command their subjects whatever they like and do with them as they please. And their subjects are just as deluded, and believe (wrongly) that they must obey them in all things.” (Luther 5). In this case, I strongly believe that Hitler’s ideology is not a virtuous one and not one worthy of my life, or any other for that matter. Luther argues that at times, leaders can be wrong and therefore there are some cases in which subjects do not have to obey their superiors. I truly believe this is one of those cases and therefore I think it proper to join the resistance rather than enlist in the army and fight for Hitler.
As for my best friend Johannes, the Calvinist view on war differs slightly. Calvinists, Johannes says, argue that in some cases war is acceptable and even necessary. “From time to time it is necessary for kings and peoples to take up arms in order to carry out this kind of public vengeance. And our previous argument also allows us to conclude that wars engaged in for this purpose are legitimate.” (Calvin 62-63). From a Calvinist view, I understand that my friend Johannes feels obliged to join the war and serve his country. Johannes must abide by the Calvinist ideology and recognize that even if he does not agree with the tactics being used; he has a duty as a Calvinist Christian. Johannes feels that he must remain true to his religion even if that means to contradict his personal beliefs.
Additionally, Johannes believes that he must obey the orders of his superiors because as Calvin says there is a “kind of reverence and dutifulness that we all owe to our superiors, whoever they are.” (Calvin 80). Johannes has to accept as true that Calvin is being very clear that the rightful thing to do is obey his leader no matter what. Consequently, even if my good friend Johannes dislikes the idea of supporting such principles, he does not think he has any other option but to remain true to his religious beliefs.
Equally important, I am aware that in Germany, most people from my Lutheran church that identify themselves as Lutheran Christians, are extremely proud. They thoroughly support Hitler and his actions and are even proud to be Germans. Martin Luther argues that “even though he confirmed [the legitimacy of] the Sword, he himself made no use of it, for it does not advance his kingdom, which contains none but the just. It is for this same reason that in the old days David was not permitted to build the Temple, for he had borne the Sword and shed much blood.” (Luther 12-13). Firstly, this is one of the arguments I choose to make my decision on. Unlike many other Lutherans, I do not consider that what Hitler is doing is right or something to be proud of. In fact, I believe Luther would want us to be against this as he says that blood must not be shed to build empires. Unlike Calvinists, this could be interpreted as being against war, thus what Hitler is doing to the neighboring countries and even our own population should be frowned upon rather than celebrated. It is just a matter of recognizing that Hitler as out current leader, is building an empire and the future of our country on bloodshed and suffering of thousands of people.
After hours of discussion between my friend Johannes and I about what our position in this war should be, we both reached a conclusion. Even though neither of us agrees with the strategies Hitler and the rest of the country are choosing to use. We still have two options, to join the resistance and go against our very own leader and follow our own morals or enlist in the army and obey our leader and God himself. Unfortunately, Johannes feels like he does not have any other option but to join the army and fight next to Hitler. We analyzed both sides of the argument but Johannes got to the conclusion that he must remain true to his Calvinist beliefs which say he must obey the leader at all costs.
On the other hand, I managed to find Lutheran arguments that seem to be more flexible and open to interpretation. Even though there are arguments that imply joining the war is the right thing, there are myriad arguments saying that Hitler is mistaken and unethical. Based on my own morals, I choose to see the side of the Lutheran belief that indicates joining the resistance is reasonable and desirable. Therefore, I choose to join the resistance with the rest of my friends and stand up for what I believe all Lutherans should stand for.