THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GOD’S GRACE AND HUMAN FAITH, ACCORDING TO MARTIN LUTHER’S TREATISE ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY

So here it is.  This is my first theological paper.  I recently posted on FB that this was the best paper ever written about Martin Luther...by me.  Several people misunderstood and thought I was claiming to have written the best paper ever.  No, this is just the best one on Martin Luther that I've ever written.  You could also argue it's the worst, because it's my only. You can tell how difficult it was just from the laughable title, which doesn't even appear to be in English.  It is, and I hope the paper will turn out okay as well.  I, in my academic enthusiasm found this quite exciting. I also understand that many people will not.  

That is why I am attending seminary!

Enjoy!

--Sarah

The relationship between God’s grace and Human Faith,

according to Martin Luther’s Treatise on Christian Liberty

Although the Paul might have been the first to pen the idea of salvation by faith and not works, he wasn't the last. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God--not the result of works, so that no one may boast." Paul wrote these words in Ephes. 2:8-9 NRSV and there has been no end to public discourse and debate about them. We are saved by grace through faith and not by works. Paul believed it, Martin Luther believed it, and thus began a great fissure within the Church, eventually resulting in the establishment of Protestantism. Christians and churches still wrestle with the concept, even into the 21st century. This paper attempts to explore the issue of salvation by grace in light of Martin Luther and other Christians throughout history.

In 1520 Martin Luther makes his points about salvation and grace in Concerning Christian Liberty, a treatise that is prefaced with a letter to Pope Leo X. In the letter to the pope, Luther compliments the pontiff but criticizes the church openly. “I have said nothing of you but what was honourable and good”[1] is followed a few paragraphs later with condemnation of corruption in the church. “The Church of Rome, formerly the most holy of all Churches, has become the most lawless den of thieves, the most shameless of all brothels, the very kingdom of sin, death, and hell; so that not even antichrist, if he were to come, could devise any addition to its wickedness.”[2] Luther provides specifics about what he despises in the people and practices of the church. Insincere flatterers, those who use power unjustly, those who use the name of the pope to wield such power, and enemies of peace, all make his list. He then offers the following treatise to the pope as a sign of his good will and desire for peace. “It is a small matter, if you look to its exterior, but, unless I mistake, it is the summary of the Christian life put together in a small compass, if you apprehend its meaning.”[3] This portion is critical to Luther’s entire treatise. In this letter he attempts to establish his respect for the Pope and allay any fears the Pope has about Luther’s loyalty. Luther claims not to be a threat to the church. He still has hope that a quick cleanup job will solve all the church’s problems. In this he is naïve and hopeful. He again and again praises the Pope so the entire treatise will actually be read and possibly both inform and spur the Pope to action. Luther wants church leaders to respect their members instead of bullying them into giving more money. Specifically he is upset at the selling of indulgences, and church leaders espousing they can grant forgiveness for a price.

Luther starts out his second portion of the treatise with a discussion of the Christian faith and its dual nature as both simple and complex. “A Christian man is the most free lord of all, and subject to none; a Christian man is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to every one.”[4] He references 1 Cor. 9:19 and Rom. 13:8 as scriptural explanations. A person is a dichotomy of spirit and physical body. The inward person references the spirit realm and the outward person references the physical realm. Once established, if this is believed, then it follows that no one can liberate or influence a soul. Luther writes, “One thing, and one alone, is necessary for life, justification, and Christian liberty; and that is the most holy word of God, the Gospel of Christ.”[5] The soul’s very survival depends on the word of God, Luther explains. Nothing else comes close to satisfying the desire of the heart. Though he doesn’t call it by name here, Sola scriptura is the principle that scripture is the sole source of authority for the Christian and the church. “The Bible is therefore to be read in order to find Christ, using reason and prayer for the Holy Spirit’s guidance. In this sense the Bible will be its own interpreter and direct the church (not vice versa).”[6] Lay persons don’t need a priest to interpret the scripture for them, because with reason and prayer, anyone can understand God’s word.

Luther writes that faith allows the soul to receive God’s word. The soul is made righteous and justified by this faith. “For the word of God cannot be received and honoured by any works, but by faith alone. Hence it is clear that as the soul needs the word alone for life and justification, so it is justified by faith alone, and not by any works. For if it could be justified by any other means, it would have no need of the word, nor consequently of faith.”[7] Faith allows the believer access to God’s word. Faith is the starting point of the Christian life. Luther argues that without faith, every good action and every scripture reading is invalid and meaningless.

I believe that before faith, there is grace. My personal theology is firmly rooted in the Methodist tradition. We believe that faith is a response to grace. We believe in prevenient grace. This is the grace that comes before. “Prevenient grace is God’s grace anticipating any movement by man towards God.” [8] This is where God claims us as children of God before we can even claim that name for ourselves. At birth, God puts us on the path of faith. It’s up to us to recognize it and claim the faith for ourselves, but he is always there to lead us and love us. That is my understanding of grace.

Faith belongs to the inward spirit of the Christian, and therefore is not justified, made free, or saved by outward physical activities, Luther explains. “Therefore the first care of every Christian ought to be to lay aside all reliance on works, and strengthen his faith alone more and more, and by it grow in the knowledge, not of works, but of Christ Jesus.”[9] Faith is the key that unlocks success to fulfilling the scriptural laws as well as guides the believer in a correct outward Christian life. With faith the Christian has a bridge between one’s inward nature and one’s outward works. “For what is impossible for you by all the works of the law, which are many and yet useless, you shall fulfill in an easy and summary way through faith, because God the Father has made everything to depend on faith.”[10] The treatise lists three virtues of faith. The possession of faith means the Christian has no need for law or justification works. That doesn’t mean the Christian doesn’t perform good works or follow the law, but that one’s salvation is due to grace and not directly connected to outward actions. By nature, a faithful Christian is obedient. With faith, one automatically has a reputation of truth and righteousness. With lack of faith, one is full of self-idolatry and empty works. Through faith the soul is united to Christ. Christ and the soul become one flesh. The human soul is full of sin, but by grace through faith, the soul is united to Christ, who takes on the sin and makes the human righteous. “Christ is full of grace, life, and salvation; the soul is full of sin, death, and condemnation. Let faith step in, and then sin, death, and hell will belong to Christ, and grace, life, and salvation to the soul.”[11] This is Luther’s understanding of Grace. He believed the human was by nature wicked and only became righteous through relationship with Christ Jesus. Grace cannot be earned, bought, or bargained for because salvation is simply and solely reliant upon faith. Once faith is established, the Christian begins to desire to perform acts of goodness and justice, acting out of relationship with Christ. Faith always comes first, or all Christian acts are fraudulent. With faith, all believers are acting as priests on behalf of Jesus. The church had skewed this information, according to Luther, and separated the clergy from lay people as if one were more holy than the other. “Through this perversion of things it has happened that the knowledge of Christian grace, of faith, of liberty, and altogether of Christ, has utterly perished, and has been succeeded by an intolerable bondage to human works and laws.”[12] Those who preach should aim simply at increasing faith in Christ, according to Luther. “…it is not sufficient, nor a Christian course, to preach the works, life, and words of Christ in a historic manner.”[13]

I believe that we still struggle with this cart-before-the-horse, works-before-faith issue today. In my faith community, good works are easy for us. We bring a can of tuna for the food drive. We bring our pocket change for the coin collection. We attend worship and Sunday school, but we often do a terrible job of nurturing our souls. My church has a culture of giving good works and seeking quick spiritual nourishment. When asked to read a book or complete a Bible study for the week, many scoff at that or make a good face and then pitch the materials at the back of their car, forgetting about them until the next Sunday. Intentional faith development is an integral part of my life. I am always reading a book to grow deeper in my faith or journaling and praying my way through a problem. My small group holds me accountable to this. To me, working on my faith has richer, more long-term rewards than works such as bringing a can of tuna to the food drive. My faith calls me out into the world to do good works, but it is faith that comes first.

In the conclusion of the treatise, Martin Luther explains why good works are commanded. He believed a Christian must keep his spirit stronger than his body so the spirit may rule the body. Performing good works brings the body under the spirit’s rule and brings joy. “For the inner man, being conformed to God and created after the image of God through faith, rejoices and delights itself in Christ, in whom such blessings have been conferred on it, and hence has only this task before it: to serve God with joy and for nought in free love.”[14]

Luther urges Christians to be clear in their understanding that they will not be justified by the works, but that good works are for one purpose, “that the body may be brought into subjection, and be purified from its evil lusts, so that our eyes may be turned only to purging away those lusts.”[15]

To clarify, Martin Luther believed that man had two natures, a spiritual nature and a physical nature. The spiritual nature should govern over everything the physical body did. All commandments and rules and man-made church doctrines only come into play once a Christian has faith. One should focus simply on faith and deepening and strengthening one’s faith. Once faith is firmly established in the spirit, Luther believed that the physical body would bow to spiritual rule. According to Luther, because of faith, a Christian will make the best moral decisions and perform good works. These actions will further deepen faith, but without faith, these actions are empty, meaningless, and self-serving. What is fascinating to me about this idea is that we are still struggling with it in the 21^st century. In 2006, the World Methodist Council approved a Statement of Association with the Joint Declaration Doctrine of Justification. This was in response to the "Official Common Statement by the Lutheran World Federation and the Roman Catholic Church," agreed upon in 1999. That ecumenical agreement stated that both of the churches back Martin Luther’s beliefs on faith and grace. With the Catholics and Lutheran’s 1999 agreement, it still took the Methodists until 2006 to get on board. Five hundred years after Luther wrote this treatise, the church finally publically agreed with it. Of course, Paul wrote Ephesians in the first century C.E. and it took Martin Luther and 1400 years to bring the issue to the public and common man. One could say the modern church is working a bit faster on declaring common doctrine. The Methodist statement affirms this statement from the Lutheran-Catholic agreement which states, “Together we confess: By grace alone, in faith in Christ’s saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping and calling us to good works.”[16]

The strength of Martin Luther’s statement is freedom. Christians are free from competing against one another in measuring their work for God. One cannot be holier than another because faith in Christ puts us all on an equal playing field. We all sin, we all seek repentance, we all work for the powers of good. When denominationalism, church hierarchies, and social standings are stripped away, we all have faith in common. The rest is just details. Faith is the core and faith should be the driver for all our actions. The downside of this belief is that some could use the argument that their works don’t matter and they can sin with abandon. In 1600s colonial America, Anne Hutchinson struggled with this debate. She led small group discussions in her home to review her pastor, John Cotton’s sermons. “This was seen initially as expected and praiseworthy behavior, but independent theological thinking was soon suspected in the women’s circle.” [17] Anne Hutchinson was accused of antinomianism, the belief that salvation in Jesus Christ superseded the need to obey more terrestrial laws. “She claimed a fundamental belief in the Holy Spirit, who would guide a person’s faith and action. This view eliminated the need for magistrates and clergy men and was judged to be extremely subversive.”
Eventually Anne and her family were excommunicated and forced to move to Rhode Island.

The faith vs. good works debate has been alive in the church since its inception. Paul wrote about it his New Testament letter to the Ephesians and the debate has continued through the centuries. In 1520 Martin Luther called the church into account to align itself with his doctrine that faith comes before works and that Christians are saved by grace. He didn’t appear to believe it was controversial, he thought he was just re-stating and clarifying what was in the scriptures. He wrote, “For as works do not make a believing man, so neither do they make a justified man; but faith, as it makes a man a believer and justified, so also it makes his works good.”[18] Once faith is established, good works will follow in natural order. Unfortunately I won’t be around in 400 years to see how the debate will continue.

 

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Luther, Martin. "Concerning Christian Liberty." Project Wittenberg. 1520.

http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/web/cclib-2.html (accessed February 3, 2014).

Malone, Mary T. Women and Christianity. New York: Orbis Books, 2003.

Richardson, Alan and Bowden, John, editors. The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Theology.

 Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1983.

Vatican. "Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification by the Lutheran World Federation

and the Catholic Church." Vatican: The Holy See. 1999.

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/documents/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_31101999_cath-luth-joint-declaration_en.html (accessed February 5, 2014).

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[1] Martin Luther, Concerning Christian Liberty, 1520. http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/web/cclib-2.html (accessed Feb. 3, 2014.)

[2] (Luther 1520)

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

[6] (Richardson, Alan and Bowden, John, editors 1983)

[7] (Luther 1520)

[8] (Richardson, Alan and Bowden, John, editors 1983)

[9] (Luther 1520)

[10] Ibid.

[11] Ibid.

[12] (Luther 1520)

[13] Ibid.

[14] (Luther 1520)

[15] Ibid.

[16] Vatican. "Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification by the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church." Vatican: The Holy See. 1999. http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/documents/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_31101999_cath-luth-joint-declaration_en.html (accessed February 5, 2014).

[17] Malone, Mary T. Women and Christianity. New York: Orbis Books, 2003.

[18] (Luther 1520)