A Prelude on the Babylonian Captivity of the Church

Over the two years since he posted the Ninety-Five Theses, Luther frequently preached and wrote about the sacraments, especially Penance, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The engagement with theological opponents and the encouragement of friends and admirers drove him to study the scriptures to determine what the sacraments were and what God had to say about them. Gradually he began to see that the church had drifted away from the Biblical understanding of the sacraments as gifts that offer grace. Once bull Exsurge Domine was published against him, Luther felt free both to address his opponents and to fully explore the nature of the sacraments according to the Scriptures.

At the time of the Reformation, the Church in the West saw salvation as a balancing act. They believed that when a person sins, he or she adds to the debt of guilt which must be paid if he is to enter God’s presence. When a person receives a sacrament or does a good work, it pays off some of that guilt. If a person sins with some of that guilt left to be paid, he or she must go first to purgatory to pay it off. If a person died with more grace than sins, the merit goes into the treasury of the saints, which the church can give to people through indulgences. The chief means by which grace is given to believers is through sacraments (Latin for “holy things”) which Christ entrusted to the priests of the Church. So, through the seven sacraments, the Church had control over the everyday life of believers. In The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, Luther destroys the whole system.

Luther began work on the Babylonian Captivity in August and completed it on October 6th, 1520, five hundred years ago. It came off the press on October 8th. In it Luther defines a sacrament as God’s Word combined with a physical element, by which God gives his grace and promises the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. Using this definition, he argues there are two, maybe three sacraments, which we call: baptism, confession and absolution and the Lord’s Supper. A Christian who believes the promises of God’s word in the sacrament, receives what its promises. The power, then, resides in God’s word, not in the priest offering it or the work of performing the rite.

The impact of this work was felt immediately. Humanists distanced themselves from Luther. Others were moved by the clear, simple and Biblical presentation to join the Reformation movement. The outlines of Lutheran theology were now in place and the breach with Rome unrepairable.