Martin Luther Justification By Faith

Luther struggled with his religion while Catholic, but then he came to believe that the Church should be more based on scripture.   During his intense bible study, he came to the conclusion that due to Jesus dying on the cross, everybody had been saved.   By this standard, the good works emphasized by the Church were meaningless.

Luther downplays the importance of "works" in the justification of man and instead emphasizes the place of faith and the grace that goes with it: "For the word of God cannot be received and honoured by any works,

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.

Martin Luther was a Monk, Priest and Theologian born in late 1483 in the German town of Eisleben. His father owned a copper mine and had always wished for his son to go into civil service. When Luther was seventeen he arrived at the University of Erfurt. By 1502, Luther had already received his bachelor’s degree and by 1505 he had a Master’s degree. The same year, while returning to University, he was caught in a tremendous thunderstorm. A lightening bolt struck near him and terrified, he cried out, "Help, St. Anne! I'll become a monk!”. Luther lived, and keeping to his promise, he dropped out of university and entered the monastery.

Marin Luther, regardless of his intentions, is one of the most controversial men in all of Christian history. The growth of Martin Luther and essentially the whole Protestant Revolution begins by Luther walking in a storm and getting struck by lightning. At this time, he prays out to the saints in hopes that he will be saved; he promises them that if they save him, he will stop everything a become a monk. Luther is saved and does just that, he quit studying law and took his vows, and he began studying the bible as a monk. While studying the bible, Luther comes across a line in Romans 1:17 stating, “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’” Luther’s interpretation of this is that no amount of pilgrimages, relics, or good deeds will save someone, what will save that person is his or her faith. At the same time that Luther comes to this conclusion, indulgences are being sold. An indulgence is a ticket to heaven which cleanses a person of all sins. A person pays for this certificate, which typically cost half a year’s earnings, and this will shorten the time in purgatory before going to heaven. The idea of what happened after death terrified some people so this gave those people a false sense of comfort.

Martin Luther’s three major treaties were “attempts to persuade Pope Leo X and Roman Catholics that the theology of the Reformation was not a novelty in the faith, but a pure confession of the Word of God and consistent with the truth of the Holy Scriptures” Each one focused on various practices and beliefs of the Catholic Church that Martin Luther deemed were wrong. One of Martin Luther 's three major treatises, On A Freedom of a Christian, reprimands the widely held Christian belief that good works justified our salvation. Martin Luther had hoped that his writings would educate and remind the people and religious officials that salvation stems from our faith. Faith should not be categorized as a virtue but rather a trust in God in which one builds when they encounter the trials and temptations in life. Therefore, it is the Gospel, the word of God, that sets the Christian believer free. However, this new insight had led people to believe that both faith and good works is necessary for justification. Martin Luther wanted to separate the truth from the false teachings. Therefore, Martin Luther explains that although the Christian is freed good works are still compulsory because it’s function is to help Christians discipline themselves in order to better serve the needs of their neighbor as long as they have the faith first in order for their works to be considered good and pleasing to God.

I think Luther here is speaking against a historical faith in that one can come to abtain knowledge about God and God’s law through the use of reason or through observable things. “We know what has come to pass and what was done” (LW 11:428). The risk of this, for Luther, is that faith can then be reduced down to just an intellectual activity where we can aquire information on the past events of Jesus’s life here on earth. For Luther this alone cannot save because it is yet the gospel. It only because the gospel when it grasps us(sinners) through The Word with the promise that Christ lived, died, and rose for the entire cosmos and yes this even includes a wretched sinner like me. Promise meaning things to come.

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

When Luther was a monk and was struggling to be a perfect role model, he had committed many sins. But that was no problem; because if he wanted to go to heaven, he would have to make up for all the bad things he has done by doing some good things. That troubled Luther he thought, “But how could God love such a sinner? (…) Could he really be admitted to heaven on the basis of his actions alone?” After studying the bible, Luther came to the decision that he could not get into heaven just based on his behavior.

Martin Luther grew up in Germany where as recently archaeologists have uncovered that his family upbringing was wealthier than he liked to portray (Heuer, 84 2017). Luther was no different in his youth from others of the same social class. His brother died from plague in their youth and in response he took this as a time to be upset for the loss. Away from his brother’s death Growing up Luther studied the seven liberal arts. He studied these because his plans were to become a lawyer. Based off of Luther’s own statements he was almost struck by lightning on his way back to law school in July of 1505 (Heuer, 2017 p. 84). This happening changed his life and he soon after began his life in the Augustinian Monastery.

Martin Luther lived in Germany where his father wanted him to become a lawyer.He also went on to be one of Western history’s most significant figures. Later on he became a monk.It is told that one day he was walking down the road when lighting struck a tree causing him to blow away and thats when he said that he wanted to be a monk.

DeVries argues, “It is not making ourselves righteous. It is not sanctification. It is not simply belonging to the Christian church because you profess Christ as Lord. Justification has to do with God as Judge. It is the declaration that you are free from guilt and condemnation in the sight of God. It is an anticipation of future judgment.” In his article “Justification: A Doctrine in Crisis,” Carl Henry asserts, “Justification is God’s declaration and implementation of his eternal will giving

Luther’s fundamental religious problem was, how was it possible for a despairing sinner (human) to be welcomed to a wholeheartedly just and almighty God (receiving salvation)? Proceeding to his departure with the Roman Catholic Church, Martin Luther was a Augustin monk, Catholic Priest, and instructor of theology. With this being said, his judgments were supported on the lectures of the Catholic Church; on this he was thought of as an specialist. By virtue of his strong beliefs in the religion, he chose the teachings without any doubt. Nevertheless, this all altered when Albrecht of Brandenburg obtained the archdiocese of Mainz on the foundation of a considerable loan that he planned to repay by the sale of self gratification (indulgence).

Martin Luther was born in Eisleben, Saxony which is located in Germany on November 10, 1483 (“Martin Luther- Biography”). Luther was born into humble living, with his parents were peasants. Luther’s dad was a miner and did not want his son to mine as well, so he sent Luther to school at the age of seven with hopes of him becoming a lawyer. Luther continued onto that path until he experienced a life-altering event. In 1505 Luther was caught in a thunderstorm and became so afraid he frantically prayed for mercy on his life. In his anguished prayer, he promised St. Anne (the patron Saint of miners) that he would become a monk if the storm subsided. The storm passed, and thus Luther’s journey began. Luther became a monk and spent several

Luther responds to the argument that the saints performed good works and so were counted as righteous. This, he says, precisely misses the point of the stories of the saints. People imitate their works thinking it will save them and make them righteous, yet the saints lived by humble faith. They did not think their deeds would save them, rather they had faith and the good works were an outflowing of this. Indeed, even if a person could be purified from actual sin they would not be without sin. People mistakenly think of sin as only acts of sin and so believe themselves to be perfect (142). Others are extremely zealous to be free from their sinful state, and so go to great lengths to be rid of it. However, when the grace of God does not cooperate