L
ast month’s article mentioned that
by 1517 Europe was ready socially,
politically, and religiously for a
spiritual explosion. This explosion was
to become known as the Reformation
and Martin Luther triggered the
detonator on the 31st October 1517,
in nailing his 95 theses to the Wittenberg
church door. These theses dealt with the
central issue of who had the authority
to forgive sins. The pope was raising
funds by the selling of ‘indulgences’
which were meant to reduce the time
you would spend in purgatory by
forgiving sins committed in return for
money. One of the most effective sellers
of indulgences was a monk called
Johannes Tetzel who visited Wittenberg
with his famous slogan:
As soon as the coin in the coffer rings,
The soul from purgatory springs.
When Luther heard Tetzel preaching he
reacted with his 95 theses in complaint.
In these theses Luther protested that the
pope did not have the authority to forgive
sins, and even if he had wouldn’t he just
forgive everyone instead of charging
them for it? Instead of decorating its
cathedrals with the money of exploited
poor peasants, the church should instead
be ministering to its needy flock.
Behind Luther’s 95 theses lay the
theological foundation of the whole
Reformation, Luther’s rediscovery of
the Bible truth of Justification by Faith
alone. As a young man Luther had begun
studying to become a lawyer, but whilst
on a journey one day a bolt of lightning
struck the ground next to him throwing
him off his horse. Luther cried out: Saint
Anne, help me! I will become a monk!
Main image First public monument
of Martin Luther
Above Etching of Johannes Tetzel
courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Luther became an Augustinian monk and
his main goal was to be saved from going
to Hell. He thought that being a monk
would give him the greatest opportunity
of personal salvation possible. As a young
monk Luther did everything he could to be
worthy to be saved: fastings, pilgrimages,
austerity, and denial. His colleagues
feared for his sanity so obsessive did he
become in his behaviour. Yet in all this
extreme asceticism Luther also began
to study the scriptures in their original
languages of Hebrew and Greek.
As a new lecturer in the University of
Wittenberg, Luther studied the scriptures
hoping to find some assurance of a
loving, kind, God in the midst of his fear
of impending judgement. Amazingly he
began to see that when Paul wrote about
the gospel of righteousness in the letter
to the Romans he wasn’t speaking of a
set standard of holiness that needed to
be attained by good works for salvation.
Rather the ‘righteousness of God’
was a free gift to the sinner, and all the
sinner needed to do to receive it was to
believe. To be justified is to be declared
righteous - not guilty before the throne of
God through faith alone in Christ alone.
Luther saw that the believer is ‘at one and
the same time a righteous person and a
sinner’ (simul iustus et peccator). Luther
realised that the gift of righteousness
was located outside the believer - being
reckoned, accounted and imputed to us
by faith even while we are yet sinners.
Luther’s rediscovery of the truth of
Justification by Faith alone ‘pulled the
rug’ from underneath the whole medieval
church system of works, penance,
indulgences, and priest craft being the
prescribed path to heaven. The teaching
of Justification by Faith alone was to
have massive spiritual, social, political
and religious ramifications in the years
following Luther’s rediscovery.
When Luther nailed his 95 theses to
the church door and it went viral through
the power of the printing press, the
message of Justification by Faith alone
had found an opportunity in which to
travel throughout Europe. Next month
we will see how this truth spread. ❖
Acknowledgements: Christianity’s Dangerous
Idea by Alister McGrath (SPCK)
Revival Times August 2017 19