Comparing Martin Luther And John Calvin

Martin Luther and John Calvin view on Sinful Person

Justification by faith (Sola Fide), which known to be the core value of the Reformation, is the belief that righteousness from God is considered as a recompense for sinner 's account through faith alone. The sixteenth-century movement for the reform of abuses in the Roman Catholic Church that result in the establishment of the Reformed and Protestant Churches. Reformers like Martin Luther and John Calvin were known as two of the most significant figures in the history of The Reformation. They both proclaimed Justification as the main subject of the gospel of God’s grace. They were well acknowledged for their common doctrines of Salvation, as the deliverance from sin and its consequences,

Luther believed that every sinful person has no ability to control the power of the flesh, but only by the grace of God 's (spirit) that a man can overcome the power of the flesh. He said “let no man therefore despair if he feels the flesh oftentimes to stir up new battles against the spirit, or if he cannot by and by subdue the flesh, and make it obedient to the spirit”(Many faces of Evil, 112). He was convinced that the way a man conducts himself (either good or bad) at a particular time depends on whether the flesh or the spirit is in control of that very man at that point in time. I strongly disagree with Luther on this aspect. I believe every man was born with the ability to differentiate between right and wrong. Although we might want to justify his argument by considering a situation where what someone thinks is right might be what another person 's classif as wrong, but in a situation whereby the sinner accepted his wrong doing and come forward to seek a forgiveness; that is to say, He already acknowledged that he did something terrible. so therefore the argument of “what wrong for someone is right for another” cannot justify Luther 's opinion on this because He (Luther) presumed that

Calvin ordered the execution of those he believed to be a sinner, among them were his childhood friend Michel Servetus whom he ordered to be burned to the stike. He also condemned 34 women that were accused of witchcraft to death by burning to ashes. He believed he can force every citizen of Geneva to become elect. Ken Curtis Ph.D. wrote in his article “the reformer wanted the Geneva to be like kingdom of God on earth” (John Calvin leads Geneva Reform Christianity.com). He pretty much sees himself as God’s advocates, Iwonder if his doctrine of election was ever reflected in his action.

While Calvin was condemning people to death because of their are sinners. Luther on the other hand was urging sinners to seek for the salvation of God by faith, he persuaded them to recites

“I will by faith and hope lay hold upon Christ, and by his word I will raise up myself, and being so raised up, I will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” Whenever they committed a sin. (Many faces of Evil,

113). Based on what I read in Luther 's biography, Luther was a kind of person that was struggling with his sin and as a leader, a monk, and a teacher, he was putting every effort to suppress his guilt