Martin Luther was a professor, author, hymnwriter, German priest, and theologian. According to Wikipedia, “A former Augustinian friar, he is best known as the seminal figure in the Protestant Reformation and the namesake of Lutheranism. Luther was ordained to the priesthood in 1507.”

\Martin Luther wrote On the Freedom of a Christian in the year 1520. According to Wikipedia, “On the Freedom of a Christian, sometimes also called “A Treatise on Christian Liberty”, was the third of Martin Luther’s major reforming treatises of 1520″. The three main points of this treatise are “bondage”, “freedom”, and “love”.

Bondage: God created use in his own image, and so therefore we are perfect, right? Wrong! We are slaves to sin, in bondage to sin. This results in the breakdown of communities, and in evil. When we do not believe in the Bible, or Jesus dying for us, then we tend to try to find other ways to earn Gods love and get our way into Heaven. When people think “I want to get this” or “I want to do that”, they think that they will be happy, but in in doing this, they risk turning others into objects meant to serve their needs. Basically, the bondage to sin results in terrible things.

Freedom: The good news is that God’s response to sin is healing and reconciliation and not punishment. Our sin is Christ’s, and Christ’s “goodness” is our “goodness”. This is called the “happy exchange” by Luther.

Love: According to Living Lutheran, “Love begets love. It’s impossible for true faith not to yield abundant fruits of love because it is by faith that we awaken to God’s abundant love for us in Christ—and love wants to love…. Love is the fruit of faith. Love is the mark of the true Christian.”

Explain Calvin’s main points in the selection you read from the Institutes of the Christian Religion. How does Calvin answer those who say predestination makes God into a being who dispenses justice unequally? According to Wikipedia, “John Calvin was a French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation.” He wrote the book the Institutes of the Christian Religion. According to Wikipedia, “Institutes of the Christian Religion is John Calvin’s seminal work of systematic theology. Regarded as one of the most influential works of Protestant theology, it was published in Latin in 1536 and in his native French language in 1541, with the definitive editions appearing in 1559 and in 1560.”

Basically Calvin’s main points on this book is salvation of man through faith alone, and nothing else. Also, for the sake of consistency and maintaining that God judges indiscriminately, he believed that God chose from the beginning who will go to Heaven, and who will go to Hell.