Forgiveness and Consolation in the Religious Thought of Erasmus

Abstract

No religious issue in the Reformation was debated more bitterly than the theory of the forgiveness of sins. To Roman Catholics forgiveness meant the sacrament of penance, and its necessity was so evident to John Eck that he called auricular confession ‘the nerves of our religion and of Catholic discipline'. To Luther forgiveness meant personal certitude and salvation by faith—it meant the destruction of the Roman Catholic sacrament of penance. So important were these doctrines to Lutheranism that Melanchthon could completely summarize Luther's contribution to the church as his teaching of'the correct manner of penance and the correct use of the sacraments'. Significantly, Melanchthon adds this proof that Luther's greatness lies in these reforms: ‘many consciences testify this to me'.