Love Under Fire

Indulgences for Sale

The Roman Church put the grace of God up for sale. Under the pressure of raising funds to build St. Peter's at Rome, the church offered to sell indulgences for sin under authority of the pope. A temple was to be built for God's worship, paid for by the price of crime. This is what stirred up the papacy's most successful enemies and led to the battle that shook the papal throne and the triple crown on the pope's head. LF 56.5

Tetzel was the official appointed to sell indulgences in Germany. He had been convicted of shameful offenses against society and the law of God, but he was hired to carry out the fundraising projects of the pope in Germany. He told glaring lies and marvelous tales to deceive an ignorant and superstitious people. If they had possessed the Word of God, they would not have been deceived. But the church had kept the Bible from them.⁸ LF 56.6

As Tetzel entered a town, a messenger went ahead, announcing, “The grace of God and of the holy father is at your gates.”⁹ The people welcomed the blasphemous deceiver as if he were God Himself. From the pulpit in the church, Tetzel glorified indulgences as the most precious gift of God. He declared that by means of his certificates of pardon, all the sins that the buyer would afterward desire to commit would be forgiven him, and “not even repentance is necessary.”¹⁰ He assured his hearers that his indulgences had power to save the dead; the very moment the money would clink against the bottom of his case, the soul for whom it had been paid would escape from purgatory and make its way to heaven.¹¹ LF 57.1

Gold and silver flowed into Tetzel's treasury. A salvation bought with money was easier to get than one that requires repentance, faith, and diligent effort to resist and overcome sin. (See Appendix.) LF 57.2

Luther was horrified. Many of his own congregation had bought certificates of pardon. They soon began to come to their pastor, confessing sins and expecting forgiveness, not because they were sorry and wanted to reform, but on the basis of the indulgence. Luther refused, and he warned them that unless they repented and reformed, they must die in their sins. They went back to Tetzel complaining that their confessor had refused his certificates, and some boldly demanded their money back. In a rage, the friar uttered terrible curses, caused fires to be lighted in the public squares, and declared that he “had received an order from the pope to burn all heretics who dared to oppose his most holy indulgences.”¹² LF 57.3