Welcome back to another episode of five minutes in church history. On this episode we are

going to return to Martin Luther's beloved 95 theses. There is a phrase in

his thesis number 37 that is a

fascinating history in church history and I'd like to talk to you about that phrase.

In thesis number 37, Luther is engaging letters of pardon.

These of course are the indulgence letters that sparked Luther's ire and led him to post the 95 the theses and led to the

Protestant Reformation. And so for the last few theses he's been carrying on about how the practice of the church is simply wrong.

And in thesis number 37, this is what he says.

Every true Christian, whether living or dead, has part in all the benefits of Christ and the church.

And this is granted to him by God even without letters of pardon.

Of course, his reference there to Christians living or even without letters of pardon.

Of course, his reference there to Christians living or dead

is also referring to the indulgence sale

because you could buy an indulgence not only for you,

but you could also buy an indulgence for your dead relatives in purgatory.

And what Luther is telling us is that participating in the benefits of Christ has nothing to do with an indulgence letter, but that it is granted to us by God.

Well, that's the phrase that I'd like to talk to you about. The phrase in Latin is participato omnium bannorum. In English, we would say that

you participate or participation in all the benefits of Christ and the Church.

Luther first came across this phrase in studying Thomas Aquinas.

And Thomas Aquinas talked about this phrase

because of his discussion of Plato and Aristotle.

There was a bit of a debate that was carried on

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