5. Denial of the Power of the Pope
Luther's theses spread throughout Germany in two weeks, gaining an unanticipated notoriety. He was egged on still further by his opponents,
Tetzel, Silvester Prierias (the papal "master of the
palace," q.v.), Johann Eck (prochancellor of Ingolstadt and his chief adversary;
q.v.), and Hoogstraten, to all of whom he replied individually,
though his most important work on the questions iaof the volved in the controversy was his
Resolutiones disputationum de indulgentiarum
virtute (1518). Meanwhile he took part in an Augustinian
convention at Heidelberg, where he presented theses on the slavery of man to sin and on divine grace. In the courseof the controversy
on indulgences the question arose of the absolute power of the
pope, since the doctrine of the "treasure of the Church" was based on a bull of Clement VI. Luther saw himself branded as a heretic, and
the pope, who had determined to suppress his views, summoned
him to Rome. Yielding, however, to the unwillingness of the Elector Frederick to part with his theologian, the pope did not press the
matter, and the cardinal legate Cajetan was deputed to receive
Luther's submission at Augsburg (Oct., 1518). The latter, while professing his implicit obedience to the Church, boldly denied the absolute power of the pope, and appealed first "from the pope not
well informed to the pope who should be better informed" and then (Nov. 28) to a general council. Luther now declared that the papacy formed no part of the original and immutable essence of the
Church, and he even began to think that Antichrist ruled the Curia. He had already asserted at least the potential fallibility of a council representing the Church, and, denying
the church doctrine of excommunication, he was led by his con-
cept of the way of salvation to the new tenet that the Church is the congregation of the faithful. Still wishing to remain on friendly
terms with the elector, the pope made a last effort to reach a
peaceable conclusion with Luther. A conference with the papal chamberlain K. von Miltitz at Altenburg in Jan., 1519, led Luther to agree
to remain silent so long as his opponents should, to write a
humble letter to the pope, and to prepare a work to testify his honor of the Roman Church. The letter was written, but was not sent, since
it contained no retraction; while in a German treatise later
prepared, Luther, while recognizing purgatory, indulgences, and the invocation of the saints, denied all effect of indulgences on
purgatory. When, moreover, Eck challenged Luther's colleague
Carlstadt to a disputation at Leipsic, Luther joined in the debate (June 27-July 18, 1519), denying the divine right of the papacy,
and holding that the "power of the keys" had been given to the
Church (i.e., to the congregation of the faithful), affirming besides that belief in the preeminence of the Roman Church was not essential to
salvation and maintaining the validity of the Greek Church.
6. Development of views on the Eucharist, Priesthood, Church and Works.
There was no longer hope of peace. His writings were now circulated most widely, reaching France, England, and Italy as early as 1619, and
students thronged to Wittenberg to hear Luther, who had been
joined by Melanchthon in 1518, and now published his shorter commentary on
Galatians and his
Operationes in Psalmos, while at the
same time he received deputations from Italy and from the Utraquists of Bohemia. These controversies necessarily led Luther to develop his
doctrines further, and in his
Sermon von dem hochwürdigen
Sakrament des Leichnams Christi (1519) he set forth the significance of the Eucharist (see
Lord's Supper, II.,2, § 5, IV., 1, §§ 1-2), interpreting the transubstantiation of the bread as
the transformation of the faithful into the spiritual body of
Christ, i.e., into fellowship with Christ and the Saints. The basal concept of the Eucharist, moreover, according to him, it the
forgiveness of sins; and his entire theory is closely connected with
his mystic view of the all-embracing participation in salvation shared by the believer with Christ and his Church. At the same time, he
advocated that a council be called to restore communion in both
kinds, and denied the doctrine of seven sacraments (letter of Dec. 18, 1519). He likewise stripped the priesthood of all meaning other
than the general priesthood taught in the Bible, and cast doubt
on the entire doctrine of purgatory. The Lutheran concept of the Church (see
Church, the Christian, IV., § 2), wholly based on immediate relation to the Christ who gives
himself in preaching and the sacraments, war already developed in
his
Von dem Papsttum zu Rom, a reply to the attack of the Franciscan Alveld at Leipsic (June, 1520); while in his
Sermon von guten Werken,
