In
Luther’s On Christian Freedom, he
elucidates the meaning of Christian freedom. His definition and explanation
come as a reaction to the church’s teaching on penance and the sale of
indulgences. Luther first publicly reacts to what he considered an
abomination in October of 1517 when he nailed[1]
his 95 Theses to the castle church in Wittenberg, Germany. In 1520, Luther
writes On Christian Freedom to make
clear his understanding of Christian duty, justification, good works, and each
concept’s relationship to the other.
Luther begins by making it clear
that faith in God comes through hearing. Luther writes, “One thing and one
thing alone is necessary for the Christian life, righteousness and freedom, and
that is the most holy word of God, the Gospel of Christ.”[2]
Several paragraphs later Luther writes, “For faith alone is the saving and
efficacious use of the word of God.”[3]
For Luther, this faith comes through the hearing of the Gospel of Christ
proclaimed and through the inward work of the Holy Spirit. One cannot come to
faith in Christ on one’s own account because humans are bound by sin. One is
dependent on the work of the Holy Spirit for one to become a faithful witness
of the Gospel of Christ.
Second, Luther takes on the question
of how one is justified before God. This is a continuous battle for Luther in
his writing and preaching because of the Roman Church’s teaching on penance and
sale of indulgences. The masses believed that one must do good works or purchase
indulgences in order to allow one to be justified before God. Luther was
appalled at this notion and said that faith alone justifies. He writes, “It is
clear that the soul needs the word alone for life and righteousness, because if
the soul could be justified by anything else, it would not need the word and
consequently, would not need faith.”[4]
Luther emphasizes that no external works justify a human being. A human is
justified by the grace of God through faith in Christ Jesus alone!
Justification by grace through
faith, faith through hearing/proclamation, and the work of the Holy Spirit led
Luther to identify the true meaning of Christian freedom. He writes, “…Anyone
can clearly see how the Christian is free from all things and is over all
things, so that such a person requires no works at all to be righteous or
saved.”[5]
This is not to say that an individual will do nothing once one is given faith
through the work of the Holy Spirit. Luther holds that works automatically
follow when one receives faith as gift. He writes, “These works, however, ought
not to be done under the supposition that through them a person is justified
before God.”[6]
Instead Luther writes, “The person does them in compliance to God out of
spontaneous love, considering nothing else than the divine favor to which the
person wishes to comply most dutifully in all things.”[7]
Luther’s understanding of Christian freedom is that Christians are freed from
the tangles of sin through the resurrection of Christ to love and serve their
neighbors. Luther asserts Christian freedom in concisely in two sentences
saying, “The Christian individual is a completely free lord of all, subject to
none. The Christian individual is a completely dutiful slave of all, subject to
all.”[8]
[1] Maybe nailed, maybe
posted at the university, maybe did not post. Regardless, this work was
circulated and led to the Protestant Reformation.
[2] P. 3
[3] P. 4
[4] P. 5
[5] P. 16
[6] P. 19
[7] P. 19
[8] P. 2 – Unfortunately
Luther does not mean that Christ has freed me to do whatever the hell I want.
This is not to say that I could not do whatever I want because I can. will not
go to hell because my salvation is secured by my baptism and thus faith. But the
reality is that I cannot do whatever I want because my faith and conscience
will not allow me! (End of footnote rant/randomness).
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