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Martin Luther’s Excommunication: 13 (of 50) Reasons

Martin Luther’s Excommunication: 13 (of 50) Reasons

Last updated on: June 13, 2026 at 1:04 pm by Dave Armstrong

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Martin Luther’s Excommunication: 13 (of 50) Reasons 2026-06-13T13:04:53-04:00 Dave Armstrong

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

: copyright Lux Veritatis, 2025.

His words are in blockquotes below, time-stamped to the video, so you can find each one.

*****

Back in 2006, I was asked by a Lutheran, “why was Luther excommunicated? In what way was he heterodox?” This video will provide a Catholic answer to that question.

Up until 1990, I was an evangelical Protestant, and an apologist then, too. Martin Luther, the founder of Protestantism, was my hero. I still admire him in several ways today, and Catholics agree with him on many things. But of course, we disagree on a lot of theological points, too, and have for over 500 years. I used to think — like most Protestants who know anything at all about Luther –, that he was only trying to reform all sorts of corruptions and sins among Catholics in the Catholic Church and go back to the Bible, and had no desire to separate himself. Nor did he have any significant theological disagreements.

The problem is that one rarely hears the Catholic perspective on these matters. There are always two sides to any story or conflict. And to be fair, one ought to become familiar with both. In any middle school debate team, the first thing one learns is that it’s necessary to know the opponent’s point of view, at least as good as they do themselves. But in this instance, it’s simply assumed that the Catholic Church was the big bad boogeyman and couldn’t possibly present any coherent, let alone convincing or biblical reply to Luther’s critiques.

I used to think that, and millions of Protestants continue to do so to this day, never having seen anything like what I present in this video. Indeed, how could or why would they believe differently if they have only read one side?

Luther had been excommunicated in January 1521, which was more than three years after he had posted his 95 Theses, kicking off the Protestant Revolt. Now, excommunication doesn’t mean “damned”: as is commonly thought. Rather, it’s an exclusion from the faithful and the sacraments. The intent is to bring about repentance in the person and their forsaking of error and/or sin so that they can be formally forgiven and return to normal communion. This practice is quite

biblical. So for example, St. Paul stated, “Take note of those who create dissensions and difficulties in opposition to the doctrine which you have been taught. Avoid them.” That’s Roman 16:17 in RSV.

In 1520, before he was excommunicated, Luther wrote two well-known and widely-read treatises, To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation in August and On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church in October. This is the backdrop to what happened to Luther when he was invited to the Diet of Worms in January 1521. The famous climax occurred on April 17th when 25 of Luther’s works were laid out — almost certainly including the two above –, and Luther was asked whether he would revoke their heresies. Luther asked to have a day to think and pray about it. Then on the next day he proclaimed, “I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything.” It’s less certain, but generally believed that he added the words, “Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise.”

The question then becomes, just what were all of these beliefs of Luther that caused so much controversy? And did the Catholic Church have a defensible warrant in casting Luther away? In Luther’s two treatises from 1520, I found no less than fifty stated beliefs or practices that were expressly contradictory to Catholic teaching. I document them in two of my articles that are also linked [below]. I won’t bore everyone with all fifty. Anyone can go read them if they want to. Here, I’m going to list 13 different ones in his own words.

#1 There is no true basic difference between laymen and priests.

#2 They play about with words trying to persuade us that the pope cannot err in matters of faith.

#3 If we are all priests, why should we not also have the power to test and judge what is right or wrong in matters of faith?

#4 Leave every man free to marry or not marry.

Here he is denying the validity of the practice of requiring priests be celibate.

#5 Popes, bishops, and monks. God has not instituted these offices.

#6 What spirit gave the pope authority to canonize saints?

#7 Transubstantiation is a monstrous idea.

#8 He describes as wicked the belief that “the Mass is a good work and a sacrifice.”

#9 Christ has given to every one of his believers the power to absolve even open sins.

#10 Concerning the seven sacraments, Luther states, “I deny that they can be proved from Scriptures.”

#11 As to divorce, it is still a question for debate whether it is allowable. It is still a greater wonder to me why they compel a man to remain unmarried after being separated from his wife by divorce.

#12 Luther calls the Catholic practice of annulment “one of endless other monstrosities.”

#13 Additionally, he had also stated at the Diet of Worms that “I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves.”

It’s clear that the Catholic Church could reasonably demand that Luther recant and renounce teachings, contrary to its creeds and confessions, in order to continue being a member in good standing, just as any group would. He refused because he assumed that he knew more than the Catholic Church. Now, lest anyone think that I’m trying to read his heart or question his motives, we know this with certainty from his own words. In his treatise, Against the Spiritual Estate of the Pope and the Bishops Falsely So-Called, from July 1522, Luther strikingly proclaimed,

From now on, I shall no longer do you the honor of allowing you or even an angel from heaven to judge my teaching or to examine it. I shall not have it judged by any man, not even by any angel. For since I am certain of it, I shall be your judge and even the angel’s judge through this teaching, as St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:3, so that whoever does not accept my teaching may not be saved, for it is God’s and not mine. Therefore, my judgment is also not mine, but God’s.

This is one of the most amazing things he ever wrote, and it’s found in the 55 volume Luther’s W**orks: Volume 39, pages 248 and 249. To reiterate, what body of Christians with established and agreed-upon beliefs would change fifty things in its doctrines because one person feels himself to be some sort of oracle from God or pseudo-prophet? No one who reads the two treatises from 1520 could reasonably doubt that Martin Luther had already ceased to be an orthodox

Catholic. He didn’t merely reluctantly come to his views because he was unfairly kicked out of the church. They were already set in stone by then. What the Catholic Church did with Luther was by no means unique and is perfectly defensible.

We have a Protestant example of a very similar thing: the Dutch Calvinists versus the Arminians, who opposed distinctive Calvinist teachings in the Synod of Dort, held in the Netherlands in 1618-19. At the end of it, thirteen Arminian ministers were ordered to sign a document and abstain from the ministerial activities of preaching, administering the sacraments, and visiting the sick. When they refused, they were sentenced as “disturbers of the public peace” and forced to leave the country. I don’t see any basic difference in principle or practice between this and what happened to Luther.

He disagreed with at least fifty Catholic doctrines and practices, and so was removed from the Catholic Church. The Dutch Arminians disagreed with the five famous hallmarks of Calvinism known as “TULIP” and so were removed from the Dutch Calvinist Church. That’s the Catholic answer to the question from a Lutheran with which we began: “Why was Luther excommunicated? In what way was he heterodox?” There are two sides to every coin.

*****

Related Articles and Treatises

50 Ways In Which Luther Had Departed From Catholic Orthodoxy by 1520 (and Why He Was Excommunicated)

50 Reasons Why Martin Luther Was Excommunicated (National Catholic Register, 11-23-16)

To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation (Martin Luther, August 1520)

On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church (Martin Luther, October 1520)

The Canons of Dort

Related Books
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Martin Luther: Catholic Critical Analysis and Praise (April 2008, 264 pages)

The “Catholic” Luther : An Ecumenical Collection of His “Traditional” Utterances (Dec. 2014, 166 pages)
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Related Web Pages
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Martin Luther: a Catholic Critique & Appraisal
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Lutheranism: Catholic Critique

Videos in The Martin Luther Series on Lux Veritatis

Did Martin Luther Support the DEATH PENALTY for Heretics? [Lux Veritatis, 5-1-25] +

13 Reasons Luther Was Excommunicated from the Catholic Church [Lux Veritatis, 5-2-25] +

The MYTH of Luther’s “Snow Covered Dung Hills” + a Theory [Lux Veritatis, 5-3-25] +

Civil War Chaos: Luther vs. Other Protestant Leaders, Etc. [Lux Veritatis, 5-4-25] +

Martin Luther’s Belief in Mary’s Immaculate Conception [Lux Veritatis, 5-5-25] +

Luther & the Myth of a Supposed Catholic Ban of the Bible [Lux Veritatis, 5-6-25] +

Was Martin Luther an Extreme “Faith Alone” Antinomian? [Lux Veritatis, 5-8-25] +

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Photo Credit: copyright Lux Veritatis, 2025.

Summary: Should any Christian group change fifty of its beliefs because one pseudo-prophet demanded it? That was Luther & the Catholic Church in 1521. I highlight 13 of these.

Martin Luther

Diet of Worms

Luther & the Catholic Church

Luther's excommunication

Martin Luther

On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church

To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation

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