Welcome back to another episode of five minutes in church history. On this episode we are continuing our series on location and we are in a great location.

Just off the Rhine River is the Necker River and located right on the Necker River is the city of Heidelberg.

This ancient city was the site of two significant texts of the Reformation.

The first was a Luther text.

The year is 1518.

It is April 26, 1518.

Martin Luther has made the trek from his monastery at Vittenberg and he has come

here to the chapter house of the Augustinian cloister in the city of Heidelberg to present his

theses for a disputation. Now we think of disputation and we might think of

a debate as if Luther was squaring off with some figure or some official from the Roman Catholic Church.

But that's not what happened here.

What was disputed here was an idea, an idea of how we are righteous and made righteous and stand righteous before God.

Luther had started his contention with his church back as a monk at Vittenberg. On October 31st, 1517, he

nailed his 95 theses to the church door. They circulated quickly among the

Augustinian monks and some of the ideas that Luther opened up to their understanding in that text were ideas that these monks wanted some good discussion on and some good teaching on and Luther was more

than happy to fit the bill. So he came here he presented his 28 thesis. By the

time he hits number 16 I think Luther is hitting his stride.

He says, the person who believes that he can obtain grace by doing what is in him

adds sin to sin so that he becomes doubly guilty.

Luther is making a case that we as sinners have no ability,

have no opportunity whatsoever to produce anything that is going to be

pleasing to God. And if we try to somehow earn our way or we try to somehow merit

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