How Did Luther Corrupt The Church

Martin Luther noticed the manipulation that the Pope and Catholic Church of the German nation were doing and quickly put an end to it. After he obtained a degree in law and then trained in theology, Luther grew a fascination for religion. Having knowledge on the factual information from his studies, Luther began to question the doctrines of the church and the way the Pope religiously governed the church. The misleading of information given to the people, provoked them to depend heavily on the Pope. The establishment of Lutheranism arose when Luther saw the corruptness of the church. This was the first religion to break away from the Catholic church. Although he broke away, he still opted to challenge the erroneous of the papacy. During the …show more content…
According to the Pope, their were two estates among the church.The spiritual estate was those who supposedly had a higher standing in the church and the temporal estate consisted of the common people, including the princesses, lords, artificers and peasants. The first wall specifically states “… they affirmed and maintained that the temporal power has no jurisdiction over them, but, on the contrary, that the spiritual power is above the temporal.” (521) Luther clarified that everyone was equal because according to the bible, all Christians make up the spiritual estate and no one person is higher. Luther further elaborates on this and says all Christians are all consecrated as priest by baptism. A spiritual ruler would never abandon their power, and use it to gain control of their people. Instead, they are supposed to lead in a positive way and work in a way that the people approve of. Luther says, “… a priest should be nothing in Christendom, but a functionary; as long as he holds his office, he has precedence of others; if he is deprived of it, he is a peasant or a citizen like the rest.” (521) Luther was not done yet, he continued to publicize the corruptness of the church by attacking the other two …show more content…
The third wall discusses the authority to call together councils. Luther explains that, “ They can show nothing in the scriptures giving the pope sole power to call and confirm councils…” As mentioned before, all Romanists are equal in the spiritual world. In fact the bible says, the apostles and elders called the Apostolic Council, not Peter. This means the people of the church decides, not one individual. The pope knew what the scriptures were saying, yet he continued to go against them and do as he pleased. Although what he was doing was wrong he had not yet been punished for it because of his high standing. Without hesitation, Luther made it known that that was unfair. Luther knew that the Pope thought he could ever do wrong, so he informed the people using his Address that he could and he was. This was the final step in breaking the