Indulgences

It is very hard for me to be gracious about indulgences. The whole idea is just incredible to me. I am shocked that the Roman Catholic Church has not denounced the whole doctrine long before now.

But they have not! The Catholic Encyclopedia still defends the doctrine as accurate.

What Is an Indulgence

There are two ideas involved in the idea of an indulgence:

1. Christians receive "temporal punishment" for sin, even after its guilt and eternal punishment have been forgiven by God. That temporal punishment must be paid either here on earth or in a temporary, after-death holding place called purgatory.
2. The Roman Catholic Church has a "treasury," composed of the "superabundant merits of Christ and the saints," which the Church, through the exercise of the "power of the keys," can transfer to the benefit of those who are due temporal punishment.

Purgatory, at least, has some historical basis. This idea of "superabundant merits of the saints" being available to the Church for the benefit of those who need to be punished for sin already forgiven … well, I don't even know what to say. Since I can't think of anything nice to say, I'll say nothing at all.

My mother would be proud of me.

Superabundant Merits

The idea behind superabundant merits is that Christ and the saints did so many good works that they don't need them all. The merit they have obtained with God that is beyond their need can be transferred to others.

The Catholic Encyclopedia says:

Since the satisfaction of Christ is infinite, it constitutes an inexhaustible fund which is more than sufficient to cover the indebtedness contracted by sin, Besides, there are the satisfactory works of the Blessed Virgin Mary undiminished by any penalty due to sin, and the virtues, penances, and sufferings of the saints vastly exceeding any temporal punishment which these servants of God might have incurred.

Obviously, Protestants greatly object to this idea as a form of works salvation (besides the issue of the sinlessness of Mary). Personally, I think it's Scriptural and historical that works play a role in going to heaven, but this idea of transferring someone's good works to someone else has no basis that I can find in Scripture or early Christian history. Obviously Scripture talks about the righteousness of Christ being applied to those who repent and follow him, but not in the sense of this Roman Catholic doctrine.

Obtaining an Indulgence

In the early 16th century, indulgences were being used by the Roman Catholic Church to raise funds for the building of St. Peter's Basilica. Johann Tetzel, a German monk, was particularly adept at raising funds in this manner. To this day, the Roman Catholic Church condemns some of the promises Tetzel made (mostly concerning promising forgiveness without repentance), but they defend his right to sell indulgences as correct.

Martin Luther did not agree. If the Roman Catholic Church could really remove the suffering from purgatory, he said, then they ought to do it immediately and empty purgatory for free. Selling forgiveness for money seemed awful to him, as I imagine it does to any normal person not indoctrinated by Rome.

Sorry, honesty demands not being nice here. The sale of indulgences is an evil, and to sell them in the name of Christ is a far greater evil. It is more important to say an obvious truth than make attempts to have a "journalistic" approach to the history. I am a Christian first, an amateur historian second.

Speaking of history, where did this doctrine come from?

The History of Indulgences

Finding the history of this practice is very difficult. As the Catholic Encyclopedia points out, the word originally meant a kindness or favor.

Thus, during the Middle Ages, when pilgrimages were common and looked upon with favor, various Church authorities can be quoted as saying that indulgences were given in return for pilgrimages. In other words, the Church told people that if they went on a pilgrimage their sins would be forgiven.

However, just because some Church authority said such a thing doesn't mean that they believed in the doctrine of superabundant merits of the saints.

So what we're tracking is the change in the meaning of the word indulgence, and that's much harder to track than just finding out when the word began to be used.

I believe it should suffice to say that during the Middle Ages the Church, at least in Europe, had reached such a level of superstition that all sorts of religious activities—like pilgrimages and obtaining relics—were seen as having the power to forgive sins. This has nothing to do with Christianity. It is pure superstition, taken over from pagan religions.

That this superstition should have developed in later medieval Christianity into the sale of pieces of paper promising relief from purgatory is no surprise. We can only thank God that he allowed Martin Luther to be successful in his war against this embarrassing practice.