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Martin Luther's Beliefs During The Protestant Reformation

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The beginning of the Protestant Reformation can be accredited to Martin Luther. Luther, who started Lutheranism, was a monk who began to question the questionable acts and teachings of church officials. Luther believed that to achieve true salvation man must live “by faith” (Axen and Backman, 191). While this belief seems standard, it is important because Luther lived in a time where the pope would accept money from Christians to essentially buy their salvation. Luther believed that it was “better to perform the penance” than attempting to buy one’s way out of purgatory (192). These indulgences lead to Luther establishing what he felt were three real ways to achieve salvation: sola fide, sola gratia, and sola scriptura. Sola fide, or only faith, is the idea that one’s faith could save them, not their money. Sola gratia, or only grace, means that only God’s grace allows someone into Heaven, not anything they …show more content…

Calvin could agree with the three solas as well as recognizing Baptism and Communion as the only two sacraments. Calvin agreed with Luther and Zwingli that God granted one access into Heaven and not the actions made by that person on earth. However, Calvin takes this belief a step further by saying that one’s fate is known by God and that there is nothing a person can do to “alter his or her fate” (Backman, 431). Calvin’s idea of predestination directly contrasts Luther and Zwingli’s belief that someone who lived a life of good faith and followed God’s word would receive God’s grace and be allowed into Heaven. Calvin admitted that many people who lived a good life by faith could still be damned to Hell, saying it was due to our “inability to understand God’s purpose” (431). Luther nor Zwingli would have agreed that people who lived life by God’s will would be predestined for a life in Hell, but that they would be saved by a much more loving

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