From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Part one of a four-part series.

In the Roman Catholic church, the 21st century is the 16th century all over again. But few Evangelicals seem to be taking notice - or seizing the opportunity.

Luther's Great Protest

On October 31st, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his famous 95 Theses to the door of the church at Wittenberg, Germany. One of Luther's main reasons for publishing that document was the question, "Can a church absolve you of your sins?" Luther was protesting the sale of indulgences - documents issued by the Roman Catholic church declaring that a person's sins were forgiven in exchange for a financial contribution to the church, or other "good works." In fact, Luther was calling into question not merely the sale of such pieces of paper, but the idea that the church had the power to forgive sins at all.

Luther raised this question based on the authority of Scripture. He had been brought up in Roman Catholic tradition, and had been educated and ordained as a priest with the alleged power to forgive sins. But Luther began to search the Bible, and he found that it disagreed with the pronouncements of the church on indulgences and many other matters. Faced with the choice between human wisdom and God's wisdom, Martin Luther became a Scripture-driven man.

Luther was not the first to question the issuing of indulgences, but in God's providence his particular protest spread like wildfire across Europe. In many respects October 31st, 1517 marked the beginning of what came to be known as the Protestant Reformation. Today, a few churches still remember October 31st not as pagan Halloween, but as Reformation Day.

But those who do not learn from the errors of history are doomed to repeated them.

500 Years Later: History Repeated

The practice of selling indulgences officially ended in 1567, and the issuance of indulgences even without payment diminished in the centuries that followed. However, the practice did not die out entirely. Catholic prayer books have continued to include tables of indulgences that can allegedly be earned by reciting certain prayers in the book.

But in the 21st century, the Roman Catholic church is offering plenary indulgences once again - full absolution from all sins. The practice was first re-instituted on a limited basis under Pope John Paul II, but the pace of implementation has accelerated under Benedict XVI. In 2009 the New York Times reported on the announcement that was posted in Roman Catholic church bulletins and web sites around the world: "Bishop Announces Plenary Indulgences." In March of 2020, Pope Francis announced that he would grant a plenary indulgence to those faithful who watched or listened to his extraordinary blessing "urbi et orbi" (to the city and the world). As was reported in the Times,

Dioceses around the world have been offering Catholics [an alleged] spiritual benefit that fell out of favor decades ago - the indulgence, a sort of amnesty from punishment in the afterlife - and reminding them of the church's clout in mitigating the wages of sin.

The fact that many Catholics under 50 have never sought one, and never heard of indulgences except in high school European history (Martin Luther denounced the selling of them in 1517 while igniting the Protestant Reformation), simply makes their reintroduction more urgent among church leaders bent on restoring fading traditions of penance in what they see as a self-satisfied world.

"Why are we bringing it back?" asked Bishop Nicholas A. DiMarzio of Brooklyn, who has embraced the move. "Because there is sin in the world."

Like the Latin Mass and meatless Fridays, the indulgence was one of the traditions decoupled from mainstream Catholic practice in the 1960s by the Second Vatican Council, the gathering of bishops that set a new tone of simplicity and informality for the church. Its revival has been viewed as part of a conservative resurgence that has brought some quiet changes and some highly controversial ones, like Pope Benedict XVI's decision to lift the excommunications of four schismatic bishops who reject the council's reforms.

The indulgence is among the less noticed and less disputed traditions to be restored. But with a thousand-year history and volumes of church law devoted to its intricacies, it is one of the most complicated to explain.

According to church teaching, even after sinners are absolved in the confessional and say their Our Fathers or Hail Marys as penance, they still face punishment after death, in Purgatory, before they can enter heaven. In exchange for certain prayers, devotions or pilgrimages in special years, a Catholic can receive an indulgence, which reduces or erases that punishment instantly, with no formal ceremony or sacrament.

There are partial indulgences, which reduce purgatorial time by a certain number of days or years, and plenary indulgences, which eliminate all of it, until another sin is committed. You can get one for yourself, or for someone who is dead. You cannot buy one - the church outlawed the sale of indulgences in 1567 - but charitable contributions, combined with other acts, can help you earn one. There is a limit of one plenary indulgence per sinner per day.[1]

Rome has, in effect, turned the clock back 500 years by offering plenary indulgences once again. But this is only possible because Rome's essential position on sin and salvation has never really changed at all.

Evangelical Indifference

The difference is that today few Evangelicals are raising their voices in protest as Luther did 500 years ago. Few voices call out to those who have been steeped in man-made church tradition that leads to Hell, pointing them to the Bible as the only legitimate source of authority given by Christ to His church. Few voices proclaim the Gospel message that absolution from sin is not to be found in a church or a human priest, but in the one and only great High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The 21st century Evangelical church has largely forgotten what it means to be Protestant. Many Evangelicals make common cause with the Roman Catholic church without a second thought. Turn on the radio, and you will hear numerous reputedly conservative Evangelical preachers approvingly quoting Roman Catholic writers in their sermons. And many Evangelical preachers and church members today are pluralists: They believe that Roman Catholicism also offers a legitimate path to eternal life, just a slightly different one.

What Does Scripture Say?

But what does God's Word say about all of this? Can a human priest absolve you of your sins? Can the repetition of set prayers, the giving of charitable contributions, and other good works earn indulgences? Who has the authority to forgive sins, and on what basis? Is it a man or a church, or is it God? Do we cooperate in being forgiven, or is it entirely on the basis of grace? Can Evangelicals make common cause with Roman Catholicism? (And here we use the term "Evangelical" in its only legitimate sense - true Bible-believers who believe and preach the one true Gospel.)

In the next article of this series, we shall begin answering those questions.

References:

1. Paul Vitello, "For Catholics, a Door to Absolution is Reopened," New York Times, February 10, 2009.

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