Martin Luther And The Reformation Of The Medieval Christian Church

Martin Luther is known as the man who fought the Catholic church. The man who exposed the church of committing unjust practices. The man who kick started the protestant reformation. The man who founded the Lutheran church. Martin Luther was many things, but he was not the man who planned to destroy Catholicism. The Reformation changed the religious climate in Europe by introducing ideas that were the basis of the modern-day Lutheranism.

He always felt that he did not do enough to receive salvation. He felt unworthy of receiving salvation and this left him unsure of his afterlife. He looked for ways to prove his worthiness to the Lord. He thought that no mere mortal could approach the majesty and holiness of God. There for he thought one couldn’t obtain salvation from doing many good works, but rather through faith in the almighty. This revelation of Luther’s gave him great relief. It told him that the God freely gives people his grace if only one has faith. So Luther stopped worrying about doing penance for his sins. He came to an understanding of salvation called “justification by faith';. As he meditated on his new philosophy he thought of all the ideas that would later pit him against the Catholic Church.

As a young man Luther struggled with his conscious and finding peace with God. During some very difficult years while living in the monastery he would discover that the more he tried to do for God, the more he became aware of his own sinfulness. However, he would get the opportunity to study the Bible as a professor of Biblical Theology at the University of Wittenberg. It was there, while studying the bible over several years, that he would conclude that there was nothing he could do to obtain Salvation through the rules of monastic life, works of men, or by anything other than the Scriptures alone by Grace through Faith alone. He now understood saving faith based on the promises of God found in the Word of God. The free Grace of God for sinners was the revived message that Luther and the Reformers stressed to anyone who would listen. Luther made it clear that it was a falsehood to believe that only the the pope may interpret scripture, but rather the whole community should be able to interpret scripture. A message that was welcomed and readily accepted by

I think the Roman Catholic teaching struck a much deeper chord in Luther. We all long for the affirmation of our fathers. We also have a deep need for acceptance by our Heavenly Father.

Martin Luther, born into the Catholic Church in 1483, is considered to be the father of Protestantism. 1 Luther was a devout man who dedicated himself to the study of the bible; in addition to being a Professor of Biblical Studies at the University of Wittenberg, he was also a priest and a monk. He spent a lot of his time focusing on what one could do to earn eternal salvation as it was written about in the Bible. This was especially troubling to him given the actions of his colleagues at the University of Wittenberg and his fellow priests and monks. He felt the actions of many of those in the Church that he loved were both immoral and corrupt, and especially in the midst of his own struggles with the idea of salvation, these actions troubled him deeply. 2

Martin Luther is the main cause of the Protestant Reformation. When he was born in Germany during 1493 (Medieval-life-and-time.info) he had no idea that he would one day become a monk and then go on to become a professor, according to his family he was destined to become a lawyer (biography.com). But it was not until later on that he came upon a verse from the Bible saying “ The just will live by faith” (biography.com) he then later came to the understanding that this meant “The key to spiritual salvation was not to fear god or be enslaved by religious dogma but to believe that faith alone would bring salvation” (biography.com). In modern day words this means that the people should not fear god, but put trust in him/her that he/she has a good life

In 1505, Luther went through some life changing experiences which led him on a new course. He got caught in a storm where he plead out to St. Anne, "Save me, St. Anne, and I have become a monk." Moments after, the stormed calmed and he was then saved. Historians believe this caused an idea to formulate in his mind.

Martin Luther was born on November 10, 1483 in Eisleben, Saxony, and was then part of the Holy Roman Empire, and was baptized as a Catholic. His father was a leaseholder of copper mines, and smelters, his mother was a hard-working woman, and he had a few siblings. Martin Luther later became a monk, (A monk is a man who lives under obedience.) Martin read the Bible and saw that the only way to get saved was by faith not by indulgence. (Indulgences were something that are supposed to pay off in order to get into heaven.) In 1517, Martin Luther wrote a document about the Catholic church’s practice, and is one of the most influential figures in western history. The church was selling “indulgences” to resolve sin. Indulgences were wrong because that was not the way to get into heaven, and the money was going to the church, and so the church was getting rich off of people who were afraid of not going to heaven.

Martin Luther has been called the reformer of the Christian church. When googeling his name and the word reformist the hits on the Internet show over 90 000. When googeling his name and the word revolutionary the hits show just over 12 000. When reading about him, he is mainly described as a priest, monk and theologist, and as someone who initiated the reformation of the Christian church. Yes, he did start the process of reformation of the Christian church, but the changes that occured during his lifetime were revolutionary. The later changes in the Protestant church, or fine tuning of the changes, were reformation.

The Protestant Reformation affected religious life in the early 15th century. It was a movement that reformed the beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. At the time, the church was viewed as a wealthy and powerful institution that was practicing many corrupt ideas such as selling indulgences. Indulgences were letters of forgiveness for one’s sin. This sparked anger causing priests to revolt by calling for reforms to take place. A German priest and monk, Martin Luther became a leader throughout the Protestant Reformation. Luther among his followers known as Protestants protested against the church. Acting on his belief, Luther wrote his “95 theses” to express his questions and concerns against the church. He posted his list on the door of the Wittenberg church, the catholic church reacted by telling him to take his theses back, and recant. But, he refused and his ideas were spread throughout the printing press. He wanted Christians to believe the truth found within the bible. Luther believed that Christians could reach salvation by having faith in God. He disagreed with the thought that the pope or other priests had any special powers, including the forgiveness of sins. Everyone began to acknowledge the truth; no longer did they have to believe in corrupt ideas. Individuals gained a voice in society and could now reject any corrupt moral. As stated by Alec Ryrie “Protestantism has given us not a paradise of free speech, but an open-ended, undisciplined argument. It has continuously generated new ideas, revived old ones and questioned its own orthodoxies.” The Protestant Reformation lead individuals to question the Catholic church and seek for information. They were no longer blindfolded; the bible became available to ordinary people to read in their own language. However, Martin Luther wasn’t the only reformer. John Calvin became a reformer that believed and promoted the idea of predestination. Predestination is seen as the belief that certain people were chosen by God for salvation. As the reformation proceeded, his followers believed they were predestined for heaven. According to Ryrie, “To take the iconic example: slavery, which for centuries Christians had assumed was a necessary evil or

In the Middle Ages the Catholic Church teachings were based on the premise that salvation was only possible through “good works,” or works of righteousness that pleased God. Luther came to share Augustine’s two central beliefs, which would later became the foundation of Protestantism.

At the beginning of the reformation, the viewpoint that started to develop was that anything which was not included in the bible could be regarded as insignificant and therefore permissible. For example, he noted that there was nothing in Scripture requiring celibacy and therefore permitted, in fact it is encouraged that preachers are married so that they aren’t tempted by sin. During the Reformation more emphasis was placed on the individual and the church’s interpretation was starting to be questioned. Luther describes in his Preface to the First Volume of His Latin Writings how he came up with his “solas” of salvation by soteriology by reading a sentence from the Bible. “‘In it the righteousness of God is revealed’ that had stood in my way. For I hated that word “righteousness of God,” which, according to the use and custom of all the teachers, I had been thought to understand philosophically…with which God is righteous and punishes the unrighteous sinner” (Hillerbrand 29). He had determined that people could not be saved by good deeds or sacraments but by “faith alone” or Sola fide. This meant that followers rejected some of the traditional teachings of the Church and resulted in a theological dispute with the Church. Furthermore, Luther thought of Scripture being divided into two parts “…that faith alone, without works, justifies, frees and saves; …Scripture is divided

Martin Luther lived during a time when the Catholic Church dominated mainstream Christianity. He was a former Monk and priest. Luther was educated at the University of Erfurt. He use to work tirelessly in the church. He was born and educated. Luther rejected several teachings of the Catholic Church. He addressed his concerns with the church by nailing his ninety-five point theses to the door of Pope Leo X. Luther was big on salvation by faith alone. He also spoke out against the sales of indulgences by the church. Luther wrote, “Although indulgences are the very merits of Christ and of His saints and so should be treated with all reverence, they have in fact nonetheless become a shocking exercise of greed. For who actually seeks the salvation of souls through indulgences, and not instead money for his coffers? This is evident from the way indulgences are preached. For the commissioners and preachers do nothing but extol indulgences and incite the people to contribute. You hear no one instructing the people about what indulgences are, or about how much they grant, or about the purpose they serve. Instead, all you hear is how much one must contribute. The people are always left in ignorance, so that they come to think that by gaining indulgences they are at once saved. He also made it clear that you cannot earn salvation by works. The Catholic Church was teaching doctrines that contradicted what the bible was saying. The Pope was displeased at Luther’s challenge. Luther’s

The very essence of Luther’s teachings created a cultural canvas that allowed more complex ideas to develop in the stead of medieval society. The Middle Ages had a society that

Martin Luther was born on November 10, 1483 into a peasant household. Luther at a young age attended school at a church where he grew up and was baptized. At this school he studied Latin, religious education, ten commandments, the Lord’s Prayer, and the children’s creed. When Luther got a little older his parents sent him to a monastery to continue his education. After the monetary he continued his education at Eisenach where he excelled and rose to the top of his class. He was very smart so he was able to move on to Erfurt where he could study law. His parents hoped that with this high up in society profession that he would be able to get out from under the peasantry life. At Erfurt he received his bachelors in 1502 and his masters in 1505. Both would prepare him for studying law and a doctorate in jurisprudence.