How Is Christ's Merit Obtained?

Luther was ill and (he believed) near death when he wrote the Smalcald Articles as a summary statement of what he and his fellow believers confessed. It is written almost as a last will and testament. Now, it has been quite a while since I have been in the Smalcald Articles, but as I read again this morning I was struck by the absolute upending of the whole medieval order that is found, just in Part II on "The Mass." Here is the very end of that section:

Christ's mert is obtained not by our works or pennies, but from grace through faith, without money and merit [Ephesians 2:8-9]. It is offered not through the pope's power, but through the preaching of God's Word [1 Corinthians 1:21]

Martin Luther, The Smalcald Articles (1537)

From Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions (2nd ed.)

(St. Louis: CPH, 2006), p. 266.