In Martin Luther’s Treatise on Christian Liberty, the idea of sola fide, or faith alone, is introduced and expanded upon. Luther writes that for Christians, their salvation is based on their belief in Jesus as the son of God, who came to Earth, died for our sins, and rose from the dead three days later. Having faith in Christ is what enables a person to be saved or go to heaven, according to Luther’s beliefs. A man’s works are not what earns him a ticket into heaven, rather, it is by his faith in the son of God. Does that mean that works are then not needed? In my perspective, after one professes faith in Jesus on their lips and in their heart, or as Romans 10:9 puts it, “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (ESV), then the good works will start to manifest in the new believer’s life due to the changing work of the Holy Spirit inside of him, thus demonstrating that one is saved by faith, but that works should still appear in a Christian’s life.
To start with, in the Treatise of Christian Liberty, Luther addresses this very same issue. After having stated his grounds for why salvation is by grace through faith alone, he then answers the question and statement of “If faith does all things and is alone sufficient unto righteousness, why then are good works commanded? We will take our ease and do no works
Revolutionizing the way that Christians thought about their heavenly father and their salvation. Due to sola fide, many have argued saying that works are no longer important in a Christian's life. In my perspective, though we are saved by grace through faith, but works are still important and necessary in a believer’s life, overall conveying that once we are saved, others will know we are saved by our works, and most importantly, by our love for Christ and
In Martin Luther’s Freedom of a Christian Man, Luther describes what he believes should be the relationship between faith and good works in the life of Christian people. His beliefs became integral to the Protestant and Lutheran ideologies. The basis of Luther’s pamphlet was “A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.” (31) This central thought provides readers dialogue on what is truly a selfless, act and if these acts do in fact have an effect on one’s
Luther defines free will as nonessential due to the fact that while God is in fact the divine ruler, He would love for us to succeed with his grace and knows we cannot do it on our own. If we were to look more in depth at the ‘God concealed, God revealed’ and applied it to Luther’s idea on free will, it may surprise us as to how much we rely on God when we feel like we have free
Dorothy L. Sayers defines a Christian’s work as a “...natural exercise and function of man- the creature who is made in the image of his Creator” (Sayers 194). Sayers summarizes her view on work by saying, “...it is the duty of the Church to see to it that the work serves God, and that the worker serves the work” (Sayers 198). Sayers finds the duty of work to rest not only with the Christian, but also with the church.
Kittelson, James M. Luther the Reformer: The Story of the Man and His Career. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003.
Engagement with others is the most fertile ground for spiritual growth. Yet, salvation cannot come through individual questing nor good works in the community of the world alone. Salvation can only come when the journey and the work become
In the third and fourth section, Martin Luther describes that other people think narrowly about works, but he believes that during your daily routine you can be working and worshiping God. He says to draw all works from faith and exclude all that "do not flow from it". I agree that all things should be done with in faith and God. All things are for him, and shall remain so. In the fourth section, he describes that if your heart is confident in a work then it is pleasing to God, but if you doubt then the work is now not good. He also goes on to say that no work is good but through faith alone.
Martin Luther was a former Priest/Monk and that saw some corruption in the Roman Catholic Church. Luther tried to bring his concerns to the Church in his writing of the “Ninety-five Theses on the Power of Indulgences.” When these question that Luther proposed to the Archbishop of Mainz went unsatisfactorily unanswered in 1517, Luther started defaming the Roman Church and pushed for the utter destruction of the Roman Church. What started out as an internal reform of Church’s discipline, turned into a war against the Roman Church for their total destruction. This was the intent of Luther’s sermon of 1521.
righteous wrath except by faith and the sacrament of the blood of Christ.”10 Calvin and Luther
Good works do not do not bring people to heaven but after receiving salvation, good works follow them to heaven where they will receive their rewards according to his works as stated in Matt 16:27. If one receives salvation but does not follow through with good works then his faith is dead. Good works are so very important because good works reveals a persons faith which ultimately glorifies God and a full reward is given as it says in James 2:18 “Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.” There are so many other verses in scripture that talk about good works and the rewards given according to works, but the bottom line is, good works are vital to the Christian life for many
During Luther’s early life he faced a severe inner crisis. When he sinned he looked for comfort in confession and followed the penance, the fasting, prayer and observances that the church directed him. But, he found no peace of mind and worried about his salvation. But reading St. Paul’s letters he came to believe that salvation came though faith in Christ. Faith is a free gift, he discovered, it cannot be earned. His studies led him to a conclusion that, “Christ was the only mediator between God and a man and that forgiveness of sin and salvation are given by god’s grace alone” (Martin Luther, 01). Historians agree that, “this approach to theology led to a clash between Luther and the Church officials, precipitating the dramatic events of Reformation”.
And again, “Nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus. . . since by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified.” Gal. 2:16.
... without the need for good works and definitely not by paying money to the Catholic Church. In Luther’s view one only needs to believe in Christ and his works to be justified. Christ is just and his works are perfect and Christ is the object of our faith. As long as Christ is present in our lives and we put our faith in him and simple believe the promises that come with the gospel, God imputes righteousness to sinners, righteousness that we sinners do not deserve (Peters 2005).
Luther preaches grace and in so free choice is abolished, suggesting that divine grace and human freedom are contradictory concepts. Because reconciliation between God and humans is made possible through the death of Jesus, God’s gift, it is foolish to assume that the exercise of freedom could have any relevance to salvation. Human freedom in Luther’s eyes is derived from the notion that individual’s are already saved through God’s righteousness and confirmed with the works of Christ, you are saved because of your possession of faith. "We reach the conclusion that faith alone justifies us and fulfils the laws; and this because faith brings us the spirit gained by the merits of Christ. The spirit, in turn, gives us the happiness and freedom at which the law aims.
Salvation through faith in Jesus Christ is the inward change, which in turns perpetuates an outward visible signs of the inward change in the form of works.
... is faith, which is to “return to what took place at salvation.” Faith and obedience are keys to spiritual victory as we are called to pursue holiness and be sanctified (Col. 2:11-12).