Ninety-Five Theses

Across the “Ninety-Five Theses,” Luther addresses many pressing issues involving contemporary Christian belief. These include penance, sin, the limits of the pope’s spiritual powers, church corruption, purgatory, and salvation. At the center of it all are five main points:

1. Sincere repentance of sin is a lifelong, personal, emotional, and difficult process for every Christian.

2. The pope cannot absolve one’s sins through an indulgence or any other action, nor can he reduce the amount of time a soul spends in purgatory.

3. Indulgences can do good by instructing a Christian on how they should perform penance, but some priests have abused and overemphasized indulgences for the sake of greed.

4. Corrupt priests and theologians have misled people into believing that indulgences alone are enough to save their souls, which has caused false beliefs about Christian doctrine to spread and has harmed opinions about the pope among others.

5. The abuse of indulgences is the fault of certain members of the clergy, not the pope or the church as a whole.

Luther’s purpose in writing the “Ninety-Five Theses” is to persuade readers of these points. Namely it is written for an audience of academics who study theology and members of the clergy. Luther wrote the “Ninety-Five Theses” in Latin, which was still the language of academics and the Catholic Church. Luther himself writes in the brief introduction, “For the love of truth and a desire to elucidate it, the following theses shall be debated in Wittenberg” (Introduction). As such, the “Ninety-Five Theses” is written for readers who are literate and already educated in theological concepts.

Because of this audience and goal, Luther uses strategies that would appeal to those who were knowledgeable about theology and involved with the Catholic Church. These would be the very people who would be able to push for reforms to prevent the misuse of indulgences that Luther describes. One strategy Luther uses is invoking the authority of Jesus Christ by quoting Jesus in the New Testament. He quotes Jesus from the Gospel of Matthew to explain the concept of repentance. Later, he cites 1 Corinthians to define the powers of the pope.

However, Luther doesn’t use the Bible to prove his case. Like other theologians of his time, Luther makes his argument through logical propositions and conclusions. Although Luther relies on logic, he is not at all reluctant to attack “the indulgence hawker” (Line 52), asking that whoever opposes “the truth” about indulgences be “anathema and accursed” (Line 71).

Despite Luther’s occasionally emotional rhetoric, the 95 theses were written when he was still a loyal monk and professor of theology in the Catholic Church. This is not the Luther who would go on to help establish Protestant Christianity. For example, Luther does not deny that the pope has a great deal of authority over the church. He argues that the people who abuse indulgences are “enemies” of the pope. Still, you can argue that there are certain parts of Luther’s writing that hint toward what he would become. Often when Luther discusses papal authority, he puts limits on papal powers.

As a historical document, the “Ninety-Five Theses” should be considered in the context of Luther’s time and where Luther was in the development of his thought. It can also be read in light of the Luther who lit the fuse of the Protestant Reformation.