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LUTI-IERAND mE SPLITWITH mE CHURCH
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Erasmuswas surelyright when he saidthat by 1s;2()that therewas no longerany
possibility of reconciliationbetweenLuther andthe Catholic Church. WhenLuther first
beganto preachagainstcertainchurchpracticesa few yearsearlierhe was making,
rhetorically,a call from within. Luther, an Augustinianmonk, thoughtof himself asa
Catholic,and at that time he did not challengeessentialCatholicdoctrinesor the church's
claimsto authority. His main targetin the Ninety-five Theseswere local procedures--the distributionof indulgences,the sermonsof menlike Tetzelwho preachedthat with a
little moneyone could buy a placein heaven.None of thesematterswas essentialto the
Catholic Church's senseof self, and if Catholic leadersof the time had had more
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foresight,or an institutional zealousness
to purgetheir churchof theseabuses,it is quite
possiblethat Luther could havebeenplacated. Luther, in otherwords, did not beginasa
"Lutheran". He becameone,gradually,in the processof compiling scripturalarguments
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againstthe CatholicChurch'scondoningof theseinessentialproceduralmatters. Within
a few yearsthat call from within hadbecomea hostile attackuponthe very foundations
of the Church.
WhenLuther first beganto questionchurchpractices,hewas well within the
mainstreamof modernCatholicthought. Althoughthe practiceof indulgenceswas
widespread,it was hardly viewed positively, and manyof Luther's opponents--- among
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them,JohnEck --- werewilling to grantthat Luther's criticisms of the practicehadmerit
(Bainton 91). The objectionsLuther hadto grantingindulgencescould be held by any
reasonableCatholic. "Indulgences,"Luther said,"are positively hannful to the recipient
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becausethey impedesalvationby diverting charity and inducinga false senseof
security.. .. Thosepersonsare damnedwho think that lettersof indulgencemakethem
certainof salvation"(Bainton 63). By attackingindulgences,asBainton says,Luther was
striking "at the revenueof his own institution," but it is importantto notethat he was not
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striking at the corevaluesof the churchas a whole. He did not challengethe rights of
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the papacy,or clerical privilege; indeed,in 1517he professedhimself deferentialto
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'churchdictates:"I amwilling to reversethis judgment [that the popehasno jurisdiction
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over purgatory]if the Churchso pronounces"(Bainton 62).
The Theseswere in no sensea manifestoagainstthe entire CatholicChurch,
challengingeither its relationshipto God or the Christiannatureof its long-heldpractices.
Instead,Luther was respondingto what were relatively local, recent,andperipheral
issues. Accordingto Bainton,Luther "directedhis attacksolelyagainstTetzel'sreputed
sermonandAlbert's printed instructions,which markedthe apexof unbridledpretensions
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PU~liCstatementshe paid deferenc.e.to
'~e powe~.ofthek~YS"of St. Peterevenwhile
notIngthat they "cannotmakeattntlon Into contntlon" (Bainton 6I -62).
It waswhile trying to answerthe opposition'sargumentsin favor of indulgences
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that Luther beganto delvedeeperinto scriptureandchurchhistory, an activity which
graduallyled him to a moreradicalviewpoint of wherethe CatholicChurchstoodin the
cosmicstrugglefor salvation. The Churchrepresentedaccumulatedtradition; its
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doctrineswere the productof centuriesof churchcouncils,papaldecrees,andthe
commentariesof the Doctors. But what if suchpracticesrepresenteda misconstrualof
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scripture? The Catholic sacramentof penancewas foundedon a versewhich hadbeen
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translatedinto Latin as"do penance,"while in the original Greekthe phraseactually
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meant"be penitent" (Bainton 67). Luther was struckby this discrepancywhen he
discoveredit, for to him it meantthat the sacrament,by focusingon the (mistranslated)
act ratherthanthe (scriptural)changewithin, was actuallyleadingpeopleastrayfrom
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salvation. Discoveriessuchasthis emboldenedhim to broadenhis criticism of church
practices,
and soonhewasmountinga challengeagainsttheverybeliefsanddoctrines
which the Churchsawas its foundation.
At first Luther did try to strikea moderatetone. He could not force himself to
supportthings he did not believein, suchasthe power of the popeto grant indulgences,
but he professedobedienceto the churchin its basicvalues. He took painsto dilute
utteranceswhich might otherwiseseemprovocative:"Let it be understoodthat whenI
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saythe authority of the Romanpontiff restson a humandecreeI am not counseling
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disobedience';(Bainton 83). Evenwhile voicing cautiousapprovalof manyof the beliefs
of JohnHusl and his followers, he madehasteto add,"I haveneverapprovedof their
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schism. Eventhoughthey had divine right on their side,they ought not to have
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withdrawn from the Church,becausethe highestdivine right is unity and charity"
(Bainton 89). He only becamemoreradicalizedashis challengeto the Churchhardened
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into a standoffbetweenboth parties. Luther was frustratedby the Church's
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unwillingness,or inability, to refutehis argumentson scripturalauthority; a bull, he
wrote, "condemnsme from its own word without any proof from Scripture,whereasI
backup all my assertionsfrom the Bible" (Bainton 125). In espousingSolaScriptura,
Luther was denyingthe Church'sclaim to specialauthority in oomnnmfeatingGod's will
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to the people. Much of the Church'sfeatures--- ecclesiasticaloffices, mannersof prayer,
--hadno clearscripturalfoundation,but rested
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venerationof the saints,and others
insteadon later tradition and innovation. SolaScripturaleavesno room for this kind of
tradition, and hencefrom that point of view muchof what the Catholic Churchstoodfor
restedon nothing. Indeed,Luther could argue-- anddid --- that through its many
unbiblicalinnovations
theCatholicChurchhadcorruptedChrist'smessage.To believe
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in what the Churchtaughtwasto risk salvation.
It was ultimately the sacraments
which madethe breachimpassable.The
CatholicChurchat that time had sevensacraments:confirmation,marriage,ordination,
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penance,baptism,the Eucharist,andextremeunction. In TheBabylonianCaptivity,
publishedin 1520,Luther strippedaway all but baptismand the Lord's supperon the
groundsthat they lackedbiblical authority. This was of immensesignificance;it was, in
fact, the publicationof this piecewhich provokedErasmusto saytherewas no longerany
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possibility ofreconcileme~ betweenthe ChurchandLuther (Bainton 105-6). The reason
why Luther's abandonmentof the five sacramentswas so seriouswas, asBainton
explains,because:
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the pretensionsof the RomanCatholicChurchrest so completelyuponthe
sacramentsasthe exclusivechannelsof graceandupon the prerogativesof the
clergy,by whom the sacramentsareexclusivelyadministered.Ifsacramentalism
is undercut,thensacerdotalism
is boundto fall. (Bainton105-6)
~a\'~~~Without the sacramentof ordinationthe specialauthority of the clergywas denied,
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providing a logical openingfor the conceptof the priesthoodof all believers. As Luther
discoveredin the Biblical passageupon which the sacramentof penancewas based,the
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weight of churchauthority could be in error on someimportant doctrinalmatters. One
personwho readsthe Biblical text correctlythereforehasmore authoritythan an entire
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council of bishopsandpopeswho readit wrongly. Ifmost of the sacramentshadno
Biblical foundation,asLuther believed,then it wasvirtual sacrilegeto condonethe
sacramentsasthe CatholicChurchimproperly conveyedthem. "I may be wrong on
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indulgences,"Luther allowed,"but asto the needfor faith in the sacraments[as in "be
penitent"ratherthan "do penance"]I will die beforeI will recant" (Bainton 107).
Symbolically,the total breachbetweenLuther andwhat had oncebeenhis Church
canbe seenin his burningof the papalbull condemninghis teachings. "No action,"
Bokenkottersays,"could havesymbolizedmore appropriatelyLuther's irrevocablebreak
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with the papacyandthe endof medievalChristendom"(219). It is a renunciationof all
that the papacystoodfor. By that time the rhetorichad also changed.At the startof his
preachingagainstindulgencesLuther was respectfulof the Popeandcouncils,but by
1520both sideswere burning eachother's publicationsandexcommunicatingone
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another"in the nameof the sacredtruth of God" (Bainton 126). Luther wasunashamedly
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calling the Popethe Antichrist. Reconciliationis no longerpossiblewhen both sides
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SmiCstrugglefor salvation.