Abstract

Martin Luther considered it to be of particular importance that the sinner is justified by God’s acceptance and grace. He supposed that this frees people from sin and also serve their neighbours. People are enabled to do deeds as a consequence of their Christian faith but not as a premise for their faith. Christian freedom should be lived and exercised in social and personal relationships based on an inner attitude of gifted freedom and not be motivated by the wish to placate God or other persons. This freeing concept of liberty of the Protestant Reformers contrasts strongly with the prevalent concept of today’s society, “which interprets freedom as a manifestation of human performance or activities toward self-realisation”. In contrast, freedom in Luther’s sense is closely related to caring for one’s neighbour. My personal freedom is only achieved with other people – uplifting relationships with others empower personal freedom.