Martin Luther's On Christian Liberty

Martin Luther's "The Freedom of a Christian" discusses an in-depth look into the Christian faith, God's work in each individual. Refusing to believe in the established doctrine, Luther wrote this reforming treatise in response to Pope Leo's criticisms and to further explain the theological and ideological core of his thinking. Nevertheless, Luther centered his ideas around the concept that the joys and freedoms of a Christian were that in faith; humans, as sinners, should not look at ourselves, but instead at God's goodness. He goes on to elaborate that through the justification by faith, humans grasp the meaning of a whole Christian life. Throughout "The Freedom of a Christian", Luther expands on the threefold power of faith: faith frees

Luther also came to understand faith as God’s merciful gift by which we receive the further gift of justification, in contrast to all human efforts to merit or earn God’s favor. As a way of insisting that human beings contribute nothing of their own to justification, Luther insisted that man is justified by "faith alone."

Rotten. Exploitive. Faithless. The Roman Catholic church was seen as corrupt in the late fifteenth century.The populace struggled with the brazen capitalistic Roman Papacy that didn't meet the needs of its congregation. The clergy’s use of indulgences as a way to salvation lacked the piety that disciples desired. Criticism of Catholicism did not cause sweeping changes in the sixteenth century; instead, the Protestant Reformation occurred due to the confluence of events triggered by one priest, Martin Luther. (Schilling) Although some historians allege that Martin Luther’s theology was reactionary due to its roots in medieval Christianity, his beliefs that the hierarchy of the church was unnecessary and that salvation was

These two conflicting statements can stand because in the sight of God apart from the spirit in one’s own powers nothing will be achieved. Luther is trying to convey in this section that apart from the spirit your works alone will not justify you. The spirit is opposed to the works of the law and apart from the spirit people are condemned. Luther not only uses Paul’s writings to build upon his case but by looking at the book of the law (Deuteronomy) and some of Christ sayings in John; Luther is attempting to show that his argument of works outside of the spirit is meaningless. He wishes for the readers to understand that apart from the spirit of God everything that a person does is condemned no matter the works of the law that are carried out.

Martin Luther emphasizes that human will is subservient to faith “if God’s grace is wanting, if its taken away from that small power, what can it do? It is ineffective….Hence it follows that free will without God’s grace is not free at all, but is the permanent prisoner and bond slave of evil, since it cannot turn itself to good.”(Luther, 187) Man’s free will does not exist on its own with the approval and decision by God. Man is only free by God’s will, but of course when man seeks free will without the grace of God, he is considered an evil man. To Luther, the Godly man is good to his society and himself, while “the ungodly man, like Satan nor seek God, nor care for the things of God: he seeks his own riches, and glory, and works.., and power, and sovereignty” (Luther, 192) to employ it for his own peace and will not allow anyone to take away from what he gained. Luther goes into distinguishing human civil laws from the gospel. At the same time, the former restrains the evil behavior of humans, but of course it does not make them righteous. Individuals withdraw from sin, “not willing or for the love of virtue, but ..fear the prison, the sword, and the hangman (Luther, 139) while

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,

The battle for liberty has been fought on different scales with the beginning of thousands of revolutions in the history. The ideal liberty is an ultimate goal that inflames the minds of many people who yearn for individual freedom. In all these struggles, the definition of liberty is not the same for different people. According to the text, “the idea of liberty has played a powerful role in the history of Western society and culture, but the meaning and understanding of liberty has undergone continual change and interpretation.” For example in the Roman world, liberty meant the condition of being a free man. In the Middle Ages, liberty meant having special privileges or rights. However, the idea of liberty under religious dimension was rather new. Martin Luther King had interpreted another important foundation of liberty in his treatise On Christian Liberty: the important of faith and Scripture to Christian life.

There was an argument between two great scholars, Robert Kolb and Hans Kung on whether Martin Luther’s reform improved the lives of European Christians. Kolb agreed that martin Luther made a positive impact on European Christians and he concluded that Luther was a prophetic hero, teacher and that Luther brought change and hope to the people. Kung on the other hand believes that Luther was a great orchestrator of change in the Christian church but also an indirect instigator of the violence and oppression that erupted among the people. In other words Luther had some positive effects but left more negative consequences on the people. This essay’s main focus is to identify which argument appears to be more convincing and persuasive but for

“A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.” This paradox is the basis of Luther’s concept on Christian freedom. For Luther, his reform freed Christians two fold. Christians were free from false assumptions about salvation and from the commandments of the Old Testament. To Luther, God alone could grant salvation. Despite this freedom, Christians still had to obey earthly laws. The differences of spiritual and temporal freedom seemed contradictory but for Luther it was clear that faith would free the Christian soul. Luther defined freedom for a Christian as freedom through faith. Salvation was granted by God alone. However their flesh was still bound

Prior to his new understanding of God’s righteousness Luther hated God because he did not know the love of God, he only knew the judging angry God. Luther did not understand how an angry God could be righteous. Consequently, Luther had been taught that, “God is righteous and punishes the unrighteous sinner”. As a result, he believed there was no way for sinners to be justified by God. Luther felt crushed by the Mosaic Law and threatened with God’s righteousness and wrath by the gospel. However, through his studies and meditations Luther came to understand the true meaning of the phrase “righteousness of God”. He described his new understanding to be “the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God, namely by faith.” In other words, the righteousness of God is a gift from God to those who live by faith. Accordingly, Luther felt born again. He found a new relationship with God and the Scriptures. In the light of his new views, Luther was conflicted by the Roman Catholic Church teachings on penance and righteousness. As a result, Luther developed his own doctrine of justification based on

Martin Luther had written a series of pamphlets explaining his position and in these, he articulated three "Protestant Principles". The first, as I mentioned earlier, was that salvation is by faith alone. The second was that the Bible is the primary authority a Christian must obey. Not the pope or the tradition of the church. and the third was that every Christian has a direct relationship with God and that they don 't need the church or priests to act as mediators (Frankforter, pg. 384). These words, written by Martin Luther will later reverberate in

"Is not such a soul most obedient to God in all things by this faith? ...What more complete fulfillment is there than obedience in all things? This obedience, however, is not rendered by works but by faith alone." (Luther page 13) In this passage Luther is explaining the inner man versus the outer man. He is showing that if you trust and believe in God then he will never steer you wrong but if you don't then, "what greater wickedness, what greater contempt of God is there than not believing his promise...but to make God a liar or to doubt that he is truthful? That is to ascribe truthfulness to one's self but lying and vanity in God?"

This teaching has impacted Christianity in history through the lives of individuals but most significantly through the Reformation of the 16th Century. Martin Luther was strongly convicted on this issue, seeing it as the epitome of Paul’s teachings. Because Luther stood for this issue unfalteringly, he was persecuted and excommunicated. He and his followers formed the Protestant Church, turning away from Catholicism in disgust at their practices of indulgences to gain salvation, making his mantra, “the just shall live by faith.” (Hab. 2:4, Rom. 1:17) This was scripture that Paul had restated in his most famous and complete theological epistle, Romans. This influence of Paul brought about conflict, but also good and freedom, and a new expression of Christianity.

For this essay, I chose the 95 Theses by Martin Luther as my primary source. This primary source is a historical document that cause major uproars throughout Europe. The 95 Theses were written by Martin Luther in October of 1517. The 95 Theses were ninety-five statements written by Martin Luther in opposition to the Roman Catholic Church. They challenged the common practices of the Catholic Church, including indulgences and the authority of the pope. The 95 Theses sparked a theological debate that fueled the Reformation in Europe. I chose this primary source, because I feel like this is one of the most important and most well-known documents in history. In our class, reformation Europe, this is a great document because this document played

Martin Luther (November 10, 1483 - February 18, 1546) was a Christian theologian, Augustinian monk, professor, pastor, and church reformer whose teachings inspired the Lutheran Reformation and deeply influenced the doctrines of Protestant and other Christian traditions. Luther began the Protestant Reformation with the publication of his Ninety-Five Theses on October 31, 1517. In this publication, he attacked the Church's sale of indulgences. He advocated a theology that rested on God's gracious activity in Jesus Christ, rather than in human works. Nearly all Protestants trace their history back to Luther in one way or another. Luther's relationship to philosophy is complex and should not be judged only by his famous