The Five Solas (Week 2) - Martin Luther & Medieval Rome I

Sermon Introduction:

This is Week Two of our study of the Five Solas of the Reformation.

This is Week Two of our study of the Five Solas of the Reformation.

We are looking at these Five phrases as the foundation for understanding what it means to be Protestant:

Sola Gratia (Grace Alone)

Sola Fide (Faith Alone)

Solus Christus (Christ Alone)

Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone)

Soli Deo Gloria (For the Glory of God Alone)

As we look at this, the natural contrast is to the religious system that was in place during the Reformation, what the Reformers were trying to call back to Biblical Christianity: Roman Catholicism.

As I said last week, what we will do as we learn about each of these statements in contrast them to the teaching of the Church of Rome, which was pretty much the only visible church in that day.

To do that, we will spend some time in Church History which I have found to be very helpful to me personally as a Christian and I trust you will too.

Martin Luther

So let's set the stage a little bit tonight and go back to the 16th Century to understand one of the key figures in the Reformation: Martin Luther.

That name should be familiar to most of you. We are not talking about Martin Luther King, Jr. (that's something I have to explain to kids pretty often when I refer to this Martin), but rather we are talking about a man who was born on November 10th, 1483 in the town of Eisleben, Germany.

Martin Luther was born in 1483 in Germany

Martin Luther was the first child born to Hans Luther (Luder), who was an ambitious man. Hans had worked hard to gain a measure of success in his life and wanted his children to go further than he was able. Hans oversaw a mine, and to gather enough funds to send his children to university and obtain better jobs than common labor, he took a second job overseeing another mine. He was a very hard worker and pushed to improve the families position in life. So skipping over many details, Martin Luther, the eldest son, was destined to be a lawyer (a job that didn't have quite the poor reputation in those days as it does today). So Hans worked hard to get his son to this goal.

Martin was educated in Latin, grammar, rhetoric, and logic as was the common educational foundation in that day. Once he completed those studies, he was then sent to the University of Erfurt in 1501 at the age of 19. He graduated in February 1505 with his Master of Arts Degree. This allowed him to now pursue the goal which his father had in mind, Law School and the eventual obtaining of the Juris Doctorate, or the Doctor of Law degree.

He graduated from university in 1505 with a M.A. and began working on his Law Degree.

Luther dutifully enrolled in Law School, but during that first semester, he requested time off from his studies and made a trip home. It seems he was not as thrilled as his father Hans was about the vocation young Martin was destined for. He asked his father to reconsider and let Martin explore other options for his vocation, but his father insisted and so Martin obeyed and headed back to Erfurt to continue his studies. On his return back to Erfurt, a severe thunderstorm popped up and overtook him though.

A bolt of lightning struck very close to Martin during this heavy storm and in his surprise and fear, he called out "Help me, St. Anne… I will become a monk!" He was spared from harm, through no act of St. Anne I assure you, and feeling convicted to honor his vow he went to the strictest monastery in Erfurt, that of the Augustinian Order.

Later in 1505, he applied to join the Augustinian Monastery in Erfurt.

We will put a little pause on Martin's life story here and step back a little to understand the culture.

There are several things we need to understand about this time. The teachings of the Roman Catholic church are particularly important to know here in order to explain the things that are taking place.

First of all:

Rome is considered the Church.

There was no church in the West outside of Rome at this point. Going back, there was the Great Schism with the East in 1054 which created what we would refer to as the "Eastern Orthodox Church" (you may know of Greek Orthodox or Russian Orthodox as the more well-known parts of this today).

The belief of this day in the West is that what Rome teaches is the only Christian truth. They are the church and they are dogmatically and doctrinally correct in all their teachings. The belief of this being widely held is in large part because the laity (the common people) have no choice but to believe it.

Illiteracy is common place (among the laity and even many priests at this point in time actually). Reading is slowly becoming more common, but for the common people it is mostly in the common languages of the people such as German, French, English, etc.

Scholarly works, particularly the words of theologians in the church, are all written in the academic language of the day: Latin.

Rome has not allowed the Bible to be printed in the "Vernacular" or the "Common Language" of the peoples at this point. The Bible is officially the Vulgate. If you recall other lessons we have had, that is a translation of the Greek and Hebrew into Latin that was done by Jerome. At this point in Roman Catholic teaching and in the churches all throughout the West, that is the only way to read the Scriptures.

At this time in history, you were not allowed to read (much less interpret) the Bible unless you were authorized by Rome to do so. This will be a key point in our study, the development of Reformation Theology, Protestant Theology, leads to the Bible being translated into the common language and being widely distributed.

In fact, we call the issue of the Scripture the "Material Principle" of the Reformation. We will explore this in more detail when we look at Sola Scriptura, Scripture Alone, more fully.

The Bible at this time is only in Latin (The Vulgate).

So with Rome as the church and the Bible inaccessible to the common man, the traditions of the Roman Church are essentially the essence of what Christianity is from the view of the common people.

Definitional items for the Roman Church at this point are:

Belief in the Saints

Purgatory

Monastic Life

Purgatory

Sacraments

The Mass

Penance

The Papacy

Indulgences

We will take a look at each of these, as well as a few others, in our study over the next several weeks. We will contrast these beliefs with what the Reformers taught.

With the lack of the Scriptures in the common languages already discussed a little, let's focus on these particular beliefs as they impacted Luther.

The Saints:

The first in this list is the belief in the Saints. Now, you and I would actually probably really learn a lot from looking at the stories of many of these people. They have fascinating lives and some are certainly worth studying. However, you and I have a very different view today of what a saint is than what Rome teaches as a definition of saint.

In the Bible, a saint is simply a believer, not a special believer who did special things, but all believers. I’ve stated before that "there are no Varsity vs J.V. Christians."

But that is not what Rome taught in the 1500s. In fact, they taught just the opposite of my statement and do believe there are classes of Christians. Saints are "particularly holy people" according to Rome. They were either martyrs (those who were killed for the faith) or they were people who were incredibly holy in this life and are now said to "close to God" in heaven.

The belief is that these certain "saints" were so holy in life that they made it to heaven upon their death, not going into Purgatory (which Rome teaches is the fate awaiting most of us, and something we will discuss soon). But these particular individuals were said to be in heaven and they are disposed toward helping us, being gracious toward us, based on certain relatable factors.

For Rome, Saints are special Holy People.

There were saints in general, but there were also "patron saints" or saints who had special favor for certain types or groups of people. This is why Martin Luther called out to St. Anne on that day we mentioned. He was taught that St. Anne was the patron saint of miners, the occupation of his father. So in his moment of need, in his fear, he appealed to her for help, asking for her to mediate or intercede with God on his behalf so he could be saved from harm.

The view of the Roman church at this point strongly emphasizes that Jesus is God, they do rightly affirm His deity, but they teach that because He is God He is always angry toward us as sinners.

The Bible does, indeed, teach God's anger toward sinners.

Psalm 5:4–6 ESV

For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

English Standard Version Psalm 5

For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;

evil may not dwell with you.

5  The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;

you hate all evildoers.

6  You destroy those who speak lies;

the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

That God is said to “hate all evildoers” and not just “the evil they do” is striking. The language in verse 6, he “abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.”

isn’t the only place the speaks like this.

Psalm 11:5 ESV

The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.

Again, the idea is strong. God “hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.”

Dr. David Platt stresses that the cross is the ultimate place this can be seen:

Does God hate sinners? Absolutely. Look at the cross. Jesus is enduring the punishment we are due. But does God love sinners? Absolutely. Look at the cross. Jesus is saving us from the punishment we are due. - Dr. David Platt

The second part of that equation, the fact that Jesus is the expression of God's love toward us, was lost in a really practical way in Roman teaching though.

They affirmed the deity of Christ, they acknowledged sin is a serious transgression against God and God hates sin and those who sin, but they failed to proclaim the beautiful reality of Jesus Christ as the Mediator between God and man. They thought that Christ was too angry and that other mediators between us and Him were needed.

This is what we will look at in more detail in the concept of Solus Christus, Christ Alone.

So the Saints in the teaching of Rome are seen as mediators between us and God. Rome taught people to ask the saints to pray for you, because God would be more inclined to hear their prayers than your prayers.

Rome today calls this "praying with the saints" rather than "praying to the saints" but that distinction is grammatical only. They pray to the saints in order to ask them to intercede for them.

So Martin calls out to St. Anne in order to gain help from here. That is what a Catholic, was taught to do. Not to appeal to Christ directly, but to appeal to a Saint instead.

Holy Vocations:

So he makes the appeal to St. Anne, and we understand now why he did that, but he also made a promise, a barter if you will, in that appeal.

And Martin Luther makes good on his vow to become a monk since he did not die. He sells his legal textbooks and goes to the strictest order of monks there in Erfurt: The Augustinian order.

We will talk more about St. Augustine, he is usually referred to that way by both Protestants and Catholics, and he is cited by both sides more than once during the Reformation!

The thing to know about Augustine is that the Roman church was in large part shaped by Augustine's view of the Church. Augustine was engaged in theological controversies in his day, the first major one was around the nature of the church. So Rome will cite from Augustine in this area of his teaching a lot.

But the second major controversy was around justification. Protestants today will hold (should hold) to the Augustinian view of justification rather than his opponents view, what is known as Pelagianism.

There is of course today a middle ground, what is called Semi-Pelagianism, but outright Pelagianism is a straightforward heresy. It was in fact condemned by the church at the time of Augustine.

The Reformers all hold to Augustine's view of Justification. That is a common ground which they all share. The Reformation has been described by some (B.B. Warfield) as saying it was The Reformation is “the triumph of Augustine’s doctrine of grace over Augustine’s doctrine of the Church”

Back to Luther though, he applies to join this Augustinian order of monks because they are known to be the strictest of the monastic orders. Why does this matter? Well, it comes back to their view of God and His disposition toward mankind in fact.

Since God is holy and just, He is rightly offended and angered by sin. Again, this is right and true, but Rome taught that instead of turning to Christ for grace, we need to work to appease God. So while Saints are at the top, the best of the Christians, for the average person the best thing they could do was to become a priest, a monk or a nun. Those who entered into these holy vocations (or callings, that is what the Latin word meant) would please God with their devotion to that lifestyle.

The Roman Catholic view of life included two thoughts about daily work or the jobs common people held.

First there was labor. These are the common jobs. The everyday tasks of the farmer, printer, blacksmith, soldier, etc. These things are just common labors and they rank a little differently of course, but they are not special to God.

The second group though, was termed a "vocation" (or calling). Those who entered the religious life, they were thought to have a special vocation and a special path toward pleasing God.

Vocation (or Calling) was only for those i Religious Positions.

The Reformers rejected this idea though and taught, as the Scriptures do, that all callings are from God. From milk maid to priest, all of us are called to a vocation (a calling) whether we work inside or outside the church. Further, no job is “unspecial” but rather is given to us by God and can be done in a pleasing way toward God. God is no more inherently impressed with my preaching or pastoral work than He was with my IT work when I was bi-vocational.

All work can be done in a way that glorifies Him.

This is the heart of the cry Soli Deo Gloria - To The Glory of God Alone.

So because of the Roman teachings, in order to please God and to help earn his salvation, his forgiveness of sins, Martin wanted to join the group most devoted to doing all the activities he was taught by Rome that God wanted. He decided to do all he could to work at earning his salvation through the vocation of monastic life.

So Luther is accepted into the order for a first year of trial and testing as an initiate monk.

Now what does Martin's life look like? Well, first of all, we need to understand a little more about Roman teaching and what Martin is hoping to achieve in his monastic pursuits.

We are looking at these Five phrases as the foundation for understanding what it means to be Protestant:

Sola Gratia - Grace Alone

Sola Fides - Faith Alone

Solus Christus - Christ Alone

Sola Scriptura - Scripture Alone

Soli Deo Gloria - For the Glory of God Alone

As we look at this, the natural contrast is to the religious system that was in place during the Reformation, what the Reformers were "Protesting" against: Roman Catholicism.

Some of the things that define the Roman Church at this point are:

Belief in the SaintsMonastic LifePurgatory Sacraments The MassPenance The PapacyIndulgences

We will take a look at each of these, as well as others, in our study over the next several weeks. We will contrast these believes with what the Reformers taught.

We looked last week at how Saints are Holy People who are not like us common folk. They are "variety Christians" and we are all "J.V. Christians." But as I noted, the Bible teaches something completely different on this point. All believers are called Saints. There are no better Christians than any others. Nobody earned or added to their salvation. We all owe everything to God, we bring nothing but our sin to the table. To quote Jonathan Edwards: “You contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary.”

Or to quote C.H. Spurgeon: "You will find all true theology summed up in these two short sentences: Salvation is all of the grace of God. Damnation is all of the will of man."

This is the problem that was prevalent in Rome in the 15th and 16th centuries. Rome had obscured the truth of the Gospel, because the Scriptures were not prime and central to the faith, the Word of God and what He said was lost behind man's thoughts and man's traditions.

We know Martin was scared for his life during that lightening storm, but what exactly was it that Martin was afraid of?

Purgatory:

You and I are used to thinking in terms of Heaven and Hell as we consider the afterlife. Those are the two places we believe the Bible teaches about . Of course, these things are under attack today. I've mentioned the apostate Rob Bell and his heretical teachings on Hell (namely that there is no such thing) were pretty popular just a few years ago. That is nothing new, we have false teachers throughout church history teaching such things. It doesn’t make it any more true, but it’s a common place false teaching goes.

Rome has an additional concept added into their view of the afterlife though: Purgatory.

Purgatory, according to Roman belief, is the "place of purging" or "place of cleansing" (again those meanings actually come from the Latin term used).

This is a place where the common Christian will go once they die according to Roman Catholicism.

The Catholic Encyclopedia says this place is for "the temporal punishment of those who depart this life in God's grace [but] are not entirely free from venial faults [sins], or have not fully paid the satisfaction due [needed] for their transgressions."

The Catholic Encyclopedia says this place is for "the temporal punishment of those who depart this life in God's grace [but] are not entirely free from venial faults [sins], or have not fully paid the satisfaction due [needed] for their transgressions."

The Catholic Encyclopedia says this place is for "the temporal punishment of those who depart this life in God's grace [but] are not entirely free from venial faults [sins], or have not fully paid the satisfaction due [needed] for their transgressions."

For the Catholic, entering death with unconfessed sins results in having to go to purgatory to pay them off. That is God's justice at work. He can’t just forgive you, you owe Him for your sins and you have to pay that debt.

So the Catholic view is that Purgatory is the next stop when we leave this world for almost all of us. Unless you are a saint (or the Pope), you go to Purgatory. There you will work off the punishment for your sins.

This is only if you were a Christian, of course. Historically, Rome taught that the pagan goes to Hell to pay off their sins in eternity. This doctrine of purgatory, repayment and purging, is for Christians only. For some, the time may be short: months or years. For others, it may be thousands of years or potentially millions of years. You are saved from Hell, but it will take a long time to get you into heaven fully depending on how many unconfessed and dealt with sins you have.

Common people are bound for Purgatory to repay God for their sins.

So young Martin is taught this, like all Christians in his day were. He believes that his sins will send him to purgatory to pay them off, so he needs to do something now in order to lessen that time in purgatory. To start to make up for those sins now so he can get into heaven a little faster.

How can he do this? If purgatory is where all Christians go unless they are saints, what can Martin do to lessen that time or possibly avoid this?

Well, Rome has some answers. The first thing is to become a monk. Since that is the special vocation, the job most pleasing to God, you get some time off in purgatory for that. This is why Martin made his bargain with St. Anne. He couldn't very well go be a lawyer and please God in that job, he had to go into religious life.

Monastic Life:

So becoming a monk was step one. The second part was doing all the religious activities of the monastic life. All of these things were acts that were said to please God, and the Augustinian order took them seriously, so Martin was aiming to please God more and more by doing each of the duties of a monk.

Living Quarters:

For instance, Martin (like all the other monks) would say prayers… 7 times in 24 hours. This meant that Martin would cease his activity in the monastery about every 3 hours and pray. He would get a little bit of sleep at night for instance and wake up in the middle of the night at 2:00 am to go to prayers. This was said to please God, this type of rigid devotion to prayer.

We can see similar concepts in Islam today, but not Protestant Christianity.

But many Protestant have swung too far the opposite way on this I think. I had a conversation in my previous pastoral work at my last church where two professing believers told me they don't ever regularly pray… just "when they feel like it" but no set times or even concentrated efforts.

That is a swing to the farthest opposite of what Luther was taught and practiced. Rome said that God was honored in the routines, which is not true if our hearts are far from genuine prayer and love for Him in those routines, but many of us today revel in our laziness and think God is just fine with that which is also not true at all.

Living Quarters:

Luther lived in a small room, about 3 meters long and 3 meters wide. A window, but too high to see out (so no view other than the sky), a small cot with a single wool blanket. The room was not heated in anyway, no decoration in the room, and no human touch was allowed. Within this room, Luther was not allowed to utter a single sound. Not even in private prayer in his room. When he left the room, certain areas were allowed for conversations, but no private conversations were allowed. To speak to a peer, you had to have a supervisor listen to ensure neither of you boasted or gossiped. At dinner (well, when you actually had dinner, for fasting was regular and pretty severe) you would listen to a lecture rather than be able to speak with one another.

Prayer:

Martin (like all the other monks) would say prayers…

We can see similar concepts in Islam today, but not Protestant Christianity.

But many Protestant have swung too far the opposite way on this I think. I had a conversation in my previous pastoral work at my last church where two professing believers told me they don't ever regularly pray… just "when they feel like it" but no set times or even concentrated efforts.

That is a swing to the farthest opposite of what Luther was taught and practiced. Rome said that God was honored in the routines, which is not true if our hearts are far from genuine prayer and love for Him in those routines, but many of us today revel in our laziness and think God is just fine with that which is also not true at all.

Luther was allowed to speak at prayer times when he gathered with the other monks. Again not private conversations, he could only pray out loud with them. Prayers were corporate, said together, and there was also times of hymnody together. The day ended and began with set prayers to Mary (whom was very exalted and still is today in Roman Theology, a point we will talk about later).

Prayers were done 7 times in 24 hours. This meant that Martin and the other monks would cease their activity in the monastery about every 3 hours and go to pray. Monks would get a little bit of sleep each night before waking up at 2:00 am to go to that set of prayers. This was said to please God, this type of rigid devotion to prayer.

We can see similar concepts in Islam today, but not Protestant Christianity.

But many Protestant have swung too far the opposite way on this I think. I had a conversation in my previous pastoral work at my last church where two professing believers told me they don't ever regularly pray… just "when they feel like it" but no set times or even concentrated efforts.

That is a swing to the farthest opposite of what Luther was taught and practiced. Rome said that God was honored in the routines, which is not true if our hearts are far from genuine prayer and love for Him in those routines, but many of us today revel in our laziness and think God is just fine with that which is also not true at all.

The prayer that ended the day actually concludes with an appeal to Mary for grace and says "For you are the sinner's only hope." Remember, that is a prayer to Mary, not Jesus. It is a prayer asking Mary to intercede, proclaiming her to be the only hope for a sinner.

This is where Solus Christus - Christ Alone will come into focus as well as the idea of Sola Fide -Faith Alone instead of needing to rely on the faith and the intercession of Mary.

Confession:

The other key component in monastic life was confession. Sins must be confessed to a priest, a private confessor, daily. So you were to reflect on your sins, the thoughts of sins you had, and confess them. For many, this was not a lengthy process the longer they were in the monastery. Most monks would come in and confess for 10-15 minutes and be done. With no outside contact, no real freedom for activities… opportunity was scarce to actually sin.

But Luther, was serious. So serious that he wore out his confessors… He would confess for hours at a time, 3-4 hours was common and up to 6 hours sometimes. He would be in there naming his sins. He was so aware of the perfect standard of God and his sinful fallenness that he kept seeing all his lack of holiness and confessed it all. Daily. He knew the massive standard of the law telling us to "Love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength." That is an impossible standard and Luther knew how moment by moment he was failing in that. So he confessed it as he was told to do, seeking absolution (forgiveness) from the confessor priest listening to him.

The strict routine of Martin Luther's life as a monk continued for a year until he was finally fully admitted into the order. Imagine that type of strictness for an entire year, not just a few days or weeks of special devotion, but a full year of that. Luther had to prove his commitment to do that before he was accepted in as a full monk.

But Martin Luther was devote. He really did believe in all of this. As he entered into the monastery as a full monk after that year as an initiate, he was quickly determined to be destined for the priesthood.

Since he had a Master of Arts degree, obviously was educated and intelligent, this was to be expected. It was also an attempt to divert him from his constant introspection and confessions.

A part of Martin's study over that first year had been to consider this question: "How does one find a gracious God?" This had became a real struggle for him. He was taught that he was to please God with all this monastic lifestyle and actions and that God would then be gracious to him. But Martin knew, as he confessed, just how sinful he was. How could God ever be gracious to him?

That was what Martin was wrestling with and trying to find some answer too, even as he was on the path to becoming a priest now.

Conclusion:

Rome is a Sacramental System.

We will stop here with Luther and our first exposure to Roman Catholic theology as we have looked at three of the main things defining that system:

Belief in the Saints

Sacraments:

Monastic Life

Purgatory

Monastic Life

The Roman Catholic system is based on Sacraments (or ordinances). These are acts that earn favor with God, acts that are necessary for the Christian to do. They are, as the Reformers point out, works that are added to faith in order to please God. This is what the Reformers rejected when they declared salvation was by Sola Fide - Faith Alone.

Purgatory

Purgatory

We will come back into the life of Luther in the next lesson and talk about Roman Catholic theology more from that.

Again, turning to the Catholic church for their own definition: "The life of the Catholic Church revolves around the Eucharistic sacrifice [The Mass] and the sacraments. There are seven sacraments in the church: baptism, confirmation, eucharist, penance, anointing of the sick, matrimony, and holy orders."

Let me wrap up by emphasizing a few key points though that I think are helpful to understand as crucial.

So there are Seven Sacraments in Roman Theology. As Protestants, we believe in Two.

Rome’s view of Jesus emphasized His position as Judge rather than Savior.

The Sacraments of Rome are:

The saints are seen as mediators between God and mankind.

Baptism (Infant)ConfirmationEucharist (Mass)Penance Anointing of the Sick MarriageHoly Orders (Priesthood/Monastic Life)

The reality of sinfulness here means purgatory is a necessary step in being saved

The Catholic church clearly states: "They are necessary for salvation."

The Catholic believes you have to be refined, made pure, and pay for every sin you commit.

The first is Baptism. Baptism is done primarily for infants, though adults are of course required to be baptized as well when they convert. The Catholic church states that baptism incorporates you into the church, it purifies you of original sin, and is the foundational gateway into all the other sacraments.

Religious devotion to ritual and choosing certain lifestyles was said to inherently please God and make a person more holy and more loved by God.

This is why Roman Catholic babies are baptized as soon as possible. They need their sin, the sinfulness they are born with, to be removed. Catholic children in the time of Luther are baptized as soon as possible because they often died in infancy. Without baptism, they would be damned. With baptism, their original sin is forgiven and they can go to purgatory or heaven.

The second is Confirmation. Confirmation is the result of training in the beliefs of the Catholic church. Confirmation classes would be held and the children in particular are taught what the church says is true. Being confirmed into the church is said to give the Spirit "enriching the baptized with the Holy Spirit, binding them more perfectly to the church." This a significant ceremony for a Catholic.

All of this helps us understand that an accurate portrayal of Jesus, a fully Biblical view of who He is as the Judge and Savior, as the One who alone can mediate between God and man, and the promise of salvation being found fully in Him, He paid for all of our sins, there is nothing left for us to do, are all really important.

The third is the Mass. The Catholic Church says "The Eucharist is the most august sacrament, in which Christ himself is contained, offered and received"

This is a crucial point for us to understand. What the Roman Church teaches here is the important to understand and I will come back to it in detail, with the verses and the arguments on each side. We will also see how this particular belief greatly impacted Martin Luther and the other Reformers.

The forth is Penance. This is another of the crucial points with Rome. Listen to how Rome describes Penance: "Through penance, the faithful receive pardon through God's mercy for the sins they have committed. At the same time, they are reconciled with the Church community. The confession, or disclosure, of sins frees us and facilitates our reconciliation with others."

Penance is the result of the translation (mistranslation actually) of the Gospels into Latin. Where you and I would read "Repent" in our English Bibles today, Jerome had translated it "Do Penance." So an entire system of confession and works related to confession evolved in Roman Catholicism. To be forgiven of a sin, you had to confess it to a priest, do the work assigned to you (give money, say certain prayers, do a pilgrimage, etc) and then the priest could absolve you of your sin. We will study this belief in more detail soon as well.

Let’s get through a short definition of the rest of the sacraments before we end tonight.

The fifth is Anointing of the Sick. Rome defines the anointing of the sick as a special rite. A special dispensation of grace is given when a sick person is anointed and blessed by the priest. This is one of the three sacraments given to a person near death, what the church calls the "Last Rites." Penance, Anointing, and then a final Mass are seen as the best of the final acts that one can end life with. It puts you in God's favor more than simply dying with faith in Christ alone.

The sixth is Marriage. Rome says "The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership for the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring."

Rome has a high view of marriage, stemming from the view of the covenantal nature of marriage and the covenant between God and man. This is good, but what Rome goes further in saying is that. The church has historically been involved in marriage, not the state the way we see now.

Rome placed marriage as a sacrament in order to encourage the growth of Catholic families. It is not quite as good as living a life of perpetual virginity or celibacy (as those in the priesthood are supposed to), but for those outside religious life this was a special sacrament they could earn extra grace from.

The seventh is Holy Orders. This is the religious life I mentioned before. Living the life of a monk, priest, bishop, or nun was taught to be the best way to earn extra favor and grace from God. Entering a Holy Order was a special rite and those who lived in this lifestyle pleased God more.

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With all of those things in mind, you and I affirm only Two of them to be sacraments. Baptism and Communion. Though we differ from Rome greatly on our understanding of both. We will get into that in our next lesson. Baptism in the New Testament sense is not the same thing as what Rome understands, and likewise, Mass is not the same as Communion. We will explore that in our next time together.

Let's Pray.