In the context of the thought of a God that is God-centered and that all true religion is to be centered upon a God-centered God, we begin to see something of the nature of pride. Pride is the self-centered nature of man that wants to be focused on self. However, when the human soul is focused on self as the center it is then seen to be in direct opposition to the God that is God-centered. In one very great sense the fall occurred when Adam and Eve turned from God-centeredness to self-centeredness and pride. The promise of God in judgment on Satan was that the seed of the woman would crush his (Satan’s) head. Throughout history there would be enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. The seed of the woman (true believers) have been and will be centered on the God who is God-centered (theocentric). The seed of the woman have been man centered or ethnocentric. This is the true battle that has been in history and is the true battle that we fight today.
“The history of Christianity is a story of continuous conflict between the two contrasted tendencies. In the light of what has been said, it should be clear what is implied by the claim that Luther is a Copernicus in the realm of religion. Religion as he found it in medieval Catholicism was of an essentially egocentric character-despite the presence of certain undeniably theocentric traits in it. His significance in the history of religion is that in him the theocentric tendency fully and unequivocally asserted, or rather reasserted itself. For it had done so at least once before. In primitive Christianity, God was both Alpha and Omega, both the ground and the goal of the religious relationship. Of Him and through Him and unto Him were all things. But this insight early began to be obscured and subordinated to the egocentric tendency that crept in with moralistic and eudemonistic ideas. Such ideas Luther found playing a dominant role in medieval Catholicism.” (Let God Be God! An Interpretation of the Theology of Martin Luther)
The quote that is directly above gives great insight into the nature of the Reformation and to what really happened in the heart and thinking of Martin Luther. It also gives great insight into what happened to the Church from the time of Christ and His apostles until the Reformation. The Church was God-centered in the times of Christ and His apostles. God was the focus and the goal of all things. The greatness and glory of God was the center of all that they preached. But as time went on the fallen nature of human beings brought the teaching of Christianity down to a man-centered level. In this we can once again see the hideous and despicable nature of pride. What an ugly pride to take what belongs to God and give it to filthy human beings. Pride takes what is meant to be that which glorifies God and it uses it for self-centered ends. It was pride that brought the Church and the world into the Dark Ages. It was pride that (in a manner of speaking) cast God out of the Church. It was pride that exchanged God-centered ways that required Him to work for man-centered ways that were within the strength of fallen man. It was pride that exchanged the Gospel of the glory of God for a gospel that helps man at man’s own choosing.
Martin Luther came into a world that was steeped in the pride of man expressed in false religious ways. It is true that there were still some vestiges of the truth left, but those vestiges were wrapped in man-centered ways. When Luther began to study Scripture, however, he began to see a God in Scripture that Roman Catholicism knew nothing about and did not teach. The Reformation was truly a period in which God used a brash German monk who was brutally honest to restore a God-centered Christianity in at least one part of the world. It was a time when God raised up several men who refused to interpret Scripture according to man-centeredness or even a God that was man-centered, but instead it looked at God as God-centered and as man as self-centered unless God broke into the hearts and minds of man and converted them to being God-centered. It was true Christianity being unleashed.
The New Testament in one sense is about the true God’s God-centeredness being put on display in Jesus Christ and rescuing humanity from man-centered approaches. The New Testament time gave way to the pride of the human heart and the world was cast into the Dark Ages. God brought Martin Luther into a very dark period and used Him to declare the glory of a God that is God-centered. Luther thundered forth the teachings of justification by grace alone through faith alone. He taught that all things were to be done to the glory of God alone. This is simply to say that God was shining His light through the Scripture that Luther taught to show what the darkness of man’s pride and self-centeredness had done and yet what the truth of His glory really was. Roman Catholicism was essentially man-centered and Luther brought the light of God-centeredness to bear. It was the light of eternal glory. “I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images” (Isaiah 42:8).
God Loves... Himself 
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