Theses 5

The pope neither desires nor is able to remit any penalties except those imposed by his own authority or that of the canons.

This is the one that scares me the most. The Pope is limited to punish only the rules he creates and only to remit these penalties. This means the pope does not have the power to absolve people of their sins. This will become a major issue later in the reformation but here it is not fully developed.

Luther shows here that he does not deny the sacrament of penance but tells us that we can not put our entire life in the hands of this sacrament. Luther is willing to admit here he is dazed and confused. But then he lists out several different punishments which I am assuming he does not think the Pope has the Authority to remit.

The First punishment listed is eternal punishment, hell of the damned, which God alone can remit. Luther seems to believe only God can forgive sins. He must have been with the Pharisees when Jesus says to the paralytic that your sins are forgiven (Matthew 9:1-8). Jesus reveals to the people this power is given to men to forgive each other their sins.

I also think that Luther is trying to save the pope from stress from these indulgence preachers, because this is not within Canon Law for him to do and therefore the pope would not act in such a way. Luther does admit that he is unsure of this Thesis and desires to learn. Thank you.

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