Treatise on Good Works

Regimen Books Christian Classics publishes high-quality texts of important books. Each includes an informative, insightful introduction written today by an expert. The year 2017 marks the 500th anniversary of one of the most important events in history. In 1517 in Wittenberg, the German monk and theologian Martin Luther posted on the door of the town’s church his “Ninety-Five Theses.” The event lit the match that ignited the Protestant Reformation. Treatise on Good Works remains one of Luther’s clearest and most accessible introductions to his reforming work and theology. His goal was to outline a new, down-to-earth piety for all Christians. In the simplest, and most direct, fashion, he defines “good works” as those things we do to help build and maintain the church — in today’s terms, everything from manning the soup kitchen for the poor to serving on a medical mission trip. In opposition to the medieval doctrine that good works are the way to salvation, Luther responded simply. Of course, good works are important, he said, but they come after salvation, which derives from grace through faith. As the book demonstrates, Luther was a human being and was as richly engaged with his natural world as with his spiritual world.