Ninety-Five Theses 

Luther’s understanding came to him after a long inner conflict in which he agonized, even despaired, over his inability to marshal his will adequately to do good works. While meditating on The Letter of Paul to the Romans (1:17)—in which the Apostle declares, “For in it [i.e., the gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith: as it is written, ‘He who through faith is righteous shall live’”.

Luther experienced an illumination that he later described as a kind of conversion. “It was as if the very gates of heaven had opened before me,” he wrote. The dramatic and intensely personal nature of this experience helps to explain Luther’s determined refusal, during the indulgences controversy, to recant his theological views. 

He began to teach that salvation cannot be earned or bought- that is comes from God’s grace, through Jesus and can only be achieved by following what was taught in the scriptures. These teachings became the basis for what were perhaps Luther’s most significant Theological contributios, Sola Fide (Justification through ‘faith alone’) and Sola Scriptura (‘scripture alone’ or the primacy of the gospel), which would go on to spur a theological revolution.

Luther believed unneccessary many practices the Roman Catholic Church deemed necessary, e.g. indulgences, relics, worship of saints etc. In 1517, Pope Leo X offered indulgences for those who gave alms to rebuild the St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Incensed by this offer, on October 31, Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg, protesting against the purchase and sale of indulgences. As they were primarily intended for his colleagues they were written in Latin, but were soon translated into German and, with the use of the newly invented printing press, were widely dispersed across Germany and Europe. The Pope received a copy but initially dismissed it as the writings of a drunken German monk. 

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