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Alpharic Research Institute

Centre for Research in Philosophy, Theology and
Ethics
Email: alpharicinstitute@gmail.com 09066927954

MARTIN LUTHER AND HIS THEOLOGICAL VIEWS

BY
GODSWILL OME UFERE
Email: uferegodswillmatthias@gmail.com, godswillmatthias99@gmail.com; __GSM: +2347045155575
JULY, 2021

Martin Luther and His Beginning that sins could be forgiven by paying money,
then called indulgences. Thatcher Oliver
Martin Luther was born on November 10,
wrote that Martin Luther believed that the
1483 to Hans Luder and MargarethLindemann
right thing to do was to confess and ask for
in Eisleben, Germany, which was part of the
forgiveness from God. He believed that
Holy Roman Empire. Martin Luther was a
salvation could be achieved by God’s grace
German priest, a professor of theology, and an
only. He protested and as a result was he was
iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation.
exiled from his native land. Luther influenced
Breezy Aaron explained that when he was
the German language through his translation
younger, he dedicated himself to a monastic
of the Bible and the writing and publishing of
life, fasted, prayed a lot, and always confessed
hymns in “Hochdeutsch.” His influence is
to keep himself clean from sin. Later on in his
even felt even today.2
life, one of his superiors by the name of
Johann von Staupitz encouraged him to get an On His Theological Witness
academic career, so he became an ordained
When Martin Luther posted his “95 Theses”
priest and taught theology at the University of
on the church door in Wittenberg in 1517, no
Wittenberg. Sometime after becoming an
one expected the breadth of evangelical
ordained priest, Luther led the protest against
reforms in Christian teaching and practice that
the doctrines and rituals of the Catholic
followed. In every dimension of Christian
Church in a movement (later) called the
faith a renewed trust in God’s forgiving mercy
Reformation1. He did not agree with the fact
The Library of Original Sources (Milwaukee: University
2
1
Aaron Breezy’s Illustration on the Reformation Period and Research Extension Co., 1907), Vol. V: 9th to 16th
the Role of Luther. 15 (blog) 09/02/2021 Centuries, pp.119-127.
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replaced a reliance on teachings and practices
of the Roman Catholic church, like the sale of
indulgences, abuse and corruption. Preaching
a few years later, Luther said, “I opposed
indulgences ... but never with force. I simply
taught, preached, and wrote God’s Word;
otherwise I did nothing. I did nothing; the
Word did everything.” When he began to
propose reforms in worship, he wrote similar
words. “This is the sum of the matter: let
everything be done so that the Word may have
free course.” 3
The Bible Luther translated from the original
languages into colloquial German, was printed
and distributed across Europe, changing
history forever. The bible is ever since the
most published, printed and read book in the
entire world. Protestant dialogue is still
ongoing. Each moment of study of the
personality of Martin Luther is another
opportunity to examine Luther’s failings as
well as his triumphs. As Margot Kässmann
says, “One of the greatest achievements of
Reformation was that you need educated
faith," she argues. "You can ask questions.
You can be critical about the church. You
yourself should read the Bible and sharpen
your conscience, as Luther would have said."
Kässmann also points out that some of
Luther's other theological battles have long
3
https://www.elca.org/News-and-Events/500-Years
since healed, Luther rebelled against the
Roman Catholic Church of that time. Today
we see that there’s much more that binds us
together, that we have in common, than what
separates us.
As ArkenbergHallsall noted, prior to the
Protestant Reformation, Roman theology
stated that faith alone cannot justify a man as a
good Christian. The Roman Catholics
believed that justification depended on faith
by charity and good works. 4 However,
Buchheim C.A. said that the benefits of good
works on earth can be obtained by donating
money to the church, rather than actually
doing something charitable and that is what
Martin Luther protested against.5 Martin
Luther had no real intention of confronting the
church but he saw his dispute with their values
as a scholarly objection to the church’s
practice. He meant his tone whenever he said
anything or wrote anything as more of a
‘searching’ tone more than a ‘doctrinaire’
tone. This became clear in Luther’s letter to
the Bishop Albert of Mainz on October 31,
1517 which was also All Saints Day. When he
wrote his letter, it originally was just a letter
but it later became his signature mark on the
4
“Martin Luther: Against Catholicism, 1535.”Web. 09 Feb.
2021.
<http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1535luther.asp&gt;.
5
Martin Luther: Address to the Christian Nobility of the
German Nation respecting the Reformation of the Christian
Estate. Nashville: Parsdoy Press, 1883. Print. 134.
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reformation which was titled The Ninety-Five
Theses.
The Ninety-Five Theses centered on practices
from Catholic churches about baptism and
absolution. It rejected the validity
remissions of temporal punishment due for
sins which have been forgiven which were at
that time called ‘indulgences’. Martin Luther
also did not believe in the fact that
‘indulgences’ should be sold because he did
not agree with the part that one person could
pay off his or her sins. He felt that the people
who committed sin should confess to God
only. After Martin Luther wrote this, he
attached these theses on the Castle Church
door in Wittenberg, Germany because that
was where he taught. The church held one of
Europe’s largest collections of holy relics at
the time. Not long after the Pope read The
Ninety-Five Theses, Pope Leo X wrote a
rebuttal titled ExsurgeDomine also translated
as “Arise, O Lord.” The pope basically
highlighted where Martin Luther disagreed
with the Roman Catholic Church. What was
special about this letter from Martin Luther
was the fact that it became a declaration of
independence from papal authority
Northern Europe. It started the decline of the
feudalism system of suppressing the poor and
started the up-rise of commercialism. Luther
was later made an outlaw by the Emperor
Charles V who made it known in the whole
Holy Roman Empire that he wanted Luther to
be punished as a heretic and also made it a
crime to feed or shelter Martin Luther. He also
made it legal for anyone to kill Martin Luther
of freely if they pleased to do so.
Eight years after the Protestant Reformation,
something happened to him that he never
would imagine. He got married to Katharina
Von Bora in June of 1525. She was one of the
12 nuns he helped escape from the Nimbschen
Cistercian Covent. He wrote about how God
plunged him into marriage after he got
married. Many people were appalled at this
marriage and called Martin Luther reckless for
doing so but Luther set the example for
clergymen to get married, as the Bible teaches.
Martin Luther organized the new church in
1526. He wanted to start both a confessional
and a territorial church. This one church laid
out a new form of worship service. He wrote a
German order of service so even the simple
people could understand. The idea was
through the use of the local vernacular more
people could become Christians. The latter
in one was an attempt to restore Biblical
discipleship. But the confessional, territorial
and discipleship issues clashed and Luther
retracted from the whole. During the church
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service the celebration of the Lord’s Supper
was a big change. The participants where to
drink the wine and eat the bread.
Another one of Martin Luther’s amazing
achievements was when he published a
German translation of the New Testament in
1522 and when he published a translation of
the Old Testament in 1534. Luther was not the
first person to do this, but before almost
everyone had to read the Bible in Latin, and
because only 1 to 2% of the people could read
it, Christianity did not grow up to its potential
until Martin Luther came along. Before Luther
nailed his theses on the church door in
Wittenberg, more than 100 editions of German
translations of Bible parts had been published.
The translations were in different dialects of
the German language and never fulfilled the
role of replacing the Latin versions of the
Bible. Luther’s translation of the Bible got
over 50 reprints during his lifetime. Even
today his translation is still in use in Lutheran
churches all over the world.6 Overall Martin
Luther was an extremely influential figure and
he changed Christianity as a whole for good.
In his “Of the Sacrament of the Lord’s
Supper” in Table Talk, Martin Luther
disagrees with the Roman Catholic view of
how the sacrament (i.e. communion, Lord’s
6
“Martin Luther.” Web. 09 Feb 2021.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther&gt;.
Supper, the Table) is administered. Luther’s
underlying critique of the administration of
the Lord’s Supper in the Roman Catholic
Church is not so much in the administration of
the sacrament itself. His critique is primarily
concerned with the false authority that the
church places on its pyramidic structure of
authority. For Luther, the root issue was
apostolic succession. Apostles were elected by
God, whereas bishops are appointed by man.
According to Luther Apostles never had
“supremacy” over each other, one another and
neither should priests, especially over the
church and the sacrament.
As for the administration of the sacrament
itself, Luther takes issue with “elevation,” at
which point the body and blood of Christ is
transubstantiated through the priests words
“hoc est corpus meum” (“this is my body”).
Luther calls this doctrine “mere idolatry.”
Luther still believed Christ’s presence is
somehow in the elements, but not because of
the priest’s words. It is rather through Christ’s
word and institution that he is present in the
bread and cup. Therefore, Luther fights
against the meaning behind the practice, while
not finding it necessary to change the tradition
itself. And James Pruch would write thus,
“This immediately gets the modern
evangelical’s blood boiling. Jesus literally in
the bread and cup! No! It is true, for Luther
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does not dispute the fact that Christ is
somehow present in the elements; it is simply
not the priest’s words that cause Christ’s
presence to be there. Luther believes that
Jesus body and blood are in the “present
administering, although they may be
understood as fulfilled on the cross.”7Unlike
the Catholic priests, who believed that the
Lord’s Supper gave grace through performing
the act, Luther held that it was for “the
strengthening of our faith, not doubting that
Christ’s body and blood were given and shed
for us, and that our sins by Christ’s death
certainly are forgiven.” In short, Luther
believed that the fruit of the sacrament was the
assurance of forgiveness. He did not believe
the sacrament was the cause of grace.”8
Scott H. Hendrix states it this way “For
Luther, the Lord’s supper was not sacrificial
but sacramental, that is not an offering to God
but God’s gift to the recipient” “Luther and
other Protestants made profound changes to
the way it was celebrated. First, the Mas of
Protestant communion service was celebrated
in the vernacular instead of Latin. Second, the
long prayer that accompanied the offering of
elements was replaced by the simple words of
7
https://jamespruch.com/09/02/2021/martin-luther-and-the-
lords-supper/
8
https://jamespruch.com/09/02/2021/martin-luther-and-the-
lords-supper/
Jesus at the Last supper (words of institution):
“This is my body given for you; this cup is the
new covenant in my blood shed for you and
for all people for the forgiveness of sins.’
Third, in accord with these words and the
pattern of the Last supper, wine was not
reserved for the priest but given after the
bread to the laity who presented themselves.
This reception of either element (or both
‘kinds’) was the most moving alteration for
some laypeople who took the cup, which they
had never before touched, with trembling
hands. The mass was no longer a spectacle to
be watched but a meal to be received by
hungry souls with contrition, thanksgiving,
and joy. Consequently, not everyone present
at worship was expected to receive the
sacrament, at least not in Lutheran
churches.”Luther strongly rejected the
medieval interpretation of the communion as a
repetition of the sacrifice for sin made by
Jesus on the cross, and he was angered by the
abuses, like the multiple Masses, which that
interpretation made possible.
It can be said that Martin Luther led the
movement to bring a new, biblical focus into
the Church during the reformation. The means
by which Luther ushered this new focus into
the church was the introduction of his own
reforms and liturgies that were currently being
used by the Roman Catholic Church. In this
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reform, especially in the liturgical aspect,
there are several observable principles by
which Luther operated. First, Luther operated
with caution, attempting to keep the changes
respectful and gradual. Second, the changes
were based primarily on what he believed the
teachings of Scripture dictated. Third, Luther
was purposeful in making the Word of God
available to the common man, when before it
had only been available to the clergy. Fourth,
Luther sought to make the Word of God
central to the worship service, hoping to
eliminate all extraneous and erroneous
practices in the process.