The
Protestant Reformation reacted against the concepts of grace and merit as they were understood in late medieval Catholic theology.
Luther and Lutheran theology Martin Luther's posting of his
Ninety-five Theses to the church door in
Wittenberg in 1517 was a direct consequence of the perfunctory
sacramentalism and treasury doctrines of the medieval church. The act was precipitated by the arrival of
Johann Tetzel, authorized by the
Vatican to sell
indulgences. The effectiveness of these indulgences was predicated on the doctrine of the treasury of grace proclaimed by
Pope Clement VI. The theory was that merit earned by acts of piety could augment the believer's store of sanctifying grace. Gifts to the Church were acts of piety. The Church, moreover, had a treasury full of grace above and beyond what was needed to get its faithful into heaven. The Church was willing to part with some of its surplus in exchange for earthly gold. Martin Luther's anger against this practice, which seemed to him to involve the purchase of salvation, began a swing of the
pendulum back towards the Pauline vision of grace, as opposed to James's. Luther taught that men were helpless and without a plea before God's justice, and their acts of piety were utterly inadequate before his infinite holiness. Were God just, and not merciful, everyone would go to
hell, because everyone, even the best of mankind, deserves to go to hell. Mankind's inability to achieve salvation by its own effort suggests that even the best intentions are somehow tainted by mankind's sinful nature. This doctrine is sometimes called
total depravity, a term derived from
Calvinism and its relatives. It is by faith alone () and by grace alone () that men are saved.
Good works are something the believers should undertake out of gratitude towards their Savior; but they are not sufficient for salvation and cannot earn anyone salvation; there is no room for the notion of "merit" in Luther's doctrine of redemption. (There may, however, be degrees of reward for the redeemed in
heaven.) Only the unearned, unmerited grace of God can save anyone. No one can have a claim of entitlement to God's grace, and it is only by his generosity that salvation is even possible. As opposed to the treasury of grace from which believers can make withdrawals, in Lutheranism salvation becomes a declaration of spiritual
bankruptcy, in which penitents acknowledge the inadequacy of their own resources and trust only in God to save them. Accepting Augustine's concern for legal justification as the base metaphor for salvation, the believers are not so much made righteous in Lutheranism as they are considered covered by Christ's righteousness. Acknowledging that they have no power to make themselves righteous, the penalty for their sins is discharged because Jesus has already paid for it with his blood. His righteousness is credited to those who believe in and thus belong to him.
Calvin and Reformed theology Calvinist theology of salvation is characterized by divine
monergism. It defines salvation as a process in which God alone is the author of every stage, working entirely through His grace and without any human participation. The French reformer
John Calvin was profoundly influenced by
Augustinian soteriology and systematized it further in his
Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536). The Calvinistic interpretation of
predestination rests on
theological determinism. It teaches that God has foreordained both those who will be saved and those who will be damned—a concept known as "
double-predestination". In accordance with this view, Calvin affirmed the doctrine of
perseverance of the saints, arguing for the unconditional preservation of the elect. This doctrine reflects a consistently monergistic understanding of salvation, viewing it as entirely dependent on the grace of God from beginning to end. Within
Reformed theology, two forms of divine grace are distinguished in relation to conversion—one extended universally, the other reserved for the
elect. The first,
common grace, denotes God’s benevolent influence that restrains sin and bestows various temporal blessings upon all people. However, it neither overcomes humanity's
total depravity nor possesses salvific intent. The second form of grace unfolds through two successive operations:
effectual calling, by which God inwardly summons the elect, and
irresistible grace, which regenerates and enables them to respond in faith.
Classical and Wesleyan Arminian theology In the beginning of the 17th century, the Dutch theologian
Jacobus Arminius formulated
Arminianism and departed from Calvin's theology in particular on
election and predestination. Arminianism affirms the compatibility between human
free will and
divine foreknowledge, and its incompatibility with
theological determinism. Predestination in Arminianism is based on divine foreknowledge, unlike in Calvinism. Thus, the offer of salvation through grace does not act irresistibly in a purely cause-effect, deterministic method but rather in an influence-and-response fashion that can be both freely accepted and freely denied. In Arminianism, God takes initiative in the salvation process and his grace comes to all people. This is done through
prevenient grace which acts on all people to convince them of the Gospel, draw them strongly towards
salvation, and enable the possibility of sincere faith. Later,
John Wesley also rejected the Calvinist doctrine of predestination, and had the same Arminian understanding as expressed in
Wesleyan theology. It remains the standard teaching of
Methodist churches. Wesley also appealed to prevenient grace, stating that God makes the initial move in salvation, but human beings are free to respond or reject God's graceful initiative. The doctrine of prevenient grace remains one of Methodism's most important doctrines. John Wesley distinguished three kinds of
divine grace in the process of salvation: 1. "Prevenient grace" which is an enabling grace preceding
regeneration ("prevenient" means preceding). 2. "Justifying grace" which can bring regeneration but which is resistible. 3. "Sustaining grace" which helps a person to remain into regeneration, and to reach
sanctification and final salvation. In particular Wesley taught that Christian believers are to participate in the
means of grace and to continue to grow in the Christian life, assisted by God's sustaining grace.
The Protestant Reformation and ecclesiology Protestantism in all three major schools of theology – Lutheran, Calvinist, and Arminian – emphasize God's initiative in the work of salvation, which is achieved by grace alone through faith alone, in either stream of thinking – although these terms are understood differently, according to the differences in systems. Classical Calvinism teaches that the sacraments are "signs and seals of the covenant of grace" and "effectual means of salvation", and Lutheranism teaches that new life, faith, and union with Christ are granted by the Holy Spirit working through the sacraments. However, for a large portion of the Protestant world, the sacraments largely lost the importance that Luther (and to a slightly lesser degree, Calvin) attributed to them. This happened under the influence of ideas of the
Anabaptists which were ideas also seen in the Donatists in North Africa in 311 AD, and these ideas then spread to Calvinists through the
Congregationalist and
Baptist movements, and to Lutherans through
Pietism (although much of Lutheranism recoiled against the Pietist movement after the mid-19th century). Where the sacraments are de-emphasized, they become "ordinances", acts of worship which are required by Scripture, but whose effect is limited to the voluntary effect they have on the worshipper's soul. This belief finds expression in the
Baptist and
Anabaptist practice of
believer's baptism, given not to infants as a mark of membership in a Christian community, but to adult believers after they have achieved the
age of reason and have professed their faith. These ordinances are never considered works-righteousness. The ritual as interpreted in light of such ideas does not at all bring about salvation, nor does its performance bring about the forgiveness of sins; the forgiveness which the believer has received by faith is merely pictured, not effectively applied, by baptism; salvation and participation in Christ is memorialized ("this do in remembrance of me" in the Lord's Supper and baptism picturing a Christian's rebirth as death to sin and alive in Christ), not imparted, by the Eucharist. The Church to the Baptists becomes an assembly of true believers in Christ Jesus who gather together for worship and fellowship and remembering what Christ did for them. ==See also==