A Treat amidst the Trickery - GBC Bulletin Column #28

When it comes to the things of the past that really matter, many are sadly illiterate: thus when 31 October is mentioned, we think primarily of spooks and sweets. But let me tell you another story that makes this date worth remembering.

The Roman Catholic Church taught (and teaches) that people are not justified by faith alone, but also by charity and good works. The blessings that come from good works might also be enjoyed simply through giving money to the church. In exchange for such money people receive an “indulgence.” Originally (and still without biblical warrant), these promised the remission of temporal punishments for sins already committed, but in the early 1500s, indulgence-selling got particularly out of hand, especially in Germany.

A preacher named Johann Tetzel was appointed to sell indulgences in Germany by Pope Leo X, who was preoccupied with building the grand St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome and needed funding. Tetzel went beyond the already erroneous Roman teaching, and claimed that by purchasing indulgences, people could free the souls of their loved ones from purgatory – a place, again not found in the Bible, where dead Christians were said to endure punishment in order to fully purify them for heaven. “When a coin in the coffer rings / A soul from purgatory springs” the pithy salesman Tetzel would crow.  

A German doctor of theology and Roman Catholic priest named Martin Luther took issue with the deceptive idea that people could essentially purchase salvation with money. Knowing that many people would attend church meetings on 1 November - All Hallows’ Day, one of the most solemn events on the Roman Catholic calendar – on 31 October (All Hallows’ Eve), 1517, Luther nailed a document to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg entitled “Disputation of Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences" in which he voiced his concerns.

At first, Luther’s action was little noticed. Nothing was unusual or bizarre about nailing his disputation to the church door – it was generally used as a public notice-board anyway. It was also an academic, theological document written in Latin, meaning most common German people couldn't understand it. But then it was translated, and Luther’s profile grew. He wrote more, spoke more, and reformed more in his own thinking and teaching, until finally he was excommunicated by the Pope and outlawed by the Emperor in 1521. It was too late to stop what had already begun. Luther continued as a leader in reformation till his death in 1546.

Martin Luther is not a pristine picture of doctrinal purity, personal piety, or Christian grace. The age in which he lived or the fact that areas of imperfection could be found in anyone does not excuse those points where he was in serious error. Yet, with all of these things in mind, he nonetheless strikes me as a bit of a spiritual Samson – a deeply flawed individual, blind in many ways, who was greatly used by God to topple idolatrous strongholds of demonic deceit in order to deliver many people from oppression and bondage. 31 October isn’t all about the dark. It also tells a story of rekindled gospel flame in the darkness of medieval Europe, and reminds us of the message of salvation by grace through faith in Christ to the glory of God alone. 

This was printed in the worship bulletin of Grace Baptist Church (Wood Green) on 03 November 2013