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Martin Luther's impact on the church
Role, impact and influence of Martin Luther
Martin Luther's impact on the church
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Martin Luther Q1 Response: Why is the catechism so important to Martin Luther? Luther embraced the idea that the catechism, when read faithfully every day, allowed the Holy Spirit to enter people’s thoughts and brought them closer to Christ. Reading and reciting the catechism’s teachings pushed evil ideas away and prevented the devil from creeping into a person’s consciousness. Luther viewed the catechism as the informational foundation for the Christian church. The catechism was a guide for the basic information needed to be a learned Christian. A person who was not intimately familiar with the catechism’s contents should not be seen as a Christian, according to Luther, nor should they be admitted to a sacrament. (This was not only Luther’s …show more content…
teaching but also a direction set by the Christian church in the early 16th century). He wrote that God commanded his people to constantly meditate on, read and practice the ideas in the catechism.
Only in understanding the catechism, could a person ward off the constant attacks and assaults of the devil. Q2 Response: To whom is the catechism to be taught, and by whom is it to be taught? According to Luther the catechism was, first, to be taught to children. Servants should also study the catechism and be questioned to ascertain their understanding of its content. Common people and even the clergy should study the catechism as it was impossible to have a perfect understanding of the book. The catechism was to be taught by heads of household - Luther specifically referenced fathers - as well as by the clergy (pastors and preachers) to parishioners. Q3 Response: What matters, issues or ideas does the catechism teach? The catechism’s verses provided moral strength and comfort to help live life as God commanded. The 10 Commandments contained the moral rules necessary for living a righteous life. The Articles of Faith section explained the holy trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and said that sins were to be forgiven. This section also discussed Christ’s resurrection from the dead and his everlasting life. The prayer, Our Father, taught how to achieve Christ’s will, to forgive others as we are forgiven and cautioned against straying into temptation and evil
ways. Q4 Response: What purposes does the catechism serve in the reformation of Luther? Luther believed the catechism’s teachings of faith, goodness and charity provided a detailed spiritual guide for both lay people and the clergy on how to live a moral, spiritually fulfilled life. Equally important, by practicing the acts of charity and forgiveness taught in the catechism each person would become worthy of the salvation given to man by God. Q5: What concerns on the part of Luther do these purposes reflect? It was Luther’s belief that lay people and, specifically, the clergy had become lazy, gluttonous and ignorant. Priests had become presumptuous that, reading the catechism once, they had learned all they needed to know about the word of God. Luther worried that the devil, with his wiles, was loose in the world and must be fought against with the teachings contained in the catechism.
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
US Catholic Church. Catechism of the Catholic Church. Complete Edition ed. N.p.: US. Catholic Church, n.d. Print.
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”.
" Additionally, it is important to understand Luther’s distinction between the Law and the Gospel in order to further explore Luther’s understanding of human freedom. The Law is God’s commandment; it allows humans to coexist, limits chaos and condemns sinfulness, though it is not God’s road to salvation.... ... middle of paper ... ...
The nature of this priesthood and kingship says that, “Every Christian is by faith so exalted above all things that, by the virtue of a spiritual power, he is lord of all things without exception, so that nothing can do him any harm (25).” Luther explains that all things are mans, and man is Christ’s. Luther says that since man has power over many things, man also must suffer man things. Luther says that the more Christian a man is, the more sufferings and deaths he must endure, like Jesus Christ’s suffering as the first-born prince. Luther says, “Not only are we the freest of kings, we are also priests forever, which is far more excellent than being kings, for as priests we are worthy to appear before God to pray for others and to teach one another diving things (27).” This quote shows the nature of priesthood in comparison to kingship. When asked how priests differ from laymen, Luther replies that laymen, “are equally priests, they cannot all publicly minister and teach (30).” Priests teach others about the Word of God, and laymen follow the
Martin Luther believed that everything important was found in the bible and if it was not in the bible then it was not important and should not be followed. Martin Luther only believed in two of the seven sacraments, Baptism and Eucharist as they were both mentioned in the bible. Anything else that was not mentioned in the bible that they church carried out such as the other five sacraments ( Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony, and confirmation) were irrelevant. Like Martin Luther, John Calvin also believed that only two sacraments Eucharist and baptism, he also believed that only chosen people can feel the effect of these sacraments. He also agreed with Martin Luther that if something was not in the scriptures, then it should be rejected.
He thought that “the Bible was the only source of Christian religious authority” and that no human can disregard sins and allow permission into heaven (Bentley et al, pg 509). Luther thought that the only way to gain salvation was to have faith in God and his promises and not via good actions or through prayers of other people. The consequences of Martin Luther’s challenge of the Roman Catholic churches are very important. One example is the creation of the Protestant religion and Lutheran branch of this reformed version of Christianity.
Martin Luther was opening the eyes to the non-elites and showing them indulgences was no way more than for the church to gain profit from them through corruption. The indulgences led to realization that you no longer needed the church to help you with God but you could also do it yourself. This changed the way those thought during the this time period because they know looked towards themselves to get a better connection between God and themselves without going through the middle man, other wise known as the
Martin Luther arose from a Catholic tradition which founded itself upon years of patristic writings and beloved traditions stretching back for centuries. Luther, along with other theologians of the day, began the doctrinal shift which propelled the Reformation into its various present-day forms by challenging the Catholic fides caritate formata, or faith formed by love. The Catholic view understood faith itself to be insufficient for justification, i.e. works of love must accompany faith in order to achieve salvation. To accomplish sanctification, and thus salvation, the Catholic Church created a series of rituals or traditions to compliment a person’s faith, and thus make one right with God. Luther became exceptionally vocal about his stance
A few years later, while still studying, Martin Luther was in the school's library opening books to see what they were and who the author's were when he came across a book he'd never seen before. It was a copy of the Latin Vulgate and this was the first time Luther had known such a book existed. He knew of the liturgy of the church where passages were read but this was the first he knew of the complete scriptures. He read them with great enthusiasm, and they made a great impact upon his however, this was not where the seed of his later attempts at reforming the Church came from(D'Aubigne,
“Luther interpreted this statement as meaning that people were saved only through God's mercy, not through their own efforts to live as good Christians” (329). He stated that Christ already sacrificed for everyone so people did not have to do anything besides have faith in believing in him. This led him to question about life and challenged how Catholicism was practiced. First, Martin Luther was challenging the church in the issues of people’s atonement. People were criticizing how the church were selling these indulgences, so they can contribute money.
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.
The catechism is the text that contains the fundamental Christian truths, explained in such a way that its comprehension, learning and reception are clear. Its main bibliographical sources are the Sacred Scriptures, the Holy Fathers, the Liturgy, and the Magisterium of the church. Learning
What makes Lutheran thought revolutionary is his radical formulation and coherence of its development. This leads to a systematic denial of the fundamental Catholic teachings and the Church itself as an institution under the name of God. Indeed, if only justifies, all priestly ministry is unnecessary, with exclusive powers to administer the sacraments, and to be an intermediary between God and man. Luther accepted as truly instituted by Jesus Christ only the sacraments of baptism and Eucharist. The revelation was contained only in the Bible and all Christians enlightened by the Holy Spirit were able to interpret it freely.
Once this thesis was attached to the door, the ideas contained within it began to spread to the many different parts of Europe. People everywhere used Luther’s ideas to help form their own ideas about God and to started their own church denominations. Protestantism sprang up from this movement and the prominent idea behind this branch of Christianity was justification by faith not only by the catholic church. According to Luther, the Church and religious leaders have no right to give absolution . It is God Who has the right to do so.