Tetzel Selling Indulgences

About the time that Martin Luther began to study the New Testament and was amazed at its simplicity-- when he was grasping the great Bible Truth of justification by faith--he encountered Tetzel. The effect was to convince him the more that great errors had gradually crept into the faith and spirit of the Church. Tetzel was selling Indulgences under the Pope's authority. The proceeds were to be used in completing St. Peter's Cathedral at Rome.

Tetzel may or may not have exceeded his authority, but the record is that he preached, not the merit of Christ's sacrifice, but the power of the Pope, and of himself, his agent, saying, You have friends in Purgatory, suffering there for various sins. The Pope has the power to release them; I am his agent. Those who donate to this fund drop their money into this box, assured that the moment they do so their friends will be released from Purgatorial suffering.

Catholic though he still was, and a believer in Purgatory, Luther could not tolerate such a commercial proposition as that the grace of God should be purchased with money. He denounced Tetzel vigorously.

So far as we are aware, the public sale of Indulgences has been stopped in most civilized lands, but until recently in Mexico many Church tables were spread with Indulgences, specifying various sins and crimes, and bearing fixed prices.

Protestants, and some Catholics, have assumed that these Indulgences are permits to sin. The Church of Rome, however, claims that they never issue permits to commit sin, but merely so much remission of Purgatorial sufferings.

Amongst Bible students today, there seems to be a growing conviction that the Bible teaches that there is no consciousness in death--that the awakening moment in the Resurrection Morning will connect up with the dying thought. The proof- texts for Purgatory they apply to saints in this life, to the world's "stripes" in the next Age, and to the "time of trouble."