Reformation - Outline - Luther Essay

Submitted By superduperr
Words: 909
Pages: 4

Reformation

1. Luther thought that God's grace can never be earned, but it bestowed upon you. Luther also says that for the Lords Supper, no preparation is needed: "Faith in itself constitutes the sole and sufficient preparation". He reminds us of the human inclination toward self-reliance and states, "Take great care that no one goes to mass trusting in confession, or prayer, or self-preparation; but lacking confidence in all these things, let him rather go in high confidence in the Christ who gives the promise". This frame of mind keeps would keep people from placing trust in themselves. Rather than being who we are and using our own abilities, we must come and accept the Spirt of Being, basically we must embrace all that we hear. The two most vital things to Luther would be to listen and just believe.

2. Luther was loyal, but he based everything he learned from the Bible, so he did frequently get into trouble with the church. He wrote letters to many before the indulgence controversy, basically explaining to others the guideline to coming a good Christian. While others were the same as him, in the sense that they were against certain things presented by the Pope such as; manners or even his morals, Luther had pride in that he wrote a doctrine instead of just complaining. Luther was a man of action. He would also criticize other writings, and he would analysis intensily. There is also this conroversy, at least something that I notices, even though Luther did go against the Church, he was also a hypocrite, this was his personal flaw, it was tendency to turn on people who wouldn't accept his teachings. Hence, he called the Pope the Antichrist and advocated taking away the livelihood of the Jews. So some might see hypocrisy in the inconsistency between his personal actions and what he expected from Rome.

3. Martin Luther believed that salvation is granted on the basis of faith rather than deeds "But if he has no need of works, neither has he need of the law; and if he has no need of the law, he is certainly free from the law, and the saying is true, “The law is not made for a righteous man” (1 Tim. i. 9)". Christian liberty, our faith, the effect of which is, not that we should be careless or lead a bad life, but that no one should need the law or works for justification and salvation. You follow Christ allow, just listen and believe, "This is done when the Christian liberty which we have from Christ Himself is rightly taught, and we are shown in what manner all we Christians are kings and priests, and how we are lords of all things, and may be confident that whatever we do in the presence of God is pleasing and acceptable to Him. For whatsoever work is not directed to the sole end either of keeping under the body, or of doing service to our neighbor—provided he require nothing contrary to the will of God—is no good or Christian work." Everything must be done for God alone, that you must have full faith in Him, and must only do acceptable things.

4. Luther basically started it, or maybe he was just the first one to shout his opposition to the Catholic Church loudly and clearly enough to be heard and remembered. Many were dissatisfied with the Church because of their corruption, and Luther had enough, he was the first to make a scene, and created