MARTIN LUTHER: BIOGRAPHY, REFORM, THEORIES, DEATH - ARTE - 2024

Martin Luther (1483 - 1546) was an Augustinian friar, theologian, professor, and the forerunner of the Protestant division of the Christian religion in the 16th century. Luther's thoughts were the driving forces behind the Reformation, the repercussions of which became much more profound than a matter of faith.

By the time Luther's ideas flourished, there was already growing general discontent with the leaders of the Catholic Church. That social and economic malaise quickly seeped into the hearts of the Germans, who felt used as a source of resources while being given little importance as a people.

Martin Luther, by Lucas Cranach the Elder, via Wikimedia Commons

One of the main reasons that led Martin Luther to raise his voice against the Church was the sale of indulgences, a practice that in his opinion was being distorted for the purposes of economic gain for the higher echelons of power.

The dissatisfaction that some of the authoritarian attitudes that found space in Rome, where the pope served as a king and not as the leader of the Christians, was also outstanding.

Important data

Wittenberg's 95 theses were published in 1517 and the changes they generated could not have been foreseen by anyone. Luther was led to be excommunicated, but also to win the backing of German princes who wished to inconvenience the emperor.

The consequences of those ideas then were unimaginable, there began to be constant fights for religious reasons in nations such as England, Germany, Holland or France. This had a direct bearing on the way North America was colonized.

At that time the humanist current was gaining ground in the intellectual field, which is why the idea that one should return to the roots of Christianity rediscovering the Scriptures became extremely popular.

This gave a boost to theories such as the universal priesthood, that is, that everyone could read and interpret the word of God if it provided the necessary inspiration.

Given these circumstances, it seemed useless to many to maintain an institution of the magnitude of the Church.

Luther was originally from Eisleben and was a member of a humble family. In his youth he joined the church, moved by his spiritual concerns.

He wondered if he could save his soul from hell and other consequences that death would bring. The studies that he carried out made him think that all humanity will always remain linked to sin.

For Luther, this relationship between man and sin meant that a good work is not subtracted by a bad one. Which implies that doing good deeds does not bring someone closer to the salvation of their soul.

Forgiveness is reserved to the discretion of God and is only granted to those who accept it and have genuine devotion and faith for it.

Reform

At first, Martin Luther did not want or seek to create such a radical revolution, but with each new approach his body of beliefs moved further away from the Catholic tradition, which made them irreconcilable.

Other elements also gave impetus to the growth of Lutheranism, such as the creation of the printing press, which promoted the Renaissance and with it humanism, or the rise of the bourgeoisie that had changed the deepest roots of feudal society.

The extensive dominance of local languages ​​came to have a defining role in what a people consumed in the intellectual sphere and thus reformist ideas spread.

Many revolutionary movements made their way in the shadow of Luther's ideas, some more extreme than others. Not only did a wide range of Protestant religions arose sympathetic to Luther's ideas, but also different ones such as Anglicanism or Calvinism.

Early years

Martin Luther (Luder) was born on November 10, 1483 in Eisleben, Germany. He was the son of Hans Luder, a worker in the mining business, and Margarethe Luder, who is said to have been a hard-working woman with good principles.

Little Martín was the eldest son of the couple and received his name since on the day of his baptism the celebration of the saint named Martin de Tours was held, one day after the arrival of the little one.

A year after the birth of the first-born, the family moved to Mansfeld, where his father several years later was elected councilor (1492). Luther had several brothers but only the name of one to whom he was very close is known with certainty: Jacobo.

It has been argued that Martin Luther was marked by his childhood, which developed in an unfavorable environment that made him try to make God his refuge and a way to find the salvation of his soul.

Hans hoped that his son would become a professional and get a job as a government worker. In contemporary German society that would have been considered a great achievement and honor for the whole family.

Education was extremely important if he wanted to pursue a public career, so Martín's father tried to provide the best he could for his son.

Education

His first studies were received at the School of Latin in Mansfeld, in 1488. On that occasion he acquired the foundations of that language, which later proved essential for the development of his intellectual training.

Likewise, he was enlightened in the basic dogmas of the Catholic religion.

In 1497 Luther entered the school of the Brothers of Common Life, in Magdeburg. It seems that his brief stay, which lasted only one year, was due to the lack of financial resources on the part of his family during this time.

These monks, with whom Luther had his first approaches to cloister life, focused their system on practicing extreme piety.

college

By 1501 Luther decided to pursue a career at the University of Erfurt, from which he received a Doctorate in Philosophy four years later. Although this was one of the best German study houses it did not make a good impression on Luther, who years later called it a brothel and tavern.

It has been considered that at the time of Luther's entry to his higher studies the social status of his family had improved, since it appeared in the records as not being a candidate for aid.

One of the thoughts that resounded the most in Luther's head was the scholasticism of Ockham's hand.

The way of faith

Although his father had wanted Martin to become a lawyer and the boy put all his efforts to do so, it was in vain, because his spiritual concerns prevailed and Luther decided to join the Convent of the Augustinian Observants in Erfurt.

The theory was spread that his entry into the life of the convent came after a promise he made as a result of the terror he experienced during a storm. Although this seems to have been an excuse anyway.

This decision was reversed by the fact that his father had already longed for another future for him, that he was the eldest of the children and for whom everyone wanted a life of comfort and not of deprivation or confinement, as those monks used to be.

Furthermore, the order that Luther chose was one of the strictest. Its members had to subsist thanks to charity, they devoted their time to constant prayers both day and night and they carried out frequent fasts.

Some came to classify this way of life as Spartan, due to its austere and rigid forms. In Luther's cell or room, as well as that of the other monks, there was no bed or other furniture other than a table and a chair.

Constant fear of condemnation

A year after entering the convent, Luther concluded his novice stage and was ordained as a priest. Fear of fate led the boy to submit to unnecessary martyrdom.

The image of God as a body of punishments and intransigence, as described in the oldest texts of the Bible, was familiar to him, which increased his insecurities and the feeling of unworthiness.

His superior Johann von Staupitz recommended that he seek a new approach to God using the message of Christ, since it spoke about forgiveness and love in the New Testament, which showed a new divine facet.

Professor

Also to clear the young monk's mind, Staupitz commissioned him to take a course on Aristotelian Ethics at the newly created University of Wittenberg in 1508. Similarly, the superior urged Luther to continue his academic training.

He did so and in 1508 he finished his classes to qualify for a bachelor's degree in Biblical Studies and the following year another in Sententiarum, about biblical passages based on the work of Pedro Lombardo.

Having returned to Erfurt in 1509, Wittenberg refused to give him the degrees that he had completed in his classrooms. However, Luther did not keep silent and requested by means of an office of claim and, finally, Erfurt granted them.

Trip to Rome

After his return to Erfurt, the young monk was sent in 1510 to the capital of the Catholic faith: Rome. There he had to assist the Augustinian Order in internal affairs as a delegate of his city.

Some sources claimed that it was during this journey that Luther became aware of the excesses of the Roman Church. However, these stories lack a firm foundation, since he had no contact with the higher echelons of power during that stay in Rome.

During the tour he took, he only had contact with members of the same order in various cities. The journey was carried out as a pilgrim in a pious and austere way, as was the custom for observant Augustinian monks.

It is known that his life as a monk was extremely strict, even thought more than normal at the time.

He lived martyrdom to atone for his faults and yet he believed that sin would lead him irretrievably to hell regardless of the sacrifices made to avoid that outcome.

Internal ascent

Upon his return to Erfurt from the Roman adventure, Luther was again assigned to Wittenberg. There he continued with his doctoral studies in theology in 1512. He was then promoted to superior of the order in that city, thereby replacing Staupitz.

On that occasion, Martin Luther also assumed several chairs, including one on the Epistles of Saint Paul, another on Psalms, and another on theological issues.

Later, Luther described his years as a monk as a time marked by deep spiritual restlessness, although this is not expressed in the texts he wrote during those years, so there is doubt about the intensity of his real spiritual conflict.

It is known that in his years of intense intellectual activity he became familiar with the content of the Scriptures. At this time it was common to learn about the Bible using the interpretation handed down by the Church, but Luther set about rediscovering it for himself.

Humanism left its mark on his thinking and Erasmus of Rotterdam inspired him to yearn for a reform that would lead again to a spiritual cult.

In 1515 he was appointed vicar of Saxony and Thuringia, after that ascent he had to supervise 11 monasteries within the area that was assigned to him.

Concerns

In his early years, Martin Luther was deeply troubled by the idea that he was not worthy of salvation.

His readings on Saint Paul led him to believe that sin was not only found as it was classically stated: in words, works, thoughts and omissions, but was also inherent in the nature of man.

Worst of all, he had come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter how many kind acts a person performs, because they cannot be freed from sin, that is, there is no alternative to condemnation.

Theories

Among all his anguish, Luther found a thought that calmed his spirit: God does not judge man by his actions, but by his faith. Thus your fervor in belief is the only thing that can really save the soul.

According to Luther God does not make a distinction between good acts and bad acts because everything is bad. In what can differentiate one man from another is in the sincerity of his faith in the divine power of salvation and that is what marks the destiny of each one.

Consequently, the sacraments lose their meaning, because they do not lead to the salvation of the soul, nor do they lead to the forgiveness of penalties for sinners, since this is only granted through God.

In this way, for Luther, confession can be made in an internal conversation with God, without going to a priest.

Indulgences

From 1506 they began to collect funds for the construction of St. Peter's Basilica. One of the methods mostly used for this purpose was the sale of indulgences, which guaranteed an income of alms to the Church.

Again in 1511 Pope Leo X decided to grant indulgences to get money, on that occasion the Dominicans were in charge of promoting religious pardons given by the Church.

The Archbishop of Mainz Albert of Brandenburg had been left with a large debt after paying for his election, but with the percentage he would receive from the sales of indulgences he could meet his financial commitments.

Forgiveness process

In Catholic dogma it is indicated that sinners have a guilt, which God can only forgive after the individual confesses and does so with real repentance. They must also, after accepting their guilt, serve a sentence on earth or in purgatory.

After the confession, the individual is "in grace." At that time, the good deeds you do lessen your grief.

According to this theory, the saints can exchange their spiritual merits with living or dead, then that spiritual credit is administered by the Church as a treasure.

Through indulgences that treasure can be distributed among the faithful in exchange for a specific value. In this case its value was economic and its usefulness was to build St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Matter of faith

Although the sale of indulgences had been carried out on different occasions and with different purposes, the problem that made Martin Luther decide to raise his voice was the lack of clarity with which the subject was approached to obtain greater economic gains.

No one seemed interested in clarifying the process indicated by canon law so that an indulgence could take effect. The main factor that was put aside was that the receiver had to be "in grace", that is, to have confessed his faults.

In this way, salvation had become a sale of spiritual merits without the need for other requirements.

Johann Tetzel was in charge of spreading the message of indulgences and phrases such as that "when money sounded, a soul went up to heaven" were awarded to this character to denote the moral decomposition that developed around the business of forgiveness.

Roman power

The rule of the papacy was in a frank debacle, which increased as the control of local monarchs increased in each of the European countries. All of this came together to threaten the authority of the pontiff and the Church.

To counteract this, the Catholic religion strengthened its control over society by seeking to establish strong institutions such as the Curia. Likewise, they often sought to intervene in matters that were more mundane than spiritual.

Italy did not have a king like that of France or Spain and that role was played by the pope, who from Rome controlled all the neighboring cities. Furthermore, it became customary to choose an Italian for the post of High Pontiff.

In these years, the leader of the Holy Empire held a position more nominal than real, since the firm authority was in the hands of the elector princes. The territory prospered economically, while Italy was increasingly drowned in debt.

That led the Curia to increase religious taxes on the Germans, who noted that their flourishing as a nation was threatened by the ambition of the Italians, seconded by the leader of the Holy Roman Empire.

Social differences

In Luther's time it was common for the great religious figures in Europe to be equivalent to feudal lords. The members of the high clergy came from noble families and acceded to their positions thanks to the purchase of titles.

They accumulated different positions, but in reality they did not fulfill their spiritual obligations, but they enjoyed the parish income that corresponded to them and did not take care of their congregations.

In contrast, low-grade priests were generally very ignorant and did not engage in their moral duties.

Even in the orders of mendicant monks there was a strong corruption of the religious values ​​and obligations of the members.

All this came together to cause the people not to feel the need to follow their religious authorities, who were not considered as a spiritual or moral reference, but as economic parasites of national income.

The moral corruption of the Catholic Church had become public and notorious, this led many faithful to prefer to fervently follow the military and civil authorities, in whom they found real protection and a more sincere example.

True values

Even in the very ranks of Roman Catholicism, some tried to take up the spiritual values ​​they considered correct. These attempts found place in many European convents.

Orders such as that of the Franciscans, Carthusians, Dominicans, Benedictines, Poor Clares and the Augustinians, of which Martin Luther was a member, turned to the observance of religious principles and separated themselves from those who did not give importance to morals.

Other groups that sought superior perfection were also born, such as the Olivetans, the Jesuits, the Jerónimos, the Minimal Brothers or the Brothers of Common Life, whose leader was Gerardo Groot, who promoted contemplation and the preaching of the word of God.

Wittenberg's theses

In the midst of the turbulent atmosphere of the time, one of the events that changed the course of history occurred:

A series of texts appeared on October 31, 1517 under the signature of Martin Luther. These became known as the 95 Wittenberg Theses.

The original anecdote states that Luther nailed the theses to the façade or door of the Church of All Saints. However, this proposal has been debated by those who think it was published in print form.

The truth is that the Augustinian monk raised his voice against the bad practices that occurred under the protection of the Church, using God as an excuse.

Then that became one of the most impactful events of the 16th century.

Approaches

Some of Luther's central ideas were that the spiritual merits of Christ, as well as of the other saints, cannot be traded. His rationale for affirming such a thing was that it is already distributed among all people without any intermediary having to intervene.

He also considered that the only treasure of the Church was the Gospel. He affirmed that the only penalties that could be forgiven by the pope were those that he himself imposed, not those that corresponded to God.

If the penalty was instituted in the hereafter, it was not essential to confess before a priest, in accordance with Lutheran ideas.

Likewise, he assured that there could never be certainty of salvation since evil is within each one of men and consequently indulgences could only deceive the faithful by providing them with a false security.

Diffusion

The 95 theses were printed and quickly brought to every corner of Germany. The ideas contained in them found an echo in the thinking of the Germans, who were dissatisfied with the conduct of the Church.

In the early days they were reproduced in Latin, the original language in which Luther wrote them, but in 1518 they were translated into common German and that gave them a great boost, since they had a much greater scope.

It is believed that in about 2 months Luther's theses touched every corner of Europe and they carried the ideas of a spiritual revolution of colossal magnitudes.

Albert of Brandenburg, the archbishop of Mainz, ordered that the theories contained in Martin Luther's text be sent to Rome and analyzed to search for any trace of heresy. The person in charge of the investigation was Cardinal Cayetano.

At that time a process against Luther began, although at first Pope Leo X did not pay much attention to the matter of the German monk, which he considered a minor tantrum.

Problems with the Church

In 1518 Staupitz met with the Augustinians and Luther was one of the participants in that meeting. There he had to explain to his brothers the ideas he had been spreading.

At that time he referred to what he considered the fallacy of free will because all human acts are marked by sin. From that moment the long battle began in which Luther had to defend his point of view.

Also in that year he received a summons to the Holy See, but decided not to respond to that call. However, he did meet Cardinal Cayetano in Augsburg.

By then he had managed to get the German Universities to serve as arbitrators and to be supported by the Elector Frederick of Saxony.

In January 1519 he met with the nuncio Karl von Miltitz in Altenburg, Saxony. There he made some concessions, but fundamentally Marín Luther agreed that he would not say anything else if they did not say anything to him.

However, this was impossible to fulfill because in July of the same year he entered into a debate that Johann Eck had with the Lutheran disciple Andreas Karlstadt.

Luther was invited to respond, he did, and the idea that the pope did not have a monopoly on the interpretation of Scripture transcended from there. Then, the German affirmed that neither the high pontiff nor the Curia were infallible and unleashed a direct confrontation with Rome.

Controversy

Luther's later texts had created a much deeper gap. Luther did not want events to go that way, but he did not want to put his ideas aside.

Two inflammatory statements could be drawn from his texts: the pope is not the highest authority of the Church. Therefore, its political and military control of the Papal States is not legitimate either, since it only has jurisdiction in religious matters.

All of this eventually became the theory of the universal priesthood: Why respect hierarchies within the Church? Faithful and priests are the same if one or the other is inspired by the Holy Spirit.

This controversy began to divide public opinion throughout Europe, everyone wanted to belong to one side and artists and intellectuals as well as politicians and rulers came to the heat of the debate.

In Bohemia the Hussites took Luther as the flag of their movement, in Germany nationalist and anti-Roman knights like Hutten and Sickingen did the same.

Economic and political movements had found their justification in the ideas of Martin Luther, although he conceived them without taking into account those factors that came to play a stellar role in the panorama of the time.

Excommunication

In 1520 Leo X was forced to respond forcefully to the uproar that had been created around the ideas of Martin Luther.

Consequently, he published the bull or papal decree called Exurge Domine, in which the German was excommunicated.

Furthermore, 41 of Luther's 95 theses were declared to be heretical according to Catholic dogma. The Augustinian monk was given a period of 60 days to recant before his sentence of expulsion from the faith became effective.

Martin Luther's response surprised more than one and encouraged many others: he burned the bull in Wittenberg and thus his conflict with the Church took a new level and became a first-rate problem.

The most radical around him used the moment to advance their own agendas. They began to use in their favor the fervor that Luther's ideas aroused in the people.

During this type he wrote some of his most transcendental works such as his Manifesto to the Christian nobility, The Papacy of Rome, Babylonian Captivity of the Church, On the freedom of the Christian or On the monastic vows.

There, the direction that the movement that had begun with no other pretensions than to reconsider the direction of the Church was glimpsed.

Worms diet

Martin Luther did not retract his thesis, Pope Leo X consequently decided to request that he himself be arrested. The German princes, who were favorable to the monk, would not allow such actions against the precursor of a movement that brought them so many benefits.

Charles V, ruler of much of Europe and America, had also worn the crown of the Holy Roman Empire on his forehead. Due to his recent seizure of power, the emperor longed for stability in his German dominions.

The emperor summoned Luther to the Diet of Worms and provided him with a safe-conduct so that he could come calmly with the certainty that we would be apprehended. That was the way that Carlos had to satisfy both the princes and the Church.

In 1521 they met and Luther refused to retract the texts he had been publishing, since that would have meant acting against his conscience and he could not afford such a thing.

After that, Frederick of Saxony brought him safely to Wartburg Castle. To protect himself, Luther began to use the false name of "Knight George" and was in that fortress for a whole year.

Consequences

Carlos V decided to issue a decree in which Martin Luther was exiled from the Empire. He also requested his capture, instituted a penalty for anyone who helped him in any way and guaranteed that if someone murdered him he would not incur any crime.

During the time that Luther was in hiding in Wartburg he dedicated himself to translating the Bible into common German, which facilitated the spread of the groups that read and analyzed the Scriptures throughout the region.

At that time those who claimed to act under Lutheran ideals were radicalized, while he constantly called for calm among his followers. He did not allow good Christians to display reprehensible behavior in the name of God.

However, the texts it continued to produce fueled unrest among the people. He considered that each one of the baptized was qualified to be a confessor, so that confession could be made in the mind in communication with God.

He also expressed that monks and nuns should not fulfill vows because they were not legitimate since they were not expressed within the Bible, that is, it was added by the devil.

Radicalization

Every day the followers of Luther became more radical, rebellious monks abandoned convents, attacked their priors, robbed churches along with peasants.

Meanwhile, his incendiary libels were replaying faster than his calls for calm.

Other events led Martin Luther to separate from the radicals: his defender and friend Karlstadt considered him very soft on tradition and began to gather communities of "exalted." For these groups the norm was the marriage of the religious and they rejected the worship of images.

Luther rebuked these actions, as well as rejected the invitation to join movements like Hutten's that tried to bring reform to the military level and created an armed revolution.

Another famous event of the time was that of the former exalted, Müntzer, who in the company of artisans and peasants tried to form communities of saints and received the name Anabaptists.

The latter had no law, Church, king or established cult. Anabaptist groups organized under a communist system since they did not believe that a religious change could take place without a social revolution.

The Anabaptists claimed that the princes burden the people with work so that they could not study the word of God. No city wanted these communities to settle on their land.

Alliance with the princes

All these movements made Martin Luther fear for his safety and decide to leave Wartburg Castle. He returned to Wittenberg and from there claimed that groups like the Anabaptists were actually prophets of the devil.

He requested that the faithful remain calm and urged the princes to reprimand in the harshest way anyone who violates the order of their dominions.

In 1525 the peasants' revolution took place, a movement in which the subjects rose up against their lords and gave them 12 requests, among which were the following requests:

- Personal freedom

- Election of the clergy

- Free hunting rights

Bands of violent peasants, monks, and artisans began looting all of Germany, especially the properties of the Church and the nobles. Luther, for his part, affirmed that the nobles were a divine plague that should be accepted and respected.

As the movement in his name became radicalized, Luther gradually approached the side of the princes and nobles, and they recommended that they end the violent as a mad dog is killed.

Marriage

In 1525 he married Catherine of Bora, who had been a nun but had renounced her vows after the expansion of Luther's ideas. Other exponents of the Reformation had followed the same procedure and had married.

Although they did not have much money, Martin Luther and Catherine were a happy couple. She was 26 years old and 41 at the time of the union. The marriage produced 5 children and the couple always welcomed characters who admired and considered Luther as a mentor.

Augsburg Confession

The nobles chose their postures. On the one hand Ferdinand of Austria was at the head of the Catholic League, while at the other end the Torgau League emerged, led by the Elector of Saxony and Hesse.

The pro-Luther princes protested against the resolution of the Diet of Spira in 1526 and claimed that they would not excommunicate the German, nor would they expel him from the territory. In 1529 they did the same again and from there came their name "Protestants."

A new meeting in the Diet of Augsburg was proposed during 1529, but on that occasion Luther did not attend, but sent Melanchthon. The meeting took place in 1530 and the German's envoy brought with him a moderate proposal.

The approach made became known as the Augsburg Confession and almost all the fundamental theses coincided with Catholic doctrine. However, Carlos V on that occasion did not accept Lutheran ideas either.

The League of Esmalcalda was formed in 1531; Juan de Sajonia and Felipe de Hesse were the leaders of the movement that became armed some time later.

Death

Martin Luther died on February 18, 1546, in Eisleben, Germany, probably as a result of a heart attack, before his death he had suffered from a stroke that partially paralyzed his body.

The German had returned to the town where he was born, there he had to give his last sermon on February 15 and days later he also breathed his last in that town.

He had spent his last years suffering from multiple diseases, especially related to the ear, which diminished his quality of life.

He suffered from tinnitus, dizziness and cataracts since 1531. He also had kidney stones, suffered from arthritis and an ear infection caused one of his eardrums to burst. In addition, from 1544 he began to present symptoms of angina pectoris.

Major theories of Martin Luther

- Justification by faith

From his studies on Saint Paul and Saint Augustine, Luther concluded that all men are corrupted by sin, that it cannot be erased in any way by earthly works.

In this sense, he clarified that God is the only one who can grant forgiveness to those who have made mistakes. Although it should be noted that since all human acts are essentially evil and corrupt, they do not influence access to forgiveness.

Men can only wait for God's will with patience and honoring their faith in the eternal life that was promised to them.

- Truth in Scripture

According to Luther the only source of truth is the word of God that was transmitted through the Bible, everything that is outside of that framework is colored by the hand of Satan and is considered impure.

For the Lutheran doctrine, any faithful can serve as an interpreter of the meaning of the Scriptures as long as they are inspired for such purpose by divine grace, this is also known as Free examination.

- Universal Priesthood

Although Martin Luther's intention was not to create a separation between Christians originally, this was what the movement inspired by his theories became. He believed that the more difficult a situation was, the greater unity should exist within the Catholic community.

Then he separated from Roman doctrine, as well as distanced himself from some radicals who had started out as his faithful followers and disciples, but whose violent fanaticism was not shared by Luther.

In 1520 he began to speak of an idea that he called "Invisible Church." With this she expressed that there must be an inner spirituality in each person and that individuals should not separate from their community to dedicate their lives to God so that they could inspire other people.

This idea was based on the fact that everyone could hold a position within Christianity with the only requirement of being baptized. Luther also affirmed that true faith cannot be compelled, but must be something voluntary.

Otherwise you only get a lie that is told to look good to society.

- About the sacraments

In the case of Catholic dogma, the method used to distribute God's grace among the faithful was the sacraments. According to Luther's reformist proposals, original sin was inherent in humanity and could not be eliminated in any way by man.

Then the sacrament of baptism lost its essential meaning. For Lutherans, God is present in a congregation of believers with faith.

Luther claimed that bread is bread and wine is wine. But if God meets his believers, the consubstantiation takes place, that is, these two elements are also the blood and body of Christ, thus it is not necessary for a priest to consecrate them.

However, a pastor or preacher may be present to spread the word of God to other believers.

- Predestination against free will

The humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam was cordial and even sympathetic to Luther's thoughts until he published a work that he named De servo arbitrio, in which he criticized the theory of man's free will. On the contrary, he posited a kind of predestination that was in keeping with his theory of salvation.

In 1524 Erasmus of Rotterdam decided to answer Luther, questioning his theory by stating that if God saves without taking human actions into account, then Christ would not have insisted that one should not sin in his message to humanity.

Luther finally answered that God is everything and people are nothing. So this does not require explaining the reasons for your decisions under any circumstances.

References

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3. En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Martin Luther. Available at: en.wikipedia.org.
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5. Maurois, A. and Morales, M. (1962). History of France. Barcelona: Furrow.