Martin Luther: The Reformation

Luther spent his early life as an Augustinian monk. He struggled greatly with the concept of sin and was constantly trying to rid himself of it. Luther joined the University of Wittenburg in 1508 as part of the faculty of Theology. It was here that his thoughts became clearer as he lectured to pupils. On reading St. Paul’s epistle to the Romans this sentence jumped out at him, ” He who through faith is righteous shall live”. Luther developed the central doctrine of Protestantism. He believed that faith alone, ‘Sola fide’ was the only means of justification. He believed no good works or human effort could make any difference as faith was the gift of God.

In 1517 Martin Luther wrote his 95 Theses attacking the sale of indulgences by the Church. Indulgences were holy items that would rescue your soul or the soul of a loved one from Purgatory. These cost money and Luther believed that this was a public scandal. Johan Tetzel was a Dominican preacher who appeared on the borders of Saxony selling indulgences. Tetzel had a chant, “as soon as the gold in the basin rings, then the soul to heaven springs”. Luther had many grievances with the work he did.

The impact of the 95 theses was immediate. Due to the recently introduced printing press Luther’s word was able to spread quickly. Luther’s message was a threat to the Church as a whole. The Church in Rome needed to put a stop to his teachings before their revenue from indulgences was cut off and before people started to question the fundamental doctrine of the Church.

Luther had support from the start. He firstly won over the support of some of the monks from his order. Also Frederick the Elector of Saxony was proud of his University and was not going to stand by and watch one of its professors suppressed.

Luther was summonsed to Augsburg in 1518 to meet with Cardinal Cajetan (the Pope’s ambassador in Germany). Cajetan reminded him of the dangers of opposing the Pope and being judged a Heretic. Luther refused to go back on his words and defied Cajetan.

Other factors meant that Luther suffered no strong opposition at this stage. In 1519 the Emperor Maximillian died. Pope Leo X did not want his grandson Charles to take over and so needed to secure votes against him. In order to win favour he sent a golden rose to the Elector Frederick and did not mention the Luther problem.