June 23, 2017
Devotions: Timeline of the Reformation: 1520 – Luther’s Treatises
The Babylonian Captivity of the Church

Martin Luther stood before the Holy Roman Emperor at the Diet of Worms in 1521. A stack of Luther’s books stood on the table in front of him. The chair of the meeting asked him if he acknowledged that these books were his, and if he wished to confess his books or recant. Luther, after deliberating for a day, gave his famous answer: “I cannot and will not retract anything. … Here I stand. God help me. Amen.”

What books was Luther pressured to recant? Among them were three key writings from 1520 that described the specific types of reforms Luther was advocating. One of these 1520 treatises is The Babylonian Captivity of the Church. In this book Luther spoke in specific about the sacramental system of the Roman Church. Not only did he summarize his thoughts on the sacraments, but he spoke on the number of sacraments he believed were necessary for the faith. The irony of the situation is that while he was preparing his writing, the papal bull announcing his excommunication was also being prepared, and would arrive in Wittenberg just a week after his publication of “The Babylonian Captivity of the Church”. In other words, while Luther was putting the sacramental system of the church on trial, he was about to be put on trial himself.

In his book, Luther wrote that as Babylon held Israel captive, now the papacy was holding Christians in bondage by Rome’s theology and use of the sacramental system. The Roman Catholic Church has seven sacraments, and Martin Luther addresses each sacrament individually. He maintains that only three of the seven should in fact be sacraments: baptism, communion, and penance. But these three, he writes, are being held captive by the Roman Church. At the heart of each sacrament is God’s promise and faith which clings to the promise. For instance, Luther writes that the sacrament of the altar is Christ’s testament. A testament is a promise made by a person about to die. Since the mass, being a testament, is a promise, then access to the mass and its gifts is not gained by merits or works, but solely by faith.

For example, Luther writes that G-d deals with G-d’s people through a promise: we in turn deal with G-d through faith in the promise, not by works. Faith and the promise must go together. Luther writes that the Roman Church holds the sacraments in captivity by suppressing the promise and faith, replacing them with works and merits. The problem is not the rites attached to the mass, but the way the rites distract from the Words of Christ (the promise). For example, in baptism, the church overlooked faith and instead emphasized penance. Luther will go on to look at each sacrament to see if there is a divine promise attached to it that calls for faith. Luther will conclude that without the promise of faith, the sacrament should not be a sacrament, or they should redefine what a sacrament is. So, Luther writes that it seems best to restrict the name “sacrament” to divine promises with a sign attached to them. By this definition the number of sacraments is further reduced from three to two: baptism and the sacrament of the altar. Penance, which Luther earlier named a sacrament, does not have a sign. Accordingly, Luther argues that either penance should not be considered a sacrament, or a different definition of sacrament should be formed. (adapted from January 12, 2016 The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, by Rev. Aaron Moldenhauer)

Pastor Dave

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