If you were to find yourself in any of the participating German states on October 31 of any given year, you would discover that most places of business are closed in observance of Reformation Day. The public holiday celebrated in Germany commemorates the act by Martin Luther, when, on October 31, 1517, he nailed his 95 Theses in the Latin language to the door of the Castle church in Wittenberg, soliciting scholarly debate. In so doing, Luther was not denying the veracity of indulgences per se, but rather, he was writing against the abuse of vendors, namely, the Dominican, John Tetzel, who manipulated the masses through the selling of indulgences for impious gain.
Tetzel became infamous for coercing many ignorant and unsuspecting denizens into purchasing documents guaranteeing remission of sin by using demagogic phrases such as, “Pity us, pity us. We are in dire torment from which you can redeem us for a pittance.” And, “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.”
For Luther, there were three main issues standing against Tetzel and the selling of indulgences. The late Reformation scholar Roland Bainton explains Luther’s Theses as focusing on three main points: “an objection to the avowed object of the expenditure, a denial of the powers of the pope over purgatory, and a consideration of the welfare of the sinner.” Thus, it is apparent from Luther’s own writing that at the time of posting the Theses his chief concern was the abuse of indulgences and not necessarily the concept thereof.
Anyone looking to Luther’s document hoping to find any of the Protestant tenets might be disappointed. There is nothing particularly reformed in his Theses. There is no mention of the doctrine of justification, no discussion of the imputation of Christ’s righteousness, no language commenting on the doctrines of grace, nor is there any indication of the idea of sola Scriptura—all of those biblical concepts had yet to fully germinate in the mind of Luther. It would take time before Luther came to realize that the entire system of indulgences was antithetical to Scriptures. Eventually, he wrote condemningly of the system he once naturally embraced: “Indulgences are not a pious fraud, but an infernal, diabolical, antichristian fraud, larceny, and robbery, whereby the Roman Nimrod and teacher of sin peddles sin and hell to the whole world and sucks and entices away everybody’s money as the price of this unspeakable harm.”
Yet, October 31, 1517 is still considered the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. Luther’s Theses—the words that sparked the movement to recover the purity of the apostolic message lost in medieval Christianity—started a revolution within the church that could never be undone. “Out of love and concern for the truth, and with the object of eliciting it,” he began his document, troubled over the abuses inherent in the church into which he was born and raised and to which he had devoted his life. Although before he even considered the possibility of disputing the established hierarchy, he first endured a profound spiritual thunderstorm that took years before it finally abated. Luther spent decades in torment and fear before he could proclaim with the apostle Paul: “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 5:1).
For a biography of the Reformer, read Martin Luther: A Tortured Soul
