The information provided here was translated from CEPAD’s self-study theology booklet on the Protestant Reformation with the permission and approval of the authors. This is not a full translation of the material, but rather a brief overview. This booklet is provided to participants in CEPAD’s Pastoral Training Program. Many pastors do not have any formal theological training, and we aim to provide some education to help them understand and teach the Bible better.

Now that we’ve looked at the history before the Reformation and the ideas that Luther published, we can study how the Church reacted.

Due to Luther’s criticisms of the Church,  he was accused of heresy, which was very dangerous as others who had been accused of the same thing had been hanged. However, Luther was brought to an interrogation, where he was asked to repent of his errors, promise to never teach these ideas again, and to not disturb the peace within the Church. Martin Luther refused to do so, affirming his 95 theses.

According to the Pope in Rome, he should be excommunicated, and even demanded that Luther’s books and writings be burned. But due to the laws in Germany at the time, Luther was stripped of his citizenship rights, extradited, and couldn’t print or sell any of his books. It was even ordered that any of his followers be persecuted. However, due to political interests and wars, this order wasn’t carried out in a timely manner, only allowing the Reformation theology to grow and spread across Europe.

Luther continued his work as a theologian and professor, writing conventions on the new Reformation ideas. Four of these included:

• Politics and Religion. At the time, the priests and Pope had more power than the government. Luther advocated for equal responsibility; those in government and those within the Church had an equal responsibility in the eyes of God.
• Sacraments. Luther denied most of the sacraments of the Catholic Church, as they promoted doing enough to be saved, whereas Luther believed that God’s grace was sufficient, and needs no action from man. He did accept the sacrament of communion and baptism.
• Freedom. Luther described Christian freedom as being free of everything and everyone; it is not a self-serving freedom, but rather opens up the opportunity to serve others.
• Good Works. Where the Catholic Church favored good works as a way to salvation, Luther stated that doing good works was because people have the Holy Spirit in them and with them, that moves them to do good things.

Due to the tense political and religious environments, Luther was sent to live in Wartburg Castle for his own protection. He remained there for many years, much of his time in solitude. With his long stretches of free time, Luther began to translate the New Testament into German. While it was not the first translation to German, his writing style was easier to understand than other translations and had great success.

After leaving the Wartburg Castle, Luther advocated for education and a social fund to help the poor. The worship services were also led in German, not Latin, allowing an even wider audience to attend and participate. But there were also other groups who were advocating for change, and the public became confused as to what the Reformation actually stood for. Luther had to work with other leaders in the Reformation to clarify their ideology and theology so that it was clear who was part of the movement, and who was not.

Other movement came out of the Reformation – Calvinism led by John Calvin and the Reformation in Switzerland led by Ulrich Zwingli, which were recognized as legitimate.

While the Protestants tried to defend their beliefs peacefully to earn standing in society, they had to resort to arms in 1530. War didn’t break out until 1546, when tensions were high. It was during the war that Martin Luther died and was buried at Wittenberg. True peace was finally reached in 1555, where leaders of the Catholic and Protestant Churches came together to sign an agreement, which helped establish religious and political peace.