Happy Reformation Day! For those who don’t know much about the Reformation, allow me give you, in bullet form, some factoids:
- A Protestant is one who protests. The Protestants protested the abuses of the Catholic Church.
- One of the key issues between the Roman Catholic Church’s gospel and the biblical gospel was indulgences.
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and other Catholic resources, an indulgence is:
- “The full or partial remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven through penance.” Translation: Christ’s sacrifice wasn’t enough.
- Indulgences come from the “Treasury of Merit”. Translation: Leftover “Purgatory Points”, if you will, from those who have already graduated from purgatory into heaven. Since they no longer need them and since they have a surplus, they go into the Treasury of Merit. No one is quite sure where this is kept; possibly under the Pope’s bed. The Pope is the only one who can dispense an indulgence to a person, dead or alive, from the Treasury of Merit.
- The Christian who desires the indulgence must be faithful to perform certain prescribed conditions in order to receive forgiveness. Translation: Christ’s sacrifice wasn’t enough.
- Indulgences go hand in hand with the doctrine of purgatory since they may be applied to the living or the dead. Translation: Christ’s sacrifice wasn’t enough. How one would know when or if the dead person is released from purgatory is still unclear. Regardless, any well-meaning, albeit brainwashed Catholic, can continue to earn indulgences on a dead person’s behalf. This is the equivalent to nailing Jell-O to a tree.
- Those who deny indulgences are under anathema of the Catholic Church, “The Church,…teaches and establishes that the use of indulgences must be preserved because it is supremely salutary for the Christian people and authoritatively approved by the sacred councils; and it condemns with anathema those who maintain the uselessness of indulgences or deny the power of the church to grant them.” Pope Paul VI, Apostolic Constitution, “Revision of Sacred Indulgences,” [(1967) Ch. 4, Sec. 8] Translation: Christ’s sacrifice wasn’t enough. So, I’m anathema. That’s like being banned from the bar down the street. I never wanted to go there in the first place. No great loss.
Contrary to Catholic mythology, Luther did not set out to divide the church. He merely wanted to engage in a debate over the misuse of indulgences. So he put his 95 Theses on the door at Wittenburg. That door served as the community bulletin board. I’ve heard many Catholics whine about Luther putting his “vandalism” or “graffiti” on that door. Golly, that hardly seems fair. By the way, Luther just posted a piece of paper on a door; the bishops and popes played the, “Let’s get nasty” card way before Luther.
So why were indulgences such a divisive issue? Because they were (are) in direct opposition to the Bible. Indulgences de-throne Christ and completely negate His sacrifice. Need proof?
Fulano, in Romish Indulgences of Today: An Exposure [London, 1902, p. 82f.]
[...] Rome, by means of deft definitions, lifts the burden of eternal guilt and punishment of sin off the Roman Catholic sinner – only to re-impose, by means of her definition of poena temporalis [temporal punishment] another burden scarcely less appalling. The pains of Purgatory are substituted for the pains of Hell – and then this ‘re-imposed penalty’, as we might call it (practically the only penalty which Romanists yet fear) – this one the Catholic Church graciously takes away in whole or in part by her Indulgences. Rome is an Indulgent Mother!”
Translation: Rome lifts the burden then Rome re-imposes it (one would ask, “Why?”) in a less appalling way. Hmmm…seems God’s design just wasn’t good enough. And this less appalling penalty that Rome imposes can be graciously taken away in whole or in part by indulgences. Rome is quite skilled at playing God.
Imagine it like this: I, your mother, will take away your big penalty (as if I have that power to begin with) and replace it with a smaller, less appalling one of my own devising. Now you are in debt to me for your release. Yea! Aren’t I nice for fabricating an imaginary debt to hold over your head for the rest of your life? I get to play God and you get to wonder if you’re ever good enough. Mothers like me are what keep psychologists in Armani suits…or the pope in gilded slippers.
Back to Luther’s day. Enter Tetzel:
“You should know that all who confess and in penance put alms [money, money, money] into the coffer according to the counsel of the confessor, will obtain complete remission of all their sins.“
Any doubts as to how the Vatican amassed such tremendous wealth and boondoggled millions should be laid to rest with this quote.
I could go on and on, but suffice it to say, the Reformation uncovered the truths of the Bible that had long been withheld from the people. It was by the suppression of the true gospel that Rome managed to oppress, intimidate, and exploit the masses. And, sadly, people are still falling for it.
Bottom line: Indulgences deny Christ’s words, “It is finished”.
John 19:30 (NASB) ” Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. “
Hebrews 10:12 (NASB) “.. but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God,“
Colossians 2:13 (NASB) “ When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, “
Ephesians 2:8-9 (NASB) “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.“
Hebrews 10:18 (NASB) “Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.”
And this is why Catholics are so vehemently opposed to Sola Scriptura. The Bible exposes their indulgences for what they are, a denying of the work of Christ.
It is my prayer that the spirit of the Reformation would open men’s eyes to the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross.
Sola gratia! Sola fide! Sola Christus! Sola Scriptura! Soli Deo Gloria!