How Did Gratia And Sola Scriptura Influence Luther's Religious Beliefs

Luther was the most influential reformer of his time. Luther believed the Church was corrupt, and had formulated his own ideas about how the Church could keep its moral reputation. Luther formulated many ideas but at the center of it all were his ideas of sola fide, sola gratia, and sola scriptura. Luther believed that the addition of these ideas to the Church’s teachings would teach people the correct and true way to attain salvation, but also help the Church become morally good again.

Sola fide, sola gratia, and sola scriptura are Latin word which mean by faith alone, by grace alone, and by scripture alone respectively. These three teachings were what Luther believed to be the right way to salvation and what the Church should have been teaching instead of selling indulgences.

Luther believed that because the only way to be saved was through God’s grace, indulgences had no real power and since the Church had led its people to believe that indulgences did in fact have power; the selling of indulgences was a display of the Church’s corruption. Sola scriptura is the teaching that the Bible is the highest authority in practice and all matters concerning doctrine. This teaching enforced another one of Luther’s ideas, the priesthood of all believers, because it argued that although Church officials helped in explaining the word of God they were not as important as the Bible to Christian Salvation. Luther’s teachings of sola fide, sola gratia, and sola scriptura place emphasis on God’s power and word since teachings of sola fide and sola gratia convey that it is faith in God and God’s