2.3.3 Luther’s theology on the indulgence controversy (Checked till here)
The reason for Luther’s writing of the ninety-five theses was the sale of Indulgences in the Church papal, which was instituted to raise money for St. Peter’s Church. The idea of Indulgence in the sixteenth century was that “remission of temporal punishment for sin can be gained through penitence and contrition” (Catholics, protestant discuss Indulgences, Christian century 8). Gregg R. Allison argues that the practice of Indulgences was “the rational for paying money for what essentially is free- God’s grace for the forgiveness of sins and release from purgatory- and further set forth how the faithful could obtain full remission of their own sin” (Allison 508). Luther …show more content…
Further, he argued that Indulgence can never attain forgiveness and remission of sin because it is only God who only has authority to grant His grace and make the sinner righteous (Lohse 101). He argues, Luther explicitly made the sale of indulgence in connection with salvation and also linking that all aspects of salvation and faith are with God and not with the Church (Lhose 101). As Luther argues in his theses 5-7, even the popes can never suspense the penalties of a sin of any men; rather he can declare that only God can wash away the guilt of men if we remain obedient to Him (Lhose 102). By saying this, in fact, Luther was pointing out that even pope of the Roman Catholic Church who was regarded as holy also needed God to forgive his own sin which was quite contradictory to “the sale of indulgences for punishment in purgatory” (Lhose 102). He argues that “no one can defend the position with any passage from Scripture that God’s righteousness desires or demands any punishment or satisfaction from sinners except for their heartfelt and true contrition or conversion alone- with the condition that from that moment or they bear the cross of Christ and