The Freedom of a Christian as the Christian Doctrine - Essay Example

?The Freedom of a Christian Section Among many important treatises written by Martin Luther to clarify and defend his position about the Christian doctrine is ‘Freedom of a Christian.’ The other treatises are ‘To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation’ and ‘The Babylonian Captivity of the Church’ (Luther, 1970). This paper undertakes an interpretation of this treatise. The thesis of the paper is that analysis of this treatise reveals that Christian justification is by faith rather than by actions. This is because most of the content of this treatise criticize those who try to justify themselves using their good actions by indicating that the same could be done by hypocrites. However, justification by faith can only be done through believing in Christ. Believing in Christ is the root of Christianity and thus justification using this mean would result to righteousness without slavery to the law. Section 2 Christian faith is very important in the life of a Christian. It is regarded to be among the virtues that could drive the life of a Christian towards achievement of righteousness and freedom. Christians have different levels of Christian faith. However, nobody should boast that he has sufficient faith. The author agrees in this treatise that he does not have a wealth of faith (Luther, 1970). However, temptations have to occur to test the degree of Christian faith that Christians have. Christian faith is attained through believing in Christ and grows through passing through temptations and overcoming them. The strength associated with it is great and an essential asset that could help Christians to grow in Christianity and become better Christians. Christians should not succumb to what other people say about them. They should behave like masters who are willing to please only Christ. It is always clear that a person cannot become what others say about him unless be makes himself a slave to it. In failing to become what others say, the Christian becomes what his faith demands him to become. Faith does not emphasize on the laws but requires a Christian what is right according to what Christ demands. As a result, the aspect of emphasize on Christian laws is eliminated when faith comes into play and emphasize on grace takes its place. As a result, Christians are made justified on by their actions but by their faith in Christ. This makes them free from the judgment and condemnation of others in terms of their actions. Although Christians are free from judgment and condemnation of law, they are required to be righteous and to serve other people. This is because righteousness and service to other people is a requirement of the faith in Christ. However, they should do this because of a desire to serve others and to please Christ and not because it is a doctrinal requirement. Therefore, righteousness and freedom should come from within a Christian without being caused by external factors. However, even within an individual Christian, there are two opposing forces. This is because an individual is made up of two persons. One person is the inner person and the other person is the outer person (Luther, 1970). What pleases the inner person does not please the outer person and vice versa. Christian faith makes Christians to emphasize mainly on pleasing the inner person. Physical person of a Christian can have various abilities like preaching, praying, and reading of scriptures. However, when these are not accompanied by faith they are of no use. This is because it can also be done by the individuals who are pretending to be Christians. The spiritual person can also undertake various works like contemplation and meditation. However, this is also insignificant without faith. This is because it might have little or no effect to the life of a Christian. Christian faith is however very crucial in the Christian life of an individual. This is because it promotes both righteousness and freedom of a Christian. This helps a Christian to grow and be able to overcome the temptations that might come on his way. Section 3 Freedom of a Christian document was written at a time when the pope was highly regarded. Christians in many countries regarded him as the final interpreter of the scriptures (Luther, 1970). As a result, the Christian laws were used by the pope and his close allies to oppress other Christians. This raised the need for Christians to be informed that they are not justified by doing what others regard to be right. Moreover, there was a need to inform Christians that trying to justify themselves through the law brings them slavery and does make them righteous. Since this document was written during this period, it must have been written to address these issues. Therefore, one of the ways that the historical context of the document use to shed light for the meaning of the document is explaining the issues that lead to the writing of the document. Another way is explaining what the author went through before writing this document. Before writing the document, the author had introduced a doctrine that contradicted with the Christian teachings of that time. This made him to be viewed as a rebel who was fighting Christian teachings. As a result, he was approached by several advocates of the catholic doctrine like Miltitz to drop his stand about Christianity (Luther, 1970). The author wrote this document to explain his stand to those who were accusing him of fighting the gospel. As a result, the document must have been written to explain the stand of the author. The stand of the author was that no Christian should try to justify himself through his actions. Therefore, in this way the historical context of this document shed more light to its meaning. Biographical details about the author’s life have several influences on my interpretation of this document. First, the author was a black person. During this period, black people were highly exploited by their white counterparts using the scripture. This makes me to interpret the document as one that was written to rescue people from being duped through Christianity. Moreover, the author had changed his name prior to writing this document from the way it was originally. According to Holder (2009), his name was Martin Luder until he changed it to Martin Luther, a few years before writing this document. This aimed to clarify his personality and the characteristic of his work. This is because when asked about the meaning of his new name he said that it meant free from the law (Holder, 2009). This makes me to interpret the document as related to freeing Christians from bondages of Christian laws. This is because the document was written just a few years after the author changed his name. The author of this document was a learned person. He was educated up to the university level to become a priest and an educator of Christian education at the University of Wittenberg (Guignon, 1999). This makes me to interpret the document as a well-researched work that had been written to address a problem. As a result, I regard every concept presented in this document very highly during my interpretation. Moreover, since the author was a learned individual, he must have been aware of rules of writing that can promote the interpretation of the literal work. Therefore, in the interpretation of this document I would not need to read and understand the whole document. This is because the author must have used topic sentences in each of the paragraphs that would represent the key idea written on that paragraph. Audience to which a document was intended to could enhance understanding of the document. The audiences of this document were the Christians of that early period. This document was mainly intended to the Christians who were oppressed by the Christian leadership using the Christian laws. The audience could be used to identify the intentions of writing the document as well as what the document aimed to achieve. As a result, it could help arriving at a proper understanding of the document. The message that the author intended to convey is that no one should oppress them using the Christian laws. This is because he indicates throughout the document that the law only enslaves an individual to the doctrine but does not provide growth in Christian life. In writing this document, the author makes several assumptions. One assumption is that it is the aim of every Christian to improve his righteousness. Another assumption is that all Christians had been denied Christian freedom by their leaders using the Christian laws. These assumptions are what make the author to select the theme of writing used in this document. Moreover, the author assumes that most of his audiences might have low levels of education. This is the reason why he does not use complex language and phrasing to represent the themes of the document. The evidence provided by the author to support his thesis is sufficient. This is because it includes verses of the bible from different books of both the New and the Old Testament. Moreover, it also includes what has already been experienced in churches of different parts of the world. However, his arguments are not sufficient. This is because they fail to compare and contrast real-life situations in which the freedom of Christian is abused or misused. Luther used the argument in this document because believed that it was important. One reason for this is that he did not want to mention any individual that was involved in denying Christians their freedom. Moreover, he did not want to appear as if he was inciting the Christians to rebel against the church. Therefore, this argument was the most appropriate to express his message. The argument in this document revealed reforms that were required in the church during those early times. These reforms formed the controversies that this author was involved later in his life as a priest. Therefore, the argument in this document indicated future controversies that this author was involved in through suggesting most of the critical reforms in the church advocated by this author. During the time it was written, the document introduced a new perspective to the doctrine of justification. Before then individuals believed that they could justify themselves as Christians by using their action. However, the document came to indicate that only faith could justify a Christian without making him a slave of the law. Although the doctrine of justification by faith was introduced several years ago, it has not gained roots on the lives of all Christians. According to Jungel (2006), the idea of grace of God and His Mercies has not been fully embraced by most Christians. As a result, Christians continue to believe that they could be justified through obeying the Christian laws. Therefore, the document continues to have the doctrinal importance it had when it was written. References Guignon, C. (1999). The Good Life. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Company. Holder, A. (2009). Christian Spirituality: The Classics. Abingdon: Routledge Publishers Ltd. Jungel, E. (2006). Justification: The Heart of the Christian Faith. New York, NY: Continuum International Publishing Group. Luther, M. (1970). Three Treatises. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press. Read More