Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World

by Eric Metaxas

hindsight. Luther was only posting the theses he wished to debate with his fellow academics. And following his posting them, an academic debate on the subject was scheduled. But not a soul showed up for this debate.

When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, “Repent” (Mt 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.* This word cannot be understood as referring to the sacrament of penance, that is, confession and satisfaction, as administered by the clergy.* Yet it does not mean solely inner repentance; such inner repentance is worthless unless it produces various outward mortification of the flesh.* The penalty of sin remains as long as the hatred of self (that is, true inner repentance), namely till our entrance into the kingdom of heaven. The pope neither desires nor is able to remit any penalties except those imposed by his own authority or that of the canons.* The pope cannot remit any guilt, except by declaring and showing that it has been remitted by God; or, to be sure, by remitting guilt in cases reserved to his judgment. If his right to grant remission in these cases were disregarded, the guilt would certainly remain unforgiven.*

God remits guilt to no one unless at the same time he humbles him in all things and makes him submissive to the vicar, the priest.* The penitential canons are imposed only on the living, and, according to the canons themselves, nothing should be imposed on the dying.* Therefore the Holy Spirit through the pope is kind to us insofar as the pope in his decrees always makes exception of the article of death and of necessity. Those priests act ignorantly and wickedly who, in the case of the dying, reserve canonical penalties for purgatory.

Those tares of changing the canonical penalty to the penalty of purgatory were evidently sown while ...

In former times canonical penalties were imposed, not after, but before absolution, as...

The dying are freed by death from all penalties, are already dead as far as the canon laws are concerned, ...

from ...

Imperfect piety or love on the part of the dying person necessarily brings with it great fear; and the smaller the love, the greater the fear. This fear or horror is sufficient in itself, to say nothing of other things, to constitute the penalty of purgatory, since it is very near to the horror of despair. Hell, purgato...

It seems as though for the souls in purgatory fear should necessarily decrease and love increase. Furthermore, it does not seem proved, either by reason or by Scripture, that souls in purgatory are outsi...

Nor does it seem proved that souls in purgatory, at least not all of them, are certain and assured of their own salvation, even if we our...

Therefore the pope, when he us...

“plenary remission of all penalties,” does not actually mean “all penalties,” but only those imposed by himself. Thus those indulgence preachers are in error who say that a man is absolved...

As a matter of fact, the pope remits to souls in purgatory no penalty which, according to canon law, they should have paid in this life. If remission of all penalties whatsoever could be granted to anyone at all, certainly it would be granted only to the most perfect, that is, to very few. For this reason most people are necessarily deceived by that indiscriminate and high-sounding promise of release from penalty. That power which the pope has in general over purgatory corresponds to the power which any bishop or curate has in a particular way in his own diocese and parish.

The pope does very well when he grants remission to souls in purgatory, not by the power of the keys, which he does not have,

but by way of intercession...

They preach only human doctrines who say that as soon as the money clinks into the money chest, the soul flies out of purgatory.* It is certain that when money clinks in the money chest, greed and avarice can be increased; but when the church intercedes, the result is in the hands of God alone. Who knows whether all souls in purgatory wish to be redeemed, since we have exceptions in St. Severinus and St. Paschal, as related in a legend. No one is sure of the integrity of his own contrition, much less of having received plenary remission. The man who actually buys indulgences is as rare as he who is really penitent; indeed, he is exceedi...

Men must especially be on guard against those who say that th...

that inestimable gift of God by which man is re...

For the graces of indulgences are concerned only with the penalties of sacramental satisfaction established by man.* They who teach that contrition is not necessary on the part of those who intend to buy souls out of purgatory or to buy confessional privileges preach unchristian doctrine. Any truly repentant Christian has a right to full remission of penalty and guilt, even without indulgence letters. Any true Christian, whether living or dead, participates in all the blessings of Christ and the church; and this is granted him by God, even without indulgence letters. Neverthele...

It is very difficult, even for the most learned theologians, at one and the same time to commend to the people the bounty of indulge...

A Christian who is truly contrite seeks and loves to pay penalties for his sins; the bounty of indulgences, however, relaxes penalties and causes men to hate them—at least it furnishes occasion for hating them.* Papal indulgences must be preached with caution, lest people erroneously think that they are preferable to other good works of love. Christians are to be taught that the pope does not intend that the buying of indulgences should in any way be compared with works of mercy. Christians are to be taught that he who gives to the poor or lends to the needy does a better deed than he who buys indulgences. Bec...

Christians are to be taught that he who sees a needy man and passes him by, yet gives his money for i...

indulgences but God...

Christians are to be taught that, unless they have more than they need, they must reserve enough for their family needs and by no means squander it on indulgences. Christians are to be taught that the buying of indulgences is a matter of free choice, not commanded. Christians are to be taught that the pope, in granting indulgences, needs and thus desires their devout prayer more than their money. Christians are to be taught that papal indulgences are useful only if they do not put their trust in them, but very harmful if they lose their fear of God because of them. Christians are to be taught that if the pope knew the exac...

Christians are to be taught that the pope would and should wis...

money, even though he had to sell the basilica of St. Peter, to many of those from whom certain hawker...

It is vain to trust in salvation by indulgence letters, even though the indulgence commissary, or even the pope, were to offer his soul as security. They are the enemies of Christ and the pope who forbid altogether the preaching of the Word of God in some churches in order that indulgences may be preached in others. Injury is done to the Word of God when, in the same sermon, an equal or larger amount of time is devoted to indulgences than to the Word. It is certainly the pope’s sentiment that if indulgences, which are a very insignificant thing, are celebrated with one bell, one procession, ...

The true treasures of the chu...

which the pope distributes indulgences, are not sufficiently discussed or known among the people of Christ. That indulgences are not temporal treasures is certainly clear, for many indulgence sellers do not distribute them freely but only gather them. Nor are they the merits of Christ and the saints, for, even without the pope, the latter always work grace for the inner man, and the cross, death, and hell for the outer man. St. Lawrence said that the poor of the church were the treasures of the church, but he spoke according to the usage of the word in his own time. Without want of consideration we say that the keys of the church, given by the merits of Christ, are that treasure. For it is clear that the pope’s power is of itself sufficient ...

for it makes the first to be last (Mt 20:16). On the other hand, the treasure of indulgences is naturally most acceptable, for it makes the last to be first. Therefore the treasures of the gospel are nets with which one formerly fished for men of wealth. The treasures of indulgences are nets with which one now fishes for the wealth of men.* The indulgences which the demagogues acclaim as the greatest graces are actually understood to be such only insofar as they promote gain. They are nevertheless in truth the most insignificant graces when compared with the grace of God and the piety of the cross. Bishops and curates are bound to admit the commissaries of papal i...

“Why does not the pope, whose wealth is today greater than the wealth of the richest Croesus, build this one basilica of St. Peter with his own money rather than with the money of poor believers?”*

Ninety-five Theses.

Frederick had declined to allow this indulgence to be preached in Saxony.

In January, they were translated into German, which infinitely multiplied their reach and started even non-academics jabbering with conviction and fire.

By March 1518, even Erasmus himself had gotten his hands on a copy. And he sent it along to his friend Thomas More in England, which is how it fell under the wandering eyes of King Henry VIII, who would have something to say about it in due time, and nothing very nice.

The speed with which Luther’s theses spread was simply unprecedented in the history of the world. The advent of printing had changed ever...

The Dominicans were founded by Saint Dominic de Guzmán early in the thirteenth century, and one of their main reasons for existing was to stamp out heresy, so when an Augustinian like Luther opposed a Dominican who was doing what Rome had instructed him to do, it could lead only to trouble.

authority. On the one side was the idea that the Scholastics and Aristotle and of course mainly the church, which had accepted and promulgated these ideas, could not be gainsaid in any way, that they were the final authority. On the other side was the idea that everything must be tested against the Scriptures.

On the one side was the pope’s unquestioned and illimitable authority. On the other was the authority of the Scriptures.

April 25 and he would be walking the roughly three hundred miles, he was obliged to depart around April 9.

That day Luther presented his “Theology of the Cross,” which stipulated the fundamental idea that we cannot reason our way to God.

the Vatican put the whole matter in the hands of a Dominican named Sylvester Mazzolini. The Dominican order, as we have said, had come into being to protect church doctrine. Mazzolini hailed from the town of Priero, in northwestern Italy, so he took the name Prierias.

At the Vatican, Prierias held the title “commissioner of the Sacred Palace,” and it now fell to him to examine the theses and then determine and explain whether they constituted heresy, at which point Luther must appear before the Inquisition in Rome.

Dialogue Against the Presumptuous Conclusions of Martin Luther Concerning the Power of the Pope,

“Whoever says that the Church of Rome may not do what it is actually doing in the matter of indulgences is a heretic.”

Luther must therefore now travel to Rome and face the Inquisition.

he did what Prierias did not. He quoted Scripture.

Already at thirteen, he had entered the university at Heidelberg and published his first poem; at the age of fourteen, he tutored the local count’s two sons. He took his bachelor’s degree at fourteen as well and not much more than a year later applied for his master’s—so that he could begin officially teaching at the university—but was denied this well-deserved opportunity “on account of his youth and his boyish appearance.”

Several times he was seen to do this, however, and was gravely scolded. After all, who did this saucy fellow think he was to read a Bible in church?

Things at Tübingen proved less than ideal in other ways, so when his great-uncle Reuchlin learned that Wittenberg was looking for a Greek scholar, he promptly and heartily recommended his young nephew for the post. When the call came from Frederick and Spalatin, Reuchlin wrote to Philip with the happy news: Lo! A letter has arrived from our gracious Prince, signed with his own hand, in which he promises you pay and favor. I will not now address you in the language of poetry, but will quote the faithful promise of God to Abraham: “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from the house of thy father, and go unto a land that I will show thee; and I will