Martin Luther and The Ninety-Five Theses

Criticism of the Pope's Power Over Purgatory and Sale of Indulgences

Dec 13, 2008

Discrepancies exist as to the proclamation of the Theses, but scholars agree that an angry Luther questioned the theology behind indulgence sales & the status of sinners.

The intent of Martin Luther’s Ninety-five Theses was to inspire theological debate on the power of indulgences as well as the pope’s unique role in dispensing grace through indulgences. Underlying these points, Luther highlighted the role of the Gospel in true repentance (see theses, 62-66). Luther had already articulated his opposition to indulgences in 1514 and in 1518 would write a treatise explaining his Theses.

Proclaiming the Theses in October 1517

Harvard University historian Richard Marius [1] gives compelling evidence in his biography of Martin Luther that the Ninety-five Theses were not hammered onto the church door at Wittenberg. This version, long held by Luther scholars including Heiko Oberman in his 1982 highly acclaimed Luther biography [2], refers to Luther’s colleague, Philipp Melanchthon, who recorded it thirty years after the events and only arrived in Wittenberg in 1518. According to Marius, Luther never spoke or wrote of the story, even in his Table Talk.

Most probably, Luther sent the Theses to Albrecht, Archbishop of Mainz, who was the chief church official in the region and who had initiated the sale of indulgences on the borders of Saxony in order to recoup revenue used to purchase the bishopric from Pope Leo X. Marius maintains that Luther’s intent was not to directly confront the pope or church tradition: “He frequently regretted that he had been a convinced papist when he fired his opening salvo against indulgences – meaning that he did not suppose the Ninety-five Theses represented a radical break with the essence of Catholic tradition.” [3]

The Theses were quickly published and translated into the vernacular German. According to Oberman, Luther sent Latin copies to three printers in addition to one in Wittenberg. The dissemination of Luther’s didactic was received warmly by others who, for reasons of their own, sought to clip the wings of a pope whose building of St. Peter’s Basilica was being financed, in part, by gold from the German principalities.

Explaining the Ninety-five Theses

The first of the Theses introduces the overall theme: “…that the whole life of believers should be repentance.” In his sixth point, Luther declares that, “the pope cannot remit any guilt, except by declaring that it has been remitted by God and by assenting to God’s remission…” In this, Luther returned to the nature of guilt and confession. Absolution occurs when sinners admit their guilt not out of fear of hell, but for the love of God.

Dealing directly with indulgences in points 10 and 11, Luther states in point 21 that, “Therefore those preachers of indulgences are in error, who say that by the pope’s indulgences a man is freed from every penalty, and saved;” How could souls in purgatory be immediately freed when they have not participated in penance?

Although powerful, the Ninety-five Theses were benign when compared to subsequent writings that would lead Luther to rejecting purgatory altogether. And as Bainton reminds the reader, the Theses were written in anger. Marius relates that Luther had been reading Erasmus’ Julius Excluded at the time he penned the Theses. The bittersweet, witty story recounts a fictional conversation between St. Peter and Pope Julius II, the warrior pope, who is excluded from heaven. Luther, no doubt, enjoyed the banter while developing greater ire over papal self-aggrandizement.

[1] Richard Marius, Martin Luther: The Christian Between God and Death (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999) see chapter 8.

[2] Heiko A. Oberman, Luther: Man Between God and the Devil, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989), pp.190-191.

[4] Roland Bainton, Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1977), pp. 60-64.

The copyright of the article Martin Luther and The Ninety-Five Theses in German History is owned by Michael Streich. Permission to republish Martin Luther and The Ninety-Five Theses in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.