Book Review: Three Treatises

Martin Luther's, Three Treatises

AUTHOR BACKGROUND

In the study of Christian history one can not get far without hearing of Martin Luther. Most famous for his ninety-five thesis that he nailed to the door of a Wittenberg church door, he is considered the father of the protestant reformation. Born, November 10, 1483, Luther devoted his life to the monastic lifestyle of knowledge and faith, after having quit law school. His own studies of scripture led him to theological views that did not align with the Roman Catholic church or the Papacy. On October 31, 1517 when Luther nailed his theological views to the front door of a church he began the steps that lead to the protestant reformation and upheaval from the Roman Catholic Church. Three years after the nailing of his ninety-five Luther released three works: An Open Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, and The Freedom of a Christian. Together these works were compiled to form his Three Treatises.

SUMMARY OF CONTENT

In critiquing such a work as Three Treatises one must look at each of the three portions separately in order to make an accurate critique of the whole. The first of the three sections, An Open Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, is addressed to German nobility in hopes that they will help enact the reform that the Roman Catholic Church so blatantly opposed with their excommunication of Martin

Luther. While the letter can be broken down into three sections, (The Three Walls of the Romanists, Abuses to be Discussed in Councils, and Proposal to Reform) the third of which has three subsections of it’s own, the underlining message that comes from this portion of the book is the doctrine of the priesthood of the believer.

In The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, Luther attacks the sacramental system. In his argument he begins by immediately dismissing all but three sacraments, the Eucharist, Baptism, and Penance. In the end he regarded penance as positive in the light of Matthew 16:19 ("I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.") although the doctrine had been corrupted by the Roman Catholic Church. Even though the Matthew 16:19 view of penance was positive Luther did not view it as sacramental status. The only remaining two sacraments were the Eucharist and Baptism, each with it’s own set of corruptions from the Papacy and the Church. Luther focuses a great portion of his argument refuting three portions of the Eucharist: the laity can not receive the cup, the transubstantiation of the elements, and the sacrifice of Mass.

The third and final portion of the book is The Freedom of the Christian Life. This final letter is much shorter than the other two letters. The content of it contains the whole of the Christian life in a brief summarized form. In it he deals with the contradicting natures of man.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

In the documents present in the book one can not say that Luther’s arguments were unsupported, shallow, or weak. On most any given page one turns to one can find multiple scripture references and explanations of those references. In example (randomly selected among hundreds) the section To The Christian Nobility of the German Nation under the topic of attacking the first wall of the Romanist structure Luther says, “ …we are all consecrated priests through baptism, as St. Peter says in 1 Peter 2.” Countless more times throughout the book not only does he reference scripture but directly quotes it as well.

Not only is the book well saturated with scriptural references, but also it is structurally formed in such a way to break things down into simple form for the reader. In a similar style of his theological descendant, C. S. Lewis, Luther forms a simple structural breakdown that allows the reader to fully understand the arguments presented in his writings. This is best seen in the first letter where he breaks the it into three sections: The Three Walls of the Romanists, Abuses to be Discussed in Councils, and Proposal to Reform. Luther also takes it a step further and breaks it down into subcategories and numbered lists of explanations and repudiations. The same structure can be seen as well in the second letter when he breaks down the three sacraments and again breaks them each into smaller sections to discuss and reform the positions.

It is difficult when critiquing a document such as this to develop any negative critique, when the student writing the critique comes from a devout protestant background. Documents such as the three represented in the work by Luther have become foundations for much of the doctrine that is held true in protestant institutions. In order to critique such material one must lay one’s presuppositions aside and if necessary look through the perspective of someone who holds to the opposite views. In the case that is presented in this critique the opposite view point would be that of the Papacy and the Roman Catholic Church. Keeping such perspective in mind while analyzing the essays it becomes evident that Luther commits the logical fallacy of, “attacking the person.” The fallacy that is such that the author makes it a point to attack the person in order to argue or strengthen their own argument. This is evident in Luther’s writings in To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation. In his attack on the second wall that is presented by the Roman Catholic Church he attacks the Pope when he says, “But Christ's words to Peter, ‘I have prayed for you that your faith fail not’ [Luke 22:32], cannot be applied to the pope, since the majority of the popes have been without faith.” He continues to commit the fallacy when he says, “The Romanists want to be the only masters of Holy Scripture, although they never learn a thing from the Bible all their life long.” He continues through all three documents to use harsh words and name calling to attack his opponent, even suggesting that the Pope is an Anti-Christ. While these attacks seem small in the entirety of Luther’s arguments they are present and do take a role in weakening his argument, even if it is just a bit.

The literary style is hard to judge seeing as the original letters were written in German. Each section was translated and revised by separate men. An Open Letter to the Christian Nobility was translated by Charles M. Jacobs. The Babylonian Captivity of the Church was translated by A. T. W. Steinhauser and revised by Frederick C. Ahrens. The Freedom of a Christian was translated by W. A. Lambert and revised by Harold J. Grimm. Since the one critiquing the book has no knowledge of German, therefore not possessing the capability to compare the translations and revisions to the original text the critical analysis of the writing style is inconclusive.

The Three Treatises is a book that provides an ample supply of doctrine. Much of that doctrine has influence and laid the foundation for Protestantism. The book itself is recommended to any and all people in the protestant faith in order to better understand parts of the faith’s foundation and doctrinal beliefs.

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