Martin Luther changed the course of Western Christian history as we know it. Indeed, it is a rather large feat. What is rather interesting though, was that though he was trying to make a statement, he was not, at first, trying to make a whole new church. He was just trying to call out the things the church was doing wrong. Then everything spiraled further as Luther did more research on his own and was excommunicated from the Catholic Church. Eventually, he wrote this document called The Babylonian Captivity of the Catholic Church which describes all of the entities in which the Catholic Church is taking away from the people. This included scripture, the Eucharist cup, and the understanding of what was understood since everything was spoken in Latin.
In his document he also made a new bold claim, that there are only 3 (or two) sacraments. He writes,
“To begin with, I must deny that there are seven sacraments, and for the present maintain there are but three: baptism, penance, and the bread. All three have been subjected to a miserable captivity by the Roman curia, and the church has been robbed of all her liberty. Yet, if I were to speak according to the usage of the Scriptures, I should have only one sacrament, but with three sacrament signs, of which I shall treat more fully at the proper time.”(1)
He later on in the document states that it is only bread and baptism, and does not include penance.(2) He was very wishy washy that way.
Regardless. This statement was a bold move in saying that ordination, anointing the sick, confirmation, or even marriage were not sacraments. He said this because he does not find these four as a part of biblical authority. Penance can be a toss-up between the two. It is scripturally bound as a holy action and important thing to do, but like the anointing of the sick, it may not need to live up to the name of a "Sacrament."
Though this may not have a strong argument for a change in music history, it does reflect more on how Martin Luther thinks. He thinks in terms of black and white, without any grey area. He knows what is Catholic and what is Lutheran. He only believes what he can find in scripture because he has found so many contradictions in the Church in his time period.
It makes me wonder-where do we find discrepancies in the Church today? Not just in the Catholic Church, but in all facets of Christianity. It leads us to a path on how we may be better Christians, how we may love one another, and how we may show God's mercy.
1. Martin Luther, Edited by Paul W. Robinson, The Annotated Luther: Church and Sacraments, “Babylonian Captivity of the Church,” Augsburg Fortress Publishers, (2016). 21.
2. Luther, "Babylonian Captivity," 21.
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