The Holy Spirit is Greater than Aristotle

Although God works in mysterious ways, he provides more and more light until the perfect day. Martin Luther was a catholic monk in the early sixteenth century who demonstrated this principle. As he studied and served as a monk he became frustrated with what he saw as a church that had strayed far from the scriptures.  He wrote thesis's to defend his points, including one on indulgences, eventually leading to "The Babylonian Captivity of the Church" where he outright rebelled against the church as a whole.

Unknown - Woodcut of an indulgence-
seller in a church from a 1521 pamphlet

Martin Luther asserted key doctrines like the Sacrament had been corrupted, but the most important comment he made  in The Captivity was "The holy spirit is greater than Aristotle". He used this to defend his idea that men were not transforming into divine beings when taking the sacrament, but both the divine and human were present. This was incomprehensible to the human mind, but for Martin that didn't matter because he had trust that God knew better. In my life, there have been many instances where I have not understood a principle in the Church. I have sat and pondered and searched and found nothing. But as I put that piece of the puzzle aside, and work on what I do know, that I can become more like Christ by living the Gospel, the answer has become clear. Usually through another person, an article in a magazine or simply by revelation, but it has always come.  Somethings are incomprehensible: the amount of evil in the world, origins of man and the universe, and differential equations to name a few. But I trust, like Luther did,  that the Holy Spirit knows better than Aristotle. Martin did not live to see his question about the sacrament be fully answered, even though he was close. I may not live to see all of my questions answered either, but I can follow Luther's example to proceed with what I do have: Faith.


By unknown - Woodcut of an indulgence-seller in a church from a 1521 pamphlet. Wikimedia commons, public domain