“Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God. It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty headed life you grew up in. He paid with Christ’s sacred blood you know.” — 1 Peter 1:18-19 The Message
Many of you will probably not recognize the name Johann Tetzel. But Johann became infamous during the late 15th century as Pope Leo X’s master salesman of indulgences. Indulgences were and are the Roman Catholic church’s “get out of purgatory” cards that could be had for a price.
Tetzel traveled from village to village in Germany with a brass-bound chest, a bag of printed receipts and an enormous cross draped with the papal banner. His entrance into the town square, with the papal decree announcing the indulgences on a velvet cushion, was heralded with bells, candles, flags and relics accompanied by this clever little ditty,
“When the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.”
Staging his show in the nave of the local church, Tetzel would announce, “I have here the passports . . . to lead the human soul to the celestial joys of paradise. The Holy Father has the power in heaven and earth to forgive sin, and if he forgives it, God must do so also.” The cost of the indulgence, Tetzel was quick to point out, was cheap when the alternatives were taken into account.
In Germany, Tetzel exceeded his quota, as he always did as thousands responded. Indulgences were most popular among the poor, yet it also hit them the hardest because they had the least money to spare—and there were no discounts. Tetzel was supposedly raising money for the construction of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome but how much of the funds ever got to Rome to build the church is to this day, a mystery.
Tetzel’s indulgence-selling campaign was one of the prime movers of the Reformation which would lead a priest by the name of Martin Luther—at great personal risk—to speak out against such a ludicrous practice. When Luther posted his famous “Ninety-Five Theses” on the church door in Wittenberg, Germany in 1511, he was issuing a challenge to all comers to debate the biblical truth of justification (declaring or making righteous in the sight of God) by faith alone and not by works (or indulgences). The apostle Peter (who ironically is claimed by the Roman church to be its first Pope) stated it very clearly: Your debt was “paid with Christ’s sacred blood.”
Grace Is Not For Sale.
Tetzel’s problem, among many, was the belief that Christ’s death on the cross was not enough for us to be saved. But whenever you have a belief system based on good works in order to be saved, the scale must somehow be tipped in your favor by the addition of something else—like more works.
The apostle Paul also made this very clear in his letter to the believers in Ephesus, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). Christ’s shed blood was not only “sacred” —it was sufficient.
Jesus, who is our ultimate authority in all matters, made this truth very clear early in his ministry. On the day after the miracle of the feeding of the 5000, the multitudes went searching for him again for more food. Jesus, knowing they were after more physical food, challenged them by saying,
“Don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you. For God the Father has given me the seal of his approval.” They replied, “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?” Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent” (John 6:27-29 NLT).
That’s all that’s needed my friends. That’s the only work that is required.
Grace Is Not For Sale.
Maranatha.
