1983 MARTIN LUTHER - THEOLOGY - LUTHERAN #2065 Plate Block of 4 x 20 cents US Postage Stamps

Pay with

About 1983 MARTIN LUTHER - THEOLOGY - LUTHERAN #2065

On November 10. 1983 in Washington DC; the USPS celebrated the 500th anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther, a German priest and professor of theology who initiated the Protestant Reformation. Strongly disputing the claim that freedom from God's punishment of sin could be purchased with money, he confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his The Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. His refusal to retract all of his writings at the demand of Pope Leo X in 1520 and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms in 1521 resulted in his excommunication by the pope and condemnation as an outlaw by the emperor. Luther taught that salvation is not from good works, but a free gift of God, received only by grace through faith in Jesus as redeemer from sin. His theology challenged the authority of the pope of the Roman Catholic Church by teaching that the Bible is the only source of divinely revealed knowledge and opposed sacerdotalism by considering all baptized Christians to be a holy priesthood. Those who identify with Luther's teachings are called Lutherans. Martin Luther was born on November 10 1483 and died on February 18, 1546 at the age of 62.