Why was Luther Hostile to Article 5 on Justification Agreed at the Religious Colloquy of Regensburg, 1541?

ABSTRACT Martin Luther was negative towards Article 5 of the Regensburg Colloquy (1541), calling it an inconsistent patchwork. Yet a detailed comparison of the article with Luther’s own works shows that almost all that the article states can be supported by material from Luther himself. Why then was his attitude so negative? Luther mistakenly interpreted the statement that justifying faith is efficacious through love to mean that love has a role to play in ‘how we become righteous.’ This is clearly a misinterpretation, probably based on John Eck’s claims made at the colloquy. Luther probably also thought that Contarini and Gropper did not really accept the Protestant doctrine of justification because they did not accept its implications for doctrines like satisfaction, purgatory and the sacrifice of the Mass. This essay has an Appendix, of Article 5 in English translation.