The Christian Nobility
Luther’s attempts to interest the pope in reform had proved futile. He was likewise unsuccessful in having a general council convened to consider his propositions. Now, in the first of three great treatises, he called upon the secular rulers to concern themselves with the state of the church.
Appearing in August, 1520, the “Open Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation” flatly attacked corruption among the clergy and prodded the laity into doing something about it. Since all Christians are priests before God, Luther held it was incumbent upon them and particularly upon Christian rulers to feel responsible for the conduct of the church within their domains. As Christians they should abhor vice and wickedness regardless of whether it flourished on the main street or in the monastery.
No one, said the open letter, has been able to reform the Romanists because they have erected three walls of defense, “First, when pressed by the temporal power, they have made decrees and said that the temporal power has no jurisdiction over them. Second, when the attempt is made to reprove them out of the Scriptures, they raise the objection that the interpretation of the Scriptures belongs to no one except the pope. Third, if threatened with a council, they answer with the fable that no one can call a council but the pope.”
Luther demolished the first wall by showing that everyone is equal before God. Those holding the title of priest or bishop are not superior to other Christians nor do they differ except in vocation, by which also a cobbler differs from a blacksmith. The title of “priest” is conferred by laymen who themselves are priests in the sight of God. Thus the holder of a church title is not beyond the reach of temporal government.
He breached the second wall by pointing out that every enlightened Christian—layman or priest—has the right to seek God’s message for him in the Scriptures. The third wall tumbled through Luther’s insistence that every man, as a priest, shares responsibility for right management in the church.