Why Martin Luther Broke from the Catholic Church: Faith Alone - Sola Fide / Scripture Alone - Sola Scriptura)

In this blog post, the initial question I set out to research was, When did Martin Luther (born 1483 - died  1546) stop believing in the Real Presence of the Eucharist?  I believe the short answer to this is he didn't (See this article which reviews Luther's preaching on this subject). 

But during my research, I was led to a better question on Martin Luther. What led Martin Luther to break away from the Catholic Church?  The answer to this is the two main doctrinal issues that came out of the Protestant Reformation: Justification by faith alone (sola fide) and scripture alone (sola scriptura).   

As I went through my deep dive, I found many articles and videos on Martin Luther.  All though were slanted either to the Protestant viewpoint or the Catholic viewpoint.  I was looking for something more balanced and was led to the Coming Home Network and a series of  8 videos on the life of Martin Luther by former Baptist pastor Ken Hensley and former Wesleyan Matt Swain . Ken and Kenny have a podcast called On the Journey.  

I found this deep dive into Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation fascinating. I hope you enjoy this series, and as always I bid you much peace and many blessings. 

On the Journey Episode 91: Luther's Early Years 

Episode 1 begins by looking at Luther's early years. His family life and his time leading up to entering the monastery.

On the Journey Episode 92: Luther's Struggle with God

In this episode, they look at Luther’s time as an Augustinian monk, his struggle to find peace with God and the experience that brought him to doubt the teaching and authority of the Catholic Church.

On the Journey Episode 93: Through Open Doors into Paradise
In this episode, they walk through Luther’s “discovery” of the doctrine of justification by "faith alone," the article of faith, Luther said, upon which the Church stands or falls, and how this answered his struggle to find peace with God. 

Bible Passages: Romans 1:16-17; James 2:24

Alister McGrath Anglican theologian from University of Oxford wrote on the history of the doctrine of Justification that Luther's conception of the nature of justification was unknown in the first 14 centuries of Christianity.  He refers to it as a "theological novum."

On the Journey Episode 94: Leaving "Faith Alone" Behind
In this episode, Ken backs away from Luther’s story to tell another story — the story of how he, a Protestant for 20 years, and a Baptist pastor for part of that, came to leave behind Luther’s doctrine of justification by faith alone.

On the Journey Episode 95: Banishing Moses and the Law

As Luther's doctrine of justification began to spread, it brought with it a moral unraveling that Luther lamented, but also admitted resulted from the widespread preaching of “faith alone.” Ken and Matt discuss some of Luther's own statements about the implications of this doctrine, and his frustration with how many were using it as an excuse to act immorally.

  On the Journey Episode 96: The Unraveling of Truth

In this episode, Ken and Matt turn their attention from the material principle of the Reformation (sola fide) to the formal principle of the Reformation (sola scriptura) and discuss how Luther’s insistence that Scripture be taken to be the “sole infallible rule of faith and practice” for the Church and the individual Christian led to an unraveling in the realm of truth even more devastating than the unravelling of the doctrine of justification by faith alone led to in the realm of morals. Bible Passages: Ephesians Chapter 4

On the Journey Episode 97: The Protestant Dilemma

In Episode 97 Ken and Matt deal with the concept of Church Unity. How shortly after Luther broke from the Church to form his own theology this quickly led to splits in his church.  

How did Luther, Calvin, and the other reformers respond to the theological chaos that followed from their own teaching of "sola Scriptura" and the right of private judgment? This episode discusses the dilemma faced by the Reformers, and faced by every Protestant pastor: how to maintain commitment to the truth that, as Luther said, every Christian is “his own pope and church,” and at the same time to maintain unity in the Protestant movement.

Bible passages unity in the Church:  John 17:9-12, 17; 1 Corinthians 1:10

Breaking from the Magisterium (the teaching authority Christ gave to his Church Matthew 28:19-20), Martin Luther preached scripture alone and the right to private judgement. 

"In matter of faith each Christian is his own pope and council." "Every man a priest, with the right to interpret the Bible according to his private judgement."  Martin Luther in 1520 in an open letter to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation

"I consider myself convicted by the testimony of scripture, which is my basis, I can do no other." Martin Luther Diet of Worms 1521 (said when he refused to recant his teaching against the Magisterium) 

As time went on, the practice of sola scriptura and private judgement led to breaks with Martin Luther. Leading him to become less tolerant and more dogmatic in his preaching. 

"I do not admit that my doctrine can be judged by anyone, even the angels.  He who does not receive my doctrine cannot be saved." "Christians require certainty, definite dogmas, and a sure Word of God which they can trust to live and die by."  Martin Luther 1522  

On the Journey Episode 98: The Rest of the Story

In Episode 98 Matt and Ken bring this series to a conclusion. Ken looks at three key questions about the origins of "sola Scriptura" that led him to conclude that it could not possibly have been the faith and practice of the early Church. Having come to that realization, Ken wasn't yet sure what kind of Christian he'd have to become; he just knew that there was no way he could be a "sola Scriptura" Protestant any longer.

Matt and Ken also state that the Catholic Church did not say that everything that Martin Luther said was wrong. In fact in the Counter Reformation during the Council of Trent from 1545 - 1563 there were a number of reforms brought about by Luther and the reformers that were implemented into the Catholic Church.  However the Catholic Church believed that the two primary doctrinal innovations of the Reformation: the doctrine of justification by faith alone and scripture alone with the right of private interpretation were wrong.  

MORE ON SOLA SCRIPTURA 

On the Journey Episode 159: Sola Scriptura

When Ken Hensley and Kenny Burchard were Protestant pastors, they believed and taught what many Christians profess: the doctrine of "Sola Scriptura," which holds that the Bible alone is the sole and sufficient rule of faith. Along with fellow Catholic convert Matt Swaim, they begin a series unpacking the basic conditions and consequences of "Sola Scriptura," and share the ways that each of them began to question its workability, its historicity, and whether or not it was even a biblically sound doctrine.

 
On the Journey Episode 160 Sola Scriptura: The Right of Private Judgment
Former Protestant pastors Ken Hensley and Kenny Burchard continue their series looking at how they began to rethink their commitment to the Bible alone as the sole and sufficient rule for faith and practice. One of the key effects of the Reformation was that the right of private judgment - which had always been allowed in a limited way by the Catholic Church- was expanded by Luther and others to become a universal right, immediately leading to discord and division even among Luther and his earliest followers. Matt, Ken and Kenny argue that this is one of the main reasons that the Reformation doctrine of sola Scriptura simply does not -- and cannot -- work.