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Letter To Luther's 95 Theses Essay

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Letter to the Archbishop of Mainz – This letter accompanies a copy of Luther’s 95 Theses, which is addressed to Albert of Mainz. This letter serves as Luther’s explanation of what he is trying to address in the theses, along with his plea for the archbishop’s assistance. After humbly acknowledging his own state of “unworthiness and insignificance” Luther enlightens the archbishop to his primary purpose for writing, which is stating his reasons in protesting the selling of indulgences. He even mentions the actions of Johann Tetzel by name. He appears to show polite confusion as to why the church would allow or even encourage the selling of indulgences in order to achieve salvation, since that action is said nowhere in Scripture. Luther …show more content…

The first kind of righteousness is that of Christ. Most Protestants liken this righteousness to justification in that Christians are justified and automatically made righteous by faith in Jesus Christ. This righteousness is a result of the faith, which is alongside other blessings such as the remittance of all sins and it comes about after one is baptized and has a truly repentant heart. The second kind of righteousness is what Luther calls “our proper righteousness” which can be described as the manifestation of the first kind of righteousness in the form of good works. This proper righteousness comes from the concern of trying to imitate Christ and become more like Him as the Christian matures. Christians are only truly successful in functioning in proper righteousness when they are utterly unconcerned for their own glory and comfort and instead care for those who are in need. Servant leadership and ministry comes into play here, especially. As for those who say that someone needs to be concerned with the discipline of those who practice lawlessness, Luther says that it is better to conduct oneself in a forgiving and gracious manner (like Christ

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His major objection about his church are the indulgences because he knew that they were false. “Indulgences were payments to the Roman Catholic Church in return for pardons for one’s sins and grants of salvation in the afterlife.” Martin Luther stated that he didn’t approve of indulgences because they were false as well as expensive, so he didn’t want people to buy meaningless pieces of papers. Luther believed that getting rid of your sins with paper was not the right thing to be doing and that the church had been receiving money for lying. He said that the people who buy these indulgences will be “eternally damned” with those who taught them.

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In document 7 Selections from Martin Luther’s 95 Thesis, it described how Martin Luther said that one cannot buy forgiveness or their way into heaven, and that God will give them salvation for free if they ask. He also said that the Church only wants money and does not care about god. The Church was being immoral by selling the indulgences which led to the corruption of the Church. The people realized the Church was wrong and started to question their

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Theses, posted in 1517, criticized the sale of indulgences and called for a debate on issues of faith and authority within the Church. He emphasized the doctrine of justification by faith, rejecting the Catholic Church's teaching on the necessity of good works for salvation. Luther also advocated for the priesthood of all believers, asserting that all believers have direct access to God and the ability to interpret the Bible for

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A large portion of this pertained to the Catholic church selling indulgences which were, as described by the Church, a full or partial pardoning of sin that could be used to free anyone of transgression, especially late friends and family. One reading explains that a huge problem in Luther’s eyes was that people no longer felt that they had to go any further for forgiveness once an indulgence was purchased because they saw it as a “catch-all” system. People could pay for salvation instead of relying on faith. Luther believed sola fida, that Christ’s salvation should be achieved through faith alone, and not by giving the church money (moodle reading April

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Martin Luther writes a letter specifically to Pope Leo X to address the 'evils" within the Roman Catholic Church (96). Luther states various reasons to challenge the church and Pope Leo X. One of his reasons to challenge the authority of Pope Leo X is because he feels that the pope has cheated "the people of Christ" and feels the responsibility of a "debtor" to restore the good (98). He claims that the pope and his cardinals have taken no actions to stop the overflow of "worst things" into Rome. Martin states his discontent with the pope and his people because according to him they have not done their duty to "apply a remedy to these evils" (98). Luther's other reason to challenge the pope is "not from any desire to teach, but as a duty" (104).

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He makes a mention about how the Romanists are the sole interpreters of the bible. He strongly disagrees with this saying that “it is a wicked base invention, for which they cannot adduce title of evidence in support”. This clearly shows Luther’s view on this. He believes that interpreting the bible should be for everyone rather than for a select few who could be infected with the devil. It also gives the impression that the clergy are interpreting the bible in a way that benefits themselves and the church rather than focusing on the spiritual needs of the greater

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Starting from the statement that Christians receive salvation through faith and the grace of God. Luther also stated, “The churches rituals did not have the ability to save souls. ”Also Luther talked about how the Church and the Pope make errors often. This had gone from a need for reforming indulgences to a whole

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He accepted that this precept wrongly instructed individuals that their benevolent acts could save them, as opposed to training them to depend on God's leniency and beauty. Luther contended that this instructing of works-based salvation prompted a misguided feeling of safety, as individuals accepted that they could save themselves by doing what's necessary acts of kindness. This misguided feeling of safety was in opposition to the genuine message of salvation, which is that it is just through confidence in God and His elegance that one can be

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The door that these were posted on was a bulletin board. The board was mostly used for various announcements related to academic and church activities. The 95 theses were originally written in Latin and printed on a folio sheet by the printer John Gruenenberg. Martin Luther was asking for a ‘"disputation on the power and efficacy of indulgences out of love and zeal for truth and the desire to bring it to light."’ He did this as a faithful monk and also a priest who had been professor of biblical theology at the University of Wittenberg.

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On one hand, Luther stresses the absolute sovereignty of God extends over all things and that human beings are unable to save themselves. On the other hand , Luther believed that humans are responsible for their own choices and actions , and that they should strive to live according to God’s will. “...no one can deliver himself from sin, or attain righteousness by means of works, any more than he can prevent his own physical birth.” No act of good that any human does is divine enough to “earn” a spot in heaven in Luther's eyes. It is all about where your heart lies and your true intentions that people can’t see or

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Martin Luther, outraged with the church practice of the sale of indulgences composed his ninety-five theses leading to the release of suppressed frustration of the laity and eventually a division from the Catholic Church. By 1520 Luther had wrote three treatises that

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624 Words | 3 Pages

By questioning the sale of indulgences and arguing that the pope does not have complete authority over forgiveness of sins and, to a larger extent, salvation, Luther established a precedent for the word of the Church to be called into question rather than it having absolute authority. Given that Luther opens his 95 Theses with “out of love and concern for the truth,” it is clear that his intentions are not necessarily to completely undermine the authority of the Catholic Church, but rather to open a dialogue between the Catholic Church and its faithful on what is actually true in regards to God. The collective judgment of the Catholic community, particularly those who did not have positions of power in the Church, would then have a much greater effect on the direction in which the Catholic Church took than it would have before Luther’s 95 Theses.

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In Martin Luther’s selected writing, Freedom of A Christian, he teaches his readers the steps and ways to reach salvation in terms of grace, justification, and works. He states that how an individual reaches salvation through grace is described with his threefold power: faith frees from the law (59), faith honors God (59), and faith unites the soul with Christ (60). Luther also describes the way to reach salvation through works. To summarize, Luther says that doing good works does not make a good person, but a good person will do good works. He uses the example of the fruit tree and that a good fruit tree will typically always make good fruit (69).

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To paraphrase Luther, if a person acknowledges with his own lips that Jesus Christ is God and that the Lord, his Father, resurrected him, he will be certainly saved (Luther, 280). With regards to the irrelevance of good works, Luther specifies that if people could be justified by their deeds, then they would not need to believe in the Word of God to be saved; since faith in the Word is the only way for believers to attain eternal life, Luther concludes that good deeds play no role in human salvation. Does this mean that believers can commit all sorts of crimes without having to worry about going to hell? The answer is no. As Wingren points out, Luther’s theology rests on the assumption that while God does not need people to do good deeds, other human beings do.

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1506 Words | 7 Pages

Luther’s view of indulgences is shown in number 89 from his Ninety-five thesis ‘Since the pope seeks the salvation of souls rather than money by his indulgences, why does he suspend the indulgences and pardons previously granted when they have equal efficacy?' Luther points out the contradiction of selling indulgences to people and continually selling them more as should one not suffice to avoid purgatory, he essentially views the Pope as concerned with monetary benefits rather than saving people from purgatory as promised. Printing enabled Luther’s Ninety- five thesis and the change it was to bring to be fully realized as it enabled it to reach a wider audience and increased the speed of its spreading.

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