“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 by temporal laws on earth because it did not affect the soul.
First, the basis of Christian freedom was Luther’s belief of an inner man and an outer man. The inner man was the spiritual man, and the outer man the flesh. For Luther, freedom was not for the outer man but for the inner person. Since the needs of the soul were against the needs of the flesh, external forces on the flesh could not affect the inner soul. Here Luther is setting up why works, like in the catholic tradition could not free soul. Works do not affect the soul, whether they are good or bad. Rather only faith could free the soul. This belief was in direct opposition to the Catholic doctrine of doing good works to help earn salvation. Luther saw this as hypocrisy. It was putting something only God would do in the hands of man. Therefore, faith was the basis of truly freeing the Christian soul.
Furthermore, Luther was adamant that freedom of the inner person came from knowing that works could not save the soul. “They are ...
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...ue Christian’s soul was free. By living as a true Christian one could help his neighbor and preserve peace. This freedom ultimately was of the inner man and not the outer man so Christians remained under the authority of lords. It did not matter for Luther since their souls were finally free.
Works Cited
Martin Luther, Freedom of a Christian, in Hans Hillerbrand (ed.), The Protestant Reformation (1968), pp. 33
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Martin Luther, Commentary on St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians, in Hans Hillerbrand (ed.), The Protestant Reformation (1968), pp. 126
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Martin Luther, Concerning Governmental Authority in Hans Hillerbrand (ed.), The Protestant Reformation (1968), pp. 74
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In these Thesis’ Luther basically criticized the church’s wrongful practices and exposed the church’s corruption in order to bring about change in the church. Luther is quoted in Document 3 from his 95 thesis’ “Christian’s should be taught that he who gives to a poor man, or lends to a needy man, does better if he bought pardons.” Luther believed that actions, such as helping others did way more toward saving a person’s soul than buying a pardon did. He saw through the idea that one could by their way into heaven. He brought about new ideas such as God’s grace is the only way into heaven, not buying indulgences, or simply participating in church activities. His ideas eventually spread out all over Europe and his followers formed a group calling themselves Lutherans. This eventually became a protestant denomination, where Luther preached ideas, and his version of christianity. Also other reformist such as John Calvin had their own ideas, like predestination, and that everyone was full of sin until they were saved by christ. “We must resist the lust of the flesh, which, unless kept in order, overflows without measure.” (Document 6) Calvin believed that everyone was filled with this sinful “lust” that could not be kept in order without the power of christ. Calvin also started a sect of christianity nicknamed Calvinist after their leader. Both Luther and Calvin inspired others such as George Fox, who created quakerism, and Ulrich Zwingli who started anabaptism. Overall a huge force that drove the Protestant Reformation was reformers such as Martin Luther and John
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
Martin Luther desired to reform the Church because he believed that it was corrupt and wanted to be seen as the gateway to Heaven. In Luther’s eyes, the Roman Catholic Church was teaching the wrong things and showing bad behavior. Because of this, Martin Luther, being a conscientious friar and professor of theology, did not feel secure in the idea of salvation. The Church was teaching that salvation came through faith AND good works while Luther concluded
Luther’s On Christian Liberty expressed concepts that were appealing to peasants such as salvation being achieved by faith alone. However, the major concept that appealed to peasants the most was Luther’s principle that “a Christian man is the most free lord of all, and subject to none” (Mckay 396). This quote from Luther was highly manipulated by the peasants and encouraged them to become released from serfdom, no matter the extremity. The peasants’ manipulated version of Lutheran principles caused them to start the revolts that would later be stopped by authorities.
Bainton, Roland H. Here I Stand: A life of Martin Luther. New York. Abington Printing Press. 1950
In the letter to Leo X, Luther gave an account of his struggles with the Roman Catholic Church. He declared that he never personally attacked Leo. Luther addressed Leo as an equal and expressed his views in full. Luther pointed to Johannes Eck as the chief inciter of all the problems. Johannes Eck was a theologian and defender of Catholicism. Luther declared Eck as an enemy of the Catholic religion. Luther said he was forced to constantly defend himself against Eck's attacks on his beliefs. On the Freedom of a Christian is actually a summary of what Luther wished to study, but was not able to since he was always defending the Church. (Goebel, ed 156)
Luther, Martin. Luther's Commentary on Galatians, Fourth Edition. Trans. Theodore Graebner, D. D. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, (No copyright date).
Luther, Martin. The Large Catechism, in The Book of Concord. Edited by Robert Kolb and
In this essay Martin Luther comments upon the role of good works in a Christian's life and the overall goal of a Christian in his or her walk. He writes seventeen different sections answering the critics of his teachings. I will summarize and address each one of these sections in the following essay.
Martin Luther’s Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation was published in 1520. In the Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, Martin Luther claims that the Catholic
* Heiko A. Oberman. Luther: Man Between God and the Devil, trans. Eileen Walliser-Schwarzbart (New York, NY: Doubleday, 1992).
King Jr., Martin Luther, ed. Readings in Christian Ethics: A Historical Sourcebook. Edited by J. Philip Wogaman and Douglas M. Strong. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996.
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”.
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.