Essay on Luthers Treatise on Christian Liberty - 1166 Words

To state that Luther, in his essay: Treatise on Christian Liberty destroyed the motivation to live a morally good life would be an all too quick and equally false presumption. Rather, I feel that the opposite is true. In dealing with Luthers essay as well as my own personal beliefs I feel that Luther in fact strengthens every Christians motivation for faith by way of grace and in relation, the use of works to exude an already present faith in Christ. Though it may seem that Luther shuns the idea of works he in fact presents, quite thoroughly, the case that works are nothing without faith. Yet it is by faith that works become a way of celebrating our salvation. In this essay I will show how Luther actually motivates Christians to†¦show more content†¦I think that this statement alone is very powerful in that it commands our attention to the fact that no matter how hard we try and no matter how good our deeds, we are still lost as to the word of God unless we possess fait h. Luther continues on to say: It is clear that, as the soul needs only the word of God for its life and righteousness, so it is justified by faith alone and not any works; for if it could be justified by anything else, it would not need the word, and consequently it would not need faith (189). This further reinforces my belief that Luther in point of fact motivates Christians in that it shows them that they need nothing more than true belief to become righteous. It is amazingly simple yet at the same time very complicated for many people because we live in a world that evaluates us on how much we can do and at what speed we can accomplish our said task. This I believe is where faith in Christ is able to free us from our suffering here on Earth. If we only accept that Jesus was sent to pay for our sins and accept him as our savior then we are granted access to the eternal kingdom of heaven. Yet if faith is all that we need to have everlasting life in heaven, then why on earth would we even worry about how we act. It would seem as though once we have salvation through grace then we could return to our lives of sin without having to worry about where we will spend eternity. Luther poses a similar questionShow MoreRelatedSummary Of Martin LutherThe Freedom Of A Christian1 145 Words   |  5 PagesMartin Luthers The Freedom of a Christian discusses an in-depth look into the Christian faith, Gods work in each individual. Refusing to believe in the established doctrine, Luther wrote this reforming treatise in response to Pope Leos criticisms and to further explain the theological and ideological core of his thinking. Nevertheless, Luther centered his ideas around the concept that the joys and freedoms of a Christian were that in faith; humans, as sinners, should not look at ourselves, butRead MoreEssay about Martin Luthers Impact on Germany1451 Words   |  6 PagesMartin Luthers Impact on Germany Although we remember Luther as the great thinker who sparked the reformation with his revolutionary ideas, it would be unfair to not acknowledge that Luther was the first to form these new ideas. Many attempts at reform had been attempted prior to Luther, led by heresies such as John Wycliffe, John Hus et al. In fact, during the course of Christianity there has been resistance and dissent, attempts at reform. Fortunately for LutherRead MoreMeaning of Liberty in Martin Luther King ´s On Christian Life501 Words   |  2 PagesThe battle for liberty has been fought on different scales with the beginning of thousands of revolutions in the history. The ideal liberty is an ultimate goal that inflames the minds of many people who yearn for individual freedom. In all these struggles, the definition of liberty is not the same for different people. According to the text, â€Å"the idea of liberty has played a powerful role in the history of Western society and culture, but the meaning and understanding of liberty has undergone continualRead MoreMartin Luther s Jr And The Christian Believer Free1428 Words   |  6 PagesMartin Luther’s three major treaties were â€Å"attempts to persuade Pope Leo X and Roman Catholics that the theology of the Reformation was not a novelty in the faith, but a pure confession of the Word of God and consistent with the truth of the Holy Scriptur es† Each one focused on various practices and beliefs of the Catholic Church that Martin Luther deemed were wrong. One of Martin Luther s three major treatises, On A Freedom of a Christian, reprimands the widely held Christian belief that good worksRead More Comparing Christian Liberty, Utopia, and The Prince Essay2177 Words   |  9 PagesChristian Liberty, Utopia, and The Prince    A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none...A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant to all, subject to none. (Luther Pg. 7) These lines show what Luther is truly about. In Christian Liberty, Luther believes in the reestablishing of God as the inner authority. In Utopia, Thomas More believes the power should be in one group and that the rest of the common people in the society should all be equal like a communist societyRead MoreA Secularization - The Effects Of The Early Reformation1083 Words   |  5 Pagesallowed to determine the good for themselves. Much of the grounding for understanding was based on Luther’s position on freedom. In his treatise on the Freedom of a Christian in 1520, Luther states, A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all. Although Christians are free thus from all works, they ought in this liberty to empty themselves, take upon themselves the form of a servant, be made in human likeness, beRead More The Nature of Man, the Renaissance, and the Protestant Reformation2873 Words   |  12 Pagesgrowing political instability and economic uncertainty in Italy, and Luther in a time dominated by an increasingly corrupt Catholic church. While Alberti’s good fortune is reflected in On the Family’s optimism, Machiavelli’s The Prince and Luther’s On Christian Liberty are direct reactions to the perceived crises the authors were witnessing, and both works were written with an obvious sense of urgency. These writers all put forward strongly worded and drastically different views of the fundamentalRead MoreThe Three Alones of Reformation Theology2703 Words   |  11 Pagesto one another in Luthers theology? How does Luthers use of them respond to the dominant question of the sixteenth century: How can I know that God is favorable to me? The three alones in Reformation theology refer to that which is needed for justification or salvation favorableness in the sight of God. Luther describes them as 1) Christ, or the Gospel of Christ (Scripture), alone, 2) faith alone, and 3) grace alone. Each of these three are essentially united in Luthers theology. ChristRead MoreTheological Understandings of Mediated Grace2903 Words   |  12 Pagessupernatural nature. Others believe that mediated grace - God as experienced through the senses in a purely human manner - is a vital way to bridge the ontological gap (an extreme difference in being that separates the earthly and the divine). Christian theologians from the beginning of the faith have debated the qualities attributed to this phenomenon because of its sheer importance; when dealing with vastly different elements, such as humans and God, the search for an intermediary force is obviouslyRead MoreMartin Luther : Cuts All Ties With Catholic Church1712 Words   |  7 Pagesbecause he disagreed with it. With his many ideas, strong will, and criticisms, he forever changed the world. Martin challenged and rebelled against The Catholic Church’s beliefs and with time, the church’s authority and power declined. Most of Luther’s success however comes from 3 main things; the writing of his 95 Thesis, translating the bible into vernacular German, and all leading up to the start of the Protestant Reformation. II. Biography Born in Eislenben in Saxony (now known as Germany)