Victor R. Claveau, MJ
As a nervous, sensitive young religious who had entered the monastery without a true vocation, Martin Luther, no doubt, had to struggle against many trials and temptations. He was tormented by a constant sense of his own sinfulness in spite of contrition and penance, and by the thought of his own unworthiness in the sight of God’s awful majesty.
As a necessary help for his condition, he developed the theology of the sufficiency of faith.
He reasoned that man cannot avoid sinning because sin is part of his nature — yet he must save his soul. What is a person to do? Believe; simply believe! This is all a person can do and it is all that is necessary, Luther concluded.
Commenting on the Decalogue, he wrote “Keep the Law, by all means; but if you do not, you need not be troubled in your conscience, for the transgression of the law cannot possibly condemn you.”[1]
“Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong [or sin boldly], but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world.Be a sinner,” he wrote, “and sin boldly, but believe more boldly still. … We must sin as long as we are what we are … sin will not drag us away from Him [Christ] even should we commit fornication and murder a thousand times a day.”[2]
Simplified, Luther’s doctrine was faith alone, the Bible alone, interpreted by yourself alone. Luther went to the Bible as the only source of enlightenment. But if the Bible went against his theories, he repudiated the Bible, in part, and interpreted it to suit himself.
The new faith was subversive — no previous heresiarch ever went so far.
[1] O’Hare, Facts about Luther, p. 113.
[2] Ibid. p., 120.