5. The pope has neither the will nor the power to remit any penalties beyond those imposed either at his own discretion or by canon law.
By the 1500's (if not established long before) the Pope had become the be-all-end-all for the church and Christendom as a whole. What the Pope said, went. The Roman church back then, and to some degree even today leans hard upon a couple of scriptures from the Gospel of Matthew, namely 16:18-19.
18 And I tell you, iyou are Peter, and jon this rock2 I will build my church, and kthe gates of lhell3 shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you mthe keys of the kingdom of heaven, and nwhatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed4 in heaven.”
Luther's issue was that the Pope, speaking on behalf of God himself, could give punitive punishments at his whim and discretion, or take away these same punishments or penalties, all in the name of God. The problem with this of course is that the Pope is not God, and that the only penalties that can be given or taken away would be those that the Pope himself (not on God's behalf) has declared. The Pope has no power to remit penalties given by God. The Pope cannot declare anyone officially lost or saved, for only God knows the hearts of men (1 Kings 8:39). The scripture that the Roman church was abusing is used to declare church discipline. The church has every right (and responsibility) to discipline those that identify themselves with the church. When members of churches act like goats, wolves or false prophets, they are to be disciplined by the church leadership. They may be loosed by the church (for their sake, that they may return to the church), but the church cannot declare anyone lost or saved. That was never the intent of the position of the church. In Luther's time, the church would hold sway over the people by threatening those that didn't do and see things precisely how the church did with eternal damnation, or worse, declaring some right with God.
This unfortunately, hasn't left our churches today. How many times have we seen evangelicals declare someone saved after they have repeated a prayer or been baptized? We have no right to do that, as we do not know for certain the condition of the person's heart, or their motivation behind their declaration. Unfortunately, people follow the 'formula' for salvation as interpreted by well-meaning people, only to be deceived into thinking that they are eternally saved when in fact they are not. Church discipline can help in this process, as those that are deceived usually end up turning back to a worldly lifestyle, or they turn Pharisaical where they are saved by their own efforts and self-righteousness. Both are deadly long term. Luther wanted the church to stay within the boundaries of Holy Scripture, and not to play God. As you may guess, this did not go over well with the office of the Pope.
Does your church practice godly discipline as spelled out in scripture? Does your leadership "pope-ishly" declare people saved or lost? Church leadership must adhere to scripture and not overstep (or understep) the boundaries given in the Bible.
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