#6
The pope himself cannot remit guilt, but only declare and confirm that it has been remitted by God; or, at most, he can remit it in cases reserved to his discretion. Except for these cases, the guilt remains untouched.
The first part of this thesis is pretty clear, but the middle (what almost seems as a partial redaction) is confusing. What does Luther mean here? What are these cases that allow the pope to remit guilt? I’m not quite sure, Luther is clearly not talking about sin, but guilt, literally (contemptis culpa) “the disdain for the crime.”
I partly think that this has to do with the Christian world-view dominant at the time. In the 1500’s there were deeds that were good and deeds that were bad; if people did bad things there was an understanding as to what type of actions they had done. To put it in other words, the codified morals of the Bible allowed the people to have a common moral reference with which to both be judged and to judge themselves. If they realized their transgression they were also taught the proper response was to react to it with contempt. The false placation of this disdain prevents true repentance, a dangerous tool of deception.