Martin Luther Faith Alone Is The Saving And Efficacious Use Of The Word Of God

In document seven, Martin Luther criticizes the pope and the Church for their use of indulgences. Luther claims that people are falsely being forgiven for their sins with the use of money. He thinks this is teaching the false doctrine of money being more important than ethics. People should be forgiven by God, not by money, and should do so through helping the needy instead of buying the indulgences.

Luther stated in his Ninety-Five Theses, “If remission of all penalties whatsoever could be granted to anyone at all, certainly it would be granted only to the most perfect, that is, to very few,” (Document A). Luther was trying to say, all citizen could receive an Indulgence, however people would have to pay a great amount of money, but only the most perfect people will become granted. Luther also gave a sermon in Erfurt, Germany, in which he said, “But the papal dominion treats us altogether differently. It makes rules about fasting, praying, and butter-eating, so whoever keeps the commandments of the pope will be saved and whoever does not keep them belongs to the devil,” (Document B). This means if anyone does not follow the commandments made by the pope they shall go to hell.

Galileo’s Dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems uses powerful logic and simply described concepts to overcome the Aristotelian bias of the populous and argue in favor of Copernicus’ heliocentric view of the universe. Copernicus theorized that the earth, along with the other planets in the sky, is in motion around the sun. The Aristotelian’s geocentric worldview, that the earth is the motionless center of the universe, was deeply ingrained into the minds of the people and the teachings of the church. Galileo’s argument had to be not only incisive and logical to have any sway, but it also had to avoid offending or denying the ancient principles of thought proposed by Aristotle. He walked this delicate line between educating the public and

By drawing assurance that faith frees from the law, Luther discusses God’s promises to “fulfill the law” through “believ[ing] in Christ” (Luther 2003). Similar to how good works do not justify righteousness, the law is not established through justification. On the contrary, the law does the opposite of justify; it is a prison to those who have not yet obtained grace. In this prison, humans tend to stay in the confinements of the cell in fear of the law; their obedience is inspired by fear. What kind of righteousness is expected to be obtained by only obeying in fear of punishment? Luther explains that those who strictly follow the law this way will eventually fail (Luther 2003). Yet, it is through faith in God that one can rely on His promises “to fulfill the law and not covet” (Luther 2003). However, Luther uses this concept to warn those who do not believe that they will not "fulfill all the works of the law" (Luther 2003). Through Christ, Luther corrected this misconception by believing that humans can be freed from the law only through a strong bond to faith.

Prior to Galileo’s time, the Greek and medieval mind, science was a kind of formalism, a means of coordinating data, which had no bearing on the ultimate reality of things. The point was to give order to complicated data, and all that mattered was the hypothesis that was simplest to understand and most convenient. Astronomy and mathematics were regarded as the playthings of intellectuals. They were accounted as having neither philosophical nor theological relevance. There was genuine puzzlement among Churchmen that they had to get involved in a quarrel over planetary orbits.

In concordance with Christian doctrines, this system implies that heaven and the throne of God lie beyond the tenth sphere. On the other hand, during the first half of the 16th century, Polish cleric Copernicus developed an astronomical model which positions the motionless Sun at the center of the universe, with the Earth, the moon, and six other planets revolving at a constant speed around it. He argues that all stars were at rest and that their nightly movements are simply indications of the earth’s rotation. However, members of the Church, especially Protestants, who interpreted the Bible literally, refused to grant Copernicus credit for his theory. Nevertheless, once released among the population, the Copernican theory raised support from various scholars, a few of whom, such as Brahe, Kepler, and Galileo, went on to dedicate their career to solidify its legitimacy. With their use of mathematical reasoning, instead of antic philosophy, the Copernican theory finally became justified among the population. Pertaining to its influence among laypeople, the Copernican theory raised various questions against the

Martin Luther was eager to change the Roman Catholic Church since his beliefs clashed with the church’s practices. He proclaimed that salvation of the soul will come about because of the genuine confidence in God, not simply great deeds. Martin Luther also firmly hated the demonstration of conceding and offering indulgences since he felt that forgiveness came from that person and God.

This fundamental difference from the Catholic dogma that one could buy salvation to Luther’s new ideas as way to Heaven began to transform many people’s beliefs. Supporters of Luther adopted the concept of faith and knowledge of God as a way to repent their sins, and eventually, it reshaped the Christian culture. As Luther personally struggled to be a “perfect” monk, he discovered that faith in the gospel was the only way to be “made righteous by God”(roper 78). In response to his distress for his laity’s desire to buy indulgences, Luther wrote the “95 Theses on the Power of Indulgences.” He knew he was attacking the pope and the values of the church, but records show that he felt “...not fully in control of his actions, but handed over responsibility to a higher power”(84 roper). Cleary, Luther felt a spiritual connection with God and indulgences were in direct opposition to faith. His revolutionary claims in the “95 Theses on the Power of Indulgences” caused a conflict that would eventually be known as the Protestant Reformation.

Luther had a very strong belief that salvation comes from faith alone. All that is needed to be justified in front of God is to have faith. Michael M. Ramos writes “Martin Luther believed that salvation depends not on human effort or merit but only on the freely given grace of God, which is accepted in faith” (35). Luther believes that first God extends grace, which is the death of Jesus and the sending of the Holy Spirit. God reaches out to man and offers grace. The grace is not because humans deserve it from merit or human accomplishments. God extends grace because he is a righteous God. Now the only thing that humans must do to be justified

In Sidereus Nuncius, otherwise known as Starry Messenger, author Galileo Galilei gives a detailed overview of his scientific breakthrough involving spyglasses, mathematics, astronomy, and other academic subjects. Throughout the text, he repeatedly shatters all pervious ideas about the world. He theorized things about planets, orbits, stars, and the heavens, that were, at the time, fundamentally unthinkable. Because Galileo’s research had caused such a societal uproar, people all over were theorizing and hypothesizing about the world and what they did and did not know. One of these people just so happened to be, Johannes Kepler. Kepler, one of Galileo’s many supporters, was said to have gone off on tangents about Galileo’s work, coming up with

Earth rotating at the center of the universe. He also dismisses the idea of an orbital

How Luther understands the righteousness of God was that he remembered reading the Bible in the Book of Romans when the Apostle Paul talked about the righteousness of God. He felt that God is righteous and punishes the unrighteous sinners. Since he lived as a monk he felt that a sinner before God with a conscience he couldn’t believe it for his satisfaction. He hated the righteous God who punishes sinners. He felt that God could accept only righteous people, but people can try so hard to be and live righteous that they might and never become righteous through their efforts. He felt that the law given by God only seemed to heightened the awareness that they can’t live up to the standard of the law expected by God. God’s righteous he feels only

Ptolemy, a Roman astronomer came up with the theory that the universe revolved around Earth and all the creatures inhabiting it (Doc. C). This theory, The Geocentric Universe of Ptolemy, was adjusted by most of the people during The Middle Ages. However, much later on, Nicolaus Copernicus, a Polish astronomer, disagreed with Ptolemy’s theory. With his use of math and reason, he came up with a new theory called The Heliocentric Universe of Copernicus (Doc. C). He said that the universe & Earth itself revolves around the sun. The Church denied this theory because they did not want to be proven wrong. If the Church was wrong about this part of the universe, this would then cause man to wonder what else they could be wrong about, or even lied to them about. This new theory taught men to think for themselves and not to rely on the Church for

The Catholic Church played an important role at the time when all the works in which the movement of the earth was admitted, Catholics were forbidden to teach, and even read, the Copernican theories. The “Copernican Theory” modeled some problems of enormous importance for Christian’s obviously theological nature. Leaders like Martin Luther and John Calvin told us that Scripture brandished against Nicolaus Copernicus and provoked repression against its followers, but generally abandon the fight Protestantism once the “Theories of Copernicus” were confirmed with indisputable evidence. In this paper, I will first evaluate the history about how “Copernican Theory” and its model of the earth came into existence. I will also analyze the “Copernican Theory” in light of Churches idea of the earth being flat. I will ultimately argue that Nicolaus Copernicus played an important role in the history of Philosophy of Science.

Martin Luther lived to serve God and the world, but his most prominent Christian values and beliefs revolve around the importance of faith. Luther single-handedly brought the importance of faith and its relationship with salvation to the forefront of Christian debate and discussion. Martin Luther addresses the issue of people and their faith in his pamphlet, On the Freedom of a Christian, when he proclaims that faith is perceived to many as an easy concept to understand. According to Luther, faith is the single most essential subject pertaining to Christianity and the purpose of the Church. In Luther’s time, the Church spoke to the issue of salvation and responded by declaring that buying an indulgence was by far the best method for assuring entry into Heaven. However, Luther soon replied to this testimony when he argued that the only unquestionable way for one to obtain salvation is through faith alone. The concept of faith being the only thing humans need in order to obtain salvation is the most prominent and essential belief central to Martin Luther’s theory of Christianity.