_Disputation of Doctor Martin
Luther
on the Power and Efficacy of
Indulgences_
by Dr. Martin Luther,
1517
Published in:
_Works of Martin Luther_
Adolph Spaeth, L.D. Reed, Henry Eyster Jacobs,
et Al., Trans. & Eds.
(Philadelphia: A. J. Holman Company, 1915),
Vol. 1, pp. 29-38.
DISPUTATION OF DOCTOR MARTIN LUTHER
ON THE POWER AND EFFICACY OF
INDULGENCES
OCTOBER 31, 1517
Out of love for the truth and the desire to
bring it to light,
the following propositions will be
discussed at Wittenberg,
under the presidency of the Reverend Father
Martin Luther,
Master of Arts and of Sacred Theology, and
Lecturer in
Ordinary on the same at that place.
Wherefore he requests that
those who are unable to be present and
debate orally with us,
may do so by letter.
In the Name our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
1. Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when
He said Poenitentiam
agite, willed that the whole life of
believers should be
repentance.
2. This word cannot be understood to mean
sacramental penance,
i.e., confession and satisfaction, which is
administered by
the priests.
3. Yet it means not inward repentance only;
nay, there is no
inward repentance which does not outwardly
work divers
mortifications of the flesh.
4. The penalty [of sin], therefore,
continues so long as
hatred of self continues; for this is the
true inward
repentance, and continues until our
entrance into the kingdom
of heaven.
5. The pope does not intend to remit, and
cannot remit any
penalties other than those which he has
imposed either by his
own authority or by that of the Canons.
6. The pope cannot remit any guilt, except
by declaring that
it has been remitted by God and by
assenting to God's
remission; though, to be sure, he may grant
remission in cases
reserved to his judgment. If his right to
grant remission in
such cases were despised, the guilt would
remain entirely
unforgiven.
7. God remits guilt to no one whom He does
not, at the same
time, humble in all things and bring into
subjection to His
vicar, the priest.
8. The penitential canons are imposed only
on the living, and,
according to them, nothing should be
imposed on the dying.
9. Therefore the Holy Spirit in the pope is
kind to us,
because in his decrees he always makes
exception of the
article of death and of necessity.
10. Ignorant and wicked are the doings of
those priests who,
in the case of the dying, reserve canonical
penances for
purgatory.
11. This changing of the canonical penalty
to the penalty of
purgatory is quite evidently one of the
tares that were sown
while the bishops slept.
12. In former times the canonical penalties
were imposed not
after, but before absolution, as tests of
true contrition.
13. The dying are freed by death from all
penalties; they are
already dead to canonical rules, and have a
right to be
released from them.
14. The imperfect health [of soul], that is
to say, the
imperfect love, of the dying brings with
it, of necessity,
great fear; and the smaller the love, the
greater is the fear.
15. This fear and horror is sufficient of
itself alone (to say
nothing of other things) to constitute the
penalty of
purgatory, since it is very near to the
horror of despair.
16. Hell, purgatory, and heaven seem to
differ as do despair,
almost-despair, and the assurance of
safety.
17. With souls in purgatory it seems
necessary that horror
should grow less and love increase.
18. It seems unproved, either by reason or
Scripture, that
they are outside the state of merit, that
is to say, of
increasing love.
19. Again, it seems unproved that they, or
at least that all
of them, are certain or assured of their
own blessedness,
though we may be quite certain of it.
20. Therefore by "full remission of all
penalties" the pope
means not actually "of all," but only of
those imposed by
himself.
21. Therefore those preachers of
indulgences are in error, who
say that by the pope's indulgences a man is
freed from every
penalty, and saved;
22. Whereas he remits to souls in purgatory
no penalty which,
according to the canons, they would have
had to pay in this
life.
23. If it is at all possible to grant to
any one the remission
of all penalties whatsoever, it is certain
that this remission
can be granted only to the most perfect,
that is, to the very
fewest.
24. It must needs be, therefore, that the
greater part of the
people are deceived by that indiscriminate
and highsounding
promise of release from penalty.
25. The power which the pope has, in a
general way, over
purgatory, is just like the power which any
bishop or curate
has, in a special way, within his own
diocese or parish.
26. The pope does well when he grants
remission to souls [in
purgatory], not by the power of the keys
(which he does not
possess), but by way of intercession.
27. They preach man who say that so soon as
the penny jingles
into the money-box, the soul flies out [of
purgatory].
28. It is certain that when the penny
jingles into the
money-box, gain and avarice can be
increased, but the result
of the intercession of the Church is in the
power of God
alone.
29. Who knows whether all the souls in
purgatory wish to be
bought out of it, as in the legend of Sts.
Severinus and
Paschal.
30. No one is sure that his own contrition
is sincere; much
less that he has attained full remission.
31. Rare as is the man that is truly
penitent, so rare is also
the man who truly buys indulgences, i.e.,
such men are most
rare.
32. They will be condemned eternally,
together with their
teachers, who believe themselves sure of
their salvation
because they have letters of pardon.
33. Men must be on their guard against
those who say that the
pope's pardons are that inestimable gift of
God by which man
is reconciled to Him;
34. For these "graces of pardon" concern
only the penalties of
sacramental satisfaction, and these are
appointed by man.
35. They preach no Christian doctrine who
teach that
contrition is not necessary in those who
intend to buy souls
out of purgatory or to buy confessionalia.
36. Every truly repentant Christian has a
right to full
remission of penalty and guilt, even
without letters of
pardon.
37. Every true Christian, whether living or
dead, has part in
all the blessings of Christ and the Church;
and this is
granted him by God, even without letters of
pardon.
38. Nevertheless, the remission and
participation [in the
blessings of the Church] which are granted
by the pope are in
no way to be despised, for they are, as I
have said, the
declaration of divine remission.
39. It is most difficult, even for the very
keenest
theologians, at one and the same time to
commend to the people
the abundance of pardons and [the need of]
true contrition.
40. True contrition seeks and loves
penalties, but liberal
pardons only relax penalties and cause them
to be hated, or at
least, furnish an occasion [for hating
them].
41. Apostolic pardons are to be preached
with caution, lest
the people may falsely think them
preferable to other good
works of love.
42. Christians are to be taught that the
pope does not intend
the buying of pardons to be compared in any
way to works of
mercy.
43. Christians are to be taught that he who
gives to the poor
or lends to the needy does a better work
than buying pardons;
44. Because love grows by works of love,
and man becomes
better; but by pardons man does not grow
better, only more
free from penalty.
45. Christians are to be taught that he who
sees a man in
need, and passes him by, and gives [his
money] for pardons,
purchases not the indulgences of the pope,
but the indignation
of God.
46. Christians are to be taught that unless
they have more
than they need, they are bound to keep back
what is necessary
for their own families, and by no means to
squander it on
pardons.
47. Christians are to be taught that the
buying of pardons is
a matter of free will, and not of
commandment.
48. Christians are to be taught that the
pope, in granting
pardons, needs, and therefore desires,
their devout prayer for
him more than the money they bring.
49. Christians are to be taught that the
pope's pardons are
useful, if they do not put their trust in
them; but altogether
harmful, if through them they lose their
fear of God.
50. Christians are to be taught that if the
pope knew the
exactions of the pardon-preachers, he would
rather that St.
Peter's church should go to ashes, than
that it should be
built up with the skin, flesh and bones of
his sheep.
51. Christians are to be taught that it
would be the pope's
wish, as it is his duty, to give of his own
money to very many
of those from whom certain hawkers of
pardons cajole money,
even though the church of St. Peter might
have to be sold.
52. The assurance of salvation by letters
of pardon is vain,
even though the commissary, nay, even
though the pope himself,
were to stake his soul upon it.
53. They are enemies of Christ and of the
pope, who bid the
Word of God be altogether silent in some
Churches, in order
that pardons may be preached in others.
54. Injury is done the Word of God when, in
the same sermon,
an equal or a longer time is spent on
pardons than on this
Word.
55. It must be the intention of the pope
that if pardons,
which are a very small thing, are
celebrated with one bell,
with single processions and ceremonies,
then the Gospel, which
is the very greatest thing, should be
preached with a hundred
bells, a hundred processions, a hundred
ceremonies.
56. The "treasures of the Church," out of
which the pope.
grants indulgences, are not sufficiently
named or known among
the people of Christ.
57. That they are not temporal treasures is
certainly evident,
for many of the vendors do not pour out
such treasures so
easily, but only gather them.
58. Nor are they the merits of Christ and
the Saints, for even
without the pope, these always work grace
for the inner man,
and the cross, death, and hell for the
outward man.
59. St. Lawrence said that the treasures of
the Church were
the Church's poor, but he spoke according
to the usage of the
word in his own time.
60. Without rashness we say that the keys
of the Church, given
by Christ's merit, are that treasure;
61. For it is clear that for the remission
of penalties and of
reserved cases, the power of the pope is of
itself sufficient.
62. The true treasure of the Church is the
Most Holy Gospel of
the glory and the grace of God.
63. But this treasure is naturally most
odious, for it makes
the first to be last.
64. On the other hand, the treasure of
indulgences is
naturally most acceptable, for it makes the
last to be first.
65. Therefore the treasures of the Gospel
are nets with which
they formerly were wont to fish for men of
riches.
66. The treasures of the indulgences are
nets with which they
now fish for the riches of men.
67. The indulgences which the preachers cry
as the "greatest
graces" are known to be truly such, in so
far as they promote
gain.
68. Yet they are in truth the very smallest
graces compared
with the grace of God and the piety of the
Cross.
69. Bishops and curates are bound to admit
the commissaries of
apostolic pardons, with all reverence.
70. But still more are they bound to strain
all their eyes and
attend with all their ears, lest these men
preach their own
dreams instead of the commission of the
pope.
71 . He who speaks against the truth of
apostolic pardons, let
him be anathema and accursed!
72. But he who guards against the lust and
license of the
pardon-preachers, let him be blessed!
73. The pope justly thunders against those
who, by any art,
contrive the injury of the traffic in
pardons.
74. But much more does he intend to thunder
against those who
use the pretext of pardons to contrive the
injury of holy love
and truth.
75. To think the papal pardons so great
that they could
absolve a man even if he had committed an
impossible sin and
violated the Mother of God -- this is
madness.
76. We say, on the contrary, that the papal
pardons are not
able to remove the very least of venial
sins, so far as its
guilt is concerned.
77. It is said that even St. Peter, if he
were now Pope, could
not bestow greater graces; this is
blasphemy against St. Peter
and against the pope.
78. We say, on the contrary, that even the
present pope, and
any pope at all, has greater graces at his
disposal; to wit,
the Gospel, powers, gifts of healing, etc.,
as it is written
in I. Corinthians xii.
79. To say that the cross, emblazoned with
the papal arms,
which is set up [by the preachers of
indulgences], is of equal
worth with the Cross of Christ, is
blasphemy.
80. The bishops, curates and theologians
who allow such talk
to be spread among the people, will have an
account to render.
81. This unbridled preaching of pardons
makes it no easy
matter, even for learned men, to rescue the
reverence due to
the pope from slander, or even from the
shrewd questionings of
the laity.
82. To wit: -- "Why does not the pope empty
purgatory, for the
sake of holy love and of the dire need of
the souls that are
there, if he redeems an infinite number of
souls for the sake
of miserable money with which to build a
Church? The former
reasons would be most just; the latter is
most trivial."
83. Again: -- "Why are mortuary and
anniversary masses for the
dead continued, and why does he not return
or permit the
withdrawal of the endowments founded on
their behalf, since it
is wrong to pray for the redeemed?"
84. Again: -- "What is this new piety of
God and the pope,
that for money they allow a man who is
impious and their enemy
to buy out of purgatory the pious soul of a
friend of God, and
do not rather, because of that pious and
beloved soul's own
need, free it for pure love's sake?"
85. Again: -- "Why are the penitential
canons long since in
actual fact and through disuse abrogated
and dead, now
satisfied by the granting of indulgences,
as though they were
still alive and in force?"
86. Again: -- "Why does not the pope, whose
wealth is to-day
greater than the riches of the richest,
build just this one
church of St. Peter with his own money,
rather than with the
money of poor believers?"
87. Again: -- "What is it that the pope
remits, and what
participation does he grant to those who,
by perfect
contrition, have a right to full remission
and participation?"
88. Again: -- "What greater blessing could
come to the Church
than if the pope were to do a hundred times
a day what he now
does once, and bestow on every believer
these remissions and
participations?"
89. "Since the pope, by his pardons, seeks
the salvation of
souls rather than money, why does he
suspend the indulgences
and pardons granted heretofore, since these
have equal
efficacy?"
90. To repress these arguments and scruples
of the laity by
force alone, and not to resolve them by
giving reasons, is to
expose the Church and the pope to the
ridicule of their
enemies, and to make Christians unhappy.
91. If, therefore, pardons were preached
according to the
spirit and mind of the pope, all these
doubts would be readily
resolved; nay, they would not exist.
92. Away, then, with all those prophets who
say to the people
of Christ, "Peace, peace," and there is no
peace!
93. Blessed be all those prophets who say
to the people of
Christ, "Cross, cross," and there is no
cross!
94. Christians are to be exhorted that they
be diligent in
following Christ, their Head, through
penalties, deaths, and
hell;
95. And thus be confident of entering into
heaven rather
through many tribulations, than through the
assurance of
peace.
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