Significant Person in Christianity other than Jesus

Martin Luther
Biography
Martin Luther was a German Priest and professor of Theology. While preparing to
lecture on Paul’s letter to the Romans, Luther came to believe that people are made
right with God (justified) only by God’s grace, only through faith in Jesus, and only
as learnt in the scriptures. His theology challenged the authority of the clergy and the
Pope of the Roman Catholic Church by teaching that the Bible was the only source
of divinely revealed knowledge and by opposing the purchasing of indulgences by
which people bought pardons for their sins. Along with other noted Protestants,
Luther has been credited with initiating the Protestant Reformation. Luther married
a former nun. They had six children. He died in 1546, aged 62, of a heart-attack.

Contributions
1. Ninety-five Theses
2. Indulgences, Justification and Salvation

Ninety-Five Theses:
What is it? It was the ninety-five ideas or suggestions made by Martin Luther
in 1517 about how the Roman Catholic Church could be reformed.
What was it based on? Luther had become obsessed with his sinful self and
made confession as often as 20 times a day. While preparing a lecture he came
across Romans verse 1:17- “the just will live by faith”. After meditating on the
significance of such a simple verse Luther realised only faith could save him. He
began to teach that salvation cannot be earned or bought- that is comes from God’s
grace, through Jesus and can only be achieved by following what was taught in the
scriptures.
What did he do with it? Luther believed that there was no need for a lot of the
practices that Roman Catholic Church deemed necessary, e.g. indulgences, relics,
worship of saints etc. In 1517, Pope Leo X offered indulgences for those who gave
alms to rebuild the St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Incensed by this offer, on October
31, Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenburg, protesting against
the purchase and sale of indulgences. As they were primarily intended for his
colleagues they were written in Latin, but were soon translated into German and,
with the use of the newly invented printing press, were widely dispersed across
Germany and Europe. The Pope received a copy but dismissed it as the writings of
drunken German.
What did the Church do? In June 1520 Luther was warned if he didn’t
withdraw 412 sentences from his writings he would be excommunicated. Luther
sent a copy of his more recent work as a reply to the Pope which resulted in his
excommunication.
Significance? The 95 theses were a catalyst for the Protestant Reformation.

Indulgences, justification and salvation:

What is it? An indulgence is a sum of money that was paid as penance for
some bad deed. It justified the payer.
 Who collected and benefited from the buying and selling of indulgences? The
Roman Catholic Church. The Church used the money for maintaining church
buildings and supporting clergy.
What was Luther’s take on this practice? As Luther studied Psalms, book of
Hebrews, Romans and Galatians, he came to view the use of terms penance and
righteousness by the Catholic Church in new light. He felt that the Church had lost
what he saw were several central truths of Christianity and had become corrupt. He
became particularly focused on the idea of justification. He wrote “that is why faith
alone makes someone just and fulfils the law. Faith is that which brings the Holy
Spirit through the merits of Christ.” Luther’s doctrine of justification- God’s act of
declaring a sinner righteous- was by faith alone through God’s grace. Luther
explained his concept of Justification in the Smalcald Articles:

The first and chief article is this: Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, died for our sins
and was raised again for out justification (Romans 3:24-25). He alone is the Lamb of
God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29), and God has laid on Him the
iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6). All have sinned and are justified freely, without their
own works and merits, by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
in His blood (Romans 3:23-25). This is necessary to believe.

Significance? Luther’s criticism of the practice of indulgences directly

challenged the position of the clergy in regard to individual salvation. He in effect
rendered the clergy irrelevant for salvation.

Effect/Impact
1. The Lutheran Church
2. Congregational hymns
3. Sacraments
4. Position of the Pope and clergy, marriage and clergy.
5. Catechism
6. Lutheran Bible
7. Anti-Semitism

1. Ideas of sacrifice in Communion were dropped from the Roman liturgy for the
Lutheran church. Services were held in the vernacular rather than Latin, which
in this case was German. This allowed for greater understanding of the
scriptures and the lay people didn’t require as much explanation from the
clergy. Services were made simpler again for greater understanding.
Congregational hymns and prayers were also added for greater participation
from the congregation. This was made easier by the printing press. There are
nearly 70 million Lutherans worldwide today, making up 1.33 per cent of
Christians in Australia.

2. Luther pioneered the use of hymns in services. During Luther’s time a

person, known as a cantor, led or performed all of the singing in Latin. People
didn’t understand them or connect with their message. He was instrumental in
highlighting the significance music could play in worship. Luther wrote 45
hymns, which are still being used today. The most famous of his hymns are “A
Mighty Fortress is Our God” and “Saviour of the nations Come”. He believed
that the melody and rhythm of a hymn should match the text’s language.
3. Jesus had taught his followers that only two sacraments (baptism and Holy
Communion) needed to be performed, so Luther limited public worship to just
these two. Luther also challenged the idea of transubstantiation vs.
consubstantiation. Roman Catholics believe in transubstantiation (wine and
bread becoming the blood and flesh), Luther believe in consubstantiation
(Real Presence of Christ is there in essence but the literal change does not
occur). Many Protestant churches continue this approach today.

4. Luther questioned the privileged position of the Pope and the Clergy.
Renaissance thinking had encouraged people, particularly men, to learn to
read and this had resulted in the masses questioning most forms of authority.
Luther believed that the Bible was the way to salvation as the church had the
ability to misinterpret the word. He taught the scriptures were superior to the
Pope, making the believer more important than the Church and its rituals. His
boldest assertion was that Matthew 16:18 does not confer on popes the
exclusive right to interpret the scripture, and that therefore neither popes nor
churches were infallible, breaking the established ideas of the time. Luther
and his wife (a former nun) also set the example for married clergy.

5. To help explain the scriptures Luther wrote catechisms for adults and children.
The Small Catechism was for lay people and the Large Catechism for Priest
and pastors (to help instructing their congregations), both are still used today.

6. While in hiding Luther completed his translation of the New Testament into
German. This translation allowed people to study the word of God on their
own without requiring interpretation by clergy. He hoped that this would allow
ordinary people to be transformed by the Bible on their own. As the first mass-
produced book it became a common possession in German homes.

7. Unfortunately Luther also wrote and extensive amount of Anti-Semitic writing.

Some of Luther’s writings were used in Nazi propaganda and as justification
for Hitler’s ‘Final Solution’. Most modern Lutherans distance themselves from
this work.