Tentative response, On indulgences.

Luther organized his argument against the practice of selling indulgences in a document called the Ninety-five Theses. The main arguments he used are omnipresent in our reading. In the commentary on St. Paul’s Epistles to the Galatians, for instance, he states that “Human reason cannot refrain from looking at active righteousness, that is, its own righteousness; nor can it shift its gaze to passive, that is, Christian righteousness, but it simply rests in the active righteousness. So deeply is this evil rooted in us.” This active righteousness, that he believes to be “an unhappy and evil habit” includes the traditions of the pope alongside the laws of the emperor. In fact, paying money to the church to reduce the amount of punishment for one’s sins is trying to achieve heavenly goals through earthly means, which Luther views as absurd. The passive righteousness on the other hand is present in every Christian soul and the “spirit rules, rejoices and is saved by [this] passive righteousness”. In fact, one of the theses states that indulgences are only beneficial to those who already repented but if they already did repent, then there is no need to pay the indulgence. This repentance can only be achieved through the passive Christian righteousness or faith as he calls it in The freedom of a Christian where he claims that “The word of God cannot be received and cherished by any works but only with faith”. By “works”, Luther is referring to active worship/ righteousness such as prayer or even indulgences which he believes, are not the right way to find the word of God.