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Essay on Three Treatises by Martin Luther
In the summer and fall of 1520, Luther published his three chief writings, which today are considered the three great Reformation treatises. The first was entitled To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation Respecting the Reformation of the Christian Estate, and appeared in August 1520. It was followed in late September by The Babylonian Captivity of the Church and in early October by A Treatise on Christian Liberty.
On Christian Liberty is a short treatise, free from theological jargon, concerning the priesthood of all believers as a result of justification by faith. It begins with an antithesis: “A Christian man is the most free lord of all, and subject to none; a Christian man is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to everyone,” a paraphrase of Paul's word in I Corinthians 9:19. Luther expounds this by proving that no outward works can produce Christian righteousness or liberty; faith alone is the effectual way to use the Word of God for salvation.
It does not profit the soul to wear sacred vestments or to dwell in sacred places, nor does it harm the soul to be clothed in [common] raiment, and to eat and drink in the ordinary fashion. The soul can do without everything except the Word of God. This gives the liberty of the Christian man; no dangers can really harm him, no sorrows utterly overwhelm him, for he is always accompanied by the Christ to whom he is united by faith.
In The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, Luther declares that the one test and the one authority for everything is the Word of God itself, whereas the papacy has held the church of God captive under the traditions and commandments of men. He points out that according to Scripture the church should have only two observances: baptism and the Lord's Supper....
