Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation

Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation 
Respecting 

The Reformation of the Christian Estate

In 1520, Dr. Martin Luther put out a religious pamphlet called, Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation Respecting the Reformation of the Christian Estate.  His intention in writing it was to expose abuses within the Church that the papacy had fostered and to give advice to the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V and his nobles concerning what they might do about it. It was a bestseller in its own time, selling four thousand copies.¹

In his pamphlet, Luther speaks of the three walls of the Romanists, which the pope and those loyal to him have put up in order to protect themselves against much-needed reform, so they can continue in their sins.²  The first wall is that temporal power has no jurisdiction over the spiritual, the second is that no one can interpret Scripture but the Pope, and the third is that no one can call a council, except the pope.  He, then, goes on to speak of the abuses that should be dealt with in councils.  Finally, he lays out articles of reform, which he believes should be implemented.³

First Wall: To attack the first wall, that temporal power has no jurisdiction over the spiritual, he declares that all Christians are a part of the spiritual estate, and not just the hierarchy of the Church, giving examples he believes proves this.⁴  He downgrades priestly ordination by pope or bishop to democratic choice and then, goes on to encourage the temporal power to enforce justice against the crimes of the Romanists.⁵  He shows much disdain for canon law and believes that because the temporal power is divinely ordained, it has the right to punish all temporal crimes, including those committed by the spiritual estate.⁶

Second Wall: The second wall, that no one can interpret the Scripture except the pope, he believes to be even weaker.  Luther is convinced that it is possible for the pope to “err on matters of faith.”⁷  He believes the canon law, which, to him contains unchristian laws is proof of this.⁸  He quotes Scriptures he thinks help to tear down this wall and believes all Christians have the ability to discern the true interpretation of the Scriptures.⁹

Third Wall: Since he believes the first two walls have been knocked down, he believes the third one simply collapses on its own.¹⁰  Luther concludes that, since temporal powers in the past, such as Constantine, have called councils, and since the “Apostolic Council,”¹¹ as he calls it, wasn’t called by St. Peter, the pope has no right to claim this authority for himself.¹²  Again, he looks to Scripture for guidance, stating: “They can show nothing in the Scriptures giving the Pope sole power to call and confirm councils.”¹³  He is concerned about this because, in his view, the Church, including the Pope, needs reform and if no council can be called to do this, except by the Pope, reform will never take place, thus bringing greater harm to Christendom.¹⁴

Council Matters: Here, Luther lays out the abuses a council should consider in addressing the corruption within the Church.  He speaks of the “triple crown”¹⁵ the Pope claims, stating that he “lives in a worldly pomp that no king or emperor can equal.”¹⁶  In converse to this, he notes that Jesus’ “kingdom is not of this world” (Jn 18:36).  He accuses the Pope and those loyal to him of avarice and simony.¹⁷  In fact, most of what is spoken of in this section has to do with the hierarchy’s greed for money and all the abuses it has led to.  As he puts it: “There is a buying and a selling, a changing, blustering and bargaining, cheating and lying, robbing and stealing, debauchery and villainy, and all kinds of contempt of God, that Antichrist himself could not rule worse,”¹⁸ and that it is destroying “Christianity body and soul,”¹⁹ thus the need for a council and reform.

Articles of Reform: Luther, here, speaks of articles he believes need reform in the Church.  He begins by encouraging all of the nobility not to allow any annates to be payed to Rome from benefices within Germany.²⁰  He then gives advice about not having to refer all matters to Rome.  Instead, matters should be handled locally, including the ordaining of bishops, by other local bishops.²¹  In this way the Pope can more easily “devote himself to his prayers and study and to his care of all Christendom.”²²  He admonishes the Pope to be more humble and advises against anyone exalting the papal office too highly.²³  He doesn’t believe people should be allowed to go on pilgrimages to Rome due to the the evils they will find there.²⁴  He believes that priestly celibacy should be abolished and priests allowed to marry.²⁵  Due to corruption, he believes the papal offices need to be downsized, as well as excommunications, saint days and “annual festivals, processions, and masses for the dead.”²⁶  He also believes fasting should be made optional since the Scripture gives us freedom in this area.²⁷  In his opinion, all begging, including by mendicant monks and pilgrims needs to stop.  Rather, the poor need to be taken care of by their local communities.²⁸  He recommends making amends with the Bohemians for the unjust burning of John Huss and Jerome of Prague, after being granted safe passage to the council of Constance.²⁹  
       He then turns to the universities and advises that the Holy Scriptures be taught more and Aristotle less, even going so far as to claim he understands Aristotle better than St. Thomas Aquinas and Scotus and that nothing can be learned from his books on the soul, physics, metaphysics, and ethics.³⁰  Hereafter, he makes other recommendations of what should be taught in schools and who should be allowed to get their Doctor’s degree.³¹  After this, he speaks of the Holy Roman Empire, stating that it was given unjustly to the Germans by the Pope, but that they should govern it justly without the Pope having any authority over temporal matters.³²  Finally, he speaks on economic matters, claiming that the German people spend too much money on non-necessities, with the result of a high poverty and crime, and he gives advise for the temporal authority to consider.³³  Luther elaborates much on these matters, but this is a condensed version of his articles of reform.

Conclusion: I believe Martin Luther had many valid points to make in this address.  However, his method for doing so is not very charitable.  He seems to have a sincere concern for the Christian estate and wants change for the better, however, he seems to tread a bit on free will with some of his recommendations.  His denial of the spiritual authority of the papal office and hierarchy of the Church regarding apostolic succession and the final word on the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures contradicts what Scripture actually says.  Paul, in 1 Tim 4:14, speaks to the fact that the gift of office Timothy has as a bishop was given at the laying on of hands of the elders (or presbytery, or priesthood).  This was not passed on by just anyone, even though all Christians are a part of the royal priesthood of Christ.  Also, in Acts 1:24-6 the apostles, after praying chose the next apostle (or bishop) to take Judas’ place.  It was not done by common consent.  Regarding the correct interpretation of Scripture, who better to interpret than the “pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim 3:15 KJV)—the Church, which is headed by the holder of the keys—Peter.  The Scriptures nowhere state that the keys were given to everyone, as Luther claims.³⁴  Plus, Jesus declared that “the gates of hell [would] not prevail against [His Church].”(Mat 16:18 KJV)  But, if the Church and the pope could err in matters of faith, this would seem to make Jesus out to be a liar.  Therefore, I prefer to trust Jesus over Luther.

Luther has some valid concerns regarding church abuses, but, I believe, he takes many Scriptures out of context in order to prove his position.  This authority of the individual instead of the Church would pass into all of Protestantism and cause much division.  But, the Church should not be divided, as Luther himself states: “Christ's body is not double or twofold, one temporal, the other spiritual. He is one Head, and He has one body.”³⁵  If Luther could have only seen all the damage to the Church some of his ideas would cause, especially after he began changing doctrines, he may not have done so.  Fr. Mitch Pacwa, on EWTN Live once pointed out that if Luther had remained Catholic, while insisting on Church reform, he would have become a saint of the Church.  Instead, he left the Church, started changing doctrine, and became a heretic.  Let us pray for the reunification of all Christians under the “one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church”³⁶—the only hope for our world.

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¹John Vidmar, O.P., The Catholic Church Through The Ages: A History. 2^nd ed. (New Jersey: Paulist, 2014), 198.

²Martin Luther, Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation Respecting the Reformation of the Christian Estate,  trans. C. A. Buchheim, Harvard classics 36, ed. by C.W.Eliot (New York : P.F. Collier, c1910), at Fordham University, at https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/luther-nobility.asp.

³Luther, Christian Nobility, sect. on first wall.

⁴Luther, Christian Nobility, sect. on first wall.

⁵Luther, Christian Nobility, sect. on first wall.

⁶Luther, Christian Nobility, sect. on first wall.

⁷Luther, Christian Nobility, sect. on second wall.

⁸Luther, Christian Nobility, sect. on second wall.

⁹Luther, Christian Nobility, sect. on second wall.

¹⁰Luther, Christian Nobility, sect. on third wall.

¹¹Luther, Christian Nobility, sect. on third wall.

¹²Luther, Christian Nobility, sect. on third wall.

¹³Luther, Christian Nobility, sect. on third wall.

¹⁴Luther, Christian Nobility, sect. on third wall.

¹⁵Luther, Christian Nobility, sect. on council matters.

¹⁶Luther, Christian Nobility, sect. on council matters.

¹⁷Luther, Christian Nobility, sect. on council matters.

¹⁸Luther, Christian Nobility, sect. on council matters.

¹⁹Luther, Christian Nobility, sect. on council matters.

²⁰Luther, Christian Nobility, sect. on articles of reform.

²¹Luther, Christian Nobility, sect. on articles of reform.

²²Luther, Christian Nobility, sect. on articles of reform.

²³Luther, Christian Nobility, sect. on articles of reform.

²⁴Luther, Christian Nobility, sect. on articles of reform.

²⁵Luther, Christian Nobility, sect. on articles of reform.

²⁶Luther, Christian Nobility, sect. on articles of reform.

²⁷Luther, Christian Nobility, sect. on articles of reform.

²⁸Luther, Christian Nobility, sect. on articles of reform.

²⁹Luther, Christian Nobility, sect. on articles of reform.

³⁰Luther, Christian Nobility, sect. on articles of reform.

³¹Luther, Christian Nobility, sect. on articles of reform.

³²Luther, Christian Nobility, sect. on articles of reform.

³³Luther, Christian Nobility, sect. on articles of reform.

³⁴Luther, Christian Nobility, sect. on second wall.

³⁵Luther, Christian Nobility, sect. on first wall.

³⁶United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, The Nicene Creed , at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops website, at http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/. 

All images from Google images: Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, at https://www.google.com/search?rlz=2C1SAVS_enUS0537US0539&biw=1517&bih=640&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=wtHEXN_7HMGMsQXN-LiYDQ&q=address+to+the+christian+nobility+of+the+german+nation&oq=address+to+the+christi&gs_l=img.1.0.0i24l4.296652.300145..301904...0.0..0.188.1500.21j1......1....1..gws-wiz-img.......0i67j0j0i5i30.b7dBLgu_WFQ, and Walls of Romanists, at https://www.google.com/search?rlz=2C1SAVS_enUS0537US0539&biw=1517&bih=640&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=Fs_EXNHdIcO0tQW-woyoCw&q=walls+of+romanists&oq=walls+of+romanists&gs_l=img.3...234603.238496..238581...0.0..0.197.1185.17j1......1....1..gws-wiz-img.......0j0i67j0i10j0i5i30j0i8i30j0i24.Y-gL1mtpKnI, and Church Council, at https://www.google.com/search?rlz=2C1SAVS_enUS0537US0539&biw=1517&bih=640&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=KanEXP7cB864tQXvhqKADQ&q=Church+Council&oq=Church+Council&gs_l=img.3..0l7j0i5i30l3.9703659.9706536..9708125...0.0..0.84.892.14......1....1..gws-wiz-img.......0i67.eYBTqrkMLUw#imgrc=N4zMjkXAuwYExM:, and Reformation, at https://www.google.com/search?rlz=2C1SAVS_enUS0537US0539&biw=1517&bih=640&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=BtDEXMoOgoC1BZG9tZAL&q=reformation&oq=reformation&gs_l=img.3..0l10.56813.58511..58631...0.0..0.68.651.11......1....1..gws-wiz-img.......0i67.OSQOXUxbGfg#imgrc=1V0g3DGqaI2tpM:, and Pray Icon, at https://www.google.com/search?rlz=2C1SAVS_enUS0537US0539&biw=1517&bih=640&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=mNHEXNP7OIaYsQW50qnQBw&q=pray+icon&oq=pray+icon&gs_l=img.3..0l4j0i5i30l2j0i8i30j0i24l2.39489.40494..40641...0.0..0.64.313.5......1....1..gws-wiz-img.......0i67j0i8i10i30.b6DCA77H32A#imgrc=JZ4KDqVCypRBRM:.