500 years after the 95 Theses, Martin Luther’s influence remains

People may wonder, ‘What is the big deal about the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s publication of the 95 Theses?’

To which I say, look around you! Many of the church structures and forms of worship as we know them today had their birth in the Protestant reformation of the 16th century.

A recent study conducted by the Pew Research Center on religion and the public life concluded that the majority of present-day Protestant Christians remain broadly unaffected by – even unaware of – two key principles that launched Luther’s reformation 500 years ago.

First is the belief that one is saved by faith alone (sola fide) – a gift from God, so that works play absolutely no role in salvation. Second is the belief that Scripture is the prime, if not sole, authority for the Christian life (sola scriptura), above and beyond any authoritative role of the church and its leadership (i.e., pope, priest, or church tradition).

White evangelical Christians have more accurate understandings of these teachings and their relation to Luther’s reformation, the study indicates. Otherwise, most present-day Protestants are unclear on these matters, which is not actually that surprising.

The belief in justification by faith alone has always been a difficult – even slippery – belief: For if salvation is the work of God alone, it follows that God actively chooses those whom God will save. The specific term for this is predestination: the belief that God ordains beforehand what will happen, particularly concerning salvation. Even in Martin Luther and John Calvin’s own day, people had a hard time swallowing this belief, for it smacks of determinism.

On the other hand, at the heart of Luther’s assertion of salvation by faith alone was a form of freedom that clearly attracted the imaginations, hearts and minds of his 16th century listeners. By dismantling a system in which one is saved by works, Luther challenged certain exploitative economic practices of the Roman Catholic Church of his day.

In particular, Christians were taught that if they gave money to the church or bought an indulgence (a grant that gained a loved one a certain number of years out of purgatory), they could earn salvation for themselves or a loved one. Instead, Luther proclaimed the liberating message of the Gospel – that Jesus Christ paid the price for all human sin and one only need rely upon the gift of faith to live into the promise of a new life.

Similarly, it is not all that surprising that most current Protestants hold views that in some fashion combine scriptural authority with church authority, often with emphasis upon the primacy of Scripture. The fact of the matter is that “prima scriptura” – the prime authority of Scripture – is a much more accurate description of Luther’s and Calvin’s views than sola Scriptura, which was truer of more radical groups.

Both Luther and Calvin affirmed many church teachings as based on Scripture, and therefore as authoritative. They also affirmed the necessity of an ordained clergy to lead the public life of the church, so long as these church leaders submitted to the ultimate authority of Scripture.

Whether Protestant Christians today understand or uphold the principles of justification by faith alone and the prime authority of Scripture, they have certainly been shaped by these principles’ effects. The two beliefs undergird other distinctively Protestant contributions to the religious life many of us experience today.

The legitimacy of married clergy rather than a celibate priesthood, the central place of the sermon in the Protestant worship service rather than Eucharist/the Lord’s Supper, the affirmation of two sacraments (baptism and Lord’s Supper) rather than seven – these are a few examples. The view of the pastor as primarily a preacher and provider of pastoral care rather than primarily a celebrant of Holy Mass, practices of electing church leaders rather than having leaders appointed by an elite hierarchy, and belief in the priesthood of all believers also rest on those two key beliefs.

Finally, Luther’s heritage and guiding beliefs are reflected in how Protestant churches appear to this day. We see his influence in the absence of icons, relics, crucifixes and images of saints in the worship space. Instead, Protestant churches typically feature an empty cross and biblically inspired stained-glass windows or no images at all.

Happy 500th birthday, Protestantism!

G. Sujin Pak is an assistant professor of the history of Christianity at Duke Divinity School.

This story was originally published October 28, 2017 at 9:30 AM with the headline "500 years after the 95 Theses, Martin Luther’s influence remains."