Martin Luther And His 95 Theses

Martin Luther And His 95 ThesesNailed to the door of the Castle church service in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517 on the eve of All Saints Day (according to Philip Melanchton, Luthers colleague in Wittenberg University), Martin Luthers 95 theses paved the way for the birth of a great spiritual movement called the Protestant Reformation. The Reformation ultimately signaled the end of the Medieval Age and the inaugural of modern times.What Luther intended to be a specify of propositional statements to be debated upon over the abuses associated with the sale of the indulgences very soon became the key that unlocked the door towards the long-awaited reformation of the perform of the late Medieval Christendom.The Sale of the IndulgencesThe doctrine of indulgences is peculiar to the romish Catholic Church, unknown to the church fathers, and most importantly, to the apostles of Christ. It is basically defined as a protection of forgiveness granted by a bishop or an archbishop within his diocese for the remission of the temporal punishment of sin both on earth and in purgatory, the alleged source of which was the surplus of merit and grace accumulated through the lives of Christ, the Virgin Mary and the saints of the Church.What most particularly attracted Luthers attention in this regard was the undue preaching associated with the sale of the indulgences in Germany by a Dominican friar Johann Tetzel. Tetzel was commissi angiotensin-converting enzymed by Albrecht, Archbishop of Mainz and Magdeburg, to raise funds for the rebuilding of Saint Peters Basilica in Rome. As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, Tetzel proclaimed, the soul from purgatory springs.Luthers long quest for truth that resulted in his discovery of the biblical doctrine of defense by faith alone must have been the reason why he indignantly reacted to such a deceptive message that offered false hopes to those who bought the indulgences for themselves and their gone loved ones on account of thei r ignorance of the true gospel of Christ.The 97 Theses Before the 95 ThesesConvinced that he must challenge the traditional views purported by the Roman Catholic Church for centuries, he published a set of 97 theses to be debated in an academic setting among his colleagues at Wittenberg University. The theses attacked many of the major tenets of the Church with a clear message in mind that the gospel was entirely different from what had been commonly held.Luther expected the theses to cause a stir among the participants which in farm would allow him to divulge his great discovery. To his disappointment, they only mustered little interest.Martin Luther and His 95 ThesesDespite such a cold response to his 97 theses, Luther composed another set of theses which he called The Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of the Indulgences, now popularly known as the 95 theses. Like the 97 theses, this new set of theses was withal meant to provoke academic discussion among his colleagues in th e university. They may have been an afterthought to a letter he sent to Albrecht through which he aired his inconsistency on the sale of the indulgences.However, scholars are divided whether the Luther of the 95 theses was still a Roman Catholic clergyman at this time or already a Protestant Reformer. On the one hand, Luther appeared to have thought Pope Leo X was on his side in this matter. Some scholars even suggest (probably quest the church historian Philip Schaff) that he was not protesting against the indulgences, only when only against its abuse.On the other hand, a closer look at the document would reveal one thing for sure what Luther was up against was not simply the sale of the indulgences but its theological underpinnings. As Princeton theologian Benjamin Warfield puts it, They constitute, in point of fact, a theological document of the first importance, working out a complete and closely knit argument against, not the abuses of the indulgence traffic, and not even th e theory of indulgences, merely, but the whole sacerdotal conception of the saving process an outgrowth and embodiment of which indulgences were.While there may be apparent remainders of Roman Catholicism in the theses, they nonetheless assert the evangelical Protestant doctrine of salvation that refuted the sacerdotal system that was largely built on tradition instead of the Bible. In summary, the 95 theses proclaimed that indulgences cannot remit guilt as such a work belongs to God alone, that they are unable to make souls spring from the Purgatory, and that the truly repentant sinner has already received the forgiveness of God and is justified by faith alone.SourcesGonzalez, Justo. The Story of Christianity Volume 2. New York, NY HarperCollins Publishers, 1985.Schaff, Phillip. History of the Christian Church Volume VII. oak Harbor, WA Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997.Warfield, Benjamin Breckenridge. The Ninety-Five Theses in Their Theological Significance. The Princeton Theol ogical Review, xv. 1917, pp. 501-529.Copyright Edwin Vargas. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.