The 95 Theses Martin Luther nailed to the Wittenburg church door
1. When our Lord and Master Jesus
Christ said, "Repent" (Mt 4:17), he willed
the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.
2. This word cannot be understood as referring
to the sacrament of penance,
that is, confession and satisfaction, as administered by the clergy.
3. Yet it does not mean solely inner repentance;
such inner repentance is
worthless unless it produces various outward mortification of
the flesh.
4. The penalty of sin remains as long
as the hatred of self (that is, true
inner repentance), namely till our entrance into the kingdom of
heaven.
5. The pope neither desires nor is able
to remit any penalties except those
imposed by his own authority or that of the canons.
6. The pope cannot remit any guilt, except
by declaring and showing that it
has been remitted by God; or, to be sure, by remitting guilt in
cases reserved to
his judgment. If his right to grant remission in these cases were
disregarded,
the guilt would certainly remain unforgiven.
7. God remits guilt to no one unless at
the same time he humbles him in all
things and makes him submissive to the vicar, the priest.
8. The penitential canons are imposed
only on the living, and, according to
the canons themselves, nothing should be imposed on the dying.
9. Therefore the Holy Spirit through the
pope is kind to us insofar as the
pope in his decrees always makes exception of the article of death
and of
necessity.
10. Those priests act ignorantly and wickedly
who, in the case of the dying,
reserve canonical penalties for purgatory.
11. Those tares of changing the canonical
penalty to the penalty of
purgatory were evidently sown while the bishops slept (Mt 13:25).
12. In former times canonical penalties
were imposed, not after, but before
absolution, as tests of true contrition.
13. The dying are freed by death from
all penalties, are already dead as far
as the canon laws are concerned, and have a right to be released
from them.
14. Imperfect piety or love on the part
of the dying person necessarily
brings with it great fear; and the smaller the love, the greater
the fear.
15. This fear or horror is sufficient
in itself, to say nothing of other
things, to constitute the penalty of purgatory, since it is very
near to the
horror of despair.
16. Hell, purgatory, and heaven seem to
differ the same as despair, fear,
and assurance of salvation.
17. It seems as though for the souls in
purgatory fear should necessarily
decrease and love increase.
18. Furthermore, it does not seem proved,
either by reason or by Scripture,
that souls in purgatory are outside the state of merit, that is,
unable to grow
in love.
19. Nor does it seem proved that souls
in purgatory, at least not all of
them, are certain and assured of their own salvation, even if
we ourselves may be
entirely certain of it.
20. Therefore the pope, when he uses the
words "plenary remission of all
penalties," does not actually mean "all penalties,"
but only those imposed by
himself.
21. Thus those indulgence preachers are
in error who say that a man is
absolved from every penalty and saved by papal indulgences.
22. As a matter of fact, the pope remits
to souls in purgatory no penalty
which, according to canon law, they should have paid in this life.
23. If remission of all penalties whatsoever
could be granted to anyone at
all, certainly it would be granted only to the most perfect, that
is, to very
few.
24. For this reason most people are necessarily
deceived by that
indiscriminate and high-sounding promise of release from penalty.
25. That power which the pope has in general
over purgatory corresponds to
the power which any bishop or curate has in a particular way in
his own diocese
and parish.
26. The pope does very well when he grants
remission to souls in purgatory,
not by the power of the keys, which he does not have, but by way
of intercession
for them.
27. They preach only human doctrines who
say that as soon as the money
clinks into the money chest, the soul flies out of purgatory.
28. It is certain that when money clinks
in the money chest, greed and
avarice can be increased; but when the church intercedes, the
result is in the
hands of God alone.
29. Who knows whether all souls in purgatory
wish to be redeemed, since we
have exceptions in St. Severinus and St. Paschal, as related in
a legend.
30. No one is sure of the integrity of
his own contrition, much less of
having received plenary remission.
31. The man who actually buys indulgences
is as rare as he who is really
penitent; indeed, he is exceedingly rare.
32. Those who believe that they can be
certain of their salvation because
they have indulgence letters will be eternally damned, together
with their
teachers.
33. Men must especially be on guard against
those who say that the pope's
pardons are that inestimable gift of God by which man is reconciled
to him.
34. For the graces of indulgences are
concerned only with the penalties of
sacramental satisfaction established by man.
35. They who teach that contrition is
not necessary on the part of those who
intend to buy souls out of purgatory or to buy confessional privileges
preach
unchristian doctrine.
36. Any truly repentant Christian has
a right to full remission of penalty
and guilt, even without indulgence letters.
37. Any true Christian, whether living
or dead, participates in all the
blessings of Christ and the church; and this is granted him by
God, even without
indulgence letters.
38. Nevertheless, papal remission and
blessing are by no means to be
disregarded, for they are, as I have said (Thesis 6), the proclamation
of the
divine remission.
39. It is very difficult, even for the
most learned theologians, at one and
the same time to commend to the people the bounty of indulgences
and the need of
true contrition.
40. A Christian who is truly contrite
seeks and loves to pay penalties for
his sins; the bounty of indulgences, however, relaxes penalties
and causes men to
hate them -- at least it furnishes occasion for hating them.
41. Papal indulgences must be preached
with caution, lest people erroneously
think that they are preferable to other good works of love.
42. Christians are to be taught that the
pope does not intend that the
buying of indulgences should in any way be compared with works
of mercy.
43. Christians are to be taught that he
who gives to the poor or lends to
the needy does a better deed than he who buys indulgences.
44. Because love grows by works of love,
man thereby becomes better. Man
does not, however, become better by means of indulgences but is
merely freed from
penalties.
45. Christians are to be taught that he
who sees a needy man and passes him
by, yet gives his money for indulgences, does not buy papal indulgences
but God's
wrath.
46. Christians are to be taught that,
unless they have more than they need,
they must reserve enough for their family needs and by no means
squander it on
indulgences.
47. Christians are to be taught that they
buying of indulgences is a matter
of free choice, not commanded.
48. Christians are to be taught that the
pope, in granting indulgences,
needs and thus desires their devout prayer more than their money.
49. Christians are to be taught that papal
indulgences are useful only if
they do not put their trust in them, but very harmful if they
lose their fear of
God because of them.
50. Christians are to be taught that if
the pope knew the exactions of the
indulgence preachers, he would rather that the basilica of St.
Peter were burned
to ashes than built up with the skin, flesh, and bones of his
sheep.
51. Christians are to be taught that the
pope would and should wish to give
of his own money, even though he had to sell the basilica of St.
Peter, to many
of those from whom certain hawkers of indulgences cajole money.
52. It is vain to trust in salvation by
indulgence letters, even though the
indulgence commissary, or even the pope, were to offer his soul
as security.
53. They are the enemies of Christ and
the pope who forbid altogether the
preaching of the Word of God in some churches in order that indulgences
may be
preached in others.
54. Injury is done to the Word of God
when, in the same sermon, an equal or
larger amount of time is devoted to indulgences than to the Word.
55. It is certainly the pope's sentiment
that if indulgences, which are a
very insignificant thing, are celebrated with one bell, one procession,
and one
ceremony, then the gospel, which is the very greatest thing, should
be preached
with a hundred bells, a hundred processions, a hundred ceremonies.
56. The true treasures of the church,
out of which the pope distributes
indulgences, are not sufficiently discussed or known among the
people of Christ.
57. That indulgences are not temporal
treasures is certainly clear, for many
indulgence sellers do not distribute them freely but only gather
them.
58. Nor are they the merits of Christ
and the saints, for, even without the
pope, the latter always work grace for the inner man, and the
cross, death, and
hell for the outer man.
59. St. Lawrence said that the poor of
the church were the treasures of the
church, but he spoke according to the usage of the word in his
own time.
60. Without want of consideration we say
that the keys of the church, given
by the merits of Christ, are that treasure.
61. For it is clear that the pope's power
is of itself sufficient for the
remission of penalties and cases reserved by himself.
62. The true treasure of the church is
the most holy gospel of the glory and
grace of God.
63. But this treasure is naturally most
odious, for it makes the first to be
last (Mt. 20:16).
64. On the other hand, the treasure of
indulgences is naturally most
acceptable, for it makes the last to be first.
65. Therefore the treasures of the gospel
are nets with which one formerly
fished for men of wealth.
66. The treasures of indulgences are nets
with which one now fishes for the
wealth of men.
67. The indulgences which the demagogues
acclaim as the greatest graces are
actually understood to be such only insofar as they promote gain.
68. They are nevertheless in truth the
most insignificant graces when
compared with the grace of God and the piety of the cross.
69. Bishops and curates are bound to admit
the commissaries of papal
indulgences with all reverence.
70. But they are much more bound to strain
their eyes and ears lest these
men preach their own dreams instead of what the pope has commissioned.
71. Let him who speaks against the truth
concerning papal indulgences be
anathema and accursed.
72. But let him who guards against the
lust and license of the indulgence
preachers be blessed.
73. Just as the pope justly thunders against
those who by any means whatever
contrive harm to the sale of indulgences.
74. Much more does he intend to thunder
against those who use indulgences as
a pretext to contrive harm to holy love and truth.
75. To consider papal indulgences so great
that they could absolve a man
even if he had done the impossible and had violated the mother
of God is madness.
76. We say on the contrary that papal
indulgences cannot remove the very
least of venial sins as far as guilt is concerned.
77. To say that even St. Peter if he were
now pope, could not grant greater
graces is blasphemy against St. Peter and the pope.
78. We say on the contrary that even the
present pope, or any pope
whatsoever, has greater graces at his disposal, that is, the gospel,
spiritual
powers, gifts of healing, etc., as it is written, 1 Co 12[:28].
79. To say that the cross emblazoned with
the papal coat of arms, and set up
by the indulgence preachers is equal in worth to the cross of
Christ is
blasphemy.
80. The bishops, curates, and theologians
who permit such talk to be spread
among the people will have to answer for this.
81. This unbridled preaching of indulgences
makes it difficult even for
learned men to rescue the reverence which is due the pope from
slander or from
the shrewd questions of the laity.
82. Such as: "Why does not the pope
empty purgatory for the sake of holy
love and the dire need of the souls that are there if he redeems
an infinite
number of souls for the sake of miserable money with which to
build a church?
The former reason would be most just; the latter is most trivial.
83. Again, "Why are funeral and anniversary
masses for the dead continued
and why does he not return or permit the withdrawal of the endowments
founded for
them, since it is wrong to pray for the redeemed?"
84. Again, "What is this new piety
of God and the pope that for a
consideration of money they permit a man who is impious and their
enemy to buy
out of purgatory the pious soul of a friend of God and do not
rather, because of
the need of that pious and beloved soul, free it for pure love's
sake?"
85. Again, "Why are the penitential
canons, long since abrogated and dead in
actual fact and through disuse, now satisfied by the granting
of indulgences as
though they were still alive and in force?"
86. Again, "Why does not the pope,
whose wealth is today greater than the
wealth of the richest Crassus, build this one basilica of St.
Peter with his own
money rather than with the money of poor believers?"
87. Again, "What does the pope remit
or grant to those who by perfect
contrition already have a right to full remission and blessings?"
88. Again, "What greater blessing
could come to the church than if the pope
were to bestow these remissions and blessings on every believer
a hundred times a
day, as he now does but once?"
89. "Since the pope seeks the salvation
of souls rather than money by his
indulgences, why does he suspend the indulgences and pardons previously
granted
when they have equal efficacy?"
90. To repress these very sharp arguments
of the laity by force alone, and
not to resolve them by giving reasons, is to expose the church
and the pope to
the ridicule of their enemies and to make Christians unhappy.
91. If, therefore, indulgences were preached
according to the spirit and
intention of the pope, all these doubts would be readily resolved.
Indeed, they
would not exist.
92. Away, then, with all those prophets
who say to the people of Christ,
"Peace, peace," and there is no peace! (Jer 6:14)
93. Blessed be all those prophets who
say to the people of Christ, "Cross,
cross," and there is no cross!
94. Christians should be exhorted to be
diligent in following Christ, their
Head, through penalties, death and hell.
95. And thus be confident of entering
into heaven through many tribulations
rather than through the false security of peace (Acts 14:22).