Baptism and the eucharist he considered the only true sacraments, and he seriously criticized the prevalent doctrine of the latter.

He denied that the mass is a sacrifice or a "good work" pleasing to God and therefore beneficial to the soul either of living or of dead.

He denied that the bread and wine are transubstantiated into the body and blood of Jesus, though he held that the body and blood are really present with the elements.

He demanded that the cup be given to the laity.
The whole trend of Luther's thought at this time was to oppose the Catholic theory of a mechanical distribution of grace and salvation (the so-called _opus operatum_) by means of the sacraments, and to substitute for it an individual conception of religion in which faith only should be necessary.

How far he carried this idea may be seen in his _Sermon on the New Testament, that is on the Holy Mass_,[2] published in the same year as the pamphlets just analysed.