Martin Luther

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MARTIN LUTHER: THE RELUCTANT REVOLUTIONARY PROF. M. M. NINAN Transubstantiation Eucharist is more than a mere commemoration or symbol. While Catholics believe that the bread and wine literally becomes the body and blood of Jesus - known as “trans-substantiation” Lutherans also believe in co-substantiation that the bread and wine retain their outward characteristics, but of the body and blood of Christ are present alongside the substance of the bread and wine. Later Lutherans used the word Sacramental Union, where the Real Presence is only as a sort of extension of the Incarnation, a precise presence pro nobis, a presence bringing grace for the forgiveness of sins. Consequently, in the Eucharistic Sacrament, Christ unites his Body with the bread and wine (doctrine of "consubstantiation"), thereby making his omnipresence perceptible to us and salvific for us (doctrine of ubiquitarianism). Therefore, considering the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist from the perspective of his two natures, Luther maintained that after the consecration, the bread and wine retain their own properties, but united with the Body and Blood of the Lord they constitute a true sacramental unity. Christ's presence in the Sacrament is an abstraction. The bread and wine becomes for the believer the body and blood of Jesus. Thus, Luther categorically denied the ontological mutation of the species of the bread and wine through "transubstantiation". Luther, Calvin and Zwingli totally rejected the sacrificial character of Mass, the Roman Canon, the so-called "Private Mass" and the application of Masses for the living and the dead. Alterations that Luther made to the Mass include: • Its translation in whole or in part into German (although he permitted most of the Mass to remain in Latin depending on the scruples of a given congregation, he always spoke the words of institution in German), and • The removal of the "long prayer of consecration that implied the mass reenacted the sacrifice of Jesus." (Hendrix 128, 129; elsewhere in the biography Hendrix mentions Luther's distaste for the canon of the mass, to which he is likely referring with "long prayer" here. Clearly Luther retained the words of institution, albeit in German, but if I were to guess, he would have at least done away with the preface, the oblation, the epiclesis, and the intercessions [see anaphora]. Of course, if someone else knows more specifically what was changed, that would be good to know.) 102
MARTIN LUTHER: THE RELUCTANT REVOLUTIONARY PROF. M. M. NINAN D. Justification by faith alone as opposed to work The official position of the Roman Catholic church is that man is not justified by faith alone, but rather through works and faith together. This clearly contradicts the testimony of Scriptures such as Romans 3:28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. Galatians 3:1-3 You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed {as} crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? The good works procedes from the justified as its fruit. For the Lutheran tradition, the doctrine of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone is the material principle upon which all other teachings rest. E. Clerical Celebacy Martin Luther preached sermons praising marriage beginning in 1519. Ge wrote his first formal treatise attacking the value of vows of celibacy and arguing that marriage was the best Christian life. In 1525 he followed his words by deeds and married a nun who had fled her convent, Katharina von Bora. Luther continued to attack the celibate life of Catholic clergy and nuns and to celebrate marriage as a godly estate throughout his career, in sermons, formal treatises, lectures, advice manuals, letters, comments on legal cases, and casual conversation. Sexual desire was inescapable for all but a handful, he argued, so should be channeled into marriage. Vows of celibacy should be rendered void, and monasteries and convents should be closed or much reduced in size. He agreed with St. Augustine on the three purposes of marriage, in the same order of importance: the procreation of children, the avoidance of sin, and mutual help and companionship. Proper marital households were hierarchical, for the wife was and had to be the husband’s helpmeet and subordinate. 103
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