What are the main ideas of Martin Luther and what was his role in the process of the Reformation? What did he oppose and what were the consequences of his actions?

What was Luther's attitude towards the state in general and towards the church? We will try to answer these and other questions below.

The beginning of the Reformation and its goals

In the 16th century, the Western movement was captured by a movement that was anti-feudal in its socio-economic essence, and anti-religious in its ideological form.

The activists of this movement, called the Reformation, pursued the following goals: changing the relationship between church and state, restructuring the official church doctrine, completely transforming the organization of the Catholic Church. Germany was the main focus. What are the main ideas of Martin Luther on this score and how is it related to the Reformation movement? We will answer this question below.

Luther's 95 theses as an impetus for the Reformation

In fact, the beginning of the Reformation was the famous 95 theses of the professor of Wittenber University, Doctor of Divinity Martin Luther, which he nailed to the door of the church. It was a form of protest against the sale of indulgences - absolution. The churchmen argued that the saints performed so many deeds and deeds that they could be sold to people as absolution. For these 95 theses Luther was excommunicated and disgraced. Had it not been for the German princes, Luther would have been put to death. Nevertheless, the teaching of Martin Luther gained more and more followers.

Martin Luther's ideas

Luther argued, relying on Holy Scripture, that monasticism in all its manifestations and the absolute majority of rituals are not really based on "the true word of God."

Referring to Luther, he said that in order to get into the Kingdom of Heaven, a person needs only faith. The Catholic Church, in turn, has prescribed contributions and many rituals for the salvation of the soul. This is one of the answers to the question of what are the main ideas of Martin Luther. It is not surprising that the church persecuted him, because according to the teachings of Luther, the believer should be justified only before God and is his own priest. Thus, a person ceases to need the mediation of priests and is obliged to slavishly obey only God, and not the church. Martin Luther's teaching says that all estates are the same and a priest is no different from a layman. According to Luther's teaching, only what is found in the Bible is sacred. Everything else is the work of human hands, which means it is not true and should be subjected to the strictest criticism.

Luther and the State

What are the main ideas of Martin Luther regarding the state? One of the key provisions of the teaching is the distinction between secular and religious power. At the same time, Luther in his teachings speaks of obedience to monarchs, humility and patience. He also calls not to raise a rebellion against the government. This approach becomes understandable if we take into account the fact that a good ruler was considered one for whom power is a burden, not a privilege. According to the teachings of Luther, a ruler is a servant, not a master of his people.

Secular power is designed to regulate people's relationships. The clergy also belong to the common people, which are subject to secular authority.

Natural and Divine Right

What are Martin Luther's main ideas about the relationship between spiritual and secular power? In a nutshell, Luther believed that order should be achieved due to the reliance of secular power not on divine right, but on natural, despite the fact that it is a derivative of God's will. According to Luther, concepts such as free will and his inner world cannot be subject to the jurisdiction of the state.

On November 10, 1483, in the family of a simple Saxon ore-breaker, a boy was born, noted in history as an outstanding personality, the founder of Protestantism in Germany, a great reformer, theologian - Martin Luther. This man is also famous as a translator of sacred Christian texts (the Bible), the founder of the norms of the general German literary language, the tesk of an African American Baltic preacher -.

Martin's father, Hans Luther, was distinguished by his hard work, he strove to provide his family with all the necessary material benefits, which was very difficult for him. Initially, he was an ordinary peasant in the village of Mera, but after moving in search of a better life to Aisleben, he got a job in the local copper mines. When the future reformer was 6 months old, the family went to live in Mansfeld, and there Hans acquired the status of a wealthy burgher.

At the age of 7, little Martin had to experience his first life difficulties. The parents sent their son to study at the city school, which "provided" Luther with constant humiliation and punishment. The educational system of this institution did not allow a talented child to get the proper level of knowledge, and for 7 years of his study here Martin only learned to read, write, learned several prayers and the ten commandments.

At the age of 14 (1497), young Luther entered the Franciscan school in Magdeburg, but a year later he was transferred to Eisenach. Money was sorely lacking, Martin was in poverty, together with his friends he sang under the windows of pious citizens, trying to somehow feed themselves. Then the young man began to think about self-employment in the mines, like his father, but fate decreed otherwise.

The teenager accidentally met the wife of a wealthy resident of Eisenach. A woman named Ursula decided to help the boy by inviting him to her house for temporary residence, which opened the way for Martin to a new life.

In 1501, Luther graduated from high school and entered the University of Erfurt (Faculty of Philosophy). Martin stood out among his peers with an excellent memory, absorbed new knowledge like a sponge, easily assimilated complex materials and soon became the center of everyone's attention at the university.

After receiving his bachelor's degree (1503), the young Luther was invited to lecture students on philosophy. In parallel, he studied the basics of legal affairs at the request of his father. Martin developed comprehensively, but he showed the greatest interest in theology, read the works and works of the great church fathers.

Once, after another visit to the university library, the Bible fell into the hands of Luther, the reading of which turned his inner world upside down.

After graduating from the university, Martin Luther decided on a high act, which no one expected from him. The philosopher went to the monastery to serve God, renouncing worldly life. One of the reasons was the sudden death of a close friend of Luther and his consciousness of his own sinfulness.

Life at the monastery

In the holy place, the young theologian was engaged in various duties: serving the elders, doing the work of a gatekeeper, winding up the tower clock, sweeping the churchyard, and so on.

Wanting to rid the guy of the feeling of human pride, the monks periodically sent Martin to the city to collect alms. Luther approximately followed every instruction, used austerities in food, clothing, rest. In 1506, Martin Luther became a monk, and a year later - the priesthood, becoming Brother Augustine.

Dinner to the Lord and the status of a priest did not become a limitation for Martin in further training and development. In 1508, the vicar general recommended Luther as a professor at the University of Wittenberg. Here he taught young children dialectics and physics. He soon received his Biblical Bachelor's degree, which allowed him to teach theology to students. Luther had the right to interpret the biblical scriptures, and in order to better understand their meaning, he began to study foreign languages.

In 1511, Luther visited Rome, where he was sent by representatives of the sacred order. Here he was faced with conflicting facts about Catholicism. From 1512 he served as professor of theology, read sermons, and acted as caretaker in 11 monasteries.

Reformation

Despite the visual closeness to God, Martin Luther constantly felt some complexes, considered himself sinful and weak in his actions before the Almighty. The mental crisis was the beginning of the rethinking of the theologian of the spiritual world and the path to reformation.

In 1518, a papal bull came out, criticized from Martin's point of view. Luther finally became disillusioned with Catholic teachings. The philosopher and theologian composes his own 95 theses, which fundamentally refute the postulates of the Roman Church.

According to Luther's innovation, the state should not depend on the clergy, and the latter is not obliged to act as a mediator between man and the Lord of all things. Martin did not accept the sayings and requirements regarding celibacy of spiritual representatives, destroyed the authority of the Pope's decrees. Similar reformatory actions have been observed in history before, but Luther's position turned out to be quite shocking and bold.

Martin's theses gained popularity in society with lightning speed, the rumor of a new teaching reached the Pope himself, who immediately invited the dissenter to his trial (1519). Luther dared not come to Rome, and then the pontiff decided to anathematize the Protestant (excommunication from the sacraments).

In 1520, Luther commits a defiant act - publicly burns the papal bull, calls on the people to fight papal dominance and is deprived of Catholic dignity. On May 26, 1521, according to the Edict of Worms, Martin is accused of heresy, but supporters of the main ideas of Lutheranism help their master escape by staging his abduction. In fact, Luther was placed in Wartburg Castle, where he began translating the Bible into German.

In 1529, Martin Luther's Protestantism received official acceptance by society, being considered one of the currents of Catholicism, but a few years later in his "camp" there was a split into two more trends: Lutheranism and Calvinism.

John Calvin became the second major reformer after Luther, whose main idea was the absolute predestination of the fate of man by God.

Opinion about Jews

Martin Luther's attitude towards Jews changed throughout his life. Initially, he condemned the persecution of representatives of this nationality, and recommended that they be treated with tolerance.

Martin sincerely believed that a Jew who heard his sermons would definitely decide to be baptized. In his pamphlet "That Christ was born a Jew," the theologian emphasized the Jewish origin of Christ and supported the ancient people in their unwillingness to follow "papal paganism."

After that, the reformer became convinced that the Jews did not intend to follow his teachings, and at some point he became hostile to them. Luther's books written in this state had an anti-Jewish character ("On the Jews and Their Lies", "Table Talks", etc.).

Thus, the famous German philosopher disappointed the Jewish people, who turned away from the reforms proposed by Luther. Subsequently, the Lutheran Church became a source of inspiration for anti-Semites, and its positions served to create propaganda against Jews in Germany, persecution against them.

Personal life

Luther believed that the Lord cannot forbid all people, without exception, to live in love and prolong their lineage. According to facts from Martin's biography, the wife of the brave theologian was a former nun who gave birth to 6 children in marriage.

Katharina von Bora was a nun at a monastery at the behest of her parents - impoverished nobles. When the girl was 8 years old, she took a vow of celibacy. Church education, discipline and the austerities adopted by Katarina made the character of Luther's wife harsh and strict, which was clearly manifested in the relations of the spouses.

Martin Luther and his wife Katarina

The wedding of Martin and Kete (as Luther called the girl) took place on June 13, 1525. At that time, the Protestant was 42 years old, and his sweet companion was only 26 years old. The couple chose an abandoned Augustinian monastery as their joint place of residence. Loving hearts have lived in simplicity, without making any possessions. Their house has always been open to people in need of help.

Death

Until his death, Martin Luther worked hard, lectured, preached, wrote books. An energetic and hard-working person by nature, he often forgot about food and healthy sleep. Over the years, this began to manifest itself in dizziness, sudden fainting. Luther became the owner of the so-called stone disease, which caused him a lot of torment.

Poor health was “reinforced” by mental contradictions and doubts. During his lifetime, Martin confessed that the Devil often came to him at night, asking strange questions. The founder of Protestantism prayed to God for death, being in a painful state of pain for many years.

Luther died suddenly in February 1546. His body was solemnly buried in the courtyard of the palace church, where he once nailed the famous 95 theses.

In 2003, in memory of the historical figure Eric Till, a biopic-drama called "Luther" was shot, showing the life of a priest from the beginning of his reform activities until his death.

Quotes

"Hatred, like a neglected cancer, eats away at the human personality and takes away all vitality."

"If a person has not discovered something for himself that he is ready to die for, he is not able to live fully."

“You cannot live without a wife, just as you cannot do without food and drink. Born and nurtured by women, we are largely living their lives and have no way of giving up on them. "

Bibliography

• Berleburg bible
• Lectures on Romans (1515-1516)
• 95 Theses on Indulgences (1517)
• To the Christian nobility of the German nation (1520)
• The Babylonian Captivity of the Church (1520)
• Letter to Mulpfort (1520)
• Open letter to Pope Leo X (1520)
• Freedom of a Christian
• Against the cursed bull of the Antichrist
• Speech at the Worms Reichstag on April 18, 1521
• About bondage to the will (1525)
• About the war against the Turks (1528)
• Large and small Catechism (1529)
• Translation Letter (1530)
• Praise to Music (1538)
• About Jews and Their Lies (1543)

Protestantism or Protestantism is one of the 3 main branches of Christianity. It enjoys immense popularity in many countries of the world along with Catholicism and Orthodoxy. It is a collection of church unions, denominations and independent churches. Protestantism arose in the first half of the 16th century as an opposition movement of the Roman Catholic Church. This transformation of church foundations and the desire to return the faith to apostolic Christianity went down in history as the Reformation.

The leader of the religious revolution was the Christian theologian Martin Luther (1483-1546). In 1517, he publicly condemned the sinful Catholicism and set out his views in 95 theses. The main ones were 3 postulates:

1. A person's soul can be saved through Scripture. To comprehend God, you just need to carefully read the Bible. Everyone is able to understand it without outside help. And if so, the church and priests should not exist as an institution. Any member of the community is capable of fulfilling the duties of a clergyman himself. And only one God can judge everyone. Therefore, neither church authority nor church courts are needed.

2. The soul of a person can be saved through faith. There is no need for lavish church rituals. The number of church ordinances must be reduced to 3: baptism, confession, communion. Celibacy (vow of celibacy) must be abolished. Services should be conducted not in Latin, but in the local language, so that parishioners understand what is at stake and can join the faith without priests.

3. A person's soul can be saved through grace. The church has no right to give absolution. Only God can judge and forgive. And everyone is rewarded for sins only after his death. But indulgences do not have any right to forgive sins, so they must be abolished.

But these attitudes matured in Martin Luther's head for a reason and not overnight. This was preceded by a series of events that made the Roman Catholic Church look bad. The main thing here was the sale of indulgences. It was she who became the catalyst, thanks to which the process of the Reformation began, and Protestantism arose.

It all began under Pope Julius II (1503-1513). This man possessed exorbitant ambitions and planned to build in Rome a magnificent temple of huge dimensions (St. Peter's Basilica). Thus, he wanted to glorify himself and demonstrate to the whole world the power of the Papal State. He laid the first stone in the foundation of the future temple on April 18, 1506.

After the death of the pontiff, construction work continued under Pope Leo X (1513-1521). However, the construction was the greatest, and therefore required huge cash infusions. And who could give such amounts? First of all, the flock from which they collected money throughout Europe. Also a significant source of income was the denarius of St. Peter. These are annual payments to the pope's treasury, which were paid by Catholic countries. But still there were not enough funds. And then the enterprising church fathers decided to sell indulgences.

Indulgence - deliverance from the punishment for sin, most often by fasting. After confession and repentance, the believer was given a letter signed by the pope or another church hierarch. Also, indulgences were given out for pilgrimage, participation in a crusade, the construction of a church or chapel. This has been practiced for many years, but no one even thought of taking money for it. And so the church decided to replace good deeds with a cash equivalent, and they began to trade in indulgences.

They were released in huge circulation, and an independent market with buying and resale emerged. Those who distributed these papal letters promised buyers absolution of any sins, and not only past, but also future without any repentance for 1000 years. A place in paradise was guaranteed for both the buyer and all his future relatives. The Pope and other church fathers did nothing to stop the evil practice, as money flowed like a river to Rome.

Fever associated with indulgences swept all European countries, including Germany. At the same time, there were many church ministers who began to resent such an orgy. Among them was Martin Luther. He taught theology at the University of Wittenberg and held a doctorate in theology. In addition, he preached in the church and was the caretaker of 11 monasteries.

Martin Luther nails the text with theses on the church gate

He was a versatile educated and thinking person looking for his own way to God. He knew perfectly well about the greed and depravity of the Roman Catholic clergy, but remained silent for the time being. Indulgences were the last straw. Martin Luther realized that he could no longer be silent, and October 31, 1517 he hung a text with 95 theses on the gate of the church in Wittenberg. This date is considered the beginning of the Reformation.

In his theses, the doctor of theology not only criticized the practice of selling indulgences, but also expressed disagreement with the foundations of existing Catholicism. That is, he encroached on the basic dogmas, thanks to which the church elite ate, drank, debauched and bathed in luxury.

In addition, Luther sent letters with theses to the Archbishop of Mainz and the Bishop of Brandenburg. In them, the theologian argued that the trade in indulgences was contrary to the spirit of Christianity, and the Catholic Church itself was mired in sin. Without waiting for answers from people of such high rank, Martin sent letters to church hierarchs in Germany and secular princes.

I must say that the secular authorities liked Luther's theses. The princes did not want their money to flow to Rome. Moreover, they were all well aware of the corrupt and political intrigues of the papal power. The hierarchs lived in luxury, while not hiding their mistresses and illegitimate children. In the church, positions were bought and sold. Very often relatives were attached to them, but they did not know Latin well and did not know how to preach sermons.

Therefore, Martin Luther's theses spread very quickly among educated people and found a warm response in their souls. Over time, theses ended up in every home where people could read. And the high church officials were worried, because according to their concepts, the theses were heresy.

Soon a letter came from dad. He urged Luther to come to Rome for a talk. But the doctor of theology did not go there, fearing torture and a fire. Instead, he spoke at theological debates in Augsburg. The papal representative was present, and he publicly declared Martin a heretic.

In October 1520, Pope Leo X issued a bull, according to which Luther was excommunicated.... It was a terrible punishment for those times. The excommunicated was outlawed. Anyone could beat him, rob him, kill him. But Martin publicly burned the papal bull in the courtyard of Wittenberg University, and excommunicated the pontiff and his hierarchs from the Christian community.

The audacity was unheard of, and the pope asked the Emperor of the Holy Risk Empire Charles V to intervene. In 1521 he summoned the rebel to the Worms Reichstag. But even before the emperor, Martin Luther did not renounce his views. He was not arrested, since the doctor of theology had an imperial security certificate in his hands.

Martin Luther and Charles V at the Worms Reichstag

Therefore, the advocate of reforms left, but the emperor immediately issued a decree declaring Luther a heretic. People sympathetic to the reformer imitated his abduction and secretly transported him to Wartburg Castle. For almost a year Martin lived there under the name of the nobleman George. Many even began to believe that he was killed.

But no, the doctor of theology was alive and well. He worked hard, and this time was very fruitful for the emergence of Protestantism. Luther translated the Bible into German, and now any German who could read could familiarize himself with the Old and New Testaments. He continued to distribute the essay on the salvation of the soul. In it, the theologian argued that neither the soul nor God needs a pope and prelates, magnificent divine services and letters with the seal of the Holy See.

And in Europe, followers of the reformer began to appear. Moreover, they were by no means harmless citizens. The rebellious peasants began to destroy the monasteries, and representatives of the secular authorities seized church lands. In 1563, after the death of Martin Luther, the Council of Trent was held. On it, the Catholic Church condemned the trade in indulgences. However, the Reformation has already gained momentum.

This is how Protestantism came into being. And for almost 200 years, representatives of its various sects fought for their beliefs with Catholics. However, unlike other heretical movements, Protestants were not completely killed and burned at the stake. Protestantism established itself in Europe, and then its representatives founded the first colonies in the United States.

The Reformation officially ended in 1648. But the given date is purely conditional. Clashes between Catholics and Protestants continued later, just no longer on a large scale. In the end, Protestantism survived and changed the world in many ways, supplementing it with a rational and pragmatic life philosophy of a non-Catholic confession..

Protestantismoriginated in 1529 in Germany and unites all the followers of the new church directions that deviated during the Reformation of the 16th century. from Catholicism. Over time, Protestantism has spawned a large number (more than 250) directions. The founder of Protestantism (in particular, the Evangelical Lutheran Church) is Martin Luther. Another major figure in the Reformation was John Calvin, the founder of a new religious movement - Calvinism.

Martin Luther - Founder of the Evangelical Lutheran Church - was born on November 10, 1483 in the city of Eisleben. His father - Hans Lüder (Luther is Martin's pseudonym) was the eldest in a peasant family. According to the custom of that time, the land of the so-called tax-paying peasant was not divided, but passed into the hands of the youngest of the sons. Hans Lüder, being landless, became a miner and lived a difficult life. In his son Martin, he brought up will, perseverance, sober judgment. From his mother - Margaret Lindeman - Martin inherited musical and poetic abilities. Eighteen years old Martin entered the University of Erfurt, and in 1505 he became a monk of the Augustinian monastery. After Luther accepted the priesthood, he was invited to lecture at the University of Wittenberg. All these years, Luther not only worked hard, studied the Holy Scriptures, but also stubbornly strove by his own deeds - fasting, a strict lifestyle - to receive the forgiveness of sins, to find peace with God. However, he did not find peace. Once, in a state of despair, he turned to the Bible and in the phrase from the Epistles to the Romans (1.17): "The righteous will live by faith" - he saw the key to solving his doubts. He believed that a person's salvation comes through personal faith. This idea formed the basis of the main principles of the Reformation formulated by Luther. He wrote them down in the form of 95 theses. They are inscribed on the north doors of Wittenberg Castle Church. Here are some of these points:

Christ, proclaiming: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," thereby testifies that the life of the things from beginning to end must be unceasing repentance.

Repentance does not consist only in confession to a priest. (In the first four theses, Luther shows that genuine repentance is a long process, not a one-time act.)

The Pope can remove only those punishments that he himself imposes of his own free will or on the basis of the church charter ... (And he explains that the church cannot exempt from any heavenly punishments).

The canons of repentance (that is, regulations on which penances or punishments to be imposed on the penitent) are established for the living, not for the dead. (Here and in several subsequent theses, the pope's authority over purgatory is rejected.)

Not according to Christ teaching, which says that repentance is not required for those who acquire indulgences for themselves and for souls in purgatory. The Lord teaches the truly repentant the forgiveness of sins and deliverance from eternal torment, which a sinner can hope for even without a papal letter. (In several theses, Luther emphasizes that the Christian who truly repent does not flee from heavenly punishment.)

The true, genuine treasure of the church is the holiest Gospel of the glory and grace of God. (Luther explains that the existence of a "treasury of good works" is beneficial to the rich, not to the poor, that these treasures should not go to the sinner at the mercy of the pope. The desire to propitiate God with such means is called an illusion).

The true Christian yearns to follow the passion-bearer Christ. Not in a letter of permission, but in sincere repentance - the way to salvation.

These are the theses promulgated on October 31, 1517. This day later became a holiday of Protestants.

Lutheranism is one of the largest areas of Protestantism in terms of numbers. Founded by Martin Luther in the 16th century. and is common in the Scandinavian countries, Germany, the USA, the Baltic states.

At the beginning of the 16th century, numerous disparate manifestations of anticlericalism merged into a powerful stream of the Reformation, which gradually swept over almost all of Europe, heralding the birth of a new variety of Christianity - Protestantism. In this era of a radical change in European culture, new social and moral guidelines were established for centuries to come. The central figure of the spiritual and cultural life of the 16th century was Martin Luther, who formulated the main provisions of Protestantism.

The fierce defender of the medieval order was the Catholic Church, which still enjoyed tremendous power in the 16th century. Later, the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes called the papacy "The ghost of the deceased Roman Empire, sitting in a crown on her coffin" ... Anti-church sentiments reached their apogee in Germany. Their social base was extremely variegated: rulers seeking political independence from Rome; industrialists and merchants who suffered from extortion and feudal fragmentation; the impoverished nobility and chivalry, who saw in the Church an insatiable competitor for robbing subjects; cultural figures shackled by dead church dogma; and, above all, the peasants and the urban lower classes, on whom the entire social pyramid fell into unbearable oppression.

It all started with a seemingly insignificant episode: on October 31, 1517, in Wittenberg, a local priest nailed theses to the cathedral gate, in which he denounced the practice of selling indulgences. The main idea of \u200b\u200bthe theses was as follows: for "salvation" the sinner's internal repentance is required, which cannot be replaced by an external monetary donation. At this time, Luther did not even think about any radical reform of the Church.

The church reacted immediately, threatening Luther with excommunication and even physical harm. But here the scythe found a stone - the Wittenberg priest refused to submit to the force. However, the Pope could not give in, because the conflict had already received too much publicity. For some time, the exchange of harshness continued, until, finally, the case ended with the fact that on December 10, 1520, the once exemplary monk Martin Luther publicly burned the papal bull that excommunicated him from the Church. It was an unheard-of insolence challenge not only to the letter of faith, but also to the power of the mighty Vatican.

In order to gain the upper hand over the powerful Catholic Church at that time, it was necessary to destroy its dogmatic foundation. Such a foundation was the teaching that “salvation” is impossible without the help of the Church, without the grace contained only in it. This teaching was a terrible weapon in the hands of the Church. The Vatican could excommunicate and persecute not only individual rebels, but entire areas, condemning thousands of people to horror and ruin. Therefore, in those God-fearing times, it was possible to encroach on the authority of Rome only with its own weapons, that is, it was possible to reject the sacredness of the Church only from a tough and authoritarian position, appealing to the indisputable divine truth. Thus, the “earthly” limitations of the Church had to be opposed by the omnipotence of God himself. In other words, the freedom of people from the claims of the Vatican could be justified only by the absolute dependence of man directly on the Creator, who controls human destiny without any intermediaries. That is why the Protestants resolutely rejected the inspiration of Holy Tradition as the work of human hands and declared the Bible to be the only source of faith.

It was the claims of the Church for monopoly "heavenly" representation that were fiercely attacked by Luther. Between man and God, Luther emphasized, there should be no intermediaries: God gives salvation according to his free will, and not at all compelled to do so by the harassment of a sinner. The fate of a person is determined not by the Church, but entirely by the grace of God. The believer gains salvation only insofar as he realizes himself as a hopeless sinner, gains personal faith in God, in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The doctrine of personal faith as the only condition for salvation is the core of Protestant dogma.

Unlike the Catholic Church, Protestants recognize as sacred the daily activities of the world in all their diversity. After all, if only personal faith saves, then there is no need for special magical rituals isolated from ordinary life. What matters is not what a person does, not his occupation, not his place in society, but the awareness of his duty to God. It is not the nature of the activity that matters, but its motive, that is, the awareness of one's earthly vocation, sanctified by God's will. Therefore, among Protestants, the commandment to "love one's neighbor" is equated to the commandment to "serve" one's neighbor: a person should not, like monks, run away from the world; no, he should “live in the world,” conscientiously fulfill his earthly vocation, remembering the boundless and not yet deserved heavenly mercy. Serving God, Luther emphasized, means serving your neighbor - anyone who needs you physically or mentally. This is worship.

With his concept of personal faith, that is, rejecting the Church's ability to provide salvation, Luther freed man from external, official religiosity. He put him face to face with the merciless Wrath of the Lord (Ira Dei), declaring that salvation is possible only as a gift from God, solely by His free will, but not by necessity - by the deeds and merits of man. Hence, according to Luther, the highest wisdom lies in the realization of the fact that man is nothing.

It would seem, by declaring that man is nothing, rejecting his freedom of will and the ability to control his own destiny, Luther humiliated the dignity of man, securing a slavish consciousness to him. But let's not rush to conclusions. If the Renaissance sought to emancipate man as a humane, rational being, then the Reformation proclaimed the emancipation of man as a spiritual being. In other words, the Renaissance contributed to the rebirth of man in the newly opened world, while the Reformation contributed to the rebirth of man in God.

Luther considers the problem of human freedom in his work "Freedom of the Christian". In it we find two seemingly contradictory theses: "A Christian is a completely free master of all things and is not subject to anyone" and "A Christian is the most humble servant of all things and is subject to all." Luther explains this contradiction by the dual nature of man. Since man has a soul and a body, Luther speaks of man "inward and spiritual" and "corporeal and outward."

The righteousness and freedom of the soul does not depend on any earthly conditions. Soul "Can do without everything except the Word of God", insofar as "Justified by faith alone and not justified by any works." Thus, the fate of a Christian does not depend on an external, bodily person. The "outer" man lives a mortal, earthly life, in which "He is faced with the opposition of his flesh, seeking its own benefit." therefore "A person cannot lead an idle life and must do good deeds in order to enslave the old man in himself." These works by themselves do not justify a person before God, they are only the fruit of faith, "Direct, natural love and obedience to God." So, according to Luther, the true Christian is free because his fate is ripped out by God from their cycle of earthly affairs. Since he lives in society, he must be a servant of the people and meekly obey worldly rulers.

Luther sets out his attitude towards worldly rulers in the work "On Secular Power". In his opinion, those who truly believe in Christ and who belong to Christ “They do not need a secular sword or a law. And if the whole world consisted of genuine Christians, that is, of true believers, then there would be no need or benefit either in princes, or in kings, or in lords, or in a sword, or in law. " Since the world is full of evil, then God established a secular government, "Restraining non-Christians and the wicked, forcing them, at least against their will, to maintain external peace and tranquility."

From this Luther concludes: “Since the sword is useful and necessary for the protection of the world, the punishment of sin and protection from the wicked, then the Christian willingly submits to the rule of the sword: he pays taxes, honors the authorities, serves, helps, does everything that is beneficial to the secular government, so that it is not forgotten and feared ".

Luther is, as always, categorical in this matter and does not recognize halftones. He further writes: "If you see that there are not enough executioners, guards, judges, gentlemen, then offer your services and do it, so as not to neglect the authorities, which cannot be dispensed with, and so that they do not decline or disappear." However, Luther emphasizes, there is an area in which government intervention is not permissible. This is the realm of the soul. According to Luther, "If the secular government dares to dictate laws to souls, then it roughly interferes with the Lord's Rule, seduces and corrupts souls." Here a Christian should not yield, otherwise he will betray God. Obedience refers to secular life, but not to religious life.

The significance of Luther's ideas went beyond purely religious issues. They affirmed the initial (ontological) equality of all believers in the main thing - in the eyes of God. They awakened in the layman a sense of his own dignity and inner independence from all earthly, "external" forces. Yes, Luther humiliated man in the "vertical" dimension - in comparison with God and his sovereign will. But, thereby, he elevated each individual individual in the "horizontal" dimension - in comparison with earthly rulers, since he recognized his equality in the main thing - in the possibility of his direct connection with God. Moreover, this connection is mediated not by the Church, but only by one's own conscience, as well as by the ability to embody the Will of God in the worldly business that has fallen to the lot of man.

Luther asserted complete confidence in the personal religious and spiritual experience of man, which surpasses in the eyes of God all papal dogmas and cunning intellectuals. Thus, in a deep cultural and historical sense, Luther asserted a new understanding of man, corresponding to the spirit of freedom and individualism.