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An Examination of Personal Salvation in Martin Luther's Von Der Freiheit Eines Christenmenschen

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An Examination of Personal Salvation in Martin Luther's Von Der Freiheit Eines Christenmenschen RETURN TO EDEN: AN EXAMINATION OF PERSONAL SALVATION IN MARTIN LUTHER'S VON DER FREIHEIT EINES CHRISTENMENSCHEN Jordan P. White A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS August 2012 Committee: Kristie Foell, Advisor Theodore Rippey © 2012 Jordan P. White All Rights Reserved ii ABSTRACT Kristie Foell, Advisor This thesis explores Martin Luther’s early thinking regarding soteriology. The main document examined is Luther’s 1520 treatise Von der Fr ei hei t ei nes Chr i stenmenschen (VFC) in which, I argue, Luther makes the case for individual salvation as opposed to the standard communal salvation construct of Rome. To demonstrate the differences between VFC’s personal salvation model and Rome’s communal salvation model I explore the history of communal salvation through the development of Purgatory and show that Luther rejected and replaced this construct in 1520. Furthermore, I argue that the real break between the Protestant movement and the Roman Catholic Church is theological not institutional and is therefore most properly located in November of 1520 with the publication of VFC along with an accompanying forward to Pope Leo X. Finally this thesis shows how Luther’s major ideas, i.e. the movement away from scholastic theology, Luther’s concept of good works, his definition of justification, and the individual salvation model, were employed and discussed in the 20th century and how they are being employed and discussed in the 21st century. Special emphasis is given to the Wright/Piper debate on the meaning of justification and its examination of the Luther tradition. iii Für Dieter und Ilse iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Dr. Kristie Foell, my advisor, for her tireless effort to help me produce the best work possible, for her continuous encouragement, and for letting me take on such a project in the first place. I would also like to thank Dr. Ted Rippey for his efforts as second reader. His contributions improved this work. I am grateful to my friends and colleagues who have shared this journey with me. Your support and encouragement was and is appreciated. I would like to give a special thanks to Dr. Beate Kohnert for her insights regarding the Wright/Piper debate and Martin Luther’s early theology. It has truly been a pleasure discussing those topics with you Beate, and I look forward to our future conversations. Finally I would like to thank P.C., Herr Pullen, and, of course, my family. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER I. COMMUNAL SALVATION A. THE ABLASSHANDEL .......................................................................................... 8 AN INTRODUCTION TO PURGATORY ................................................... 9 THE PURPOSE OF PURGATORY ............................................................... 14 PIOUS THOUGHTS REGARDING PURGATORY .................................... 17 RELEASE FROM PURGATORY AND THE ABLASSHANDEL ................ 28 PAROLE: WHEN A COIN “IM KASTEN KLINGT” .................................... 30 B. THE 95 THESES ................................................................................................. 34 LUTHER REACTS ...................................................................................... 34 ROME RESPONDS ..................................................................................... 39 LUTHER’S FINAL ATTEMPT AT RECONCILLIATION ........................ 40 CHAPTER II. A NEW THEOLOGY IS BORN A. INTRODUCTION TO LUTHER’S EARLY THEOLOGY ................................. 44 AN DEN CHRISTLICHEN ADEL DEUTSCHER NATION (CAD) ............. 47 VON DER BABYLONISCHEN GEFANGENSCHAFT DER KIRCHE (BGK) 49 B. VFC: AN OVERIEW ........................................................................................... 60 A LETTER FOR LEO ................................................................................. 60 VFC AND THE “INNER MAN”.................................................................. 66 THE “OUTER MAN” .................................................................................. 74 CHAPTER III. JUSTIFICATION IN VON DER FREIHEIT EINES CHRISTENMENSCHEN vi A. VFC’S SOTERIOLOGY ...................................................................................... 83 WHAT IS JUSTIFICATION? ....................................................................... 83 JUSTIFICATION IN LIGHT OF VFC’s 22ND THESIS .............................. 86 UNION WITH CHRIST IN VFC’s 12TH THESIS ........................................ 89 NOT IMPUTATION ......................................................................... 89 NOT INFUSION ................................................................................ 91 NOT THEOSIS PROPER ................................................................. 92 UNION WITH CHRIST .................................................................... 95 PERSONAL SALVATON! ..................................................... 95 LUTHER’S SCRIPTURAL BASIS FOR THE ARGUMENT 99 WORLDLY INFLUENCE?..................................................... 102 B. THE RETURN TO EDEN .................................................................................... 104 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 104 RIGHTEOUSNESS THROUGH FAITH ...................................................... 105 GOOD WORKS REMAIN ............................................................................ 106 THE PRIESTHOOD OF ALL BELIEVERS AND THE INTERPRETATION OF THE BIBLE ..................................................................... 108 EDEN AT LAST! .......................................................................................... 109 CHAPTER IV. MARTIN LUTHER IN CURRENT RECENT THEOLOGICAL TRENDS A. LUTHER IN MODERN THEOLOGY ................................................................. 112 DOUBLE PREDESTINATION ................................................................... 112 THE QUESTION OF “GOOD WORKS”: DO WE ACTUALLY HAVE TO DO ANYTHING? ................................... 116 vii SCHOLASTICISM AND MODERN EXEGESIS ........................................ 121 JUSTIFICATION: LATE-LUTHERAN THEOLOGY AND THE DOCTRINE OF IMPUTATION ...................................................................... 125 B. THE WRIGHT/PIPER DEBATE ......................................................................... 128 PIPER’S POSITION ...................................................................................... 128 WRIGHT’S POSITION ................................................................................. 132 THE WRIGHT/PIPER DEBATE IN OVERVIEW ........................................ 143 CHAPTER V. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................. 145 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................. 151 WORKS CONSULTED ........................................................................................................ 157 1 INTRODUCTION The objective of this writing is to demonstrate that Martin Luther is the father of the modern individual soteriological construct. Though Luther would most certainly reject the modern western individualization of so-called “personal faith” and “personal beliefs” so prevalent today, he along with John Calvin is nevertheless the foundation upon which such modern soteriology stands. Despite Calvin’s influence, this work will focus primarily on Luther, since Luther’s call for a personal relationship with Jesus predates Calvin’s. The “double predestination”—God’s alleged “election” of individuals to salvation and of those to be eternally damned without regard either way for any human will whatsoever—is most often attributed to Calvin today. As a matter of fact it is most often referred to as “Extreme Calvinism” in the U.S. and Canada. However, Luther’s double predestination doctrine both predates Calvin’s and is much more assertive in its claim. To come to such a conclusion as this, one which demands extreme individualization of salvation, requires one to have already had personal salvation in mind. This paper will, then, examine the theology of personal salvation as presented in Martin Luther’s 1520 masterpiece Von der Freiheit eines Christenmenschen (VFC). This work, though raw and unrefined in its theology, lays the groundwork for the future doctrines of double predestination and the doctrine of “imputation” which is, seemingly, indispensable to Protestant theology. It is amazing to me to see that even the finest biographies and theological examinations of Luther and his work so consistently overlook VFC. Almost always given a mere 3-5 pages of coverage in these works, VFC’s finer points are nearly always overlooked. VFC’s claim that the church is composed of a priesthood of all believers seems to be the only 2 point of merit in the whole treatise. This is simply not so. VFC offers much more than this assertion, ground-breaking as it was and still is. Von der Freiheit eines Christenmenschen tolls the medieval church’s theological death knell, not only with its claim that each Christian is a priest, but also in its declaration of a loving God who is reaching out in love to an otherwise helpless world through Jesus Christ. VFC does away
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