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Introduction

There has been an increased corruption in the Catholic Church and as a result of that there has been a good number of priests, during the 16th century, that have tried to convert Christianity back to its former Biblical basis and simplicity. The priests have tried their best to invoke as much of their efforts as they could in reforming the church, but it didn’t work out as they planned and soon they discovered that it was much more difficult that they thought. The only option that they had was to spilt from the Catholic Church altogether. During the reformation, there were four movement events that happened such as: Anglicans, Lutherans, Reformed Tradition (Calvin), and the Anabaptists. The protestors or protestants that were involved here would be: John Knox, John Calvin, Zwingli, and Martin Luther (Who I will be discussing in this paper).

The beginning and the later growth that would take place of the Protestant reformation during the 16th century, to the authority, was considered a new challenge and it went way beyond the Roman Catholic Church. There were many that actually believed it to be a threat to the social structure of society, starting from the monarch all the way down. The church began to increase and there would be many that would rise up to prominence in Europe. It was these men that rose up to prominence that would lead the Reformation and create a new religious structure with Christendom all at the same time. This new religious structure that was created would produce a new religious theology, and even, philosophy within Christianity. This new theology caused some problems because of the fact that it leads to decades of strife and conflict as well as opening an expanding discussion about spiritual understanding. This altogether caused the church to split up and go asunder. This new theology also changed the course of history for us and gave us much of what we understand today in our western culture.

Martin Luther (1843-1546)

Martin Luther is a German Reformer as well as the founder of the Lutheran Church. He is also highly celebrated amongst all of the reformers and the reason for this is because of the fact that he was the one who caused or triggered the protestant reformation after presenting his popular “95 Theses” which was considered the doctrine of the Catholic Church in Wittenberg, Germany. Martin Luther was also considered a father of the Protestant Reformation because of the revelation that the Holy Spirit gave to him regarding “the just will live by faith” and this is what motivated him to stand up for what he believed in and gave him the courage to stand up against the most powerful entity of the day, the Catholic Church.

A little bit about Martin Luther, he was born on November 10, 1483 in Eisleben, Germany. He had a very hardworking family that was also very religious. Luther first went to college so that he can study the law, but as time went by he had a change of heart and decided he wanted to go to an Augustinian monastery and study theology instead. The reason that I mentioned the scripture “the just shall live by faith” is because that is what the Holy Spirit spoke to Martin Luther when he visited all of the famous shrines in Rome. He was on his knees, climbing the stairway, which he also believed that Jesus climbed too when he reached Pilate’s judgement hall, and claimed that he heard the voice of God tell him that ‘the just shall live by faith”. This has been something that one historian states and it has also been what has set in the motion to bring about the Protestant Reformation. One day, a year later, when Martin Luther was sitting in his room, which was in the tower of the Black Cloister, he was studying Paul’s letter to the Romans, and as we all find that one scripture that just pops out to us, Martin Luther came to Romans 1:17 which states that “The just shall live by faith.” As he meditated on this verse the Holy Spirit just filled him with unspeakable joy and he was no longer burdened in his soul. He no longer tried to earn his salvation by doing works.

There was one problem that Martin Luther had to deal with after his new found enlightenment, and the conversion that he had, was the fact that it did not line up with the Catholic teaching. What the Catholic Church taught was that a priest should basically abolish sin and in order for the person, that committed that sin, to be right standing again they had to perform some kind of act in order to prove themselves. This was in direct conflict with what Martin Luther just learned compared to what he had always been taught. After his conversion, Martin Luther started teaching the priesthood of all the believers. What he taught was the God had granted everyone the right to come to him for salvation and that they no longer needed to become a member of the Catholic Church to get it, grace not works.

After a while he was not able to hide his new found revelation because of all of the suffering that has been going on and the hardships that the church was inflicting on the people, so that is what made him sit down and write ninety-five statements or theses that basically outlined his views and criticisms against the practices of the church. There are some rumors that Martin Luther nailed a copy of his 95 theses to the door of the Wittenberg Castle church on October 31, 1517. This was not something that was uncommon back then because the church doors acted as if they were bulletin boards. It was basically an open invitation for others to come and debate with him on the issues that were expounded upon in the theses. It has been said that Martin Luther approached the authorities of the church as well as presenting them with his theses and calling for the indulgence sellers to have an immediate end in that. When the church was not responding to Luther regarding his demands, he then took it upon himself to start giving out his 95 theses privately which lead to them spreading like wildfire all throughout Germany. Martin Luther’s 95 theses is the foundation of the Protestant Reformation.

It was too long after (November 9, 1518) that when the pope started condemning Martin Luther’s writings as conflicting with the teachings of the church. A year after that there was some commissions that were assembled to check out Luther’s teachings. They were found to be heretical the first time, but the second time they were found “scandalous and offensive to pious ears.” Finally, there was a public decree that was issued against Martin Luther in July of 1520 by Pope Leo X and it basically stated that Luther’s propositions were heretical and that he had 120 days to recant in Rome. After Martin Luther refused to recant he was excommunicated from the Catholic Church on January 3, 1521. Three months later, on April 17, 1521 Martin Luther stood before the Diet of Worms in Germany and again refused to recant stating his testimony with the strong defiant statement: “Here I stand. God help me. I can do no other.” One month later on May 25, Charles V signed an edict against Martin Luther and had his writings burned.