Luther's The Pagan Servitude Of The Church

The Pagan Servitude of the Church – Composed in 1520, this work by Luther is one of his most important contributions to Christian history and theology. In the Pagan Servitude of the Church, Luther addresses critical issues that surround the seven sacraments that the Roman Catholic Church practices, but for this session, only the sacrament of the Eucharist is covered. Luther does not start gently, as he immediately contradicts the norm by advocating for the administration of both elements of the Lord’s Supper to the laity. His argument brings to light opposing comments from other theologians and leadership of the Roman Catholic Church, but Luther overcomes them all with a simple redirection to Scripture. He uses a combination of his interpretation of Scripture from the Gospels and Paul’s epistles along with logic and common sense to declare that the laity should have the right and privilege to partake in both the bread and the wine elements.

Secondly, Luther establishes his opinion in that the tangible mechanics of this particular sacrament are valued and debated upon much more than they ought to be.

This means that the church hierarchy and scholarly theologians spend too much of their time in arguing over topics like transubstantiation, when they should recognize that the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper is really centered on faith. It does not matter how the “accidents” of the elements of bread and wine come to be the body of Christ. Whether or whenever the physical elements of the Eucharist turn into the literal body and blood of Christ after being consecrated by a priest is not the point of the sacrament, according to Luther. What does matter is the state of the person’s heart when contemplating or actually receiving the

elements.
The previous idea leads to the next argument from Luther where he says that the sacrament is not supposed to function as a good work in the practice of works righteousness. It is about the faith of the believer. As Luther mentions, many people eat the bread (body) and drink the wine (blood) unworthily. The physical action does not compare in importance when put next to the condition of the Christian’s heart.
When all is said and done, however, Luther always comes back to the Word of God and shows his stance on how Christians should believe in the simplicity of the words of Jesus Christ. At one point in his argument, he actually confides how relieved he is that the Christian laity cannot understand the debates swirling around the subject of the Eucharist. Many do not know what transubstantiation is and their eyes more than likely glaze over when accidents are brought into the discussion. Luther asks why Christians cannot just take Christ’s words at face value and accept that some things are meant to stay mysterious. His interpretation of Scripture concerning the Lord’s Supper is basically the message of the Gospel: that Jesus willingly sacrifices himself and pours out his blood for the remission of sins for many. The “many” part is what drives his whole operation. All Christians should have the choice to go forward after mass and receive both kinds and if for some reason the priest chooses to deny this privilege to any that come forward, they commit an egregious sin and will be punished for it in the end. The lay-Christian also has a warning from Luther, though. They must carefully and prayerfully meditate on what it means to partake in the sacrament before making the decision follow through on it, lest they miss out on the whole point of the experience.

Questions
1) Does Luther not give any weight to the concept of reading and interpreting Scripture and at the same time keeping in mind the context of the passage? He seems to support the literal meaning of Scripture…
2) Luther speaks multiple times about how the church uses ceremonies and pompous festivals and feast days to their profit. How, other than by the selling of indulgences did they do that?