Martin luther 95 the ses list

Every true Christian, be he still alive or already dead, partaketh in all benefits of Christ and of the Church given him by God, even without letters of indulgence. Yet is the Pope's absolution and dispensation by no means to be contemned, since it is, as I have said, a declaration of the Divine Absolution. It is exceedingly difficult, even for the most subtle theologists, to praise at the same time before the people the great wealth of indulgence and the truth of utter contrition.

True repentance and contrition seek and love punishment; while rich indulgence absolves from it, and causes men to hate it, or at least gives them occasion to do so. The Pope's indulgence ought to be proclaimed with all precaution, lest the people should mistakenly believe it of more value than all other works of charity. Christians should be taught, it is not the Pope's opinion that the buying of indulgence is in any way comparable to works of charity.

Christians should be taught, he who gives to the poor, or lends to a needy man, does better than buying indulgence. For, by the exercise of charity, charity increases and man grows better, while by means of indulgence, he does not become better, but only freer from punishment. Christians should be taught, he who sees his neighbor in distress, and, nevertheless, buys indulgence, is not partaking in the Pope's pardons, but in the anger of God.

Christians should be taught, unless they are rich enough, it is their duty to keep what is necessary for the use of their households, and by no means to throw it away on indulgences. Christians should be taught, the Pope, in selling pardons, has more want and more desire of a devout prayer for himself than of the money. Christians should be taught, the Pope's pardons are useful as far as one does not put confidence in them, but on the contrary most dangerous, if through them one loses the fear of God.

Christians should be taught, if the Pope knew the ways and doings of the preachers of indulgences, he would prefer that St. Peter's Minster should be burnt to ashes, rather than that it should be built up of the skin, flesh, and bones of his lambs.

Martin luther 95 the ses list

Christians should be taught, the Pope, as it is his bounden duty to do, is indeed also willing to give of his own money - and should St. Peter's be sold thereto - to those from whom the preachers of indulgences do most extort money. It is a vain and false thing to hope to be saved through indulgences, though the commissary - nay, the Pope himself - was to pledge his own soul therefore.

Those who, on account of a sermon concerning indulgences in one church, condemn the word of God to silence in the others, are enemies of Christ and of the Pope. Wrong is done to the word of God if one in the same sermon spends as much or more time on indulgences as on the word of the Gospel. The opinion of the Pope cannot be otherwise than this:- If an indulgence - which is the lowest thing - be celebrated with one bell, one procession and ceremonies, then the Gospel - which is the highest thing - must be celebrated with a hundred bells, a hundred processions, and a hundred ceremonies.

The treasures of the Church, whence the Pope grants his dispensation are neither sufficiently named nor known among the community of Christ. It is manifest that they are not temporal treasures, for the latter are not lightly spent, but rather gathered by many of the preachers. Nor are they the merits of Christ and of the saints, for these, without the Pope's aid, work always grace to the inner man, cross, death, and hell to the other man.

Lawrence called the poor of the community the treasures of the community and of the Church, but he understood the word according to the use in his time. We affirm without pertness that the keys of the Church, bestowed through the merit of Christ, are this treasure. For it is clear that the Pope's power is sufficient for the remission of penalties and forgiveness in the reserved cases.

The right and true treasure of the Church is the most Holy Gospel of the glory and grace of God. This treasure, however, is deservedly most hateful, for it makes the first to be last. While the treasure of indulgence is deservedly most agreeable, for it makes the last to be first. Therefore, the treasures of the Gospel are nets, with which, in times of yore, one fished for the men of Mammon.

The pope has neither the will nor the power to remit any penalties beyond those imposed either at his own discretion or by canon law. The pope himself cannot remit guilt, but only declare and confirm that it has been remitted by God; or, at most, he can remit it in cases reserved to his discretion. Except for these cases, the guilt remains untouched.

God never remits guilt to anyone without, at the same time, making him humbly submissive to the priest, His representative. The penitential canons apply only to men who are still alive, and, according to the canons themselves, none applies to the martin luther 95 the ses list. Accordingly, the Holy Spirit, acting in the person of the pope, manifests grace to us, by the fact that the papal regulations always cease to apply at death, or in any hard case.

It is a wrongful act, due to ignorance, when priests retain the canonical penalties on the dead in purgatory. When canonical penalties were changed and made to apply to purgatory, surely it would seem that tares were sown while the bishops were asleep. In former days, the canonical penalties were imposed, not after, but before absolution was pronounced; and were intended to be tests of true contrition.

Death puts an end to all the claims of the Church; even the dying are already dead to the canon laws, and are no longer bound by them. Defective piety or love in a dying person is necessarily accompanied by great fear, which is greatest where the piety or love is least. This fear or horror is sufficient in itself, whatever else might be said, to constitute the pain of purgatory, since it approaches very closely to the horror of despair.

There seems to be the same difference between hell, purgatory, and heaven as between despair, uncertainty, and assurance. Of a truth, the pains of souls in purgatory ought to be abated, and charity ought to be proportionately increased. Moreover, it does not seem proved, on any grounds of reason or Scripture, that these souls are outside the state of merit, or unable to grow in grace.

Nor does it seem proved to be always the case that they are certain and assured of salvation, even if we are very certain ourselves. Therefore the pope, in speaking of the plenary remission of all penalties, does not mean "all" in the strict sense, but only those imposed by himself. Hence those who preach indulgences are in error when they say that a man is absolved and saved from every penalty by the pope's indulgences.

Indeed, he cannot remit to souls in purgatory any penalty which canon law declares should be suffered in the present life. If plenary remission could be granted to anyone at all, it would be only in the cases of the most perfect, i. It must therefore be the case that the major part of the people are deceived by that indiscriminate and high- sounding promise of relief from penalty.

The same power as the pope exercises in general over purgatory is exercised in particular by every single bishop in his bishopric and priest in his parish. The pope does excellently when he grants remission to the souls in purgatory on account of intercessions made on their behalf, and not by the power of the keys which he cannot exercise for them.

There is no divine authority for preaching that the soul flies out of the purgatory immediately the money clinks in the bottom of the chest. It is certainly possible that when the money clinks in the bottom of the chest avarice and greed increase; but when the church offers intercession, all depends in the will of God. Who knows whether all souls in purgatory wish to be redeemed in view of what is said of St.

Severinus and St. Note: Paschal I, pope The legend is that he and Severinus were willing to endure the pains of purgatory for the benefit of the faithful. No one is sure of the reality of his own contrition, much less of receiving plenary forgiveness. The true treasures of the church, out of which the pope distributes indulgences, are not sufficiently discussed or known among the people of Christ.

That indulgences are not temporal treasures is certainly clear, for many indulgence sellers do not distribute them freely but only gather them. Nor are they the merits of Christ and the saints, for, even without the pope, the latter always work grace for the inner man, and the cross, death, and hell for the outer man. Lawrence said that the poor of the church were the treasures of the church, but he spoke according to the usage of the word in his own time.

Without want of consideration we say that the keys of the church, given by the merits of Christ, are that treasure. For it is clear that the pope's power is of itself sufficient for the remission of penalties and cases reserved by himself. The true treasure of the church is the most holy gospel of the glory and grace of God. But this treasure is naturally most odious, for it makes the first to be last Mt.

On the other hand, the treasure of indulgences is naturally most acceptable, for it makes the last to be first. Therefore the treasures of the gospel are nets with which one formerly fished for men of wealth. The treasures of indulgences are nets with which one now fishes for the wealth of men. The indulgences which the demagogues acclaim as the greatest graces are actually understood to be such only insofar as they promote gain.

They are nevertheless in truth the most insignificant graces when compared with the grace of God and the piety of the cross. Bishops and curates are bound to admit the commissaries of papal indulgences with all reverence. But they are much more bound to strain their eyes and ears lest these men preach their own dreams instead of what the pope has commissioned.

Let him who speaks against the truth concerning papal indulgences be anathema and accursed. But let him who guards against the lust and license of the indulgence preachers be blessed. Just as the pope justly thunders against those who by any means whatever contrive harm to the sale of indulgences. Much more does he intend to thunder against those who use indulgences as a pretext to contrive harm to holy love and truth.

To consider papal indulgences so great that they could absolve a man even if he had done the impossible and had violated the mother of God is madness. We say on the contrary that papal indulgences cannot remove the very least of venial sins as far as guilt is concerned. To say that even St. Peter if he were now pope, could not grant greater graces is blasphemy against St.

In a postscript, Luther wrote that Albert could find some theses on the matter enclosed with his letter, so that he could see the uncertainty surrounding the doctrine of indulgences in contrast to the preachers who spoke so confidently of the benefits of indulgences. It was customary when proposing a disputation to have the theses printed by the university press and publicly posted.

The Theses were copied and distributed to interested parties soon after Luther sent the letter to Archbishop Albert. Albert seems to have received Luther's letter with the Theses around the end of November. He requested the opinion of theologians at the University of Mainz and conferred with his advisers. His advisers recommended he have Luther prohibited from preaching against indulgences in accordance with the indulgence bull.

Albert requested such action from the Roman Curia. He later said he might not have begun the controversy had he known where it would lead. Johann Tetzel responded to the Theses by calling for Luther to be burnt for heresy and having theologian Konrad Wimpina write theses against Luther's work. Tetzel defended these in a disputation before the University of Frankfurt on the Oder in January Luther became increasingly fearful that the situation was out of hand and that he would be in danger.

To placate his opponents, he published a Sermon on Indulgences and Gracewhich did not challenge the pope's authority. Luther's reply to Tetzel's pamphlet, on the other hand, was another publishing success for Luther. Another prominent opponent of the Theses was Johann EckLuther's friend and a theologian at the University of Ingolstadt.

This was in reference to the obelisks used to mark heretical passages in texts in the Middle Ages. It was a harsh and unexpected personal attack, charging Luther with heresy and stupidity. Luther responded privately with the Asteriskstitled after the asterisk marks then used to highlight important texts. Luther's response was angry and he expressed the opinion that Eck did not understand the matter on which he wrote.

Luther was summoned by authority of the pope to defend himself against charges of heresy before Thomas Cajetan at Augsburg in October Cajetan did not allow Luther to argue with him over his alleged heresies, but he did identify two points of controversy. The first was against the 58th thesis, which stated that the pope could not use the treasury of merit to forgive temporal punishment of sin.

Luther's Explanations on thesis seven asserted that one could based on God's promise, but Cajetan argued that the humble Christian should never presume to be certain of their standing before God. This request was denied, so Luther appealed to the pope before leaving Augsburg. The indulgence controversy set off by the Theses was the beginning of the Reformationa schism in the Roman Catholic Church which initiated profound and lasting social and political change in Europe.

Luther later wrote that at the time that he wrote the Theseshe remained a " papist ", and he did not seem to think the Theses represented a break with established Roman Catholic doctrine. Further, the Theses contradicted the decree of Pope Clement VIinthat indulgences are the treasury of the church. This disregard for papal authority presaged later martins luther 95 the ses list. During the Reformation Jubilee, the centenary of 31 October was celebrated by a procession to the Wittenberg Church where Luther was believed to have posted the Theses.

An engraving was made showing Luther writing the Theses on the door of the church with a gigantic quill. The quill penetrates the head of a lion symbolizing Pope Leo X. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikisource Wikidata item.

Disputation by Martin Luther on indulgences. Background [ edit ]. Content [ edit ]. Wikisource has original text related to this article: Ninety-five Theses. Luther's intent [ edit ]. Distribution and publication [ edit ]. Wikisource has original text related to this article: Letter to the Archbishop of Mainz. Reaction [ edit ]. Legacy [ edit ].

See also [ edit ]. Notes and references [ edit ]. Notes [ edit ]. The title comes from the Basel pamphlet printing. The first printings of the Theses use an incipit rather than a title which summarizes the content. The Nuremberg placard edition opens Amore et studio elucidande veritatis: hec subscripta disputabuntur Wittenberge.

Presidente R. Martino Lutther Quare petit: vt qui non possunt verbis presentes nobiscum disceptare: agant id literis absentes. Luther usually called them " meine Propositiones " my propositions. Luther was later promoted to take over the chair of Biblical studies of the theological staff of Wittenberg as the successor of Johann von Staupitz. This is evidence for a Rhau-Grunenberg printing of the Ninety-five Thesesas the Nuremberg printing may be a copy of the Wittenberg printing.

Luther intends to free the Sermon from Tetzel's insults.