On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his ninety-five theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, publicly challenging several prevailing doctrines of the day.
Luther, a Catholic monk, had no intention of leading a break-away movement to exit the Roman church: his aim was to open debate and pursue the church’s reform. But his proposed corrections were not well received, and as a result Luther, and others who protested, unwittingly founded a “Protestant” church.
A couple key problems that Luther challenged were the sale of indulgences and the notion of works-based salvation. An “indulgence” was a certificate one could buy from a priest to secure an early release from purgatory for oneself or a loved one. Thus human action plus monetary payment could (supposedly) merit special favor with God. Luther confronted church authorities:
THESIS 21: Therefore those preachers of indulgences are in error, who say that by the pope’s indulgences a man is freed from every penalty, and saved. THESIS 27: They preach man [i.e., not God’s truth] who say that as soon as the penny jingles into the money-box, the soul flies out [of purgatory].
Luther trumpeted the primacy of the Bible over church tradition. When the Pope demanded that Luther retract his theses, Luther replied: I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. May God help me. Amen.
To be sure, it’s disturbing that certain racist remarks by Luther have come to light in his voluminous writings. This is grievous—but don’t let it keep you from thanking the Lord for using a very imperfect believer to help scrape away a great deal of sinful residue that had obscured the beautiful truths of Scripture about the gospel, salvation, and God’s grace.
