Preview

Martin Luther Saved Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
885 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Martin Luther Saved Analysis
How Can I be Saved? The question that many based their lives around and tried to find a constant answer to. Although there is no clear concise answer, Martin Luther, a German priest, believed the answer lay in the Bible and in the hands of God (Eriks). He thought predestination was the correct way of thinking. This is contradictory towards what Desiderius Erasmus, a Renaissance scholar, thought. He thought that free will was the answer, and that how a person acted and lived their life would decide if they would end up in heaven or hell. He thought that the church was the one way a person could be saved(Eriks). Both Erasmus and Luther had many followers but very different views on how a person could be saved.

Desiderius Erasmus was a Renaissance
…show more content…
Predestination is the belief that everything that will happen is already decided by god or fate and can not be changed no matter what a person does (Bennett). He wanted others to focus on the Bible and what it was teaching, and not what the church. For example, the church offered things called indulgences which was basically ‘grace’ a person was paying for so they could show God and the church that they were truly regretful of the sins they had made. Luther strongly disagreed with this and thought the church should not be selling some type of redemption to the people of the church (Cheah). He wrote the 95 Thesis to start a discussion about how the church could stop corruption (and things like indulgences), but instead of just sparking a discussion he sparked a very intense argument. He posted his 95 Thesis on the doors of the church and many people saw it and agreed with him. He had a group of followers that were in his time called Lutherans, but later became known as Protestants (Saari 210). Luther thought forgiveness of sins had to be just between God and that specific individual (Saari 208). He thought any free will a person might have would be overridden by sin

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    During the time of Martin Luther the Catholic Church was teaching that one’s sins could be forgiven and punishment from God avoided by purchasing forgiveness. This was very unpopular with the Catholic leaders and they demanded he change his beliefs on this subject. When he refused to recant his beliefs he was excommunicated by Pope Leo X and declared an outlaw by the emperor. He wrote the Ninety Five Thesis to the leaders of the Catholic Church protesting the sale of indulgences. It was his belief that salvation was a free gift given by God to anyone who believed and asked…

    • 832 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In general Calvin had accepted Luther's idea that salvation is by grace alone through faith. However, Calvin argued the extended idea of predestination. Calvin presents the doctrine of predestination. "Salvation is totally dependent upon God's initiative. Through Christ God chooses some for salvation. This relation to Christ which brings salvation is determined by God, not the sinner. God's will is eternal and unchanging and thus the willing of salvation is eternal and unchanging. Some are predestined, then, to be elected to salvation for the glory of God." (Institutes of the Christian Religion, book 3, Chapter2—John…

    • 591 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the sixteenth centenary the Roman Catholic Church was the ruling power in Europe. They had created an empire and controlled the land and the people. There was nothing more that people feared at this time than being excommunicated from the church. For this reason, people would not dare challenge the church as they feared going to hell. A man by the name of Martin Luther joined the Catholic church as he searched to find himself and save his soul. He quickly realized that the Catholic church was full of corruption and took a stand. Martin Luther wanted to expose the church and follow God the right way. Luther believed that faith alone and a change of heart was enough for a person to be saved from the hell. Martin Luther had a conservative way of thinking however he had many liberal ideas.…

    • 672 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Martin Luther made radical statements challenging Papal authority, the deliverance of relief of purgatory via a monetary gain by the church, and exposing the corrupt dogma that exemplified the Roman Catholic Church. Luther, after stating the errors of the church, established what he believed was justification by faith. Luther reduced the amount of sacraments to those that were plainly supported by scripture verses the church’s use of sacraments by conjecture, he denounced the sale of paradise, and propounded that the Bible was the true religious authority, whereas, the church gave authority to a fallible man. Furthermore, Luther’s original intent was not to initiate a reformation, but was to allow for academic debate. Luther found questions regarding the church and theological misconduct that would force him to separate from the church in Rome and establish…

    • 1160 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Luther was a revolutionary after his excommunication because of his writing: On the Babylonish Captivity of the Church. This writing caused the official break with Rome, and the creation of a new system of faith.…

    • 315 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Catholic Church was seen as the central power of the region although its influence was…

    • 800 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the early 1500s the law and god of the land was the Catholic Church, which had become infested by corrupt officials. Martin Luther a young ecclesiastic professor and monk spoke against the corruption in order to reform the church. Be that as it may due to the politics and religious dynamic at the time Luther’s rebellion became a full out successful religious revolution.…

    • 64 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Martin Luther believed that the church was not following the plan originally set out for them many years ago. Luther believed that indulgences were just the church using people for their…

    • 478 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The beliefs of Martin Luther stated that every individual possessed their own relationship with God. This statement is prevalent in Luther’s work, “The Sermon on Good Works”. In this piece of writing, Luther stated that only faith in God would get an individual salvation. Good works, acts made throughout life to better something or someone, would not help a person receive salvation. This went against the Catholic Church’s doctrine, which stated that an individual would receive God’s grace and salvation by accomplishing these Good Works. Essentially, Luther’s statements were revolutionary. To rally against a prevalent theme in the popular religion was a brave, if not inspired way to introduce a different method of thought.…

    • 114 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    1. According to Luther, Sola File (faith alone) should be enough to get you into heaven where as the church said you need to be good as well. 2. Luther’s position of Sola Scriptura, saying the Bible alone is authoritative while the church also believes in the church’s teaching. 3. Luther’s “Priesthood of all Believers,” arguing that individuals did not need an intermediary between himself and God. 4. Communition, also the consubstantiation, Luther thinks that bread and wine is still bread and wine and not literally the blood and body of Jesus. He just believed that there is a miracle because Jesus is present at…

    • 1439 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Martin Luther Influence

    • 547 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Born in Eisleben, Germany, back in 1483, Martin Luther went ahead to become one of the most prominent figures in the entire Western history. Luther spent the early years of his life in relative anonymity serving as a monk and a scholar. However, in 1517, he was able to pan a document that was attacking the Catholic Church for practicing corrupt practices that involved selling “indulgences” to absolve sin. Through his “95 Theses,” he was able to pronounce two central beliefs that sparked the Protestant Reformation; hence leading to the thesis that Martin’s writing created unending divisions in the Catholic Church ever while his ideas shaped the Protestantism that emerged later. The paper analyzes the issues that Luther presented for the debate…

    • 547 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Using this reasoning, Luther discovered “faith alone, without works, is justified and sanctified by the word of God” (Luther, The Freedom of a Christian, 59). It is here that Luther moves toward a distinction between the "inner" and the "outer man" to describe the effects of faith on one’s identity. The “inner man” is the human being's spirit, which is only motivated and justified by faith, and never by works, and the “outer" man is where works are expressed. However, these works do not bring salvation as being good or bad is entirely linked to the nature of the inner 'man' , and since the character of the 'inner man' is based, not on works, but on faith, the 'inner man' requires “freedom from every law. Thus all the acts of a Christian are done spontaneously, out of a sense of pure liberty” (Luther, The Freedom of a Christian, 75). In other words, while no outer work can justify the “inner” man’s ethical decisions, no outer work can make the 'inner man' un-just. However, it is the nature of the "inner man' which determines the nature of the outer work; if the inner nature is that which determines the nature of any and all outer works, then the place of good works in the life of a Christian who has been justified through faith in Jesus Christ should become…

    • 1426 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Erasmus believed the Bible teaches that people have free will and that without it, people are not responsible for their actions. Luther believed that God, in His foreknowledge and omnipotence, was utterly sovereign and that people are slaves either to God or to Satan (Hergenhahn & Henley, 2014, p. 97). Interestingly, however, the Lutheran movement preferred Erasmus’s view of free will to Luther’s (Hergenhahn & Henley, 2014, p. 98).…

    • 592 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Martin Luther Research Paper

    • 3247 Words
    • 13 Pages

    There are numerous biographies of Martin Luther’s life and several in depth analysis of his ideas, but very few focus on his life after the Reformation. After the leading the German Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther continued to work on his ideas, but he then took those beliefs and applied them to his own life. Martin Luther spent a number of years “defining the faith” and then the remainder of his life “living the faith.” Katherine von Bora and Martin Luther both deserted their life of obedience, poverty and celibacy to “live the faith” together.…

    • 3247 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    To Luther, faith came to those whom God chose. In Thesis 2, Luther explains how only God can grant salvation, not priests. One could not do anything to gain God’s favor. Luther constantly felt undeserving of God’s attention, and he struggled to understand his relationship with God (Suderman). He came to the assumption that he was not deserving of God’s attention. This realization is where he came to his conclusion that faith, understanding, and salvation were not deserved or earned (Suderman). Faith, knowledge, and salvation were a rare gift from God.…

    • 475 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays