Martin Luther and Justification by Faith Alone

October 31^st is Reformation Day. The following is the start of a series based on a lecture by theologian H. Ray Dunning and re-formatted for the Holiness Today podcast.

Most of you will be quite familiar with the life and work of the great reformer, Martin Luther. You, no doubt, are well-versed in the details of that historic moment, when Dr. Luther nailed his famous 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Church (which was the community bulletin board) with the intention of debating certain excesses which he deplored. You could probably also, even, identify the fact that this event occurred on October 31, 1517.

Had it ever dawned on you that this was Halloween, and that that might be significant? It was because it was Halloween that he proposed the debate on that day. Hallowed Eve was so named because it was the day preceding All Saint’s Day. And on All Saint’s Day the Catholic Church was planning a big celebration in which the surplus offerings, which were preserved in the Treasury of Mary, were to be distributed at great prices. What a propitious time to call into question the excesses of the practice of indulgences so prevalent in the 16^th Century.

If I were to ask you what Luther’s central theological commitments were, you would certainly lead by saying justification by faith. It may come as a surprise, however, to learn that the Roman Catholic Church also taught justification by faith. Though the formulas were the same, there was a crucial difference. One of the basic contrasts was in the meaning of faith.

For the Catholics, faith meant intellectual assent to the doctrines and teachings of the Church. Luther, however, had recovered the central New Testament understanding that faith meant trust: complete and total confidence in the forgiving grace of God as manifested in the person of Jesus Christ. This difference resulted in a radically different understanding of the Christian life.

For the Catholic, faith was but the beginning. Acquiesce to the authority of the Church must be supplemented by good works until it became perfected in holiness. Salvation was by faith and good works. This is why Luther insisted on always saying “justification by faith alone.” There were no subsequent conditions which must be met. For Luther, as for all good Protestants, one’s final salvation was settled at the moment of justification, which occurred at the beginning of the Christian life.