..the raving of...fools" which leads to "the suppression of Christian faith, the denying of the divine Word, and the blaspheming of the diving majesty." Were the world made up of "real Christians" (369), Luther points out, no "prince, king, lord, sword, or law" (written by men who govern the Catholic church) "would be needed." The Holy Spirit is the only law required for salvation, he said, often and in many ways. The Holy Spirit (369) simply asks no law, but leads followers of Christ down the path of doing "wrong to no one," loving "every one," and to "...willingly and cheerfully" suffer any injustice "...and even death from every one." Luther ("Twenty-seven Proposals for Improving the State of Christendom") puts in writing his answer to the laws of the Roman church, and his "proposals" are profound and revolutionary. He calls for the separation of church and state, which was a radical idea for those times. He calls for the abolishment of taxes forced on people by the church, and rages against the lavish spending in Rome. And he calls for the understanding, in...

What one sees in Rome "is not exemplary, but scandalous," he added; and hence, the German people must not participate in practices that give more power to corrupt individuals pretending to be of God. And moreover (481), when Luther went to the extreme of advocating economic changes, because he did not see "many goodly habits which have been introduced into the country by commerce ("silk, velvet, and articles of gold"), he was showing that he saw the big societal picture, not just the spiritual and secular picture.
Works Cited

Dillenberger, John. (1961). Martin Luther: Selections From His Writings.…