Martin Luther VS John Calvin essays

Martin Luther VS John Calvin essays Although Martin Luther and John Calvin did share some of the same beliefs, they had many factors that boldly differentiated them. The main difference in the teachings of Martin Luther and John Calvin was their outlooks on salvation. Martin Luther believed in salvation through good works, while John Calvin strongly believed in predestination. Martin Luther and John Calvins teachings were also different due to the fact that Martin Luther believed in the separation of the church and state, while John Calvin did not. Despite their differences, they did share the belief that the Catholic Church was at fault and committed obscenities that were unholy, and that should be reformed. Martin Luther believed that one can retrieve salvation through faith and good acts. He basically believed that what you did throughout your life on Earth would determine whether or not you would receive salvation. If you had faith in God, prayed, read the bible, and did good deeds; you would then receive salvation. Therefore, Martin Luther believed that people could make the decision of how they would live their lives, and then depending upon that, God would judge them. Through this, we can infer that Martin Luther was suggesting individualism in this belief because he is saying that men have a say in whether or not they will receive salvation. On the contrary, John Calvin strongly believed in predestination. Predestination was the belief that God had a plan for each and every person at the time of creation. Man had no input on his own salvation. This belief in predestination lead to another one of John Calvins beliefs, which was that men existed either as an elect or a reprobate. An elect was a person who would receive Gods grace, and a reprobate was a person who would not receive Gods grace. The people who were elect simply did not do things that would condemn them, since God had already predetermined that they would be elect and receiv...