Magyar Egyház, 2007 (86. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)
2007-10-01 / 3-4. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 13. oldal faith alone, not on account of our good works. Luther was astounded by this doctrine and found tremendous comfort in it. He began to lecture about it in his classes and preach about it in his parish. In 1517, Luther (now a Doctor of Theology and a respected professor) was drawn into a controversy over the sale of indulgences. Indulgences were certificates sold by the Roman Catholic Church that promised people release from works of penance for absolved sins, both in life and in purgatory. Although Luther would in a few years repudiate the entire Roman Catholic system of works righteousness, he was not ready at this early stage in his ministry to completely reject the prevailing teachings on purgatory and indulgences. But even prior to 1517 he realized that corrupt practices connected to the sale of indulgences were a blasphemy against Christ and a cruel deception on penitent Christians seeking God's grace and forgiveness. It was the sale of a particular indulgence that spurred Luther to action. Pope Leo X had authorized the sale of special jubilee indulgences in the cities and principalities of Germany. Half of the money raised was to help finance the building of Saint Peter's Cathedral in Rome; the other half was to go to Albrecht, the new archbishop of Mainz (who needed the cash to pay off a loan he had taken to buy his archbishopric). These indulgences were plenary, meaning that all sin and eternal and temporal punishment would be forgiven to those who purchased them. Elector Frederick the Wise prince of Saxony and patron of the University of Wittenberg, had prohibited the traffic of these indulgences in his territory, but they were sold in towns and villages just across the Saxon border. When some members of his parish purchased indulgences and brought them to Luther for his assessment of their validity, he felt compelled to take the initiative. Luther drafted a series of ninety-five statements in Latin discussing indulgences, good works, repentance, and other topics, and invited interested scholars to debate with him. According to Philip Melanchthon, Luther's university colleague and author of the Augsburg Confession, Luther nailed his Ninety-five Theses on the door of the Castle Church on October 31, 1517. (This was not an act of defiance or provocation as is sometimes thought. Since the Castle Church faced Wittenberg's main thoroughfare, the church door functioned as a public bulletin board and was therefore the logical place for posting important notices. By posting his document on October 31, the eve of the All Saints’ Day mass, Luther ensured that his Theses would come to the attention of the throngs of literate Wittenberg residents and educated visitors who filed into the Castle Church for worship the next day. Luther intended the Ninety-five Theses to initiate an academic discussion, not serve as the agenda for a major reform of the Catholic Church. However, events soon overtook him. Within weeks, the Theses were translated into German, reproduced using the new moveable-type printing press, and circulated throughout Germany. It wasn't long before they were the talk of Europe. The publication of the Ninety-five Theses brought Luther to international attention and into direct conflict with the Roman Catholic hierarchy and the Holy Roman Emperor. A little over three years later, he was excommunicated by the pope and declared a heretic and outlaw. This was the beginning of the Reformation, the culmination of which was the writing of the Augsburg Confession of 1530, the first official Lutheran statement of faith. The Reformation Day as an important Christian festival Martin Luther and his colleagues came to understand that if we sinners had to earn salvation by our own merits and good works, we would be lost and completely without hope. But through the working of the Holy Spirit, the reformers rediscovered the Gospel - the wonderful news that Jesus Christ lived, died, and rose again to redeem and justify us. As Luther wrote in his explanation of the Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed: I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that 1 may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, even as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true. On Reformation Day, we glorify God for what he accomplished in 16th century Germany through His servant, Martin Luther - the recovery of the Gospel of salvation by grace through faith for Christ's sake. We also earnestly pray that God would keep all of us faithful to the true Gospel and help us to joyfully declare it to the world. Calvin was born Jean Cauvin (or Chauvin in standard French, in Latin Calvinus) in Noyon, Picardie, France, to Gerard Cauvin and Jeanne le Franc in 1509. A diligent student who excelled at his studies, Calvin was "remarkably religious" even as a young man. Calvin's father was an attorney who also served as a Noyon Cathedral business administrator and lawyer. In 1523 Gerard sent his fourteen-year-old son to the University of Paris to pursue a Latin, theological education and to flee the plague in Noyon. But when Gerard was dismissed from the Roman Church after disagreements with his clerical employers, he urged Calvin to change his studies to law, and he did. By 1532, he had attained a Doctor of Laws degree at Orléans. It is not clear when Calvin converted to Protestantism, though in the preface to his commentary on Psalms, Calvin said: "God by a sudden conversion subdued and brought my mind to a teachable frame.... Having thus received some taste and knowledge of true godliness I was immediately inflamed with so intense a desire to make progress therein, that although I did not altogether leave off [legal] studies, I yet pursued them with less ardor." His Protestant friends included Nicholas Cop, Rector at the University of Paris. In 1533 Cop gave an address "replete with Protestant ideas," and "Calvin was probably involved as the writer of that address." Cop soon found it necessary to flee Paris, as did Calvin himself a few days after. In Angouleme he sheltered with a friend, Louis du Tillet. Calvin settled for a time in Basel, where in 1536 he published the first edition of his Institutes. After a brief and covert return to France in 1536, Calvin was forced to choose an alternate return route in the face of imperial and French forces, and in doing so he passed by Geneva. Guillaume pleaded with Calvin to stay in Geneva and help the city. Despite a desire to continue his journey, he settled in Geneva. After being expelled from the city, he served as a pastor in Strasbourg from 1538 until 1541. before returning to Geneva, where he lived until his death in 1564.
