Martin Luther's Indulgence Controversy: Early Fifteenth Century

In reason number six of Lutzer book Seven Reasons Why You Can Trust The Bible, he points out to the fact that “The Scriptures are said to be “God’s-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16 NIV). Neither church councils nor “words of Knowledge” are said to have that authority”. In 2 Timothy 3:16-17 Paul advices Timothy about the source and authority of Scripture, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work”. Sola scriptura, “the Scriptures alone”, is above traditions or any “religious interpretation”. The Church of God has been called to teach accurately the Truth revealed in the Scriptures. Lutzer exposes that, for instance, “Catholicism teaches the primacy of the church over the canon of Scripture; it believes that the official church is just as infallible as the Bible”. According to this point of view “the church”, which is composed by popes and councils, determined which books are in the bible (p. 155).

In the early sixteenth century, the Protestant Reformation was started by Martin Luther. Martin Luther was not happy with the Catholic Church and wanted a reformation. What really angered Luther was the selling of indulgences. “Indulgences” was sold whenever a relative of a person died. If the person that died did not live a good life, that meant a relative could go to the church and could pay to have the their relative’s purgatory cut short. Luther was not happy with these practices. Luther strongly believed that one lived a life of humility in order to receive God’s grace. He was so angered that on October 31, 1517, he sent a list of “Ninety - Five Theses” to his church superiors. The Ninety - Five These were statements that were meant to defend and to dispute the abuse of indulgences. Luther hammered his theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg.

One major difference between Martin Luther’s excerpt and Pope Leo’s excerpt was the focus of the message. Luther’s concern was righting a wrong, which the Church has done, and Pope Leo’s concern was trying to prove that he was wrong. Leo was very defensive in his argument, and was set on trying to prove that he was wrong. He acted as though the Church was being randomly attacked for something that they never did, which was in fact wrong. Even though he was not talking about the indulgences, Leo did agree that there were some ‘diverse errors’ in the Church, but that they were taken care of and condemned.

The Reformation started with the ideas and concepts of Martin Luther, all explained in his Ninety-Five Theses. Luther believed that God’s gift of faith was freely given to the unworthy, and the righteousness is passive and is not active or based on our good works or deeds. These ideas clashed with the Roman Church, which in turn created the “Indulgence Controversy.” To raise money to help rebuild St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Pope Leo X issued the offer of indulgences as a penance for parishioners to buy. This penance acted as a way to pay as a remission of temporal punishment due to the sins of the person whose guilt has already been forgiven. Luther caught wind of the issue of indulgences happening within his own church and went ballistic

At the time Luther wrote the “95 Theses on the Power of Indulgences” he presumed that reforms could still be made by the Pope and the church's hierarchy; however, after Luther received the papal bull excommunicating him, Luther’s ideology became diametrically opposed to the pope and the whole Roman Catholic structure (shilling 142). This break was a defining time

Religion is the most important aspect of many people’s lives, serving as a roadmap to live virtuously while promising eternal life and salvation. In his work On Christian Liberty, Martin Luther writes on what it means to truly be Christian and how to achieve salvation. Luther discusses many aspects of Christian faith, including the difference between the inner person and outer man, the effect of works on salvation, the marriage with Jesus as a result of faith, how individuals should act towards others, and the important notion of Christian liberty that arises because of one’s faith. Luther’s ideas were highly controversial at the time as many of them opposed the thinking of the Catholic Church, one of the most powerful institutions in the world.

Scripture, the saving revelation of God in Jesus Christ, addresses us with full divine authority in its total extent and in all its parts, and therefore the CRC speaks of the Bible as the inspired and infallible Word of God.

I found the early Church writings interesting, because it gave me a clearer understanding of the lattice weaving between the scriptures, catechetical manuals, witness statements, and liturgical guides working together supporting each other within the Catholic Church. After the fall of Jerusalem 70AD, the Holy Spirit was obviously present for the Jewish rabbis to meet and agree on what Old Testament books would be considered Sacred Scripture: The Law, or Torah is the first five books of the Bible, the historical books, the Prophets, and the Writings. Because by the second century the Church found itself being challenged by Marcion own interpretation of God goes against the dogma of the Church therefore, twenty seven New Testament biblical books

In doing so, we can discover that final authority is not in and of scripture itself but of the Triune God who is the Author of scripture. The second obstacle to consider is that many have dismissed scripture as a book of Israelitic & Christian stories. Wright contends that these stories are told to inform us of “internal dynamics” of the past so as to engage us in the present for transformation into Christ-likeness. (p.25). Thirdly, Wright asserts that the question of scripture’s authority should not be viewed as a list of rules where God condescends to man. Rather, scripture should be received as God’s purpose to save and renew the entire world by authorizing the church—God’s agent in the world—with His mission through the work of the Holy Spirit. Thus, it is imperative that biblical scholars “see the role of scripture not simply as being [informative about or revelatory of God’s truth] but as a means of God’s action in and through us.” (p.28)

This form of criticism, however, works under the assumption that the biblical texts were created, transmitted, reworked and preserved in communities where they are authoritative. Another assumption is that this criticism includes study of how the texts functioned in believing communities. Therefore, Canonical Criticism focuses on the communities that found these texts authoritative and how they functioned and shaped the traditions of that time. This criticism has shaped my perception of biblical interpretation by demonstrating that not only are the writings important in gaining insight into text, but also is examining why faith communities found the text authoritative. Along with considering their cultures, Canonical Criticism helps explain why the scriptures are canon and gives insight into the communities, how they interpreted the text, and the text’s function in society. Pertaining to biblical interpretation, Canonical Criticism offers insight into the text that looks beyond the text into its function in believing communities during its creation and by examining that relationship, one is able to gain a better understanding of why texts are considered inspired and others are

This is because I believe God knew the importance of his holy book, and I believe He would not leave it to be corrupted by humans. I believe His word is living and breathing, and His sovereign hand was over the process of the canonization. It is comforting to know that the people at the council took time to fast and pray to the Lord before just throwing together the documents. The early Churches did not even have all the scriptures, as many were being written at that time, but took a long time to collect and copy parts of the Gospel and Paul’s letters. Though it did a long time to complete I am glad that many fellow believers set a canonical standard. I also believe that this was a process foreshadowed in the ending passages of Revelation as it says that “And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll” (Revelation

I) We unequivocally acknowledge the Christian Bible as the inspired-written Word of the living God given to humanity by way of dual authorship human and Divine for the purpose of revealing God the Father and His will for humankind; therefore comprehending the Godly priority and importance of knowing and obeying its truths; we are passionately committed to teaching Scripture in truth with clarity and do diligence under the anointing and the illuminating light of the Holy Spirit with the divine authority of the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior

Ridderbos’ had to defend against common fallacies of his time. This meant disproving the subjective interpretations, popular existential thought, and canon hermeneutics based on historical investigation. To have an objective, unchanging, non existential Scripture we cannot use any external metric upon the canon. This includes granting validation from experiences of believers as a measure. Ridderbos defines redemptive history and Scripture as the only rules or measures. Next, Ridderbos illustrates how the commissioning of the apostles is redemptive history, being sent by and with the Holy Spirit. The apostles had exclusive unrepeatable authority from Christ by which they performed the writing of the canon with the subsequent formation and closing of the canon. Misinformed individuals may think that the church received and approved the canon. The canon proved itself and forced the churches worldwide to accept it, this was not without struggle between accepting books of the canon and those churches that accepted them first. Ecclesiastical authority is the

During the early history of the church, there was no such thing as a New Testament “canon.” The selection of books that were to be included or excluded from the texts used by the church was the responsibility of each individual church body, and thus varied greatly from location to location. Because there was no canon – (books considered

To begin our research, it is important to understand and define some of the terms that are displayed throughout the text. First off, the origin of the word “canon” comes from the Latin word canon. This was originally from the Greek word kanon. When translated into English this word is referred to as a “standard” or type of “rule” that is found in 2 Corinthians 10:13 and again in Galatians 6:16. It is important to note that when Paul is writing, he is not referring to the canon of Scripture. This word came into be for the canon of scripture at a much later date when the Christian church called “kanon” stood for the rule of faith and revealed truth. In the fourth century, the church referred to the Scriptures of both the Old Testaments and the