On the Freedom of a Christian was the third of Martin Luther’s major reforming treatises of 1520, appearing after his Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation (Aug. 1520) and the work Prelude on the Babylonian Captivity of the Church, (October 1520). It was in these three treatises that he developed the most important of his thought. The work was published in November 1520 in Latin, with a German version appearing soon after. Luther at age 46 (Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1529) The Luther seal Martin Luther (November 10, 1483 – February 18, 1546) was a German monk, [1] priest, professor, theologian, and church reformer, whose teachings inspired the Reformation and deeply influenced the doctrines and culture of the Lutheran and Protestant traditions. ... On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church is a theological and historical work by the Protestant Reformer, Martin Luther. ...

The treatise set out in detail Luther's doctrines of justification by faith and the priesthood of all believers. The treatise opens with two apparently conflicting statements:

• A Christian is a free lord, subject to none.
• A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant, subject to all.

From this point, Luther develops the concept of freedom through grace, and the meaning of this freedom. Look up Grace in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

In style, the treatise is apparently much more reconciliatory than Luther’s two earlier major works. The style and language is uplifting and reassuring, making it not hard to understand why this text has been so popular among later Christian readers. The German version opens with a letter to pope Leo X, in which Luther appears to pull back from his previous identification of the pope as Antichrist which he had made in his two previous treatises, drawing a distinction between Leo’s corrupt advisers and his own duties. Whether this reconciliation was genuinely intended is, however, a debated matter. Luther deliberately dated the letter 6 September 1520, so as to make it appear as if it was written before the arrival in Wittenberg of the papal bull threatening Luther with excommunication. Some commentators view this as a genuine attempt at reconciliation on Luther’s part; others, however, see it as an attempt on Luther’s part to appear publicly reconciliatory and gain moral high ground. The letter was, after all, published in German, a language Leo X could not understand. Please wikify (format) this article as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... Papal bull of Pope Urban VIII, 1637, sealed with a leaden bulla. ...

The work was highly popular. Indicating the size of the lay vernacular readership to which Luther’s work was increasingly appealing, the German version outsold the Latin by almost two to one.

Reference

• Pelikan, Jaroslav and Lehmann, Helmut T, Luther’s Works, 55 vols, (Saint Louis, Philadephia, 1955-76), Vol 31, pp327-378