How The 95 Theses Ignited The Reformation Of The Church

Happy Reformation Day, commemorating Luther’s posting of the 95 theses against the sale of indulgences on the door of Wittenberg’s Castle Church on October 31, 1517.  In honor of that occasion, I am posting an excerpt from my recent book, Engaging Your Lutheran Identity.

This comes from Chapter 5, “Here I Stand,” after chapters on the early and medieval church, with which Lutherans claim to be continuous.  (Later chapters go through the later history of Lutheranism to the present day.)

Earlier in this chapter, we discussed the theology of indulgences; tell about Albert of Brandenberg’s scheme with the pope to raise the bribery price for a second archbishopric with a special sale of  indulgences; quote from a sermon by the indulgence salesman Tetzel in which he claimed that his hearers will spend 7 years in the fires of purgatory for each sin they’ve committed, including those that have been forgiven, unless they pay a week’s wages for an indulgence that will send them straight to Heaven; and tell about Luther’s 95 Theses against all of this, including my favorite 20.

What I tell about here is the aftermath of that challenge to debate, explaining how and why these theses became the catalyst for the Reformation of the church.  In the book, I include questions designed for the contemplation of individual readers and for discussion when the book is being used as a group study, so those are set off here with italics.   Here is that section, entitled Luther Gets in Trouble:

Luther naively sent a letter along with a copy of his theses to the archbishop who was over the regions where Tetzel was selling the indulgences.  He just knew that the new Archbishop of Mainz, Albert of Brandenberg, would be horrified at these abuses and put a stop to them.  Little did he know that young Albert was behind the whole scheme.  Instead of answering Luther’s letter, Albert forwarded it, along with the theses, to the Pope.

But those two were not the only ones who were reading the theses.  Luther, who might have been disappointed that no one took him up on his challenge to debate, did not realize that someone took a copy of what was on the church door and made use of a new media technology that preceded the Internet by some 500 years:  the printing press.

A Wittenberg printer churned out hundreds of copies, which were snapped up by the public.  Someone translated them from the original Latin, which aimed at an academic audience, into German, so the common people were able to read them too.  Printers in neighboring cities noted the popularity and also printed hundreds of copies.  Which then were picked up by larger cities which printed thousands.  In two weeks, they were the talk of all Germany.  Meanwhile, they had been translated into French, Italian, and English.  They became the talk of those countries as well.  As we would say today, Luther’s 95 Theses went viral.

5)  Throughout the Middle Ages, reformers would speak out against the church’s abuses, but they were easily silenced.  Burn them at the stake, and that would be the end of it.  But with the advent of the printing press, silencing critics was not so easy.  To be sure, information technology of itself is neutral and can be used in many different ways.  Tetzel also used the printing press to mass produce certificates of indulgence, making him able to sell the things on a scale previously unknown.  But, as we will continue to see, Luther would use the printing press as a powerful tool for recovering the Gospel. 

How might today’s information technology be used as a powerful tool for recovering the Gospel?

It’s very hard to read through Luther’s 95 Theses and still believe in the sale of indulgences.  As the theses continued to spread far and wide, the Pope knew that he had a problem.

Rome approached Luther through his monastic superiors, telling him to shut up.  That didn’t work.  Rome sent high level theologians to Germany to talk to Luther to persuade him to take back his complaints.  Other high level theologians wrote defenses of indulgences in an effort to refute Luther’s theses.  Luther responded by writing treatises of his own, answering his critics and going into more detail about what he saw as the need to reform the church.  Before long, this went beyond the specific issue of selling indulgences.

This is because, in the course of the arguments back and forth, the theological issues escalated.  Luther would point out that there is no basis for indulgences in the Bible.  Rome would then point out that the authority for indulgences comes from the Pope.  Luther would come back by saying that the Bible is a greater authority than the Pope.  So you’re denying the authority of the Pope?  That’s heresy! 

The controversy over Luther’s 95 Theses raged for several years.  During this time, Luther had his “justification by faith” moment.  His new understanding of the Gospel sharpened his critique, both of indulgences and of Medieval Catholicism.

So the arguments went like this:  Dr. Luther, if, as you say, there is no treasury of merit consisting of the extra good works of the saints, how can Christians escape the punishment their sins deserve?  The infinite merit of Jesus Christ, whereby our sins are forgiven freely by the grace of God!  So you don’t think we are saved by our own merits? Heresy!

How are we cleansed from our sin?  The blood of Jesus cleanses us.  What about the sins we commit after baptism?  Baptism applies to our whole lives.  How do we earn forgiveness?  We don’t earn it.  It’s a free gift.  Heresy!

All the while, Luther’s writings on these subjects were being spread near and far by the printing press.  Luther being a very talented and engaging writer, his books sold out as soon as they hit the street.  (Luther refused to take money for his writings, but the printers made a fortune, another factor that led to his works being printed and reprinted throughout Europe.)

Finally, the Pope had enough.  He issued what was called a “papal bull”—that is, an official document—condemning Luther and giving him 60 days to retract the 95 Theses and his other writings.  If he didn’t, he would be excommunicated.  When Luther got his copy, he publicly set it on fire.

So in the beginning of 1521, Luther was excommunicated.  That meant far more than being denied communion.  He was cast out of the church.  In the Middle Ages, that also meant being cast out of society.  Being a heretic was against the law.  The church was not supposed to execute anyone, which was the expected punishment.  So heretics were handed over to the secular rulers.  In Luther’s case, that meant the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V.

6)  Luther is often blamed today for “breaking away from the church,” “splitting the church,” and “starting a new church.”  Is that what really happened?  Who was more to blame for splitting the church, Luther for wanting to reform it, or the Pope for throwing Luther out?

We then get into the Diet of Worms, which, as I explain was a sort of Senate consisting of all the nobles under the jurisdiction of the Emperor that was meeting in the German city of Worms, pronounced “Vorms.”  As I say of Luther being brought before the Diet of  Worms, “So now you know, that did not involve punishing him by making him eat earthworms.”

This would lead to the Augsburg Confession, which formulated the doctrinal beliefs of Luther and his supporters, and then to Luther’s translation of the Bible in the language of the people, which inspired other vernacular translations and also went viral.  The rest is history.

To those who say we shouldn’t celebrate Reformation Day because we shouldn’t rejoice in the splitting of the church, I say that we should indeed rejoice that these issues were finally being dealt with because the church was in sore need of reformation.

The Catholic church has basically admitted this because Luther’s reformation provoked their own Counter-Reformation, which, while sadly doubling down on many of their errors, admitted that at least some of Luther’s criticisms were valid.  For example, while keeping the doctrine of indulgences, the Counter-Reformation church forbade the sale of indulgences, which started the whole blowup.  If only the pope had taken the 95 Theses to heart instead of excommunicating Luther in order to cover up his own financial corruption, perhaps the church could have reformed itself and stayed unified.

Illustration:  Friar Johann Tetzel Selling Indulgences by J. D. L. Franz Wagner  (1850) – http://media.mutualart.com/Images/2013_05/25/19/193315731/dac98373-9975-4643-8cde-655350ae6735.Jpeg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40094567