Martin Luther (1483-1546)

Back at Erfurt, he asked for help from the monk who was his spiritual adviser. This man told him to read the books St Augustine had written. This then started Luther reading the New Testament, and Paul's letters in particular. Here, after several years, he was to find his answer in the words "The righteous will live by faith".

He became convinced that people become "right with God" through faith in Jesus, not by good things they try to do. And that became the centre of what the Protestant Reformation believed.

The other thing Luther's adviser did was to try to take Martin's mind off his worries by giving him hard work to do. He was sent to another town, Wittenberg, to become a Professor! That was where he read St Paul's words. And there he began to tell others what he had learned from Scripture.