Background
Martin Luther is one of the most famous reformers ever recorded in history. It was his bravery and spirit that changed the former “rational” view of society in terms of religion. Back in the 1400s, most, if not all, people believed that freedom from having to pay for your own sins could easily be bought with money. So, priests and friars from different regions had this belief that as long as an individual has enough money to pay for his sins, he could be saved from the wrath of God. Thus, buying of indulgences was invented. The proliferation of indulgences salesmen soon followed. Marin Luther strongly disputed such claim and as expected, a lot of people, especially the ones who usually received a lot of money from sales of indulgences, participated in prosecuting and persecuting him. He was excommunicated by the Pope and regarded as an outlaw by the Holy Roman Empire emperor for his acts. Still, he stood by his beliefs for he knows what the truth about salvation is—something that could never be bought with money.
Justification by Faith and Justification by Works
Luther’s perceptions about justification by faith were mostly based on the books of the bible: Psalms, Hebrews, Galatians, and Romans. As he reviewed these books, possibly countless times, he encountered several terms such as “justification”, “salvation”, and ”God’s grace”. Later on, he discovered what justification is really and should be about. Justification should never be based on how rich one is; it is a gift from God and one could only be saved through justification. Only God, the creator of all things, has the right to declare the righteousness despite all sins (not the priests, the Pope, not even emperors and politicians). Justification is purely a work of God and nothing, not even money could intervene how God justifies things—our sins (Monty, 2009).
Faith on the other hand was described by Martin Luther as something that brings one closer to the “Holy Spirit”. For Martin Luther, Faith and Justification are gifts that can only come from God and therefore could never be bought by Money. This is how Marin Luther described Justification by faith.
There is another thesis proposed by Luther which suggests that justification could also be claimed through good deeds. Based on Luther’s understanding, one could also be saved by doing deeds that pleases God, or the ones that shows obedience in complying with the laws proclaimed by God (Wace & Buchheim, 1883). The books that he used to support such thesis were also the same. However, most of his evidences came from the book of Romans where passages about works of the law and good deeds were emphasized. Scholars over the century however questioned what they should really believe in. it even seems that the bible contradicts itself for some. Martin Luther has many other works about religion and salvation but it really appeared that his most controversial works were his works about Justification. Because of such, he was literally condemned by society, excommunicated from the church and was labeled as an outlaw.
Difference between Inward and Outward Man
Usually unknown to other people, there are two kinds of Man—an inward and an outward man. The outward man is often also called as the fallen, old, or natural man. This is because an outward man usually uses his senses as the only source of truth. An outward man usually exhibits a biased judgment when it comes to obvious and supernatural things. An inward man on the other hand could be regarded as the exact opposite of an outward man. He is someone who has strong beliefs to intangible and supernatural things because he usually thinks that God acts in unseen ways.
Works Cited
Monty, L. (2009). Faith at Work: Justification, Development, and Validation of a Measure of Religion. Journal of Ethics.
Wace, H., & Buchheim, A. (1883). First principles of reformation. London: John Murray.
