ections to the exploitative sale of indulgences, the sale of church offices, and other abuses were very common in Germany Luther's objections went deeper than the political, economic, and even moral questions raised by the church's behavior. Luther agreed with all the common objections to these practices but he had also gradually come to the conclusion that the only authority that mattered in spiritual affairs was that of Scripture. Thus, when pressed, he was forced to conclude that authority derived not from "the papacy, an institution of human origin, but solely [from] God's own words, the Scriptures" and this meant that he was forced to reject the authority of the papacy insofar as it had not been directly sanctioned by the scriptures (Maland 88-89). This notion of the absolute nature of scriptural authority became more fully developed and necessitated the rejection of the papacy that led to his eventual excommunication. Luther then found himself leading reform from without rather than within the church. But since the theses had been manifestations of popular objections to the tyranny and immorality of the church in Germany they had been rapidly disseminated, both in Latin and German, throughout the German-speaking world and gave Luther instant fame and credibility. Over the next few years Luther, understanding the value of the platform provided by the use of the vernacular and the printing press, became a great propagandist as he continued to exploit popular indignation against Rome in order to propagate the doctrine of scripture's absolute authority and all his subsequent deviations from the doctrines of the Roman church.
The condition of religious life in 1500 made it almost inevitable that some type of reform would take place and the discontent of the German people with the church was one of the major sources of potential conflict. The way the Reformation developed, however, was "due primarily to the personality and th...