Classical Reformation View (Martin Luther)
May 22 2025
Martin Luther emphasized that all “stations in life,” such as your job, family relationships, and various offices or responsibilities in church, civil society, and the local community are vocations where you serve God. This is not necessarily in contrast with other views, but a special emphasis on this is characteristic of Martin Luther’s teaching.
Means of discernment: There is some emphasis on reason as a way God has given to discern various things related to vocations: it should be used within domains like work, civil society and family to make prudent decisions. In matters of faith and morality, however, reason is always entirely subject to Scripture.
Scripture is the foundational source of knowing God’s will. It provides guidelines and general teaching that Christians apply to their particular situations. It also provides comfort, encouragement, admonition, etc., that help Christians pursue their callings faithfully. The authority of Scripture is heavily emphasized over personal experiences in prayer, direct supernatural revelation, or tradition. Miracles and providence are recognized, but direct personal revelation is not considered authoritative.
Community plays a role in career discernment, especially by setting the limits of legitimate vocations. Luther strongly emphasizes entering vocations in a lawful and proper way. This means, for example, that one cannot take up preaching without being properly called by the church to do so, or take up any occupation that civil authorities deem illegitimate (except in rare situations where the Word of God requires otherwise, for example if civil authorities would forbid preaching the Gospel.).
Example: The Classical Reformation View developed in a time when most people didn’t have many choices regarding their occupation—the children of farmers would follow their parents into the profession, etc. Applied to the modern day, this view might encourage prudent, prayerful consideration of options and serving your neighbor through your work, with a lot of freedom in individual decision making.
Comparison with CFI: In the Classical Reformation View, all “lawful” vocations and callings are considered God's ways of caring for the world. However, this does not rule out considering the impacts of different options, as this may be part of the process God uses to place people in their vocations. All legitimate, lawful work is valuable; impact is faithfully serving neighbors in everyday life.
The CFI view encourages comparing the impact of different options more than the classical reformation view. CFI recognizes the value of all occupations as a possible means of serving God and the neighbor, but heavily recommends individuals who have been blessed with the privilege of being able to have a large positive impact in the world to use their talents to help others rather than primarily pursuing a comfortable life for themselves.
Key thinkers: Martin Luther