The German town, Jüterbog, was celebrating. Tetzel, a representative of the pope, had arrived. A jubilant crowd welcomed his carriage as it came into view, escorted by several heavily armed knights. Following the usual official welcome the procession made its way to the church, led by an official carrying a velvet cushion lined with gold on which lay the papal bull (decree) of indulgences. Then followed the carriage of Tetzel, who held a red wooden cross in his hand as a sign of his dignity. And behind them followed clergy, magistrates, the guilds with banners and flying flags, schoolchildren with votive candles, and many hundreds of spectators.
Arriving in the church, the cross was placed in front of the altar and adorned with the papal coat of arms. After the usual ceremonies Tetzel climbed the pulpit to address the assembled crowd with a flood of persuasive eloquence aimed at persuading the people to part with their money. Why? Because the pope needed lots of money to build St Peter’s Cathedral in Rome. Tetzel told the people that they could get cancellation of punishment, forgiveness of sins, not only for oneself, but also for the souls of those who were suffering in purgatory – perhaps a poor mother, a child who had died young, an old father who begged for relief from the cleansing flames, relief from the torturous pains. Relief could be obtained by paying some money! And such a speech appealed to the people!
When the sermon was finished, the indulgences were displayed and offered for sale. Two gold coins for forgiveness of sorcery, 8 for a murder, 9 for perjury and church robbery, 6 for fornication and adultery! And with fists full of gold coins people purchased indulgences. Thereby payment for indulging in sin was, they thought, had been made! The way between God and the soul had been cleared again! And there must not have been many in and around Jüterbog who did not sacrifice their gifts for all kinds of sins in the following days while Tetzel resided in their midst. Meanwhile Tetzel, whose money box had been strategically placed near the cross, saw it filling nicely.
Many had also come from Wittenberg, Luther’s town, which was only a few kilometres away. Luther soon noticed this, as many in the confessionals showed the indulgence as proof from the pope himself that their sins were forgiven!
Fierce was Luther’s indignation. He had heard about Tetzel’s scandalous practices occurring elsewhere. But now that this evil was so close at hand, he could no longer restrain himself. For some years now, the conviction had matured in him that God grants forgiveness by grace, and his preaching and teaching to the students had for some time exhibited a Reformation slant. But what happened so nearby, required him to act openly and directly against such a scam. He said, among other things, “It is a great error, if anyone thinks that he could do or pay enough for his sins, since God always forgives them free of charge, out of inexhaustible grace, and in return requires nothing but a subsequent holy life.”
When Tetzel heard what Luther said, he was furious. In his sermons, he denounced the Augustinian monk and threatened all sorts of punishments against the man who sought to render his indulgences powerless. He even had, occasionally, a pyre set alight in the marketplace to show what would happen to heretics who opposed him in his sales.
Meanwhile Luther, who in the meantime had already written in vain to the archbishop of Mainz and to the bishop of Brandenburg to curb the scam, turned to another weapon.
It was the custom that on the evening before a feast day, through the colleges, public debates were held, and the theses for these debates were displayed on a building. Luther took up the plan, this time at Wittenberg, where All Saints’ Day (1 November) was approaching, to expose the indulgences. So on 31 October, he affixed 95 theses to the door of the castle chapel.
Some of them read as follows:
1. Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, in saying, “Repent, etc.,” intended that the whole life of his believers on earth should be a constant penance.
20. The Pope, in speaking of the perfect remission of all punishments, does not mean that all penalties in general be forgiven, but only those imposed by himself.
32. On the way to eternal damnation are they and their teachers, who believe that they are sure of their salvation through indulgences.
36. Every Christian who feels sincere repentance and woe on account of his sins, has perfect remission of pain and guilt even without letters of indulgence.
43. Christians must be taught that whoever gives to the poor, or lends to the needy, acts better than whoever buys a letter of indulgence.
52. It is a vain and false thing to hope to be saved through indulgences, even if the indulgence preacher – nay, even the Pope himself – was to pledge his own soul for it.
62. The right and true treasure of the Church is the most Holy Gospel of the glory and grace of God.
71. He who speaks against the truth of apostolical pardons, be anathema and cursed.
86. Again: – Why does not the Pope build St. Peter’s Cathedral with his own money – since his riches are now more ample than those of Crassus – rather than with the money of poor Christians?
From this one sees that Luther was convinced that papal indulgences did not free him from divine punishments, but only from papal ones.
Nevertheless, Luther was still Roman Catholic on that October 31 and fully recognised papal authority. At the time, he was not thinking of breaking ties with the church. He only wanted to put indulgences on the right track and prevent their abuse, as if they were remission of divine punishment and a right to salvation.
At first, the pope, when he heard about Luther, thought he was merely dealing with a monks’ quarrel, as it happened more often. Many others thought the same. But what Luther did was from God. And it would become the impetus for a movement that would shake off the papal yoke. Certainly, there were more, who, so to speak, advocated a biblical direction. Indeed, there were many “objectors”; Luther was not the only one.
But we find in Luther that tenacious attitude which, if necessary, risked a break with the mother church. Gradually the reformer was born in him. And when, after all sorts of entanglements, a threatening papal bull (decree) finally arrived, giving him 60 days’ deliberation to submit completely to the pope on pain of excommunication, Luther showed the courage to burn it openly, thus making the break with Rome a fait accompli. That happened 10 December 1520, the date he abandoned the Roman Church!
The fact that we do not celebrate 10 December, but 31 October, is probably related to the fact that Luther performed his first public and controversial act at that time, from which all subsequent acts have sprung. And indeed, that act was reformation. Because reformation is nothing else than a return to the Word. However, that Word was not yet in everything an open book for Luther. The Holy Spirit was working in process, already leading Luther deeper into the truth.
Much was still there on that October 31 that Luther saw very wrongly. And we might add that he never remained completely free from error: one only has to think of his view of sacraments. Luther never had that clear, lucid insight into the Scriptures that we find with Calvin. But the kernal of his struggle was the preaching of God’s grace and the rejection of the merit of good works, and in this he brought many back to the Word. And that is reformational. That is again calling the church back to the Scriptures. That is church meeting again in submission to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Unfortunately, Luther did not draw the consequences. He withstood the worst errors, but much of the Roman leaven remained, just as church services in many respects were reminiscent of the Roman liturgy. And Luther continued to be a child of his time in the relationship of church and state. In the process, several remaining errors soon took on a pronounced character. The Lutheran church was internally divided by doctrinal disputes and never came to the powerful influence on all of life that the Reformed churches had. From the latter, the Lutherans deliberately distanced themselves; they even persecuted reformed people. And so the Lutherans all too soon entered the sectarian corner. As a church reformation, Lutheranism actually became a failure. And we see in it the pervasive power of sin and error, through which the reformational work, that began so beautifully, was corrupted.
It was different concerning the work of Calvin and his kindred spirits, who purified and continued Luther’s reformatory work. Calvin, who was gifted with a clear and sharp insight into the Scriptures, was the man of the ongoing reformation, through which he wanted to bring all of life under the discipline of the Word – ecclesiastically, but also politically and socially – and who thereby understood God’s will clearly and distinctly from the Scriptures.
Nevertheless, we commemorate the church reformation on 31 October, the day of Luther’s first public and controversial appearance, which gave rise to all that followed.
God had begun something new again, though we certainly do not see past what was humanly sinful and imperfect. Just as God has repeatedly given new beginnings in the history of his church, each time starting small, but with awesome consequences for church and people, because it was after all His own work.
And this proclaims to us the faithfulness of the supreme Shepherd of our souls, who raises his Church again and again from its dilapidated state. And it presents us with the call to always follow those who, shaking off all ties to that which is not Scriptural, again only preach His Word.
For the reformation of the Church is never anything but a return to the Word.
Acknowledgement
Previously published in: Gereformeerd Kerkblad voor Overijssel en Gelderland (31 October 1951). Republished by Semper Reformanda (https://semper-reformanda.nl/lutherdag/). Translated from Dutch to English by Jelte Numan.