How did Luther and the church differ on achieving salvation?

Answer 1

Well first, it's salvation. Second, the church believed salvation was achieved through buying indulgences (Catholicism). Luther believed that salvation can be achieved by believing in Jesus Christ.

Answer 2

Roman Catholic AnswerTo effectively discuss the question of salvation and how the view of Christ and His Church differs from that of Martin Luther, you must start with a dictionary to define your terms. There is nothing more confusing than to try and compare the doctrine of salvation as it is understood by protestants and by Catholics. Catholics take the entire Bible as inerrant, M. Luther focuses on a few verses of St. Paul to the exclusion of everything else: the rest of St. Paul, the other books in The Bible, and the teaching of Our Blessed Savior, Himself. It can perhaps be reduced to a view by M. Luther that God offers salvation and if a man accepts it, he is "saved" no matter what he does for the rest of his life after that. For M. Luther salvation was a one time event that rendered the rest of his life meaningless. He could go out and sin outrageously, and often, and it would only prove God's mercy (basically his words). Catholics believe that our Blessed Savior called us to conversion, and offers us salvation if we live our lives striving for that conversion which, with God's grace and mercy, will make us perfect. If we die in that state - with no mortal sin on our soul, we are then "saved". If we are not yet perfect, God in His infinite mercy cleanses us from the effects of sin still clinging to us so that we can enter heaven - this is called purgatory. M. Luther's view of salvation was that Jesus Christ did all the work and that we, personally, are just a pile of manure (his words, not mine) that gets covered with snow. When God looks at us, all He sees is His Son, and lets us into heaven. Despite all of Jesus' teaching, we are not really changed. M. Luther explicitly denies St. Paul's words to "work out our salvation with fear and trembling." St. James, in his Epistle, teaches the opposite, and M. Luther realized that St. James disagreed with him and attempted to throw him out of the Bible. St. Peter, explicitly states, in his Epistle, that many things in Paul's letters are hard to understand and the ignorant and foolish twist them to their own destruction. M. Luther is the living example of St. Peter's words being playing out in large letters, and in tens of thousands of "denominations" all of whom take M. Luther as their patron saint, and all of whom disagree with each other.