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Why are Luther's 95 Theses seen as so important?

I've learned about how Luther's 95 Theses were extremely important to the Protestant Reformation and how they really defined the beginnings of Protestantism. According to History.com's article on "Martin Luther and the 95 Theses", the two main points of the theses were "that the Bible is the central religious authority and that humans may reach salvation only by their faith and not by their deeds", which would support what I've been taught, as the idea of sola fide is heresy, according to the Catholic church.

However, I read through them, I didn't find that. They really only support the idea that Indulgences aren't right and that the greed found in the Catholic Church at the time wasn't acceptable. Most of them even include references to purgatory (which is heresy in Protestantism), and "works of mercy" and "works of love", which is the language commonly used to refer to the Catholic Church's works necessary for salvation, which Luther was supposed to disagree with (also heresy in Protestantism). What causes this seeming discrepancy? Why are the theses so important if they only address the idea that the Church's greed wasn't right? I understand that was a radical position at the time, given that the Church ruled essentially everything and dissenters were punished, but there is a wide margin between saying greed is bad and breaking away from the Catholic Church and beginning a new denomination.

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The [95 Theses][1] [(e)][2] do *not* only address indulgence and indulgences!

First of all, to avoid a possible confusion, the word indulgences, is a difficult word to understand correctly here. In terms of the Roman-Catholic religion it is *not* "enjoyment", "pleasure" associated with luxury and greed. In this cases indulgences are letters of absolution, that were on sale at the time. That means whereas before, you had to go to a priest, confess your sins, repent, and then got an absolution from the priest. Now you could just spend some money and be done with it. No more sins on your register and a clean bill of health for your entry ticket into heaven.

Luther was very strongly against this practice. But not because this was a sign of greed of the church. It was a sign of that, to be sure. But it is also and more importantly against core principles of the Christian faith as he came to understand it, and felt that it was seen and practised before. It is therefor a corruption of the one true faith, only coincidentally enriching the church.

That is the core principle here: the church asserted its authority about the faith, claimed to be the only source of salvation and the only source of correct doctrine.

Every single statement in these theses are an attack on that with examples given. So your initial reading of "which is heresy in protestantism" already supports exactly that.

But take also note of how compromising he wrote his provocative statements:
> 49. Docendi sunt christiani, quod venie Pape sunt utiles, si non in eas confidant, Sed nocentissime, si timorem dei per eas amittant.   
Man soll die Christen lehren: Der Ablaß des Papstes ist nützlich, wenn man nicht sein Vertrauen darauf setzt, aber sehr schädlich, falls man darüber die Furcht Gottes fahren läßt.   
Christians are to be taught that papal indulgences are useful only if they do not put their trust in them, but very harmful if they lose their fear of God because of them.

He does not say that these indulgences are really and totally bad. They are helpful (not least for the church itself), but no one should put any trust and faith into them. 


Luther developed three principles that for him were the key to understand the Christian faith correctly and achieve salvation: *sola fide, sola gratia, sola scriptura* (through faith alone, through God's mercy alone, and through the bible alone). Contrast this against the examples given in the theses: it is not possible to by absolution, since you cannot buy God's mercy. It is not possible to give the pope special powers over the rest of Christianity, since he can neither *really* dictate the faith of the church members nor is his office mentioned in the bible. Even the pope cannot grant you absolution and spare you from hell, etc… That means also the sale of letters of indulgence was the starting point, he argued that not even anyone in the church was able to give out dispensation or absolution at all. That is only God's prerogative or ability.

Being an attack on current practices was not meant as the founding document of a new sect. It was firmly rooted within the church to renew and reform the church, to restore it and bring it back onto the true track.

It is important to know that he did not go to a church door with a hammer in his hand, as so often portrayed.  He wrote these theses in [Latin][3] and s[ent them to his superiors][4]. Luther wrote this letter by hand at first, but then he himself ordered a small printing run for the Latin text. But when a translated version got into press things really sped up.
 

His critique was widely rejected by his authorities, but found his audience anyway. The printing press is key here. One of the arguments in the these is more or less: think for yourself. When people did that, they often found the rest of the arguments quite convincing. Laypersons found the greed and power aspects, theological counterparts the ideological foundation for divergence from the true faith.

Earlier attempts to criticise the recent developments of the church were indeed often centred on finances, when coming from laypeople and centered on some doctrinal teachings when coming from clergyman. But both were confined to oral spheres of influence. Like priests preaching against the church or princes arguing against bishops on in meetings. Now you had a foundational critique on the most glaring misgivings, widely disseminated thanks to the printing press, the discussion also held in the people's language, and all that on a solid foundation of deduction from the highest authority against the pope: the bible. 

The resistance of the higher church authorities to anything he mentioned was one key, popular support for a now widely informed, understanding and empowered public was the other factor.


  [1]: http://www.luther.de/leben/anschlag/95thesen.html
  [2]: http://www.luther.de/en/95thesen.html
  [3]: https://la.wikisource.org/wiki/Disputatio_pro_declaratione_virtutis_indulgentiarum
  [4]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninety-five_Theses#Legacy

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