It is 500 years since Luther nailed his Ninety-five Theses to the door of All Saints' Church in Wittenberg. Here is an article I penned for our Parish Magazine that you may like...

On the 31st October 2017 the church celebrates 500 years since Martin Luther started the Reformation by publishing his "95 Theses", a letter to his Bishop which attacked the selling of indulgences. At the time the church was selling these to raise money to rebuild St Peter's Bassilica in Rome.

 Martin Luther (1483-1546) was born in Thuringia (Saxony) in what is now Germany. His father was a successful foundry owner and mine operator, so he had enough money to send his son to study law. Instead, Luther became a monk, joining the religious order of the Augustinian Hermits and studied theology at the University of Wittenburg. He then became the professor of Biblical studies there. Luther remained there for most of the rest of his life.

An indulgence was a payment to the Catholic Church that purchased an exemption from punishment for some lesser types of sins. The customers for indulgences were Catholic believers who feared that if one of their sins went unnoticed or unconfessed, they would spend extra time in purgatory before reaching heaven or worse, wind up in hell for failing to repent.

The sale of indulgences was a by-product of the Crusades in the 12th and 13th centuries. Because they risked dying without the benefit of a priest to perform the appropriate ceremonies, Crusaders were promised immediate salvation if they died while fighting to "liberate" the Christian holy city at Jerusalem. Church leaders justified this by arguing that good works earned salvation, and making Jerusalem accessible to Christians was an example of a good work.

Over time, Church leaders decided that paying money to support good works was just as good as performing good works, and it evened things up for people who were physically incapable of fighting a Crusade. Over several centuries, the practice expanded, and Church leaders justified it by arguing that they had inherited an unlimited amount of good works from Jesus, and the credit for these good works could be sold to believers in the form of indulgences.

According to one account, Luther nailed his Ninety-five Theses to the door of All Saints' Church in Wittenberg on 31 October 1517. The Latin Theses were printed in several locations in Germany in 1517. In January 1518 friends of Luther translated the Ninety-five Theses from Latin into German. Within two weeks, copies of the theses had spread throughout Germany; within two months, they had spread throughout Europe. Luther's writings circulated widely, reaching France, England, and Italy as early as 1519. The Reformation spread throughout Europe. In 1534 King Henry created the Church of England.

Luther had been studying the Bible for years and came to the conclusion that the church was corrupt and had moved away from the central truths of Christianity found in the Bible. The most important doctrine for him was how people are put right with God. The church was saying that it was by works, what people did. Luther taught that everyone is a sinner, failing to live up to God's perfect standard. People can only be put right with God by his undeserved favour, or grace, through the gift of trusting in Jesus, who was perfect & paid the price for people's sins on the cross.

Luther saw the Bible as the sole and final authority in all matters of life and godliness. To make this accessible to others he translated the Bible into German. First of all he finished the New Testament in 1522, then the Old Testament in 1534. He wanted to make this available to normal people. He used "modern technology" in employing the printing press to publish Bibles and his written works. Between 1500 and 1530, Luther's works represented one fifth of all materials printed in Germany. Luther also composed hymns. Congregations didn't sing much before the Reformation. His hymns and those of others, formed early hymn books and he inspired some of Bach's religious music.

What can we learn from Martin Luther and the Reformation?

Go back to basics. The Bible. You cannot be put right with God by your own good works, whether that be helping others, being religious, or giving money. You can only be put right with God by the good works of Jesus that includes Him receiving the punishment for your sins on the cross so you can be free to know and love God.

The Church needs to constantly evaluate what it does in the light of the Bible, rather than what is done by others or what will profit it. The priority should be making the Christian faith accessible to everyone and anyone.

The church needs to use "modern technology". It is a long time since the printing press was invented but the world wide web offers many ways in which the good news of Jesus can be shared throughout the world. St Martin's has a Facebook group, & I have been publishing a sermons website since 2000 that has accumulated nearly 890,000 "hits".

We can give thanks for singing in church. Jan Hus, another reformer, was condemned as a heretic for having his congregation sing!

We can be thankful that the Reformers also revolutionized daily life outside the church. They gave new meaning to work and to various roles - spouses, parents, and children; employees and employers; civic rulers and citizens. This led to greater productivity & prosperity, better literacy and numeracy, better and more popular schooling. Prior to the Reformation, the only work that really mattered was church work.

Let us thank God for the reformation, for what it brought and for those who brought it about, many of whom were martyrs. Let us also reflect on where we are in our relationship with God.

Jim Pye