Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and discern what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2 Adapted

George Bernard Shaw famously observed: “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

Wisdom, a printing press, and a hammer. Martin Luther may have been the quintessential unreasonable man. (Note 1)

Shaw was half right. He found the right man and the wrong reason. The Christian is not unreasonable because he insists the world conform to him. He is unreasonable because he refuses to conform to the world when conformity would require disobedience to the Word of God.

That was Luther. The reasonable man could have accommodated himself to the prevailing authority and gone quietly along. Luther did not. His conscience was bound to something outside himself and greater than any earthly authority: the Word of God.

That kind of man will frequently appear unreasonable to his age. So be it. The world does not need Christians who have become sufficiently reasonable to accommodate themselves to every passing fashion, prevailing opinion, and cultural demand. It needs Christians whose minds are being renewed by the Word of God. Men and women willing to stand when conformity would be easier.

Not because they are stubborn.

Not because they are contrarian.

Not because they believe themselves wiser than everyone around them.

Because their consciences are captive and obedient to the Word of God.

Note 1: We are staying out of the nail or mail argument. It is irrelevant to our point. Whether Luther personally hammered the Ninety-Five Theses to the church door makes an interesting historical argument, and absolutely no difference here. But we are keeping the hammer.