Saints Triumphant Say Thank You Jesus!

In the Name of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.

Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. ^But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. ^Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. ^The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: ^“This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” ^Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” ^ And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

You have a lot to be thankful for.  And I’m not talking about that First Article laundry list of clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, cattle, and all that you own, that God the Father pours out upon you.  Set that aside.  Don’t just set them aside.  Ignore them.  Pretend like you don’t even have them.  Maybe some don’t have to pretend.  If you don’t have proper, adequate, or any clothing, shoes, food, drink, shelter, family, friends, land, or possessions, if you have no skills and no abilities and no talents, if you have nothing, you still have a lot to be thankful for, because you have Christ.

You have Christ, the priest who offered for all time one sacrifice for sins. You have Christ who made perfect forever those who are being made holy. You have Christ, who caused His Father to forget your sins and lawless acts.  You have Christ whose sacrifice was so great, so powerful, so effective, so cosmic, so wondrous, so valuable, so redeeming, so justifying, that there is no longer any sacrifice for sin. You have Christ, who sits at the right hand of God, waiting for His enemies to be totally and completely conquered, which will happen, no doubt about it.  You have a lot to be thankful for.  That’s why those who are Christians, those who have faith in Christ, those who are saints triumphant, saints now, saints forever, saints declared so on account of Christ, saints whose sins are forgiven, say, “Thank you, Jesus!”  THANK YOU FOR MAKING ME PERFECT FOREVER; and THANK YOU FOR MAKING ME HOLY NOW.

Those two things sound identical don’t they?  What’s the difference between being made perfect forever and being holy now?  It’s an enormous difference.  One talks about our salvation.  One talks about our Christian life.  And to blur the two could put our faith in jeopardy.  Let’s look at each individually, by looking at one phrase from Hebrews 10:  by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. Jesus offered a sacrifice that made perfect people who are being made holy.  Already, we see a distinction as we note verb tenses.  The sacrifice of Jesus made people perfect.  It did something in the past, something that still affects you now.  And that something is changing your status before God.  Immediately prior to our verses the Spirit says:  we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. We were not holy.  We are now.  Because the one sacrifice for sin that could be offered was offered – Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  Because of Christ and through faith in Christ, faith worked by the Spirit who speaks these words, you have been declared saints, saints triumphant, saints whose names are written in the Book of Life, so that, when the voice of Jesus calls you from the grave, it will be to everlasting life, not everlasting shame and contempt.  And the writer is emphatic about the nature of this sacrifice.  It was done once for all.  It was the only possible one that could have effected this perfection, that could have created this holiness, that could have turned sinners into saints, that could have caused God to forget sins and lawless acts.  There is no other sacrifice and never ever, ever, ever will be such a sacrifice.

Which is what is so damning about even the slightest possible chance of injecting some sort of sin-erasing effect into a deed of mine:  it overturns this once-for-all sacrifice of Christ for sins.  It is another gospel.  It is eternally damning.  It empties the cross of any value.  It severs you from grace.  This is what is so terrifying about saying, “Well, they did their best!  It’s not their fault if they never heard about Jesus!”  This is what is so caustic about theology that says I accept Jesus Christ into my heart, or I surrender my life to Him.  This is what is so destructive about the Roman Catholic idea that the Mass is a sacrifice offered on behalf of the living and the dead in purgatory.  This is what is so insidious about the temptation within me to think that I still need to do something, the temptation to think that Jesus did a job on all the sins committed before I became a Christian, or He washed original sin away, but there’s all these other sins I need to take care of.  What “sacrifices” have we set up?  Is this why you come to church, go to Bible class, read you Bible, obey the Ten Commandments, go to Communion?  Are you trying to offer sacrifices to please God?  Are you trying to cover your bases and make sure of your eternal reward?  If so, then you’ve missed the point.  Christ offered the sacrifice.  Christ paid the price.  Christ made you perfect, declared you holy, earned you the title saint.  You did nothing, Christ did everything.  He started the job.  He finished the job.  There is no longer, and no other, sacrifice for sins.  Saints triumphant say thank you Jesus!  You did what I could not – made me perfect!

So, what is this being made holy business?  Listen:  By one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. Jesus offered a sacrifice that made perfect people who are being made holy.  The sacrifice is done.  The sins are forgiven.  The ransom is paid.  Reconciliation has been effected.  The verdict has been declared.  The gift has been given.  Yet, there are ongoing effects of this done-in-the-past sacrifice.  It ripples through my life into an ongoing state of being made holy. Because though you are a saint, you still sin.  Paul had to say, Nothing good lives in me! Though declared holy, righteous, and perfect, right now, your life is far from it.  Which is why Jesus told that woman caught in adultery, Go and sin no more. John told the crowds, Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. Because saints don’t sin.  Saints are holy and perfect, like God.  Saints draw near to God every day in full assurance of faith.  Saints hold unswervingly to the hope they profess.  Saints consider how to spur one another on to good deeds.  Saints don’t give up meeting together around Word and Sacrament.  Saints encourage one another.  Saints forgive and forget.  Saints don’t do any bad things.  Yet, there is that tension:  “I’m not holy!  I’m not perfect!  I still sin!”  But you heard it here today:  “You are being made holy.”  Every day is an increase in holiness for you when you are connected to Christ, because, as Jesus said, If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear fruit.

The author of Hebrews goes on to say:  since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, ^by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ^let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Made holy, made perfect, declared righteous by the Father on account of the Son, we have every assurance that we can do those holy things.  Faith makes all the difference, faith implanted by the Spirit through the Gospel of Christ.  Without faith, it’s impossible to please God, but you are not without faith.  And you are not without hope.  You are not left on your own to produce these things.  Did you notice the words from Jeremiah?  I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds. Faith is a game-changer.  Apart from Christ, without faith, you knew only how to obey out of fear and terror.  You knew only the letter of the law, if that.  You knew how to avoid punishment, how to brown nose and get in good with God or others.  But now, God puts His law into your hearts.  You get it.  As the psalmist says, O, how I love your law, I meditate on it day and night! Luther’s description is apt:  Faith, however, is a divine work in us that changes us and makes us to be born anew of God. It kills the old Adam and makes us altogether different men, in heart and spirit and mind and powers; it brings with it the Holy Spirit. O, it is a living, busy, active, mighty thing, this faith. It is impossible for it not to be doing good works incessantly. It does not ask whether good works are to be done, but before the question is asked, it has already done them, and is constantly doing them.

In a sense, faith takes things out of your hands.  Yet, that is no excuse to ignore those means by which God creates, implants, and strengthens faith – His incredible means of grace, Word and Sacraments – because there is where we find Christ, our great High Priest, there is where our conscience is cleansed and our bodies washed.  There we find our High Priest offer His body as a living sacrifice in our place, being holy for us.  There we find Him nailed to the cross for our sins.  There we find the tomb empty and the declaration of our innocence.  There we find the water that drowns our old Adam and lets us tell sin, “You’re dead to me!”  There’s where we find His blood shed, His body given, not just for the world, but for me.  There we hear, “The sacrifice has been offered.  Your sins are forgotten.”

And I need that.  Because though God says, “Perfect.”  Though Jesus assures me that in Him I bear fruit.  I see evidence all around me of imperfection and rotten apples.  But then the words, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, are all the more powerful.  Then the Sacrament tastes that much sweeter.  As the Lutheran Church confesses:  The Mass was instituted so that those who use the Sacrament should remember, in faith, the benefits they receive through Christ and how their anxious consciences are cheered and comforted.  To remember Christ is to remember His benefits. It means to realize that they are truly offered to us….Therefore, the Mass is to be used for administering the Sacrament to those that need consolation. Ambrose says, “Because I always sin, I always need to take the medicine.” Saints triumphant, say, “Thank you Jesus!”  Amen.

After some extensive study in the congregation, St. Mark has decided to make two key changes to her evening worship schedule.

• Evening worship services (year-round and seasonal services like midweek Advent/Lent) will move from Thursday evenings to Wednesday evenings.
• Evening worship time will change from 7:30 pm to 6:3o pm.

These changes will be implemented in the following manner:

• Evening worship time changes will take effect with our Thanksgiving Eve service on Wednesday, November 25.  It will begin at 6:30pm.
• Evening worship day changes will take effect with our Midweek Advent series, beginning on Wednesday, December 2, at 6:30 pm.

 

This Sunday, November 15, Cathy Garrett, after completing a course of study in the Word of God, will be welcomed into membership at St. Mark through the rite of confirmation.

She has chosen as her confirmation verse Psalm 33:20: “We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.”

St. Mark’s course of adult instruction, GOD 101, is available upon request.  If you, or someone you know is interested in taking the course, please contact St. Mark or Pastor Tomczak.

While our Sunday morning Bible study on the End Times isn’t yet over, we have reached a transition period in the study.  We’ve completed our look at Matthew 24-25.  The six lessons studying those two chapters are available here.

Next we will move into a study of some key sections of Revelation which we will wrap up before Christmas.

As a heads-up, after Christmas, our Sunday morning Bible study will get back into the Augsburg Confession with Articles VII-XI!

The Verdict is in:  Innocent!

In the name of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.  Amen.

Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ^ Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

I can’t tell you what it’s like to sit in the defendant’s chair.  I’ve never waited for a judge to decide if I’m guilty of a crime, and therefore deserve punishment, or if I’m innocent and able to return home free and clear.  And yet, I do.  I, and you, have sat in that defendant’s chair.  We have faced a judge.  And there was no question about our guilt.  The evidence was beyond reasonable doubt.  The prosecuting attorney had the goods on us.  He had us on misdemeanors and felonies.  We violated every law on the books.  We were just waiting for the hammer to drop, declaring us guilty, and sentencing us.  And in our case, the death penalty was on the table.

We were there – in God’s court.  The LORD had every right to declare us guilty.  Our lives give evidence of our crimes.  Again and again we broke His commands – lying, cheating, stealing, coveting, lusting, harming our neighbors, spreading lies and rumors, committing adultery, whether in thought or deed, disrespecting parents and authorities, despising God’s Word, throwing around His Name as if it were some common thing.  And then there was the big one, the capital offense of all capital offenses:  We worshiped other gods.  We put something, any thing, many things before and above the Lord Almighty, our Creator.  Guilty.  Guilty.  Guilty.

Then the moment came, the reading of the verdict.  Our chests tighten as we stand.  Our legs are about to give out.  We know the words we’re going to hear:  “Guilty.  Death.”  The bailiff hands the verdict to the Judge, to the Almighty Father of heaven and earth.  He opens it.  He looks at it.  He looks at us.  “Not guilty.”  We collapse into our chairs.  Some excited observer shouts to those awaiting word:  THE VERDICT IS IN:  INNOCENT!  JESUS WINS IT!  GOD THE FATHER GUARANTEES IT!

It’s true.  Despite all the evidence, despite all your sins, God declares you innocent.  This is justification.  This is the almost unbelievable message of Scripture.  This is what we call the Gospel.  This is what sets Christianity apart from all other religions, philosophies, or ways of life.  In no other “faith” do gods simply declare people innocent.  But the true God, the God of the Bible does.  And He does so because of His Son.  We deserved to be declared guilty.  We broke God’s commands.  But as Paul makes clear with his stunning rhetorical questions – no one can bring a charge against us, for God has justified us.  No one can condemn us, because the Son of God Himself stepped forward on our behalf.  As our lesson from Hebrews said, He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.

Jesus not only served as our Lawyer, but His argument was Himself. 

⁵³ The main proofs for our belief are in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Yet, the adversaries twist mutilated passages from this Epistle against us, as in this very passage, where it is said that every high priest is ordained to offer sacrifices for sins. Scripture immediately adds that Christ is the High Priest (Hebrews 5:5–6, 10). The preceding words speak about the Levitical priesthood and show that the Levitical priesthood was an image of Christ’s priesthood. The Levitical sacrifices for sins did not merit the forgiveness of sins before God. They were only an image of Christ’s sacrifice, which was to be the one atoning sacrifice, as we said before. ⁵⁴ To a great extent the Epistle speaks about how the ancient priesthood and the ancient sacrifices were set up not to merit the forgiveness of sins before God or reconciliation, but only to illustrate the future sacrifice of Christ alone. ⁵⁵ In the Old Testament, saints had to be justified by faith, which receives the promise of the forgiveness of sins granted for Christ’s sake, just as saints are also justified in the New Testament. From the beginning of the world all saints had to believe that Christ would be the promised offering and satisfaction for sins, as Isaiah 53:10 teaches, “when His soul makes an offering for sin.”

⁵⁶ In the Old Testament, sacrifices did not merit reconciliation, except as a picture (for they merited civil reconciliation), but they illustrated the coming sacrifice. This means that Christ is the only sacrifice applied on behalf of the sins of others. Therefore, in the New Testament, no sacrifice is left to be applied for the sins of others, except the one sacrifice of Christ upon the cross.

⁵⁷ Those who imagine that Levitical sacrifices merited the forgiveness of sins before God, and by this example require sacrifices in the New Testament that are to be applied on behalf of others in addition to Christ’s death, are completely mistaken. This imagination absolutely destroys the merit of Christ’s passion and the righteousness of faith, and it corrupts the doctrine of the Old and New Testaments. Instead of Christ, it makes for us other mediators and atonement makers out of the priests and sacrificers, who daily sell their work in the churches.

⁵⁸ If anyone argues that in the New Testament a priest is needed to make offering for sins, this can only be said about Christ. The entire Epistle to the Hebrews confirms this explanation. In addition to Christ’s death, if we were to look for any other satisfaction that applies to the sins of others and so to reconcile God, this would be nothing more than to make other mediators in addition to Christ. ⁵⁹ The priesthood of the New Testament is the Spirit’s ministry, as Paul teaches (2 Corinthians 3:6). So it has only Christ’s one sacrifice, which is enough and applies to the sins of others. Besides, this priesthood has no sacrifices like the Levitical order, which could be applied by the outward act (ex opere operato) to others. Rather, it offers the Gospel and the Sacraments to others, so that they may conceive faith and the Holy Spirit through them and be brought from death to life. So the Spirit’s ministry conflicts with the application of an outward act (opus operatum). The Spirit’s ministry is that through which the Holy Spirit is powerful in hearts. Therefore, this ministry is beneficial to others when it is powerful in them and regenerates and enlivens them. This does not happen by applying someone’s work to another.

⁶⁰ We have shown why the Mass does not justify by the outward act (ex opere operato) and why, when applied to others, it does not merit forgiveness. This is because both conflict with the righteousness of faith. For it is impossible that sins should be forgiven and the terrors of death and sin be overcome by anything other than faith in Christ, according to Romans 5:1, “Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace.”

– The Apology, Article XXIV: The Mass, paragraphs 53-60 (Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions, Reader’s Edition, CPH)

The Gospel Cannot Be Destroyed

In the name of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.  Amen.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

The book of Revelation is meant to increase understanding.  It reveals.  It show[s] what must soon take place.  It was Jesus Christ revealing things to His Church.  The book is a series of visions depicting the time between Jesus’ earthly ministry and His Judgment Day return.  Each vision looks at the same events from different perspectives.  Think of them as vivid portraits painted in graphic color and detail, each growing in intensity. Our text comes halfway through a vision spanning chapters 12 through 15.

A dragon attempts to devour a pregnant woman’s child, but both child and mother escape.  The dragon, meanwhile, fights a war in heaven, loses, and is cast down to the earth.  There, he once more attacks the woman, and when she escapes again, he goes after the rest of her offspring – those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus. This last line helps us understand the whole vision.  The dragon is the devil.  The child is Jesus, described as the ruler of all nations, snatched up to God’s Throne.  Having Jesus crucified didn’t bring the devil victory.  He was hurled down.  He then goes after the entire Church, and when he can’t destroy the Church, he attacks individual Christians.

The Dragon summons forth allies, a beast out of the sea and a beast out of the earth.  The first beast, representing godless governments, seeks to destroy the Church, demanding that Christians worship him.  We find no problem understanding this having lived through communism, fascism, and even today’s society that blasphemes Jesus by saying that all religions are equal.  The second beast, described as looking like the Lamb but talking like the Dragon, represents especially the Man of Lawlessness, the Antichrist with a capital ‘A’, who looks like Jesus but speaks like Satan.  This beast forces everyone to submit to him, or else.

Things look grim.  But then John’s eyes are turned from earth to heaven with a vision of the Lamb, Jesus, standing on Mt. Zion with those who have His name and His Father’s name on their foreheads.   They stand above and outside the fray, victorious, having come out of the tribulation.  This introduces our part of the vision.

Ten years ago today — October 31, 1999 — Lutherans from the Lutheran World Federation and Roman Catholics got together at Augsburg, Germany, to sign a document purporting to resolve the major conflict between the two churches — the doctrine of justification.

The document — the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (read it here) — claimed to put to rest all 16th century condemnations between the two churches from the Lutheran Confessions (Book of Concord, read especially the Augsburg Confession, Article IV , VI, and XX, the Apology, articles IV and V, the Smalcald Articles, and the Formula of Concord, Articles III and IV) and the councils of the Catholic Church (especially the Council of Trent).

A close (very close) reading of the document will make it clear that nothing was really resolved.   Areas of already existing agreement were repeated.  Classic areas of difference were either ignored, downplayed, or explained as different foci or emphases.

One participant in today’s celebrations said: “Today we are celebrating the fact that the decades of patient dialogue between Lutherans and Catholics have paid off and we can now together subscribe to a differentiated consensus in the doctrine on justification. There are thus no longer any church-dividing differences regarding what is for Lutherans the central core of the biblical message.”  Except the continued prayer to Mary and saints for intercession, the belief thatMary is a co-redemptrix in our salvation, the sacrifice of the mass, the teachings regarding purgatory, the continued sale of indulgences, the idea that we have to complete our justification, that we merit eternal life by our life of good deeds…other than that, no real dividing differences at all.

• Call for a Spiritual Ecumenism at Joint Declaration’s Tenth Anniversary
• Dialogue Between Lutherans and Catholics Has Paid Off
• Catholics, Lutherans, and Methodists Mark 10th Anniversary of Joint Declaration

But Paul says:  “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.

^“But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

^“Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith” (Romans 3:19-30).

And again:  ”We who are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners’ know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.

“If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker. For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:15-20).

And once more:  ”As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:1-10).

Luther writes in the Smalcald Articles, “Upon this article everything that we teach and practice depends, in opposition to the pope, the devil, and the whole world.  Therefore, we must be certain and not doubt this doctrine.  Otherwise, all is lost, and the pope, the devil, and all adversaries win the victory and the right over us” (Part II, Article I).

492 years ago, a single monk lit a fire that is still burning.  With his set of theses, or points for discussion, Martin Luther, monk, pastor, professor, began what is now called the Reformation.

As you read through, you’ll note that we find a Luther still enthralled with some of the false teachings of Rome.  This isn’t Luther broken from the Catholic Church.  This is Luther who sees serious problems that need fixing and reform.  This is Luther who still believes that Pope doesn’t know what’s going on, and if he did would stop it.

But you’ll also see the spirit of that eternal gospel (Revelation 14:6-7) in these theses.

This translation is from the American Edition of Luther’s Works, volume 31.  You can also find Luther’s explanation of his theses in that same volume.

NINETY-FIVE THESES
OR
DISPUTATION ON THE POWER AND EFFICACY OF INDULGENCES

Out of love and zeal for truth and the desire to bring it to light, the following theses will be publicly discussed at Wittenberg under the chairmanship of the reverend father Martin Luther, Master of Arts and Sacred Theology and regularly appointed Lecturer on these subjects at that place. He requests that those who cannot be present to debate orally with us will do so by letter.

In the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

1. When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, “Repent” [Matt. 4:17], he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.

2. This word cannot be understood as referring to the sacrament of penance, that is, confession and satisfaction, as administered by the clergy.

3. Yet it does not mean solely inner repentance; such inner repentance is worthless unless it produces various outward mortifications of the flesh.

4. The penalty of sin remains as long as the hatred of self, that is, true inner repentance, until our entrance into the kingdom of heaven.

5. The pope neither desires nor is able to remit any penalties except those imposed by his own authority or that of the canons.

6. The pope cannot remit any guilt, except by declaring and showing that it has been remitted by God; or, to be sure, by remitting guilt in cases reserved to his judgment. If his right to grant remission in these cases were disregarded, the guilt would certainly remain unforgiven.

7. God remits guilt to no one unless at the same time he humbles him in all things and makes him submissive to his vicar, the priest.

8. The penitential canons are imposed only on the living, and, according to the canons themselves, nothing should be imposed on the dying.

9. Therefore the Holy Spirit through the pope is kind to us insofar as the pope in his decrees always makes exception of the article of death and of necessity.

10. Those priests act ignorantly and wickedly who, in the case of the dying, reserve canonical penalties for purgatory.

(I can’t take credit for this post.  The text came to me through the pastor’s grapevine as something useful and helpful that someone else had put together, something that could be begged, borrowed, and stolen.  I cannot remember today who I received it from, but it has been useful to me each Reformation, so I pass it on to you.)

It was on October 31, 1517, that a little-known German monk named Martin Luther posted his “95 Theses” on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. (The church door served as the town bulletin board.) The theses had this heading: “Out of love and zeal for the truth and the desire to bring it to light, the following theses will be publicly discussed at Wittenberg under the chairmanship of the reverend father Martin Luther, Master of Arts and Sacred Theology and regularly appointed Lecturer on these subjects at that place. He requests that those who cannot be present to debate orally with us will do so by letter.”

Dr. Luther was still a loyal son of the Catholic Church when he penned his theses, but he was disturbed by the sale of indulgences. “(In) 1517, a preaching friar by the name of John Tetzel, a loudmouthed fellow, happened to appear on the scene…This same Tetzel, then, carried indulgences about and sold grace for money, as expensively or cheaply as he could by the exertion of all his powers. At that time I was a preacher here in the monastery and a young doctor, brand-new, fervent and zealous in Holy Scripture.

“Then, when many people of Wittenberg ran to Jütterbock and Zerbst, etc., and I (as truly as my Lord Christ has redeemed me) did not know what these indulgences were, as indeed no one knew, I began to preach gently that one could do something better, something that would be more certain than the buying of indulgences.”

Indulgences promised those who bought them time off from the punishments of purgatory. Purgatory, which is not taught in the Bible, is defined by Rome as “a purging fire, by which the souls of the pious, tormented for a set time, are purified, so that they might enter the eternal fatherland.” (The Council of Trent)

About John Tetzel and the purpose for the money raised from the sale of indulgences, Luther wrote, “(Tetzel) threshed away lustily indeed, so that money began to fall, to spring, and to clang into the chest in piles. At the same time, however, Tetzel did not forget himself. But the pope, too, had kept his finger in the pie; half of the money collected was to go toward the erection of St. Peter’s Church at Rome. So these fellows went to work with joy and great expectations, went to threshing and pounding purses…So my propositions went forth against the articles of Tetzel, as may be seen from their printed form.”

No debate on the 95 Theses ever took place because no one responded to the invitation. That doesn’t mean, however, that the theses were ignored. As Luther recalled in 1541, “In fourteen days they actually passed through all of Germany.” Soon much of Europe was talking about the brave (or foolish) monk from Wittenberg who dared to raise such questions. The questions included the following:

“Why does not the pope empty purgatory for the sake of holy love and the dire need of the souls that are there if he redeems an infinite number of souls for the sake of miserable money with which to build a church?” (Thesis 82)

“Why does not the pope, whose wealth is today greater than the wealth of the richest Crassus,* build this one basilica of St. Peter with his own money rather than with the money of poor believers?” (Thesis 86)

Luther’s questions and his preaching did eventually lead to a reform movement within the Catholic Church, but by that time the Evangelicals (as Lutherans were initially known) had gone their own way. We thank God that through the Reformation he restored to us the vital Scriptural truth that we are saved by God’s grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ alone. This faith of ours in based on the promises of Holy Scripture alone.

*Crassus was a Roman (115-53 BC) noted for his wealth and luxurious living

Source of the Luther quotes: What Luther Says, #3754, “How the Movement Began”