§ 32. THE NINETY-FIVE THESES. OCT. 31, 1517. 159
believers should be a repentance.” ! The corresponding Greek noun means change of mind (μετάνοια), and implies both a turning away from sin in sincere sorrow and grief, and a turning to God in hearty faith. Luther distinguishes, in the second Thesis, true repentance from the sacramental penance (i.e., the confession and satisfaction required by the priest), and understands it to be an internal state and exercise of the mind rather than isolated external acts; although he expressly affirms, in the third Thesis, that it must manifest itself in various mortifications of the flesh. Repentance is a continual conflict of the believing spirit with the sinful flesh, a daily renewal of the heart. As long as sin lasts, there is need of repentance. The Pope can not remit any sin except by declaring the remission of God; and he can not remit punishments except those which he or the canons impose (Thes. 5 and 6). Forgiveness presupposes true repentance, and can only be found in the merits of Christ. Here comes _ in the other fundamental Thesis (62): “The true treasury | of the church is the holy gospel of the glory and the grace | of God.” This sets aside the medieval notion about the’ overflowing treasury of extra-merits and rewards at the disposal of the Pope for the benefit of the living and the dead. We have thus set before us in this manifesto, on the one hand, human depravity which requires lifelong repentance, and on the other the full and free grace of God in Christ, which can only be appropriated by a living faith. This is, in substance, the evangelical doctrine of justification by
sists in certain outward acts. He first learned the true meaning of the Greek μετάνοια a year later from Melanchthon, and it was to him like a revelation.
1“ Dominus et magister noster Jesus Christus dicendo ‘ Peenitentiam agite,’ etc. {Matt. 4: 17], omnem vitam fidelium peenitentiam esse voluit.’? In characteristic contrast, Tetzel begins his fifty counter Theses with a glorification of the Pope as the supreme powerin the church: ‘* Docendi sunt Christiani, ex quo in Ecclesia potestas Pape est suprema et a solo Deo instituta, quod a nullo puro homine, nec a toto simul mundo potest restringi aut ampliari, sed a solo Deo.’’
160 THE GERMAN REFORMATION. A.D. 1517 To 15380.
faith (although not expressed in terms), and virtually destroys the whole scholastic theory and practice of indulgences. By attacking the abuses of indulgences, Luther unwittingly cut a vein of medieval Catholicism; and by a deeper conception of repentance which implies faith, and by referring the sinner to the grace of Christ as the true and only source of remission, he proclaimed the undeveloped principles of evangelical Protestantism, and kindled a flame which soon extended far beyond his original intentions.
NOTES. THE NINETY-FIVE THESES.
DISPUTATION OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER CONCERNING PENITENCE AND INDULGENCES.
In the desire and with the purpose of elucidating the truth, a disputation will be held on the underwritten propositions at Wittenberg, under the presidency of the Reverend Father Martin Luther, Monk of the Order of St. Augustin, Master of Arts and of Sacred Theology, and ordinary Reader of the same in that place.!_ He therefore asks those who cannot be present, and discuss the subject with us orally, to do so by letter in their absence. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
1. Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ in saying: ‘‘ Repent ye” [lit.: Do penance, penitentiam agite], etc., intended that the whole life of believers should be penitence [ peenitentiam].?
2. This word peenitentia cannot be understood of sacramental penance, that is, of the confession and satisfaction which are performed under the parca! of priests.
3. It does not, however, refer solely to inward penitence; nay, such inward penitence is naught, unless it outwardly produces various mortifications of the flesh [varias carnis mortificationes].
4. The penalty [pena] thus continues as long as the hatred of self —that is, true inward penitence [penitentia vera intus]— continues; namely, till our entrance into the kingdom of heaven.
1 The German translation inserts here the name of Tetzel (wider Bruder Johann Teizel, Prediger Ordens), which does not occur in the Latin text.
2 The first four theses are directed against the scholastic view of σαν penitence, which empkasized isolated, outward acts ; while Luther put the stress on the inward change which should extend through life. As long as there is sin, so long is there need of repentance. St. Augustin and St. Bernard spent their last days in deep repentance and meditatation over the penitential Psalms. Luther retained the Vulgate rendering, and did not know yet the true meaning of the Greek original (μετάνοια, change of mind, conversion). The Theses vacillate between the Romish and the Evangelical view of repentance.