Reformation Case

Dear German Prince,

After reading into Luther's work, I am here to inform you on what he has to say. Luther seems to be having a hard time with the roman church right now and he thinks he has legitimate reasons for feeling so. After Luther, himself, read the bible he realized the catholic path to salvation is not by faith and works but by faith alone. What that means is that we should not have to look to the priest or the clergy man to help us reach heaven. He explains that the clergy are not noble, the priest are absent, they are selling indulgences for the wrong reasons, and that the priest are not encouraging people to read the bible but they are actually doing the opposite of that. Its seems as though the church doesn't want anyone else to be individually informed or educated because they enjoy the position of power they have over the people. Sir, is that a power we believe they should have?

Luther wrote a theses of ninety-five reason to think twice of the catholic church. Number five in Luther's ninety five theses says “ 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.”1 The Pope is trying to obtain power by having the skills and knowledge that he has and he is receiving money to use those skills. The rich civilians seems to think they are paying their way into heaven. The Pope and priest are acting more like dukes and princes than Gods messengers.. This isn't the only way the church is taking advantage of the people.

Luther also came up with a theory of three walls that the people of the church are using. He said “ the romanists have very cleverly surrounded themselves with three walls”2, they are using those walls for protection. What he means by protection is that the church is finding ways to get out of the punishment they deserve. “Romanist have overawed kings and princes till the latter believe it would be impious not to obey them in spite of all the deceitful and cunning dodges of theirs.”3

The first wall stated “under the threat of secular force, they have stood firm and declared that secular force had no jurisdiction over them; rather the opposite was the case, and the spiritual was superior to the secular”.4 He is saying the first wall is their way of declaring they are superior to everyone else. They are also saying that nobody is capable of accusing them of their wrong doings. Any time a different force wanted to question them, they stood their ground declaring no one else had jurisdiction over them. Luther is explaining that “those now called “religious”, i.e., priest, bishops, and popes, possess no further or greater dignity than other christians, except that their duty is to expound the word of God and administer the sacraments”5 They are no better or worse than any other christian, so they should not act as they are.

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