Here the evangelist with a formal stately preface declares how Christ disposed himself for the sermon he was about to deliver; that he went upon a mountain, and sat down, and opened his mouth; so that we see he was in earnest. These are the three things, it is commonly said, that mark a good preacher; first, that he take his place; secondly, that he open his mouth and say something; thirdly, that he know when to stop.

To take his place, that means that he assume a position as a master or preacher, who can and ought to do it, as one called for this purpose and not coming of his own accord, but to whom it is a matter of duty and obedience; so that he may say: “I come, not hurried hither by my own purpose and preference, but I must do it, by virtue of my office.

This is said as against those who have heretofore been causing us so much vexation and tribulation, and indeed are still doing it, namely the factious spirits and fanatics, that are running up and down through the country, poisoning the people, before the pastors or those in office and authority find it out, and thus befoul one family after another until they have poisoned a whole city, and from the city a whole country. To guard against such sneaking renegades one ought not to allow any one to preach who has not been duly and officially appointed; also no one should venture, though he should be a preacher, if he hears a lying preacher in a popish or other church, who is misleading the people, to preach against him; nor should any one go about into the houses and get up private preachings, but he should remain at home and mind his own official business, or keep silent, if he neither will or can publicly take his place in the pulpit.

For God does not want us to go wandering about with his word, as though we were impelled by the Holy Spirit and had to preach, and thus were seeking preaching places and corners, houses or pulpits, where we are not officially called. For even St. Paul himself, though called as an apostle by God, did not want to preach in those places where the other apostles had preached before. Therefore we are here told that Christ boldly and publicly goes up upon the mountain, when he begins his official ministry, and soon afterwards says to his disciples: “Ye are the light of the world;” and: “Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light to all that are in the house”. For the office of the ministry and the word of God are hence to shine as the sun, and not go sneaking and plotting in the dark, as in the play of blind-man’s buff; but all must be done in broad daylight, that it may be clearly seen that both preacher and hearer are sure of this, that the teaching is rightly done, and that the office has been rightly conferred, so that there is no need for concealment. Do thou likewise. If you are in office, and are commissioned to preach, take your place openly and fear nobody, that you may glory with Christ: “I spake openly to the world, * * in secret have I said nothing.” John 18:20.

But you say, “How? Is no one then to teach anything except in public? Or is the head of a family not to teach his servants in his house, or to have a scholar or some one about him who recites to him?” Answer: Certainly, that is all right, and all just in place. For every head of a family is in duty bound to teach his children and servants, or to have them taught. For he is in his house as a pastor or bishop over his household, and he is commanded to take heed what they learn, and he is responsible for them. But it is all wrong for you to do this away from your own house, and to force yourself into other houses or to neighbors, and you should not allow any such sneak to come to you and to carry on special preaching in your house for which he has no authorization. But if any one comes into a house or city let him be asked for the evidence that he is known, or let him show by letter and seal that he has been duly authorized. For one must not trust all the stragglers that boast of having the Holy Spirit, and insinuate themselves thereby here and there into the homes. In short, it means that the gospel, or the preaching of it, should not be heard in a corner, but up upon a mountain, and openly in the free daylight. That is one thing that Matthew wants to show here.

The next thing is that he opens his mouth. That belongs (as above said) also to a preacher, that he do not keep his mouth shut, and not only publicly perform his official duty so that every one must keep silence and let him take his proper place as one who is divinely authorized and commanded, but also that he briskly and confidently open his mouth, that is, to preach the truth and what has been committed to him; that he be not silent or merely mumble, but bear witness, fearless and unterrified, and speak the truth out frankly, without regarding or sparing any one, no matter who or what is struck by it.

For that hinders a preacher very much if he looks about him and concerns himself as to what the people do or do not like to hear, or what might occasion for him disfavor, harm or danger; but as he stands high up, upon a mountain, in a public place, and looks freely all around him, so he is also to speak freely and fear nobody, although he sees many sorts of people, and to hold no leaf before his mouth, nor to regard either gracious or wrathful lords and squires, either money, riches, honor, power, or disgrace, poverty or injury, and not to think of anything further than that he may speak what his office requires, even that for which he stands where he does.

For Christ did not institute and appoint the office of the ministry that it might serve to gain money, possession, favor, honor, friendship, or that one may seek his own advantage through it, but that one should openly, freely proclaim the truth, rebuke evil, and publish what belongs to the advantage, safety and salvation of souls. For the word of God is not here for the purpose of teaching how a maid or man servant is to work in the house and earn his or her bread, or how a burgomaster is to rules a farmer to plough or make hay. In short, it neither gives nor shows temporal good things by which one maintains this life, for reason has already taught all this to every one; but its purpose is to teach how we are to attain to thai life, and it teaches thee to use the present life, and to nourish the belly here as long as it lasts; yet, so that thou mayest know where thou art to abide and live when this must come to an end.

If now the time comes for preaching of another life that we are to be concerned about, and for the sake of which we are not to regard this one as if we wanted to remain here forever, then contention and strife begin, so that the world will not endure it. If then a preacher cares more for his belly and worldly living, he does not do his duty; he stands up indeed and babbles in the pulpit, but he does not preach the truth, does not really open his mouth; if there seems to be trouble ahead he keeps quiet and avoids hitting anybody. Observe, this is why Matthew prefaces his account with the statement that Christ, as a true preacher, ascends the mountain and cheerfully opens his mouth, teaches the truth, and rebukes both false teaching and living, as we shall hear in what follows.

Via Luther’s Commentary on the Sermon on the Mount

See also:

1. A True Preacher
2. The Miserable Moral Precepts of the Rationalist Preacher
3. Every Sincere Preacher & Minister of Jesus Christ…
4. Walther as Practical Preacher & Curate of Souls

First, when pressed by The temporal power, they have made decrees and said that the temporal power has no jurisdiction over them, but, on the other hand, that the spiritual is above the temporal power. Second, when the attempt is made to reprove them out of the Scriptures, they raise the objection that the interpretation of the Scriptures belongs to no one except the pope. Third, if threatened with a council, they answer with the fable that no one can call a council but the pope.

In this wise they have slyly stolen from us our three rods[2], that they may go unpunished, and have ensconced themselves within the safe stronghold of these three walls, that they may practice all the knavery and wickedness which we now see. Even when they have been compelled to hold a council they have weakened its power in advance by previously binding the princes with an oath to let them remain as they are. Moreover, they have given the pope full authority over all the decisions of the council, so that it is all one whether there are many councils or no councils, — except that they deceive us with puppet-shows and sham-battles. So terribly do they fear for their skin in a really free council! And they have intimidated kings and princes by making them believe it would be an offense against God not to obey them in all these knavish, crafty deceptions.[3]

Josh. 6:20 Now God help us, and give us one of the trumpets with which the walls of Jericho were overthrown, that we may blow down these walls of straw and paper, and may set free the Christian rods for the punishment of sin, bringing to light the craft and deceit of the devil, to the end that through punishment we may reform ourselves, and once more attain God’s favor.

Against the first wall we will direct our first attack.

It is pure invention that pope, bishops, priests and monks are to be called the “spiritual estate”; princes, lords, artisans, and farmers the “temporal estate.” That is indeed a fine bit of lying and hypocrisy. Yet no one should be frightened by it; and for this reason — viz., that all Christians are truly of the “spiritual estate,” and there is among them no difference at all but that of office, as Paul says in I Corinthians 12:12, We are all one body, yet every member has its own work, where by it serves every other, all because we have one baptism, one Gospel, one faith, and are all alike Christians; for baptism, Gospel and faith alone make us “spiritual” and a Christian people.

But that a pope or a bishop anoints, confers tonsures; ordains, consecrates, or prescribes dress unlike that of the laity, this may make hypocrites and graven images,[4] but it never makes a Christian or “spiritual” man. Through baptism all of us are consecrated to the priesthood, as St. Peter says in I Peter 2:9, “Ye are a royal priesthood, a priestly kingdom,” and the book of Revelation says, Rev. 5:10 “Thou hast made us by Thy blood to be priests and kings.” For if we had no higher consecration than pope or bishop gives, the consecration by pope or bishop would never make a priest, nor might anyone either say mass or preach a sermon or give absolution. Therefore when the bishop consecrates it is the same thing as if he, in the place and stead of the whole congregation, all of whom have like power, were to take one out of their number and charge him to use this power for the others; just as though ten brothers, all king’s sons and equal heirs, were to choose one of themselves to rule the inheritance for them all, — they would all be kings and equal in power, though one of them would be charged with the duty of ruling.

To make it still clearer. If a little group of pious Christian laymen were taken captive and set down in a wilderness , and had among them no priest consecrated by a bishop, and if there in the wilderness they were to agree in choosing one of themselves, married or unmarried, and were to charge him with the office of baptizing, saying mass, absolving and preaching, such a man would be as truly a priest as though all bishops and popes had consecrated him. That is why in cases of necessity any one can baptize and give absolution,[5] which would be impossible unless we were all priests. This great grace and power of baptism and of the Christian Estate they have well-nigh destroyed and caused us to forget through The canon law.[6] It was in the manner aforesaid that Christians in olden days chose from their number bishops and priests, who were afterwards confirmed by other bishops, without all the show which now obtains. It was Thus that Sts. Augustine,[7] Ambrose[8] and Cyprian[9] became bishops.

Since, then, the temporal authorities are baptized with the same baptism and have the same faith and Gospel as we, we must grant that they are priests and bishops, and count their office one which has a proper and a useful place in the Christian community. For whoever comes out the water of baptism[10] can boast that he is already consecrated priest, bishop and pope, though it is not seemly that every one should exercise the office. Nay, just because we are all in like manner priests, no one must put himself forward and undertake, without our consent and election, to do what is in the power of all of us. For what is common to all, no one dare take upon himself without the will and the command of the community; and should it happen that one chosen for such an office were deposed for malfeasance, he would then be just what he was before he held office. Therefore a priest in Christendom is nothing else than an office-holder. While he is in office, he has precedence; when deposed, he is a peasant or a townsman like the rest. Beyond all doubt, then, a priest is no longer a priest when he is deposed. But now they have invented characters indelebilis,[11] and prate that a deposed priest is nevertheless something different from a mere layman. They even dream that a priest can never become a layman, or be anything else than a priest. All this is mere talk and man-made law.

From all this it follows that there is really no difference between laymen and priests, princes and bishops, “spirituals” and “temporals,” as they call them, except that of office and work, but not of “estate”; for they are all of the same estate,[12] — true priests, bishops and popes, — though they are not all engaged in the same work, just as all priests and monks have not the same work. This is the teaching of St. Paul in Romans 12:4 and I Corinthians 12:12, and of St. Peter in I Peter 2:9, as I have said above, viz., that we are all one body of Christ, the Head, all members one of another. Christ has not two different bodies, one “temporal ,” the other “spiritual.” He is one Head, and He has One body.

Therefore, just as Those who are now called “spiritual” — priests, bishops or popes — are neither different from other Christians nor superior to them, except that they are charged with the administration of the Word of God and the sacraments, which is their work and office, so it is with the temporal authorities, — they bear sword and rod with which to punish the evil and to protect die good. A cobbler, a smith, a farmer, each has the work and office of his trade, and yet they are all alike consecrated priests and bishops, and every one by means of his own work or office must benefit and serve every other, that in this way many kinds of work may be done for the bodily and spiritual welfare of the community, even as all the members of the body serve one another.

See, now, how Christian is the decree which says that the temporal power is not above the “spiritual estate” and may not punish it.[13] That is as much as to say that the hand shall lend no aid when the eye is suffering. Is it not unnatural, not to say unchristian, that one member should not help another and prevent its destruction? Verily, the more honorable the member, the more should the others help. I say then, since the temporal power is ordained of God to punish evil-doers and to protect them that do well, it should therefore be left free to perform it office without hindrance through the whole body of Christendom without respect of persons, whether it affect pope, bishops, priests, monks, nuns or anybody else. For if the mere fact that the temporal power has a smaller place among The Christian offices than has the office of preachers or confessors, or of the clergy, then the tailors, cobblers, masons, carpenters, pot-boys, tapsters, farmers, and all the secular tradesmen, should also be prevented from providing pope, bishops, priests and monks with shoes, clothing, houses, meat and drink, and from paying them tribute. But if these laymen are allowed to do their work unhindered, what do the Roman scribes mean by their laws, with which they withdraw themselves from the jurisdiction of the temporal Christian power, only so that the may be free to do evil and to fulfill what St. Peter has said: 2. Peter 2:1 “There shall be false teachers among you, and through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you.”

On this account the Christian temporal power should exercise its office without let or hindrance, regardless whether it be pope, bishop or priest whom it affects; whoever is guilty, let him suffer. All that the canon law has said to the contrary is sheer invention of Roman presumption. For Thus saith St. Paul to all Christians: Roman 13:1, 4 “Let every soul (I take that to mean the pope’s soul also) be subject unto the higher powers; for they bear not the sword in vain, but are the ministers of God for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.” St. Peter also says: 1 Peter 2:13, 15 “Submit yourselves unto every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, for so is the will of God” He has also prophesied that such men shall come as will despise the temporal authorities; and this has come to pass through the canon law.

So then, I think this first paper-wall is overthrown, since the temporal power has become a member of the body of Christendom, and is of the “spiritual estate,” though its work is of a temporal nature. Therefore its work should extend freely and without hindrance to all the members of the whole body; it should punish and use force whenever guilt deserves or necessity demands, without regard to pope, bishops and priests,-let them hail threats and bans as much as they will.

Again, it is intolerable that in the canon law so much importance is attached to the freedom, life and property of the clergy, as though the laity were not also as spiritual as good Christians as they, or did not belong to the Church. Why are your life and limb, your property and honor so free, and mine not? We are all alike Christians, and have baptism, faith, Spirit and all things alike. If a priest is killed, the land is laid under interdict,[15] — why not when a peasant is killed? Whence comes this great distinction between those who are equally Christians? Only from human laws and inventions!

Moreover, it can be no good spirit who has invented such exceptions and granted to sin such license and impunity. For if we are bound to strive against the works and words of the evil spirit, and to drive him out in whatever way we can, as Christ commands and His Apostles, ought we, then to suffer it in silence when the pope or his satellites are bent on devilish words and works? Ought we for the sake of men to allow the suppression of divine commandments and truths which we have sworn in baptism to support with life and limb? Of a truth we should then have to answer all the souls that would thereby be abandoned and it astray.

It must therefore have been the very prince of devils who said what is written in the canon law: “If the pope were so scandalously bad as to lead souls in crowds to the devil, yet he could not be deposed.”[16] On this accursed and devilish foundation they build at Rome, and think that we should let all the world go to the devil, rather than resist their knavery. If the fact that one man is set over others were sufficient reason why he should escape punishment, then no Christian could punish another, since Christ commands that every man shall esteem himself the lowliest and the least.

Where sin is, there is no escape from punishment; as St. Gregory[17] also writes that we are indeed all equal, but guilt puts us in subjection one to another. Now we see how they whom God and the Apostles have made subject to the temporal sword deal with Christendom, depriving it of its liberty by their own wickedness, without warrant of Scripture. It is to be feared that this is a game of Antichrist[18] or a sign that he is close at hand.

The second wall[19] is still more flimsy and worthless. They wish to be the only Masters of The Holy Scriptures,[20] even though in all their lives they learn nothing from them. They assume for themselves sole authority, and with insolent juggling of words they would persuade us that the pope, whether he be a bad man or a good man, cannot err in matters of faith,[21] and yet they cannot prove a single letter of it. Hence it comes that so many heretical and unchristian, nay, even unnatural ordinances have a place in the canon law, of which, however, there is no present need to speak. For since they think that the Holy Spirit never leaves them, be they never so unlearned and wicked, they make bold to decree whatever they will. And if it were true, where would be the need or use of Holy Scriptures? Let us burn them, and be satisfied with the unlearned lords at Rome, who are possessed of the Holy Spirit, — although He can possess only pious hearts! Unless I had read it myself,[22] I could not have believed that the devil would make such clumsy pretensions at Rome, and find a following.

But not to fight them with mere words, we will quote the Scriptures. St. Paul says in I Corinthians 14:30: “If to anyone something better is revealed, though he be sitting and listening to another in God’s Word, then the first, who is speaking, shall hold his peace and give place.” What would be the use of this commandment, if we were only to believe him who does the talking or who has the highest seat? Christ also says in John 6:45, that all Christians shall be taught of God. Thus it may well happen that the pope and his followers are wicked men, and no true Christians, not taught of God, not having true understanding. On the other hand, an ordinary man may have true understanding; why then should we not follow him? Has not the pope erred many times? Who would help Christendom when the pope errs, if we were not to believe another, who had the Scriptures on his side, more than the pope?

Therefore it is a wickedly invented fable, and they cannot produce a letter in defense of it, that the interpretation of Scripture or the confirmation of its interpretation belongs to the pope alone. They have themselves usurped this power; and although they allege that this power was given to Peter when the keys were given to him, it is plain enough that the keys were not given to Peter alone, but to the whole community.[23] Moreover, the keys were not ordained for doctrine or government, but only for the binding and loosing of they arrogate to themselves is mere invention But Christ’s word to Peter, Luke 22:32 “I have prayed for thee that thy faith fall not,” cannot be applied to the pope, since the majority of the popes have been without faith, as they must themselves confess. Besides, it is not only for Peter that Christ prayed, but also for all Apostles and Christians, as he says in John 17:9, 20: “Father, I pray for those whom Thou hast given Me, and not for these only, but for all who believe on Me through their word.” Is not this clear enough?

Only think of it yourself! They must confess that there are pious Christians among us, who have the true faith, Spirit, understanding, word and mind of Christ. Why, then, should we reject their word and understanding and follow the pope, who has neither faith nor Spirit? That would be to deny the whole faith and the Christian Church. Moreover, it is not the pope alone who is always in the right, if the article of The Creed is correct: “I believe one holy Christian Church”; otherwise the prayer must run: “I believe in the pope at Rome,” and so reduce the Christian Church to one man, — which would be nothing else than a devilish and hellish error.

Besides, if we are all priests, as was said above, [24] and all have one faith, one Gospel, one sacrament, why should we not also have the power to test and judge what is correct or incorrect in matters of faith? What becomes of the words of Paul in I Corinthians 2:15: “He that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man,” II Corinthians 4:13: “We have all the same Spirit of faith”? Why, then, should not we perceive what squares with faith and what does not, as well as does an unbelieving pope?

All these and many other texts should make us bold and free, and we should not allow the Spirit of liberty, as Paul calls Him, to be frightened off by the fabrications of the popes, but we ought to go boldly forward to test all that they do or leave undone, according to our interpretation of the Scriptures, which rests on faith, and compel them to follow not their own interpretation, but the one that is better. In the olden days Abraham had to listen to Sarah, although she was in more complete subjection to him than we are to anyone on earth. Balaam’s ass, also, was wiser than the prophet himself. If God then spoke an ass against a prophet, why should He not be able even now to speak by a righteous man against the pope? In like manner St. Paul rebukes St. Peter as a man in error. Therefore it behooves every Christian to espouse the cause of the faith, to understand and defend it, and to rebuke errors.

The third wall falls of itself when the first two are down. For when the pope acts contrary to the Scriptures, it is our duty to stand by the Scriptures, to reprove him, and to constrain him, according to the word of Christ in Matthew 18:15: “If thy brother sin against thee, go and tell it him between thee and him alone; if he hear thee not, then take with thee one or two more; if he hear them not, tell it to the Church; if he hear not the Church, consider him a heathen.” Here every member is commanded to care for every other. How much rather should we do this when the member that does evil is a ruling member, and by his evil-doing is the cause of much harm and offense to the rest! But if I am to accuse him before the Church, I must bring the Church together.

They have no basis in Scripture for their contention that it belongs to the pope alone to call a council or confirm its actions;[25] for this is based merely upon their own laws, which are valid only in so far as they are not injurious to Christendom or contrary to the laws of God. When the pope deserves punishment, such laws go out of force, since it is injurious to Christendom not to punish him by means of a council.

Thus we read in Acts 15:6 that it was not St. Peter who called the Apostolic Council, but the Apostles and elders. If, then, that right had belonged to St. Peter alone, the council would not have been a Christian council, but an heretical conciliabulum.[26] Even the Council of Nicaea — the most famous of all-was neither called nor confirmed by the Bishop of Rome, but by the Emperor Constantine,[27] and many other emperors after him did the like, yet these councils were the most Christian of all.[28] But if the pope alone had the right to call councils, then all then all councils must have been heretical. Moreover, if I consider the councils which the pope has created, I find that they have done nothing of special importance.

Therefore, when necessity demands, and the pope is an offense to Christendom, the first man who is able should, a faithful member of the whole body, do what he can to bring about a truly free council.[29] No one can do this so well as the temporal authorities, especially since now they also are fellow-Christians, fellow-priests, “fellow-spirituals,”[30] fellow-lords over all things, and whenever it is needful or profitable, they should give free course to office and work in which God has put them above every man. Would it not be an unnatural thing, if a fire broke out in a city, and everybody were to stand by and it burn on and on and consume everything that could burn, for the sole reason that nobody had the authority of the burgomaster, or because, perhaps, the fire broke in the burgomaster’s house? In such case is it not the duty of every citizen to arouse and call the rest? How much more should this be done in the spiritual city of Christ, if a fire of offense breaks out, whether in the papal government, or anywhere else? In the same way, if the enemy attacks a city, he who first rouses the others deserves honor and thanks; why then should he not deserve honor who makes known the presence of the enemy from hell, awakens the Christians, and calls them together?

But all their boasts of an authority which dare not opposed amount to nothing after all. No one in Christendom has authority to do injury, or to forbid the resisting of injury. There is no authority in the Church save edification. Therefore, if the pope were to use his authority to prevent the calling of a free council, and thus became a hindrance to the edification of the Church, we should have regard neither for him nor for his authority; and if he were to hurl his bans and thunderbolts, we should despise his conduct as that of a madman, and relying on God, hurl back the ban on him, and coerce him as best we could. For this presumptuous authority of his is nothing; he has no such authority, and he is quickly overthrown by a text of Scripture; for Paul says to the Corinthians, II Corinthians 10:8 “God has given us authority not for the destruction, but for the edification of Christendom.” Who is ready to overleap this text? It is only the power of the devil and of Antichrist which resists the things that serve for the edification of Christendom; it is, therefore, in no wise to be obeyed, but is to be opposed with life and goods and all our strength.

Even though a miracle were to be done in the pope’s behalf against the temporal powers, or though someone were to be stricken with a plague — which they boast has sometimes happened — it should be considered only the work of the devil, because of the weakness of our faith in God. Christ Himself prophesied in Matthew 24:24: “There shall come in My Name false Christs and false prophets, and do signs and wonders, so as to deceive even the elect,” and Paul says in II Thessalonians 2:9, that Antichrist shall, through the power of Satan, be mighty in lying wonders.

Let us, therefore, hold fast to this: No Christian authority can do anything against Christ; as St. Paul says, II Corinthians 13:8: “We can do nothing against Christ, but for Christ.” Whatever does aught against Christ is the power of Antichrist and of the devil, even though it were to rain and hail wonders and plagues. Wonders and plagues prove nothing, especially in these last evil times, for which all the Scriptures prophesy false wonders. Therefore we must cling with firm faith to the words of God, and then the devil will cease from wonders.

Thus I hope that the false, lying terror with which the Romans have this long time made our conscience timid and stupid, has been allayed. They, like all of us, are subject to the temporal sword; they have no power to interpret the Scriptures by mere authority, without learning; they have no authority to prevent a council or, in sheer wantonness, to pledge it, bind it, or take away its liberty; but if they do this, they are in truth the communion of Antichrist and of the devil, and have nothing at all of Christ except the name.

Notes

[1] The term “Romanist” is applied by Luther to the champions of the extreme form of papal supremacy, Cf. Vol. I, p. 343 f.

[2] i.e., The three rods for the punishment of an evil pope. Vol. II, — 5.

[3] Spuknisse, literally “ghosts.” The gist of the sentence is, “the Romanists have frightened the world with ghost-stories.”

[4] Oelgotze – “an image anointed with holy oil to make it sacred”; in modern German, “a blockhead.”

[5] Lay-baptism in view of imminent death is a practice as old as the Christian Church. The right of the laity to administer baptism in such cases was expressly recognized by the Council of Elvira, in the year 306, and the decree of that Council became a part of the law of the Church. The right of the laity to give absolution in such cases rests on the principle that in the absence of the appointed official of the Church any Christian can do for any other Christian the things that are absolutely necessary for salvation, for “necessity knows no law.” Cf. Vol. I, p. 30, note 2.

[6] The canon law, called by Luther throughout this treatise and elsewhere, the “spiritual law,” is a general name for the decrees of councils (“cannons” in the strict sense) and decisions of the popes (“decretals,” “constitutions,” etc.), promulgated by authority of the popes, and collected in the so-called Corpus juriscanonici. It comprised the whole body of Church law, and embodied in legal forms the medieval theory of papal absolutism, which accounts for the bitterness with which Luther speaks of it, especially in this treatise. The Corpus includes the following collections of cannons and decretals: The Decretum of Gratian (1142), the Liber Extra (1234), the Liber Sextus (1298), the Constitutiones Clementinae (1318 or 1317), and the two books of Extravagantes, — the Extravagantes of John XXIV, and the Extravagantes Communes. The last pope whose decrees are included is Sixths IV (died 1484). See Catholic Encyclo., IV, pp. 391 ff.

[7] Augustine, the master-theologian of the Ancient Church, bishop of Hippo in Africa from 395-430.

[8] Ambrose, bishop of Milan from 374-397, had not yet been baptized at the time of his election to the episcopate, which was forced upon him by the unanimous voice of the people of the city.

[9] Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, 247-258, is said to have consented to accept the office only when the congregation surrounded his house and besought him to yield to their entreaties.

[10] Was ausz der Tauff krochen ist.

[11] The character indelebilis, or “indelible mark,” received authoritative statement in the bull Exultate Deo (1439). Eugenius IV, summing up the Decrees of the Council of Florence, says: “Among these sacraments there are three — baptism, confirmation, and orders — which indelibly impress upon the soul a character, i.e., a certain spiritual mark which distinguishes them from the rest.” (MIRBT, Quellen, 2d ed., No. 150). The Council of Trent in its XXIII. Session, July 15, 1563. (MIRBT, No. 312), defined the correct Roman teaching as follows: “Since in the sacrament of orders, as in baptism and confirmation, a character is impressed which cannot be destroyed or taken away, the Holy Synod justly condemns the opinion of those who assert that the priests of the New Testament have only temporary power, and that those once rightly ordained can again be made laymen, if they do not exercise the ministry of the Word of God.”

[12] i.e., They are all Christians, among whom there can be no essential difference.

[13] The sharp distinction which the Roman Church drew between clergy and laity found practical application in the contention that the clergy should be exempt from the jurisdiction of the civil courts, This is the so-called privilegium fori, “benefit of clergy.” It was further claimed that the government of the clergy and the administration of Church property must be entirely in the hands of the Church authorities, and that no lay rulers might either make or enforce laws which in any way affected the Church. See LEA, Studies in Church History, 169-219 and Prot. Realencyk., Vi, 594.

[14] It was the contention of the Church authorities that priests charged with infraction of the laws of the state should first be tried in the ecclesiastical courts. If found guilty, they were degraded from the priesthood and handed over to the state authorities for punishment. Formula for degradation in the canon law, c. 2 in VI, de poen. (V, 9). See Prot. Realencyk., VI, 589.

[15] The interdict is the prohibition of the administration of the sacraments and of the other rites of the Church within the territory upon which the interdict is laid (Realencyk., IX, 208 f.). Its use was not uncommon in the Middle Ages, and during the time that the power of the popes was at its height it proved an effective means of bringing refractory rulers to terms. A famous instance is the interdict laid upon the Kingdom of England by Innocent III in 1208. Interdicts of more limited local extent were quite frequent. The use of the interdict as punishment for trifling infractions of church law was a subject of complaint at the diets of Worms (1521) and Nurnberg (1524). See A. WREDE, Deutsche Reichstagsaktenn unter Kaiser Karl V., II, pp. 685 f, III, 665.

[16] The statement of which Luther here complains is found in the Decretum of Gratian, Dist. XL, c. 6, Si papa. In his Epitome (see Introduction, p. 58), Prierias had quoted this canon against Luther, as follows: “A Pontifex indubitatus (i.e., a pope who is not accused of heresy or schism) cannot lawfully be deposed or judged either by a council or by the whole world, even if he is so scandalous as to lead people with him by crowds into the possession of hell.” Luther’s comment is: “Be astonished, O heaven; shudder, O earth! Behold, O Christians, what Rome is!” (Weimar Ed., VI, 336).

[17] Gregory the Great, pope 590-604. The passage is found in MIGEN, LXXVI, 203; LXXVII, 34.

[18] Antichrist, the incarnation of all that is hostile to Christ and His Kingdom. His appearance is prophesied in 2 Thess. 2:3-10 (the “man of sin, sitting in the temple of God”); 1 John 2:18, 22:4:3, and Rev. 13. In the early Church the Fathers sometimes thought the prophecies fulfilled in the person of some especially pestilent heretic. Wyclif applied the term to the pope, — “the pope would seem to be not the vicar of Christ, but the vicar of Antichrist” (see LOOFS, Dogmengeschichte, 4th ed., p. 649).

[19] See above, p. 65.

[20] According to academic usage, the holder of a Master’s degree was authorized to expound the subject named in the degree.

[21] The doctrine of papal infallibility was never officially sanctioned in the Middle Ages, but the claim of infallibility was repeatedly made by the champions of the more extreme view of papal power, e.g., Augustinus Triumphus (died 1328) in his Summa de potestate Papae. In his attack upon the XCV Theses (Dialogus de potestate Papae, Dec., 1517) Prierias had asserted, “The supreme pontiff (i.e., the pope) cannot err when giving a decision as pontiff, i.e., speaking officially (ex officio), and doing what in him lies to learn the truth”; and again, “Whoever does not rest upon the teaching of the Roman Church and the supreme pontiff as an infallible rule of faith, from which even Holy Scripture draws its vigor and authority, is a heretic” (Erl. Ed., op. Var./ arg., I, 348). In the Epitome he had said: “Even though the pope as an individual (singularis persona) can do wrong and hold a wrong faith, nevertheless as pope he cannot give a wrong decision” (Weimar Ed., VI, 337).

[22] Most recently in Prierias’s Epitome. See preceding note.

[23] Luther had discussed the whole subject of the power of the keys in the Latin treatise, Resolutio super propositione xiii. De potestate papae, of 1519 (Weimar Ed., II, pp. 185 ff., and in the German treatise The Papacy at Rome (Vol. I, pp. 337-394).

[24] Pp. 66 ff.

[25] Another contention of Prierias. In 1518 (Nov. 28th) Luther had appealed his cause from the decision of the pope, which he foresaw would be adverse, to the decision of a council to be held at some future time. In the Epitome Prierias discusses this appeal, asserting, among other things, that “when there is one undisputed pontiff, it belongs to him alone to call a council.”, and that “the decrees of councils neither bind nor hold (nullum ligant vel astringunt) unless they are confirmed by authority of the Roman pontiff” (Weimar Ed., Vi, 335).

[26] i.e., A mere gathering of people.

[27] The council of Nicaea, the first of the great councils of the Church, assembled in 325 for the settlement of the Arian controversy. Luther’s statement that it was called by the Emperor Constantine, and that its decisions did not derive their validity from any papal confirmation, is historically correct. On Luther’s statements about this council, see SCHAFER, Luther als Kirchenhistoriker, pp. 291 ff.; KOHLER, Luther und die Kg., pp. 148 ff.

[28] Luther is here referring to the earlier so-called “ecumenical” councils.

[29] i.e., A council which will not be subject to the pope. Cf. Erl. Ed., xxvi, III

[30] i.e., They belong to the “spiritual estate”; see above, p.69.

From Martin Luther, An Open Letter to The Christian Nobility, Part I. Via Project Wittenberg.

See also:

1. The Three Walls of the Romanists
2. The Obstinacy w/which the Romanists Cling to Their Traditions

April 7, 1516.

Grace and peace in God and the Lord Jesus Christ! Dearest Brother George! I write to let you know that I have realized two gulden and a half, for what I sold for you. One florin for the Brussels robe, half a florin for the Eisenach volume, and one for the cowl, etc. We cannot dispose of the rest, so have handed the money to the honored Prior for you. Regarding the half-gulden you still owe him, you must see to the paying of it, or let him remit the debt. This will not be difficult, as the esteemed father is well disposed to you. Now I would like to know how it is with your soul, if it has at length learned to despise its own righteousness and seek comfort and joy in Christ’s.

For, at present, the temptation to rest in one’s own works is very powerful, especially with those who long to be good and pious. They are ignorant of God’s righteousness, which has been so richly bestowed on us in Christ without money and price, and try to do good of themselves, till they fancy they can appear before God adorned with every grace. But they never get thus far. You, yourself, when with us in Erfurt suffered from this illusion, or rather delusion, and I also was a martyr to it, and even yet I have not overcome it. Therefore, dear brother, learn Christ and Him crucified. Praise and laud His name, and despairing of self, say to Him, “Thou, Lord Jesus, art my righteousness, but I am Thy sin. Thou hast taken what is mine, and given me what is Thine. Thou hast assumed that which Thou wert not, and given me what I had not.”

Beware, my brother, at aiming at a purity which rebels against being classed with sinners. For Christ only dwells among sinners. For this He came from heaven, where He dwelt among saints, so that He might also sojourn with the sinful. Strive after such love, and thou wilt experience His sweetest consolation. For if by our own efforts we are to attain peace of conscience, why then did Christ die? Therefore thou wilt only find peace in Him when thou despairest of self and thine own works. He, Himself, will teach thee how in receiving thee He makes thy sins His, and His righteousness thine. When thou believest this firmly (for he is damned who does not believe) then bear patiently with erring brothers, making their sins thine. If there be any good in thee, then receive ye one another, even as Christ received us, to the glory of God. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.” Be thou the same. If thou esteem thyself better than others, do not pride thyself on that, but be as one of them, bearing their burdens. For he is a pitiable saint who will not bear patiently with those worse than himself, and longs only for solitude, when he, through patience, prayer, and example, might be exercising a salutary influence over others. This is burying his Lord’s talent, and not giving his fellow-servants their due. Therefore, be thou a lily or rose of Christ, knowing that thy walk must be among thorns.

Only see that through impatience, hasty judgments, or secret pride, thou dost not thyself become a thorn! “Christ’s kingdom,” says the psalmist, “subsists in the midst of its enemies.” Why then rejoice in being surrounded only by faithful friends? If He, thy Lord, had only lived among the good, or had died only for His friends, for whom then would He have died, or with whom could He have lived? Remember this, brother, and pray for me. The Lord be with thee. Farewell, in the Lord!

Your brother, MARTIN LUTHER, Augustinian.

See also:

1. He Who Would Be Called True Christian
2. The Lord is Now My Shepherd True
3. Christian Righteousness
4. The Ground of All Righteousness

We have no slight reasons for treating the Catechism so constantly [in Sermons] and for both desiring and beseeching others to teach it, since we see to our sorrow that many pastors and preachers are very negligent in this, and slight both their office and this teaching; some from great and high art [giving their mind, as they imagine, to much higher matters], but others from sheer laziness and care for their paunches, assuming no other relation to this business than if they were pastors and preachers for their bellies’ sake, and had nothing to do but to [spend and] consume their emoluments as long as they live, as they have been accustomed to do under the Papacy.

And although they have now everything that they are to preach and teach placed before them so abundantly, clearly, and easily, in so many [excellent and] helpful books, and the true Sermones per se loquentes, Dormi secure, Paratos et Thesauros, as they were called in former times; yet they are not so godly and honest as to buy these books, or even when they have them, to look at them or read them. Alas! they are altogether shameful gluttons and servants of their own bellies who ought to be more properly swineherds and dog-tenders than care-takers of souls and pastors.

And now that they are delivered from the unprofitable and burdensome babbling of the Seven Canonical Hours, oh, that, instead thereof, they would only, morning, noon, and evening, read a page or two in the Catechism, the Prayer-book, the New Testament, or elsewhere in the Bible, and pray the Lord’s Prayer for themselves and their parishioners, so that they might render, in return, honor and thanks to the Gospel, by which they have been delivered from burdens and troubles so manifold, and might feel a little shame because like pigs and dogs they retain no more of the Gospel than such a lazy, pernicious, shameful, carnal liberty! For, alas! as it is, the common people regard the Gospel altogether too lightly, and we accomplish nothing extraordinary even though we use all diligence. What, then, will be achieved if we shall be negligent and lazy as we were under the Papacy?

To this there is added the shameful vice and secret infection of security and satiety, that is, that many regard the Catechism as a poor, mean teaching, which they can read through at one time, and then immediately know it, throw the book into a corner, and be ashamed, as it were, to read in it again.

Yea, even among the nobility there may be found some louts and scrimps, who declare that there is no longer any need either of pastors or preachers; that we have everything in books, and every one can easily learn it by himself; and so they are content to let the parishes decay and become desolate, and pastors and preachers to suffer distress and hunger a plenty, just as it becomes crazy Germans to do. For we Germans have such disgraceful people, and must endure them.

Giovanni Serodine, "Jesus Among the Doctors" (1626)

But for myself I say this: I am also a doctor and preacher, yea, as learned and experienced as all those may be who have such presumption and security; yet I do as a child who is being taught the Catechism, and every morning, and whenever I have time, I read and say, word for word, the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Psalms, etc. And I must still read and study daily, and yet I cannot master it as I wish, but must remain a child and pupil of the Catechism, and am glad so to remain. And yet these delicate, fastidious fellows would with one reading promptly be doctors above all doctors, know everything and be in need of nothing. Well, this, too, is indeed a sure sign that they despise both their office and the souls of the people, yea, even God and His Word. They do not have to fall, they are already fallen all too horribly, they would need to become children, and begin to learn their alphabet, which they imagine that they have long since outgrown.

Therefore I beg such lazy paunches or presumptuous saints to be persuaded and believe for God’s sake that they are verily, verily! not so learned or such great doctors as they imagine; and never to presume that they have finished learning this [the parts of the Catechism], or know it well enough in all points, even though they think that they know it ever so well. For though they should know and understand it perfectly (which, however, is impossible in this life), yet there are manifold benefits and fruits still to be obtained, if it be daily read and practiced in thought and speech; namely, that the Holy Ghost is present in such reading and repetition and meditation, and bestows ever new and more light and devoutness, so that it is daily relished and appreciated better, as Christ promises, Matt. 18, 20: Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.

Besides, it is an exceedingly effectual help against the devil, the world, and the flesh and all evil thoughts to be occupied with the Word of God, and to speak of it, and meditate upon it, so that the First Psalm declares those blessed who meditate upon the law of God day and night. Undoubtedly, you will not start a stronger incense or other fumigation against the devil than by being engaged upon God’s commandments and words, and speaking, singing, or thinking of them. For this is indeed the true holy water and holy sign from which he flees, and by which he may be driven away.

Botticelli (Sandro Filipepi) "The Temptation of Christ" (1481-1482)

Now, for this reason alone you ought gladly to read, speak, think and treat of these things if you had no other profit and fruit from them than that by doing so you can drive away the devil and evil thoughts. For he cannot hear or endure God’s Word; and God’s Word is not like some other silly prattle, as that about Dietrich of Berne, etc., but as St. Paul says, Rom. 1, 16, the power of God. Yea, indeed, the power of God which gives the devil burning pain, and strengthens, comforts, and helps us beyond measure.

And what need is there of many words? If I were to recount all the profit and fruit which God’s Word produces, whence would I get enough paper and time? The devil is called the master of a thousand arts. But what shall we call God’s Word, which drives away and brings to naught this master of a thousand arts with all his arts and power? It must indeed be the master of more than a hundred thousand arts. And shall we frivolously despise such power, profit, strength, and fruit — we, especially, who claim to be pastors and preachers? If so, we should not only have nothing given us to eat, but be driven out, being baited with dogs, and pelted with dung, because we not only need all this every day as we need our daily bread but must also daily use it against the daily and unabated attacks and lurking of the devil, the master of a thousand arts.

And if this were not sufficient to admonish us to read the Catechism daily, yet we should feel sufficiently constrained by the command of God alone, who solemnly enjoins in Deut. 6, 6 ff. that we should always meditate upon His precepts, sitting, walking, standing, Lying down, and rising, and have them before our eyes and in our hands as a constant mark and sign. Doubtless He did not so solemnly require and enjoin this without a purpose; but because He knows our danger and need, as well as the constant and furious assaults and temptations of devils, He wishes to warn, equip, and preserve us against them, as with a good armor against their fiery darts and with good medicine against their evil infection and suggestion.

Oh, what mad, senseless fools are we that, while we must ever live and dwell among such mighty enemies as the devils are, we nevertheless despise our weapons and defense, and are too lazy to look at or think of them! And what else are such supercilious, presumptuous saints, who are unwilling to read and study the Catechism daily, doing than esteeming themselves much more learned than God Himself with all His saints, angels [patriarchs], prophets, apostles, and all Christians For inasmuch as God Himself is not ashamed to teach these things daily, as knowing nothing better to teach, and always keeps teaching the same thing, and does not take up anything new or different, and all the saints know nothing better or different to learn, and cannot finish learning this, are we not the finest of all fellows to imagine, if we have once read or heard it, that we know it all, and have no further need to read and learn, but can finish learning in one hour what God Himself cannot finish teaching, although He is engaged in teaching it from the beginning to the end of the world, and all prophets, together with all saints, have been occupied with learning it and have ever remained pupils, and must continue to be such?

For it needs must be that whoever knows the Ten Commandments perfectly must know all the Scriptures, so that, in all affairs and cases, he can advise, help, comfort, judge, and decide both spiritual and temporal matters and is qualified to sit in judgment upon all doctrines, estates, spirits, laws, and whatever else is in the world. And what, indeed, is the entire Psalter but thoughts and exercises upon the First Commandment? Now I know of a truth that such lazy paunches and presumptuous spirits do not understand a single psalm, much less the entire Holy Scriptures; and yet they pretend to know and despise the Catechism, which is a compend and brief summary of all the Holy Scriptures.

Therefore I again implore all Christians, especially pastors and preachers, not to be doctors too soon, and imagine that they know everything (for imagination and cloth unshrunk [and false weights] fall far short of the measure), but that they daily exercise themselves well in these studies and constantly treat them; moreover, that they guard with all care and diligence against the poisonous infection of such security and vain imagination, but steadily keep on reading, teaching, learning, pondering, and meditating, and do not cease until they have made a test and are sure that they have taught the devil to death and have become more learned than God Himself and all His saints.

If they manifest such diligence, then I will promise them, and they shall also perceive, what fruit they will obtain, and what excellent men God will make of them, so that in due time they themselves will acknowledge that the longer and the more they study the Catechism, the less they know of it, and the more they find yet to learn; and then only, as hungry and thirsty ones, will they truly relish that which now they cannot endure because of great abundance and satiety. To this end may God grant His grace! Amen.

Martin Luther, Preface to The Large Catechism, translated by F. Bente and W. H. T. Dau, published in Triglot Concordia: The Symbolical Books of the Ev. Lutheran Church [St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921), pp. 565-773]

See also:

1. To The Fools Who Deny the Virgin Birth of Jesus

Now this article concerning the Holy Trinity is the most important of all the articles of the Christian faith, upon which all the other articles depend. We are first of all reminded that there are two ways of believing. The one, when I believe that God is, and know that those things are true which are said of the Turk, of the devil, or of hell. The other way of believing is when I believe in God: that is, when I not only believe that those things which are said of Him are true, but when I place all my trust and hope in Him, and so rest my mind upon Him as to have no doubt of His gracious goodwill toward me; and when I moreover believe that He will perform all those things in me which are gloriously said and proclaimed of Him. And this is the faith that is commanded in the first commandment, when it is said: Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.

And as this faith or trust of heart can be set in no one but in God, and yet, as this same faith and trust of heart are set in Jesus Christ and in the Holy Ghost also, it is a conclusive proof that Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are of the one same divinity as God the Father. For as the same faith is set equally in all three Persons, they are therefore all of equal divinity.

Luther on the Apostle’s Creed (via LCMS Sermons)

See also:

1. Two Ways of Being a Theologian
2. Malachi 3:13-18 ~ The Ways of God Vindicated

By this are condemned all those infamous doctrines of free will, which come from the pope, universities and monasteries. For all their teaching consists in that we are to begin and lay the first stone. We should by the power of free will first seek God, come to him, run after him and acquire his grace. Beware, beware of this poison! It is nothing but the doctrine of devils, by which all the world is betrayed. Before you can cry to God and seek him God must come to you and must have found you, as Paul says, Romans 10:14-15: “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher, and how shall they preach except they be sent?” God must lay the first stone and begin with you, if you are to seek him and pray to him. He is present when you begin to seek.

If he were not you could not accomplish anything but mere sin, and the greater the sin, the greater and holier the work you will attempt, and you will become a hardened hypocrite.

You ask, how shall we begin to be godly and what shall we do that God may begin his work in us? Answer: Do you not understand, it is not for you to work or to begin to be godly, as little as it is to further and complete it. Everything that you begin is in and remains sin, though it shines ever so brightly; you cannot do anything but sin, do what you will.

Hence, the teaching of all the schools and monasteries is misleading, when they teach man to begin to pray and do good works, to found something, to give, to sing, to become spiritual and thereby to seek God’s grace.

You say, however: Then I must sin from necessity, if by my free will I work and live without God? and I could not avoid sin, no matter what I would do? Answer: Truly, it is so, that you must remain in sin, do what you will, and that everything is sin you do alone out of your own free will.

For if out of your own free will you might avoid sin and do that which pleases God, what need would you have of Christ? He would be a fool to shed his blood for your sin, if you yourself were so free and able to do aught that is not sin. From this you learn how the universities and monasteries with their teachings of free will and good works, do nothing else but darken the truth of God so that we know not what Christ is, what we are and what our condition is. They lead the whole world with them into the abyss of hell, and it is indeed time that we eradicate from the earth all chapters and monasteries.

Learn then from this Gospel what takes place when God begins to make us godly, and what the first step is in becoming godly. There is no other beginning than that your king comes to you and begins to work in you. It is done in this way: The Gospel must be the first, this must be preached and heard. In it you hear and learn how all your works count for nothing before God and that everything is sinful that you work and do.

Pietro Lorenzetti, "Entry into Jerusalem" (c. 1320)

Your king must first be in you and rule you. Behold, here is the beginning of your salvation; you relinquish your works and despair of yourself, because you hear and see that all you do is sin and amounts to nothing, as the Gospel tells you, and you receive your king in faith, cling to him, implore his grace and find consolation in his mercy alone.

But when you hear and accept this it is not your power, but God’s grace, that renders the Gospel fruitful in you, so that you believe that you and your works are nothing. For you see how few there are who accept it, so that Christ weeps over Jerusalem and, as now the Papists are doing, not only refuse it, but condemn such doctrine, for they will not have all their works to be sin, they desire to lay the first stone and rage and fume against the Gospel.

Again, it is not by virtue of your power or your merit that the Gospel is preached and your king comes. God must send him out of pure grace.

Hence, not greater wrath of God exists than where he does not send the Gospel; there is only sin, error and darkness, there man may do what he will. Again, there is no greater grace, than where he sends his Gospel, for there must be grace and mercy in its train, even if not all, perhaps only a few, receive it. Thus the pope’s government is the most terrible wrath of God, so that Peter calls them the children of execration, for they teach no Gospel, but mere human doctrine of their own works as we, alas, see in all the chapters, monasteries and schools.

This is what is meant by “Thy king cometh.” You do not seek him, but he seeks you. You do not find him, he finds you. For the preachers come from him, not from you; their sermons come from him, not from you; your faith comes from him, not from you; everything that faith works in you comes from him, not from you; and where he does not come, you remain outside; and where there is no Gospel there is no God, but only sin and damnation, free will may do, suffer, work and live as it may and can.

Therefore you should not ask, where to begin to be godly; there is no beginning, except where the king enters and is proclaimed.

Via Luther’s sermon on Matthew 21:1-9 [Erlangen Edition, vol. 10, page 1; in the Walch Edition 11, 1; and in the St. Louis Edition 11, 1]

See also:

1. Who will set me free?
2. On Praise of the Law & Free Will
3. Free from the Law of Works
4. I’m Not A Machine, I’m a (Semi) Free Man!

Were it not for the grace of God, by which he gives us here and there a pious prince, or godly government, which preserves the fragments still left, that all may not be destroyed by the graspers and vultures, thieves and robbers; were it not for this grace, I say, the poor pastors and preachers would not only be starved, but also murdered. Nor are there now any other poor people than those who serve, or are being trained to serve the church; and these can obtain no support elsewhere, and must leave their poor wives and children die of hunger because of an indifferent world; on the other hand the world is full of useless, unfaithful, wicked fellows among daylaborers, lazy mechanics, servants, maids, and idle, greedy beggars, who everywhere by lying, deceiving, robbing and stealing, take away the hardearned bread and butter from those who are really poor, and yet go unpunished in the midst of their wantonness and insolence.

This I say, that we may see how Christ will upbraid the false liars and hypocrites among Christians, on the day of judgment, and having convicted them before all creatures will condemn them, because they have done none of the works which even the heathen do to their fellows; who did much more in their false and erroneous religion, and would have done it even more willingly had they known better.

Since now this terrible condemnation is justly pronounced over those who neglected these works, what will happen to those who have not only neglected the same, have given nothing to the poor Christians, nor served them; but robbed them of what they had, drove them to hunger, thirst and nakedness, furthermore persecuted, scattered, imprisoned, and murdered them? These are so unutterably wicked, so utterly condemned to the bottomless pit with the devil and his angels, that Christ will not think or speak of them. But he will assuredly not forget these robbers, tyrants, and bloodhounds any more than he will forget or pass over unrewarded those who have suffered hunger thirst, nakedness, persecution and the like, especially for his and his Word’s sake. He will not forget those to whom mercy has been shown, even though he speaks only to those who have shown mercy and have lent their aid; for he highly and nobly commends them, when he says. “Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, even these least, ye did it unto me.”

Peter Paul Rubens, "An Angel Gives Bread and Water to Elijah" (1625-28)

Yea, woe, another and eternal woe, to them and to all who side with them. For it had been better for them, had they never been born, as Christ says of Judas. Therefore they ought rather to wish that their mothers had drowned them in their first bath, or that they had never come forth from the womb, than that one of them should have become pope or cardinal or a popish priest. For they are nothing else than merely desperate and select ones, not highway robbers, but public country-thieves, who take, not the goods of the mighty and the powerful that really have something, but of the poor and wretched, of the parish-churches, schools, and hospitals, whose morsels are snatched from their teeth, and whose drink is torn from their mouths, so that they are unable to maintain life.

Therefore let every man beware of the Pope, the bishops, and the priesthood, as he would beware of those who have already been condemned alive to the abyss of perdition. Truly Paul did not prophesy in vain, 2 Timothy 3:1, that in the last days perilous times shall come. Yet all the world moves along indifferently and gives no heed to this terrible judgment that has already been decided against such unmerciful robbers, thieves, and murderers of poor Christians, but especially against those who pretend to be Christians, who after having received grace slide back again, and like a dog eat their own vomit, or as the swine wallow in their own filth, 2 Peter 2:20-22, and thus, having been first, become last before anyone is aware of it.

The second reason why Christ especially mentions these works of mercy and their omission, from the fifth commandment, is, that he wishes to remind us, who have been called to be Christians, have received mercy through our Lord, have been redeemed from the wrath of God and the guilt of the fifth commandment and from eternal death, and on the contrary have a gracious God, who is good to us in time and in eternity, to remind us, I say, to look upon all this and regard it as having been done not only for our salvation but also for an example. For, since he has shown us such mercy as to save us, we are also to act toward our neighbor in a manner as not to transgress against the fifth commandment, which especially demands love and mercy.

And we are not to do these things simply because of the commandment and of the threatening of judgment, but for the sake of the example of the excellent and great goodness God has shown. For this example cannot be without blessed results, as God’s work of redemption is not without power and good fruit. Although most people become worse from having heard the Gospel, there must nevertheless be some who rightly understand it and remain faithful to it; for he says that he will separate them into two flocks; therefore there must also be pious ones who have kept this commandment.

Therefore see to it that you are among those who are kind and merciful here upon earth for Christ’s sake, or who even suffer for his sake, then you may joyfully await the last day, and need not be afraid of the judgment; for he has already selected you and placed you among those who shall stand at his right hand.

For we, who are Christians, should hope for the coming of this judgment and desire it with our whole heart; as we pray for it in the words:

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, deliver us from evil; so that we may also hear the glad and welcome words: Come, ye blessed, into the kingdom of my Father. This is the verdict we await; for this reason we are Christians, and just for the sake of this hope we are so severely oppressed, first by Satan and by our own flesh, which would not have us believe this and rejoice over it; then by the tyranny and enmity of the world. For we must constantly see and hear the maliciousness which Satan and the world practice against the Gospel. There is so much misery upon earth that we ought to be tired of this life and cry aloud: Come, dear Lord, and deliver us.

Via Luther’s “Sermon for the Twenty-Sixth Sunday After Trinity,” on Matthew 25:31-46 [Erl. 14, 375; W. 11, 2515; St. L. 11, 1884]

First . It should be known that in our times (of which the Apostle Paul prophesied that they would be perilous) avarice and usury have not only taken a mighty hold in all the world, but have undertaken to seek certain cloaks under which they would be considered right and could thus practice their wickedness freely, and things have gone almost so far that we hold the holy Gospel as of no value. Therefore, it is necessary, in this perilous time, for everyone to see well to himself, and in dealing with temporal goods, to make true distinctions and diligently to observe the holy Gospel of Christ our Lord.

Three right methods

Second . It should be known that there are three different degrees and ways of dealing well and rightly with temporal goods.

The first

The first is that if anyone takes some of our temporal goods by force, we shall not only permit it, and let the goods go, but even be ready to let him take more, if he will. Of this our dear Lord Jesus Christ says, in Matthew 5:40, “If anyone will go to law with you to take your coat, let him take your cloak also.” This is the highest degree of this kind of work, and is not to be understood to mean, as some think, that we are to throw the cloak after the coat, but rather that we are to let the cloak go, and not resist or become impatient about it, or demand it back again. For He does not say, “Give him the cloak also,” but “Let him take the cloak also.” So Christ Himself, before Bishop Annas, when He received a blow on the cheek, offered the other cheek also and was ready to receive more such blows; nay, in His entire Passion we see that He never repays or returns an evil word or deed, but is always ready to endure more.

Warning

It is true, indeed, that He said to the servant Malchus, who struck Him, “If I have spoken evil, prove the evil; but if well, why smitest thou me?” Some even of the learned stumble at these words, and think that Christ did not offer the other cheek, as He taught that men should do. But they do not look at the words rightly; for in these words Christ does not threaten, does not avenge Himself, does not strike back, does not even refuse the other cheek; nay, He does not judge or condemn Malchus, but as Peter writes of Him, He did not threaten, or think to recompense evil, but committed it to God, the just Judge, as if to say, “If I have spoken rightly or you are right in smiting me, God will find it out, and you are bound to prove it.” So Zechariah said, when they killed him, Videat dominus et judicet, “God will see it and judge.” So He did also before Pilate, when He said, “He that hath given me over to thee hath a greater sin than thou.” For that is Christian and brotherly fidelity, to terrify him, and hold his wrongdoing and God’s judgment before him who does you wrong; and it is your duty to say to him, “Well, then, you are taking my coat and this and that; if you are doing right, you will have to answer for it.” This you must do, not chiefly because of your own injury, and also not to threaten him, but to warn him and remind him of his own ruin. If that does not change his purpose, let go what will, and do not demand it back again. See, that is the meaning of the word that Christ spoke before the court of Annas. It follows that, like Christ on the cross, you must pray for him and do well to him who does evil to you. But this we leave now until the proper time.

Counsels or binding commands

Many think that this first degree is not commanded and need not be observed by every Christian, but is a good counsel, laid upon the perfect for them to keep just as virginity and chastity are counseled, not commanded. Therefore they hold it proper that everyone shall take back what is his own, and repel force with force according to his ability and his knowledge; and they deck out this opinion with pretty flowers, and prove it, as they think, with many strong arguments; namely, First, the canon law (to say nothing of the temporal) says, Vim vi pellere jura sinunt, that is, “The law allows that force be resisted with force.” From this comes, in the second place, the common proverb about self-defense, that it is not punishable for what it does. In the third place, they bring up some illustrations from the Scriptures, such as Abraham and David and many more, of whom we read that they punished and repaid their enemies. In the fourth place, they bring in Reason, and say, Solve istud (explain that); if this were a commandment, it would give the wicked permission to steal, and at last no one would keep anything; nay, no one would be sure of his own body. In the fifth place, in order that everything may be firmly proved, they bring up the saying of St. Augustine who explains these words of Christ to mean that one must let the cloak go after the coat, secundum praeparationem animi, that is, “he shall be ready in his heart to do it.” This noble, clear exposition they interpret and darken with another gloss, and add, “It is not necessary that we give it outwardly and in deed; it is enough that we be inwardly, in the heart, ready and prepared to do it.” As though we were willing to do something that we were not willing to do, and yes and no were one thing!

I have the right to …

See, these are the masterpieces with which the doctrine and example of our dear Lord Jesus Christ, together with the holy Gospel and all His martyrs and saints, have hitherto been turned around, made unknown, and entirely suppressed, so that nowadays those spiritual and temporal prelates and subjects are the best Christians who follow these rules, and yet resist Christ’s life, teaching, and Gospel. Hence it comes that lawsuits and litigations, notaries, officia1es, jurists, and that whole noble race, are as numerous as flies in summer. Hence it comes that there is so much war and bloodshed among Christians. Suits must also be carried to Rome, for there much money is the thing most needed; and throughout the Church the greatest and holiest and commonest work these days is suing and being sued. That is resisting the holy and peaceful life and doctrine of Christ, and the cruel game has gone to the point where not only is a poor man, whom God has redeemed with His blood, cited many miles for the sake of a trifling sum of three or four groschen, put under the ban, and driven away from wife and children and family, but the bright young boys look on this as a good thing to do, and regard it with equanimity. So shall they fall who make a mockery of God’s commandments; so shall God blind and put to shame those who turn the brightness of His holy Word into darkness with Vim vi repellere licet and with letting the cloak go secundum praeparationem animi! For thus the heathen, too, keep the Gospel; nay, the wolves and all the unreasoning beasts; men need no longer be Christians to do it.

Gods law versus secular laws

Therefore, I want to do my part and, so far as I can, to warn everyone not to be led astray, no matter how learned, how mighty, how spiritual, or how much of all these things at once, they may be who have made, and still make a counsel out of this decree, no matter how many are the flowers and the colors with which they decorate it. No excuses help! This is simply a commandment that we are bound to obey, as Christ and His saints have confirmed it and exemplified it. God does not care that the laws – spiritual or temporal – permit force to be resisted with force.

And are not those precious things that the laws permit! They permit common brothels, though they are against God’s commandment, and many other wicked things which God forbids; and they have to permit secret sin and wickedness. The things that human laws command and forbid matter little; how much less the things that they permit or do not punish. Thus self-defense is before the human law unpunishable, but before God it has no merit. Suing at law is condemned by neither pope nor emperor, but it is condemned by Christ and His doctrine. That some of the Old Testament fathers punished their enemies was never due to their own choice in the matter, and it was never done without God’s express command, which punishes sinners, and punishes, at times, both good and bad, angels and men. For this reason they never sought revenge or their own profit, but only acted as obedient servants of God, just as Christ teaches in the Gospel that at God’s command we must act even against father and mother, whom He has commanded us to honor. Nevertheless, the two commandments are not contradictory, but the lower is ruled by the higher. When God commands you to take revenge or to defend yourself, then you shall do it; and not before then.

Babies

Nevertheless, it is true that God has instituted the worldly sword and the spiritual power of the Church, and has commanded both kinds of rulers to punish the evil and rescue the oppressed, as Paul teaches in Romans 13:3, and Isaiah in many places, and Psalm 82:3. But this should be done in such a way that no one would be an accuser in his own case, but that others, in their brotherly fidelity and their care for one another, would tell the rulers that this man was innocent and that man wrong. Thus the authorities would resort to punishment in a just and orderly way, on proof furnished by the others; indeed, the offended party ought to ask that his case be not tried, and ought to do his best to prevent it. The others, for their part, ought not to desist until the evil was punished.

Thus things would be conducted in a kindly, Christian and brotherly way, with more regard to the sin than to the injury. Therefore Paul rebukes the Corinthians, in 1 Corinthians 6:16, because they went to law with one another, and did not rather suffer themselves to be injured and defrauded, though because of their imperfection, he did permit that they appoint the least of themselves as judges. He did this to shame them into a knowledge of their imperfection. In like manner we must still tolerate those who sue and are sued, as weak and childish Christians whom we must not cast off, because there is hope for their improvement, as the same Apostle teaches in many places. We ought to tell them, however, that such conduct is not Christian or meritorious, but human and earthly, a hindrance to salvation and not a help.

Christianity is suffering

Christ gave this commandment in order to establish within us a peaceful, pure, and heavenly life. Now for everyone to demand what is his and be unwilling to endure wrong, that is not the way to peace, as those blind men think of whom it is said, in Psalm 13:1, “They know not the way to peace,” which goeth only through suffering. The heathen, too, know this by Reason, and we by daily experience. If peace is to be kept, one party must be quiet and suffer; and even though quarrels and litigations last for a long while, they must finally come to an end, after injuries and evils that would not have been, if people had kept this commandment of Christ’s at the start and had not allowed the temptation, with which God tries us, to drive them from the commandment and overcome them. God has so ordered things that he who will not let a little go because of the commandment, must lose much, perhaps everything, through lawsuits and war. It is fair that a man should give to the judges, proctors, and clerks, and receive no thanks for it, twenty or thirty or forty gulden in serving the devil, when he will not let his neighbor, for God’s sake and for his own eternal credit, have two gulden, or six. Thus he loses both his temporal and eternal goods, when, if he were obedient to God, he might have enough for both time and eternity. It happens, at times, that in this way great lords must lose a whole land in war and consume great sums of money on soldiers for the sake of a small advantage or a small liberty. That is the perverted wisdom of the world; it fishes with golden nets and the cost is greater than the profit; there are those who win the little and squander the much.

Sanctification

It would be impossible to become pure of our attachment to temporal goods, if God did not decree that we should be unjustly injured, and exercised thereby in turning our hearts away from the false temporal goods of the world, letting them go in peace, and setting our hopes on the invisible and eternal goods. Therefore he who requires that which is his own, and does not let the cloak go after the coat is resisting his own purification and the hope of eternal salvation, for which God would exercise him and to which He would drive him. And even though everything were taken from us, there is no reason to fear that God will desert us and not provide for us even in temporal matters; as it is written in Psalm 37:25, “I have been young and have grown old, and have never seen that the righteous was deserted or his children went after bread.” This is proved in the case of Job also, who received in the end more than he had before, though all that he had was taken from him. For, to put it briefly, these commandments are intended to loose us from the world and make us desirous of heaven. Therefore we ought peacefully and joyfully to accept the faithful counsel of God, for if He did not give it, and did not let wrong and unhappiness come to us, the human heart could not maintain itself; it entangles itself too deeply in temporal things and attaches itself to them too tightly, and the result is satiety and disregard of the eternal goods in heaven.

So much for the first degree of dealing with temporal goods! It is also the foremost and the greatest, and yet, sad to say! it has not only become the least, but it has come to nothing and, amid the mists and clouds of human laws, practices and customs, has become quite unknown.

Now comes the second degree

It is that we give our goods freely to everyone who needs them or asks for them. Of this also our Lord Jesus Christ speaks in Matthew 5, “He who asks of thee, to him give.” Although this degree is much lower than the first, it is, nevertheless, hard and bitter for those who have more taste for the temporal than for the eternal goods; for they have not enough trust in God to believe that He can or will maintain them in this wretched life. Therefore, they fear that they would die of hunger or be entirely ruined if they were to do as God commands, and give to everyone that asks them. How, then, can they trust Him to maintain them in eternity? For, as Christ says, “He who does not trust God in a little thing never trusts Him in a great.” And yet they go about thinking that God will make them eternally blessed, and believing that they have good confidence in Him, though they will not heed this commandment of His, by which He would exercise them, and drive them to learn to trust Him in things temporal and eternal. There is reason to fear, therefore, that he who will not hear the doctrine and obey it will never acquire the art of trusting, and as they do not trust God for the little temporal goods, so they must at last despair about those that are great and eternal.

Social care

This second degree is so small a thing that it was commanded even to the simple, imperfect people of the Jews, in the Old Testament, as it is written in Deuteronomy 15:4, “There will always be poor people in the land, therefore I command thee that thou open thy hand to thy poor and needy brother, and give to him.” Besides, He commanded them severely that they must allow no one to beg, and says, in Deuteronomy 15:4, “There shall be no beggar or indigent man among you.” Now if God gave this commandment in the Old Testament, how much more ought we Christians be bound not only to allow no one to suffer want or to beg, but also to keep the first degree of this commandment, and let everything go that anyone will take from us by force. Now, however, there is so much begging that it has even become an honor; and it is not enough that men of the world beg, but the spiritual estate of the priesthood practices it as a precious thing. I will quarrel with no one about it, but I consider that it would be more fitting that there should be no more begging in Christendom under the New Testament, than among the Jews under the Old Testament; and I hold that the spiritual and temporal rulers would be discharging their duty if they did away with all the beggars’ sacks. Twelfth .

Helping the weakest

There are three practices or customs among men that are opposed to this degree of dealing. The first is that men give and present things to their friends, the rich and powerful, who do not need them, and forget the needy; and if they thus obtain favor, advantage, or friendship from these people, or are praised by them as pious folk, they go carelessly along, satisfied with the praise, honor, favor, or advantage that comes from men, and do not observe, meanwhile, how much better it would be if they did these things to the needy, and obtained God’s favor, praise, and honor.

Of such men Christ says, “If thou make a midday or an evening meal, thou shalt not invite thy friends or thy brethren, or thy relatives, or thy neighbors, or the rich, so that they may invite thee again, and thus take thy reward; but when thou makest a meal, invite the poor, the sick, the lame, the blind; so art thou blessed, for they cannot recompense it to thee; but it shall be recompensed to thee among the righteous, when they rise from the dead.” Although this doctrine is so clear and plain that everyone sees and knows that it ought to be so, yet we never see an example of it among Christians anymore. There is neither measure nor limit to the entertaining, the high living, the eating, drinking, giving, presenting; and yet they are all called good people and Christians, and nothing comes out of it except that giving to the needy is forgotten. O what a horrible judgment will fall upon these carefree spirits, when it is asked, at the Last Day, to whom they have given and done good!

Helping enemies and adversaries

The second custom is that people refuse to give to enemies and opponents. For it comes hard to our false nature to do good to those who have done it evil. But that does not help. The commandment is spoken for all men alike, “Give to him that asketh,” and it is clearly expressed in Luke 6:30, “To everyone that asketh of thee, give.” Here no exception is made of enemies or opponents; nay, they are included, as the Lord Himself makes clear in the same passage, and says, “If ye love only those that love you, what kind of a benevolence is that? The wicked, too, love those that love them. And if ye do good only to those that love you, what kind of a benevolence is that? The wicked also do that. But ye shall love your enemies, ye shall do good, ye shall lend to them and expect nothing from it; so shall your reward be great, and ye shall be children of the Highest, for He is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.” These wholesome commandments of Christ have so fallen into disuse that men not only do not keep them, but have made of them a “counsel,” which one is not necessarily bound to keep, just as they have done with the first degree. They have been helped in this by those injurious teachers who say that it is not necessary to lay aside the signa rancoris, that is, the signs of enmity, and bitter, angry attitudes toward an enemy, but that it is enough to forgive him in one’s heart. Thus they apply Christ’s commandment about external works to the thoughts alone, though He Himself extends it, in clear words, to works, saying, “Ye shall do good (not merely think good) to your enemies.” So, too, in Romans 12:20, Paul, in agreement with King Solomon, says, “If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink; for thereby thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head”; that is, you will load him with benefits, so that, overcome with good, he will be kindled to love for you. From these false doctrines has sprung the common saying, “I will forgive, but not forget.” Not so, dear Christian! You must forgive and forget, as you desire that God shall not only forgive and forget, but also do you more good than before.

People before buildings

The third custom is pretty and showy, and does most injury to this giving. It is dangerous to speak of it, for it concerns those who ought to be teaching and ruling others, and these are the folk who, from the beginning of the world to its end, can never hear the truth or suffer others to hear it. The way things now go, they apply the high title of “alms,” or “giving for God’s sake,” to giving for churches, monasteries, chapels, altars, towers, bells, organs, paintings, statues, silver and gold ornaments and vestments, and for masses, vigils, singing, reading, testamentary endowments, sodalities, and the like. Giving has taken hold here, and the real stream of giving is on this side, to which men have guided it and where they wanted to have it; no wonder, therefore, that on the side to which Christ’s word guides it, things are so dry and desolate that where there are a hundred altars or vigils, there is not one man who feeds a tableful of poor people, let alone gives food to a poor household. Not what Christ has commanded, but what men have invented, is called “Giving for God’s sake”; not what one gives to the needy living members of Christ, but what one gives to stone, wood, and paint is “alms.” And this giving has become so precious and noble that God Himself is not enough to recompense it, but has to have the help of breves, bulls, parchments, lead, metal, cords large and small, and wax, green, yellow and white. If it makes no show, it has no value; and it is all bought at great cost, “for God’s sake,” from Rome, and such great works are rewarded with indulgences, here and there, over and above the reward of God; but giving to the poor and needy, according to Christ’s commandment, this miserable work must be robbed of such splendid reward, and be satisfied with the reward that God gives.

Thus the latter work is pushed to the rear and the former is put out in front and the two, when compared, shine with unequal light. Therefore, St. Peter of Rome must now go begging throughout the world for the building of his church, and gather great heaps of “alms for God’s sake,” and pay for them dearly and richly with indulgences. And this work suits him well, and he can easily attend to it, because he is dead; for if he were alive, he would have to preach Christ’s commandments and could not attend to the indulgences. His lambs follow diligently after their faithful shepherd, go about with the indulgences in every land, and wherever there is a dedication-day or a fair these beggars gather like flies in summer, and they all preach the same song, “Give to the new building that God may recompense you, and the holy lord, St. Nicholas.” Afterwards they go to their beer or wine, also “for God’s sake”; and the commissaries are made rich, also “for God’s sake.” But there is no need for commissaries or legates to preach to us that we shall give to the needy according to God’s commandment.

Just distribution of money gifts

What shall we say to this? If we reject these works, the Holy See at Rome puts us under the ban and the high scholars quickly call us heretics, for the place to which the stream of money is directed makes a mighty difference. We would not prevent the building of suitable churches and the adornment of them, for we cannot do without them, and the worship of God ought rightly be conducted in the finest way; but there should be a limit to it, and we should have a care that the appointments of worship should be pure, rather than costly. It is pitiable and lamentable, however, that by these clamorous goings-on we are turned away from God’s commandments and led only to the things that God has not commanded, and without which God’s commandments can well be kept. It would be sufficient, if we gave the smaller portion to churches and the like, and let the real stream flow toward God’s commandment, so that among Christians good deeds done to the poor would shine more brightly than all the churches of stone or of wood. To speak out boldly, it is sheer trickery, dangerous and deceptive to the simple-minded, when bulls, breves, seals, banners, and the like are hung up for the sake of dead stone churches, and the same thing is not done a hundred times more for the sake of needy, living Christians. Beware, therefore, O man! God will not ask you, at your death and at the Last Day, how much you have left in your will, or whether you have given so much or so much to churches; but He will say to you, “I was hungry and ye fed me not; I was naked and ye clothed me not.” Let these words go to your heart, dear man! Everything will depend on whether you have given to your neighbor and done him good. Beware of show and glitter and color that draw you away from this!

Local government and responsibility

Pope, bishops, kings, princes and lords ought to labor for the abolition of these intolerable burdens and impositions. It ought to be established and decreed, either by their own mandate or in a general council, that every town and village should build its own churches and care for its own poor folk, so that beggary would cease entirely, or at least that it would not be done in such a way that any place should beg for its churches and its poor in all other cities, according to the present unhappy custom; and the Holy See at Rome ought to be left to enjoy its own bulls, for it has enough else to do, if it will perform its office, without selling bulls and building churches that it does not need. God has expressed it plainly in His law, in Deuteronomy 15:11, “There will always be poor people in your city.” Thus He has committed to every city its own poor, and He will not have men running hither and you with beggars’ sacks, as men now run to St. James and to Rome. Although I am too small a man to give advice to popes and all the rulers of the world in this case, and although I myself think that nothing will come of it; nevertheless, it ought to be known what the good and needful course would be, and it is the duty of the rulers to consider and to do the things that are necessary for the best ruling of the common people, who are committed to them.

Poor apologies

A device has been invented which teaches in a masterly way, how this commandment can be circumvented and the Holy Ghost deceived. It is, “No one is bound to give the needy unless they are in extreme want.”

Besides, they have reserved the right to investigate and decide what “extreme want” is. Thus we learn that no one is to give or help until the needy are dying of hunger, freezing to death, ruined by poverty, or running away because of debts. But this knavish gloss and deceitful addition is confounded with a single word which says, “What thou wilt that another do to thee, that do thou also.” Now no one is so foolish as to be unwilling that anyone should give to him until the soul is leaving his body or he has run away from his debts, and then help him, when he can no more be helped. But when it comes to churches, endowments, indulgences and other things that God has not commanded, then no one is so keen or so careful in reckoning out whether we are to give to the church before the tiles fall off the roof, the beams rot, the ceiling fall in, the dispensationletters mold, the indulgences decay – though all these things could wait more easily than people who are in need – but in these cases every hour is one of “extreme want,” even though all the chests, and the floor itself, were full, and everything well-built. Nay, in this case treasure must be gathered without ceasing, not to be given or lent to the needy on earth, but to the Holy Cross, to our Dear Lady, to the holy patron, St. Peter, though they are in heaven. All this must be done with more than ordinary foresight, so that if the Last Day never came, the church would be taken care of for a hundred or two hundred thousand years; and thus, in case of need, the canonization of a saint, or a bishop’s pallium, or other like wares can be bought at the fair in Rome. I truly think that the Romans are very great fools not to sell canonization, pallia, bulls, and breves at a higher price and not to get more money for them, since these fat German fools come to their fair and obligate themselves to buy them; though, to be sure, no Antichrist could collect these treasures more fittingly than the bottomless bag at Rome, into which they are all gathered and set in order.

It would grieve one to the heart, if these damned goods, taken from the needy, to whom they properly belong, were spent for anything else than Roman wares. St. Ambrose and Paulinus, in former times, melted the chalices and everything that the churches had, and gave to the poor. Turn the page, and you find how things are now. Well for you, dear Rome, that even though the Germans run short of money, they still have chalices, monstrances, and images enough; and all of them are still yours!

The third degree

We come now to the third degree of dealing with temporal goods. It is that we willingly and gladly lend without charges or interest.

Of this our Lord Jesus Christ says, in Matthew 5:42, “He that would borrow of thee, from him turn not,” that is, “do not refuse him.” This degree is the lowest of all and is commanded even in the Old Testament, where God says, in Deuteronomy 15:7, “If anyone of thy brethren in thy city become poor, thou shalt not harden thy heart against him nor shut thy hand; but that shalt open it and lend him all that he needs”; and they have allowed this degree to remain a commandment, for all the doctors agree that borrowing and lending shall be free, without charge or burden, though all may not be agreed on the question to whom we ought to lend. For as was said about the previous degree, there are many who gladly lend to the rich or to good friends, more to seek their favor or put them under obligation than because God has commanded it, and especially if it is given the high title, spoken of above, viz., “for God’s service,” or “for God’s sake.” For everybody gladly lends to the Holy Cross and our Dear Lady and the patron saint, but about those to whom God’s command points there is always trouble and labor, to them no one wants to lend, except in cases of extreme want, where lending does no good, as has been said above.

Boundless assistance

Christ, however, excluded no one from His commandment; nay, He included all kinds of people, even one’s enemies, when He said, in Luke 6:34, “If ye lend only to those of whom ye expect that they will make return, what kind of benevolence is that? Even wicked sinners lend one to another that they may have the same again”; and also “Ye shall lend and expect nothing in return.” I know very well that very many doctores have interpreted these words as though Christ had commanded to lend in such a way as not to make any charge for it or seek any profit by it, but to lend gratis. This opinion is, indeed, not wrong, for he who makes a charge for lending is not lending and neither is he selling; it must therefore be usury, because lending is, in its very nature, nothing else than to offer another something without charge, on the condition that one get back, after awhile, the same thing, or its equivalent, and nothing more. But if we look the word of Christ squarely in the eye, it does not teach that we are to lend without charge, for there is no need for such teaching, since there is no lending except lending without charge, and if a charge is made, it is not a loan. He wills that we lend not only to friends, the rich, and those to whom we are well disposed, who can repay us again, by returning this loan, or with another loan, or by some other benefit; but also that we lend to those who cannot or will not repay us, such as the needy and our enemies. It is just like His teaching about loving and giving; our lending is to be done without selfishness and without self-seeking. This does not happen unless we lend to our enemies and to the needy; for all that He says is aimed to teach us to do good to everyone, that is, not only to those who do good to us, but also to those who do us evil, or cannot do us good in return. That is what He means when He says, “Ye shall lend and expect nothing from it,” that is, “Ye shall lend to those who cannot or will not lend to you again.” But he who lends expects to receive back the same thing that he lends, and if he expects nothing, then, according to their interpretation, it would be a gift and not a loan. Because, then, it is such a little thing to make a loan to one who is a friend, or rich, or who may render some service in return, that even sinners who are not Christians do the same thing, Christians ought to do more, and lend to those who do not the same, i.e., to the needy and to their enemies. Thus, too, the doctrine falls which says that we are not bound to lay aside the signa rancoris, as has been said above; and even though they speak rightly concerning lending, yet they turn this commandment into a counsel and teach us that we are not bound to lend to our enemies or to the needy, unless they are in extreme want. Beware of this!

Refusing financial speculation

It follows that they are all usurers who lend their neighbor wine, grain, money, or the like, in such a way that he obligates himself to pay charges on it in a year or at a given time; or that he burdens and overloads himself with a promise to give back more than he has borrowed, or something else that is better. And in order that these men may themselves perceive the wrong that they are doing – though the practice has, unfortunately, become common – we set before them three laws.

First, This passage in the Gospel commands that we shall lend. Now lending is not lending unless it be done without charge and without advantage to the lender, as has been said. Crafty avarice, to be sure, sometimes paints itself a pretty color and pretends to take the surplus as a present, but that does not help if the present is the cause of the loan; or if the borrower would rather not make the present, provided he could borrow gratis. And the present is especially suspicious, if the borrower makes it to the lender, or the needy to the wealthy; for it is not natural to suppose that the needy would make a present to the wealthy of his own free will; it is necessity that forces him to do so.

Second, This is contrary to the natural law, which the Lord also announces in Luke 6:31 and Matthew 7:12 “What ye would that men should do to you, that do also to them.” Now, beyond all doubt, there is no one who would that men should lend him rye to be repaid with wheat, bad money to be repaid with good, bad wares to be repaid with good wares; indeed, he would much rather that men should lend him good wares to be repaid with bad, or with equally good wares, but without charge. Therefore it is clear that these usurers are acting against nature, are guilty of mortal sin, and seek their neighbor’s injury and their own profit, because they would not put up with such treatment from others, and are thus dealing unfairly with their neighbor.

Third, It is also against the Old and the New Law, which commands, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” But such lenders love themselves alone, seek only their own, or do not love and seek their neighbor with such fidelity as they love and seek themselves.

Christian charity as guiding principle

Therefore no better or briefer instruction can be given about this, and about all dealing with temporal goods, than that everyone who is to have dealings with his neighbor set before him these commandments, “Whatsoever thou wilt that another do to thee, that do thou to him also,” and “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” If, beside this, he were to think what he would have for himself, if he were in his neighbor’s place, he would learn for himself and find for himself all that he needs to know.

There would be no need for law books or courts or accusation; nay, all the cases would be quickly and simply decided. For everyone’s heart and conscience would tell him how he would like to be dealt with, what he would like to have remitted, what given and what forgiven, and from this he must conclude that he ought to do just that for everyone else. But because we leave these commandments out of view, and look only at the business, and its profit or loss, we must have all the countless books, courts, judges, law suits, blood, and all misery, and thus, upon the violation of God’s commandments, must follow the destruction of God’s kingdom, which is peace and unity, in brotherly love and faithfulness. And yet these wicked men go about, begging at times and fasting, giving alms at times, but in this matter, on which salvation depends, they are quite heedless and carefree, as if this commandment did not concern them at all, though without it they cannot be saved, even if they did all the other works of all the saints.

Unrealistic and impossible

Here we meet two objections. The first is that if lending were done in this way, the interest would be lost, that is, the profit which they could make meanwhile with the goods that were lent. The second is the great example. Everywhere in the world it has become the custom to lend for profit, and especially because scholars, priests, clergy, and churches do it, seeing that the improvement of the church’s spiritual goods and of the worship of God is sought, and without these there would be very few Christians in the world, and everyone would be reluctant to lend.

Answer. There is nothing in all of that. In the first place, you must lose the interest and the profit if it be taken from you or if you give to someone outright; why, then, will you seek it and keep it in lending? He who decides to give and lend must give up the interest in advance, or it is neither giving nor lending. In the second place, whether it is a good custom or a bad custom, it is not Christian or divine or natural, and no example helps against that fact. For it is written, “Thou shalt not follow the crowd to do evil, but honor God and His commandments above all things.” That the clergy and the churches do this is so much the worse. For spiritual goods and churches have neither authority nor freedom to break God’s commandments, rob their neighbor, practice usury, and do wrong. Moreover, the service of God is not improved by it, but corrupted.

Keeping God’s commandments is improving the service of God; even knaves can improve the church property; and even if the whole world had the custom of lending with this kind of a charge, the churches and the clergy should act the other way, and the more spiritual their possessions were, the more Christian should be the manner in which, according to Christ’s command, they would lend them, give them, and let them go. He who does otherwise, is doing so, not for the improvement of the churches or of their spiritual goods, but for his own usury-seeking avarice, which decks itself out with such good names. It is no wonder, then, that Christians are few; for here we see who they are that practice really good works, though many blind and deceive themselves with their own selfchosen good works, which God has not commanded them. But if anyone finds that this makes it hard for him to lend to his neighbor, it is a sign of his great unbelief, because he despises the comforting assurance of Christ, who says, “If we lend and give, we are children of the Highest, and our reward is great.” He who does not believe this comforting promise and does not make it a guide for his works, is not worthy of it.

PART TWO ON USURY

Beneath these three degrees are other degrees and ways of dealing with temporal goods, such as buying, inheriting, conveying, etc., and these are governed by temporal and spiritual law. By these no one becomes better or worse in the sight of God, for there is no Christian merit in buying anything, getting it by inheritance, or acquiring it in some other honest way, since the heathen, Turks, and Jews can be this good.

But Christian dealing and the right use of temporal goods consist in the three above-mentioned degrees or ways – giving them away, lending them without charge, and quietly letting them go when they are taken by force.

Buying interest

Let us now leave all the other ways of dealing out of account, and give attention to the matter of buying, especially the buying of income, since this makes a pretty show and seems to be a way by which a man can burden others without sin and grow rich without worry or trouble. For in other dealings it is manifest to everybody if a man sells too dear, or sells false wares, or possesses a false inheritance, or wealth that is not his, but this slippery and newly invented business makes itself ofttimes the pious and faithful protector of damnable greed and usury.

Although the buying of income is now established as a proper trade and a permitted line of business, it is, nevertheless, to be hated and opposed for many reasons. First, because it is a new and slippery invention, especially in these last, perilous times, where nothing good is invented anymore and the thoughts of all men are bent upon wealth and honor and luxury, without any limit. We cannot find any example of this business among the ancients, and Paul says of these times that many new, wicked practices will be invented. Second, because, as they must themselves admit, however right it is, it makes a bad show and has an offensive outward appearance, and St. Paul bids us avoid all evil and offensive appearances, even though the thing itself were right and proper – ab omni spetie mala abstinete (Thessalonians ult.), “Be on your guard against every evil appearance.” Now in this business the advantage of the buyer, or receiver of income, is always looked upon as greater and better, and is more sought after by everyone than that of the seller, or payer of income; and this is a sign that the business is never conducted for the sake of the seller, but always for the sake of the buyer, for every man’s conscience fears that it cannot be right to buy income, but no one has any doubt that he can sell it at any risk that he cares to take. So close does this business come to the conscience.

Contrary to nature and Christian charity

This business, even though it be conducted without usury, can scarcely be conducted without violation of the natural law and the Christian law of love. For it is to be supposed that the buyer never, or very seldom, seeks and desires the welfare and advantage of his neighbor, the seller, more than or equally with his own, especially if the buyer is the richer man and does not need to buy. And yet the natural law says, What we wish and desire for ourselves, we shall wish and desire for our neighbor also; and it is the nature of love, as St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:5, not to seek its own profit or advantage, but that of others. But who believes that, in this business, anyone buys income (unless he absolutely needs it) with a view to giving his neighbor, the seller, a profit and advantage equal to his own? Thus it is to be feared that the buyer would not like to be in the seller’s place, as in other kinds of trade.

Everyone must admit that whether this business be usury or not, it does exactly the same work that usury does; that is to say, it lays burdens upon all lands, cities, lords, and people, sucks them dry and brings them to ruin, as no usury could have done. We see this plainly in the case of many cities and principalities. Now the Lord taught, not that the fruit is to be known by the tree, but the tree by the fruit. Thus I cannot possibly think you a sweet fig-tree, when you bear nothing but sharp thorns, and I cannot reconcile the claim that this buying of incomes is right with the fact that land and people are ruined by it.

Let us imagine, then, or dream, or force ourselves to think that this business is right, as it is now conducted; nevertheless, it deserves that pope, bishops, emperor, princes and everybody else endeavor to have it abolished, and it is the duty of everyone who can prevent it to do so, if only on account of its wicked and damnable fruits, which burden and ruin the whole world.

Legal but sinful

Therefore it is not enough that this business should be rescued by canon law from the reproach of usury, for that does not rid it of or secure it against avarice and self-love; and from the canon law we find that it is not directed toward love, but toward self-seeking. Money won by gambling is not usury either, and yet it is not won without self-seeking and love of self, and not without sin; the profits of prostitution are not usury, but they are earned by sin; and wealth that is acquired by cursing, swearing and slander is not usury, and yet it is acquired by sin. Therefore I cannot conclude that those who buy income which they do not need are acting rightly and properly. I make bold to say and give warning that the rich, who use this business only to increase their incomes and their wealth, are in great danger. Moreover, I do not think it permissible to act as do some avaricious fellows (Geytzige blasen), who collect their incomes at stated times, and quickly invest it again in income – so that the one income always drives the other along, as water drives the millwheel. This is such open and shameless avarice that no man, however stupid, can deny that it is avarice; and yet all that is held to be right. If there were no other reason to regard this buying of income as usury or as wrong dealing (especially in such a case as I have mentioned), this one reason would be enough, viz., that it is a cloak for such manifest and shameless avarice, and allows men to do business without risk. Whatever is of God avoids sin and every kind of evil; but this business gives avarice free rein; therefore it cannot be of God, as it is now conducted.

The concept of ”interesse”

We will now look at the arguments by which this tender business is justified. There is a little Latin word called interesse. This noble, precious, tender, little word may be rendered in German this way: If I have a hundred gulden with which I can trade, and by my labor and trouble make in a year five or six gulden or more, I place it with someone else, on a productive property, so that not I, but he, can trade with it, and for this I take from him five gulden, which I might have earned; thus he sells me the income – five gulden for a hundred – and I am the buyer and he the seller. Here they say, now, that the purchase of the income is proper because, with these gulden, I might perhaps have made more in a year, and the interest is just and sufficient. All that is so pretty that no one can find fault with it at any point. But it is also true that it is not possible to have such interest on earth, for there is another, counter-interest, which goes like this: If I have a hundred gulden, and am to do business with it, I may run a hundred kinds of risk of making no profits at all, nay, of losing four times as much besides. Because of the money itself, or because of illness, I may not be able to do business, or there may be no wares or goods on hand. Hindrances of this kind are innumerable, and we see that failures, losses, and injuries are greater than profits. Thus the interest on loss is as great as the interest of profits, or greater.

Safe profit

Now if income is bought on the first kind of interest only, so that these risks and the trouble are not assumed, and it can never happen that the buyer loses more than he invests, and thus the money is invested as though all of it could always be without the other interest, then it is clear that the trade is based on nothing, because there cannot be any such interest, and it cannot be invented. For in this business, goods are always on hand, and one can transact it sitting still; a sick man can do it, a child, a woman; indeed, it matters not how unfit the person is, though no such persons can engage in trade, and earn profits, with bare money. Therefore those who regard only this kind of interest, and trade in it, are worse than usurers; nay, they buy the first interest with the second interest, and win in order that other people may lose. Again, since it is not possible to regulate, compute, and equalize the second interest (for it is not in man’s power), I do not see how this business can last. For who would not rather invest a hundred gulden for income than trade with it, since in trade he might lose twenty gulden in a year, and his capital besides, while in this business he cannot lose more than five, and keeps his capital? Moreover, in trade his money must often be inactive because of the market (Der wahr halben), or because of his own physical condition, while in this business it is moving and earning all the time.

Is it any wonder, then, that a man gets control of all the wealth in the world, when he has goods always at hand, with constant safety and less risk, and when his capital is protected in advance? One’s profits cannot be small at times when one can always procure goods, just as one’s losses cannot be small when one cannot get rid of goods, or cannot procure them.

Therefore, money in trade and money at interest are different things, and the one cannot be compared with the other. For money invested in income has a basis which constantly grows and produces profit out of the earth, while money in trade has no certainty; the interest it yields is accidental, and one cannot count on it at all. Here they will say, perhaps, that, because they place money on land, there is an “interest of loss,” as well as an “interest of profit,” for the income stands or falls according as the land stays or not. This is all true, and we shall hear more about it below. But the fact remains that money which one can place on land increases the “first interest” too much and decreases the “second interest” as compared with money that moves in trade; for, as was said above, there is more risk in trade than in land. Since, then, one cannot get ground with a definite sum of money, neither can one buy income with a definite sum.

Therefore, it is not enough to say, “With so much money I can buy so much income from a piece of ground, and therefore it is right for me to take so much income for it and let someone else look after the ground.” For in that way one would assess a piece of ground at a definite value. That is impossible, and great hardship must result for land and people.

The nature of capital

Therefore it is no wonder that the knights of income (Zins junckeren) quickly become rich above others, for since the others keep their money in trade, they are subject to the two kinds of interest, but the knights of income, by this little trick, get out of the second interest and come into the first; thus their risk is greatly reduced and their safety increased. It ought, therefore, not be permitted to buy income with cash money, without specifying and defining the particular piece of ground from which the income is derived, as is now the custom, especially among the great merchants, who place money on ground in general, without specification. By so doing they ascribe to the nature of money that which is only accidental to it. It is not in the nature of money that it buys ground, but it may happen that a piece of ground is for sale for income when some money is at one’s disposal; but that does not happen with all ground or with all money; therefore the ground ought to be named and exactly defined. If that were done, it would be evident how much money would be useless for income purposes and have to stay in trade or in the coffers, though it now produces income with neither right nor pretext except that one says (in a general way), “By placing it on a piece of ground, I can buy so much income with it, and that will be interest.” Yes, my dear fellow, my money can buy my neighbor’s house; but if it is not for sale, the ability of my money has no effect on his interest. In the same way, it is not the luck of all money to buy income from ground; and yet some people want to buy income from everything that can be used. They are usurers, thieves, and robbers, for they are selling the luck of the money, which is not theirs and is not in their power. “Nay,” you say, “it can buy income from a piece of ground.” I answer, It does not do so yet, and perhaps it never will. Hans can take a Gretchen, but he has her not yet, and so he is not yet married.

Your money can buy income; that is half of it, but the deal depends on the rest of it – the acceptance and the other half. But now the rich merchants want to sell the good fortune of their money, and that without any bad fortune, and sell the will and intentions of other people besides, because it rests with them whether the sale can be made. That is selling the thirteenth bear-skin.

Risk capital with written agreement

I say, further, that it is not enough that the ground be there and be named, but it must be described parcel by parcel and the money placed on it and the income to be got from it indicated, as, for example, the house, the garden, the meadow, the pond, the cattle, and all this free and unsold and unencumbered. They must not play the blind cow in the community and place a burden on the whole property. If this provision is not made, a town, or a poor man, must be sold in a sack and utterly ruined by the blind bargain, as we see happening now in many cities and states. The reason is this – the trade of a city may fall off, citizens become fewer, houses burn down, fields, meadows and all the ground run down and the goods and the cattle of every householder grow less, more children come; or it may be burdened with some other misfortune. Thus the wealth slips away, but the blind bargain, made with the whole property of the community, remains. Thus the poor and small remnant of wealth must bear the burden and expense of the whole former lot; and this can never be right. The buyer is sure of his income and has no risk, and this is against the nature of any real bargain; and it would not be so, if the property were described parcel by parcel, and the income were to fluctuate with the value of the ground, as is right.

Shared risk and insecurity

The only way of defending this business against the charge of usury – and it would do so better than all talk of interest – would be that the buyer of income have the same risk and uncertainty about his income that he has about all his other property. For with his property the receiver of income is subject to the power of God – death, sickness, flood, fire, wind, hail, thunder, rain, wolves, wild beasts, and the manifold losses inflicted by wicked men. All these risks should apply to the buyer of income, for upon this, and on nothing else, his income rests; nor has he any right to receive income for his money, unless the payer of the income, or seller of the property, specifically agrees, and can have free and entire and unhindered use of his own labor. This is proved from nature, Reason, and all laws, which agree in saying that in a sale the risk lies with the buyer, for the seller is not bound to guarantee his wares to the buyer. Thus when I buy the income from a particular parcel of ground, I do not buy the ground, but the labor of the seller upon the ground, by which he is to bring me my income. I therefore take all the risk of hindrance that may come to his labor, insofar as it does not come from his fault or neglect, whether by the elements, beasts, men, sickness, or anything else. In these things the seller of the income has as great interest as the buyer, so that if, after due diligence, his labor is unprofitable, he ought and can say freely to the receiver of the income, “This year I owe you nothing, for I sold you my labor for the production of income from this and that property; I have not succeeded; the loss is yours and not mine; for if you would have interest on my profits, you must also have an interest in my losses, as the nature of a bargain requires.” The owners of income, who will not put up with that, are just as pious as robbers and murderers, and wrest from the poor man his property and his living. Woe to them!

Specific buying of interest

From this it follows that the blind trade in incomes that are based not on a designated piece of property, but on the land of a whole community, or many properties taken together, is wrong. For although the purchaser of income cannot show on what property the charge rests, he has, nevertheless, no risk, never accepts the possibility that income may fail here or there, and wants to be sure of his income. But perhaps you will say, “If this were to be the case, who would buy income?” I answer: See there!

I knew very well that if human nature were to do the right thing, it would turn up its nose. Now it comes out that in this trade in incomes the only things that are sought are safety, avarice, and usury.

O how many cities, lands, and people must pay these charges, when it has long since been men’s duty to remit them! For if this risk is not taken, the purchase of incomes is simply usury. They go on endowing churches and monasteries and altars and this and that, and yet there is no limit to the trade in incomes, just as though it were possible for wealth, persons, luck, products, and labor to be alike in all years. However equal or unequal these things may be, the charge must go on at the same rate. Ought this not ruin land and people? I am surprised that the world still stands, with this boundless usury going on! It is thus that the world has improved! What in earlier days was called a loan, is now changed into the purchase of income.

The two kingdoms

The income purchase is sometimes made in such a way that income is bought from those to whom the buyer ought to lend or give something. That is utterly worthless, for God’s commandment stands in the way, and it is His will that the needy shall be helped by loans or gifts.

Again it happens that both buyer and seller need their property, and therefore neither of them can lend or give, but they have to help themselves with such a bargain. If this is done without breaking the church-law which provides for the payment of four, five, or six gulden on the hundred, it can be endured; but respect should be always had for the fear of God, which fears to take too much rather than too little, in order that avarice may not have its way in a decent business deal. The smaller the percentage the more divine and Christian the deal.

It is not my affair, however, to point out when one ought to pay five, four, or six percent. I leave it for the law to decide when the property is so good and so rich that one can charge six percent. It is my opinion, however, that if we were to keep Christ’s command about the first three degrees, the purchase of incomes would not be so common or so necessary, except in cases where the amounts were considerable and the properties large. But the practice has got down to groschen and pfennige and deals with little sums that could easily be taken care of by gifts or loans in accordance with Christ’s command. And yet they will not call this avarice.

Usury

There are some who not only deal in little sums, but also take too much return – seven, eight, nine, ten percent. The rulers ought to look into this. Here the poor common people are secretly imposed upon and severely oppressed. For this reason these robbers and usurers often die an unnatural and sudden death, or come to a terrible end (as tyrants and robbers deserve), for God is a judge for the poor and needy, as He often says in the Old Law.

But then they say, “The churches and the clergy do this and have done it, because this money is used for the service of God.” Truly if a man has nothing else to do than to justify usury, a worse thing could not be said about him, for he would take the innocent church and the clergy with him to the devil and lead them into sin. Leave the name of the Church out of it, and say, “It is usury-seeking avarice that does not like to work to earn its bread, and so makes the name of the Church a cloak for idleness.”

Why talk of service of God? The service of God is to keep His commandments, so that no one steals, robs, overreaches, or the like, but gives and lends to the needy. You would tear down this service of God in order to build churches, endow altars, and have mass read and prayers sung; though God has commanded none of these things, and with your service of God you bring the true service of God to naught. Put in the first place the service of God that He has commanded, and let the service of God that you have chosen for yourself come along behind. As I said above, if all the world were to take ten percent, the church endowments should keep strictly to the law, and take four or five, with fear; for they ought to let their light shine, and give an example to the worldly. But they turn things around, and would have freedom to leave God’s commandments and His service in order to do evil and practice usury. If you would serve God your way, then serve Him without injuring your neighbor, and without failing to keep God’s commandments. For He says in Isaiah 61, “I am a God that loves justice and I hate the sacrifice that is stolen.” The Wise Man also says, “Give alms of that which is thine.” But these overcharges are stolen from your neighbor, against God’s commandment.

Toxic church service

But if anyone is afraid that the churches and endowments will go down, I say that it is better to take ten endowments and make of them one that is according to the will of God, than to keep many against God’s commandment. What good does a service do you if it is against God’s commandment and contrary to the true serving of God? You cannot serve God with two kinds of service that contradict one another, any more than you can serve two masters.

There are also some simple folk who sell these incomes without having ground or security, or sell more than the ground can bear, and this leads to evident ruin. This matter is very dangerous and goes so far that it is hard to say enough about it. The best thing would be to turn back to the Gospel, approach it, and practice Christian dealing with goods as has been said.

There is also in this business a dangerous tendency, from which I fear that none of the buyers of income – at least very few of them – are free. It is that they want their income and their property to be sure and safe, and therefore place their money with others, instead of keeping it and taking risks. They very much prefer that other people shall work with it and take the risks, so that they themselves can be idle and lazy, and yet stay rich or become rich. If that is not usury, it is very much like it. Briefly, it is against God. If you seek to take an advantage of your neighbor which you will not let him take of you, then love is gone and the natural law is broken. Now, I fear that, in this buying of income, we pay little heed to the success of our neighbor, if only our income and our property are safe, though safety is the very thing we ought not to seek. This is certainly a sign of greed or laziness, and although it does not make the business worse, it is, nevertheless, sin in the eyes of God.

Harsh execution

Back in Saxony and Lueneburg and Holstein, the thing is done so crudely that it would be no wonder if one man were to devour another.

There they not only take nine or ten percent, or whatever they can get, but they have also hitched a special device on to it. It goes this way – if a man lets me have a thousand gulden for income, I have to take instead of cash money, so many horses or cows, so much bacon, wheat, etc., that he cannot get rid of otherwise, or cannot sell for so high a price. Thus the money that I get amounts to scarcely half of the sum named, say, to five hundred gulden, though the goods and the cattle are of no use to me, or may bring me in scarcely one or two hundred gulden. These fellows are not highway robbers, but common house thieves. What shall we say about this? These men are not men at all, but wolves and senseless beasts, who do not believe there is a God.

Floating interest according to the Law of Moses

In a word, for all this usury and unfair securing of income there is no better advice than to follow the law and example of Moses. We ought to bring all these charges under the ordinance that that which shall be taken or sold or given shall be a tithe, or in case of need a ninth, or an eighth, or a sixth.

Thus everything would be fair, and all depend on the grace and blessing of God. If the tithe turned out well in any year, it would bring the creditor a large sum; if it turned out badly, the creditor would bear the risk as well as the debtor, and both would have to look to God. In that case, the income could not be fixed at any given amount, nor would that be necessary, but it would always remain uncertain how much the tithe would yield and yet the tithe would be certain.

The tithe, therefore, is the best of all fixed charges and it has been in use since the beginning of the world, and in the Old Law it is praised and established as the fairest of all arrangements according to divine and natural law. By it, if the tenth did not reach, or were not enough, one could take and sell a ninth, or fix any amount that the land or house could stand.

Joseph fixed the fifth as the amount to be taken, or found it so fixed and customary in Egypt. For by this arrangement the divine law of fairness constantly abides, that the lender take the risk. If things turn out well, he takes his fifth; if they turn out badly, he takes so much less, as God gives, and has no definite and certain sum.

But now that incomes are bought in definite and certain amounts, all years are equal, good and bad alike, and land and people must be ruined. The purchaser buys the same income for unequal and equal years, poor years and rich years; nay, he buys a blessing that God has not yet given for a blessing that is already given. That can never be right, for by that means one sucks another’s sweat and blood. Therefore it is no wonder that in the few years that the buying of incomes has been practiced, i.e., about a hundred years, all princedoms and lands have been impoverished and pawned and ruined.

But if the sale or income were based, not on produce, but on houses or places that were gained and acquired by manual labor, it could be justified by the law of Moses, by having a “jubilee year” in these things and not selling the income in perpetuity. For I think that, since this business is in such a disordered state, we could have no better examples or laws than the laws which God provided for His people, and with which He ruled them.

He is as wise as human Reason can be, and we need not be ashamed to keep and follow the law of the Jews in this matter, for it is profitable and good.

Public supervision

Emperor, kings, princes and lords ought to watch over this matter and look to their lands and peoples, to help them and rescue them from the horrible jaws of avarice, and things would be so much the better for them. The diets should deal with this as one of the most necessary things, but they let this lie, and serve, meanwhile, the pope’s tyranny, burdening lands and people more and more, until at last they must go to destruction because the land can no longer endure them, but must spew them out.

Martin Luther, A Treatise on Usury – 1524

See also:

1. Treatise on the New Testament
2. Luther on Trading & Usury

However great and heavy sin may be, this article is still greater, higher, and wider, for no man has spoken it out if his own wisdom, or established it, but He who created and upholds heaven and earth. My sin and my saintliness must remain here on earth, for they concern this life and my doings here; but there on high, I have different treasure, greater than these two, where Christ is seated holding me in His arms,
covering me with His wings, and overshadowing me with His mercy.

You say: How can that be, since I feel my sin daily, and my conscience condemns me, and holds up the wrath of God before me?

Answer: you should learn that Christian justification, whatever you may think or imagine, is nothing but the forgiveness of sins, which means that it is such a kingdom or sovereignty as deals only with sins and with such overflowing grace as takes away all wrath.

For it is called forgiveness of sins because we are down-right sinners before God and there is nothing in us but sin, although we may possess all human righteousness. For where He speaks of sin there must be real and great sin; just as forgiveness is not a joke but something really serious. Therefore when you look at this article you have two things, first, that sin takes away all your sanctity, however devout you may be, on earth; and second, forgiveness brings to nought all sin and wrath, so that your sin cannot cast you into hell nor can your sanctity lift you into heaven.

Therefore, before the world I will be devout and do as much as I can, but before God I will gladly be a sinner, and not be called by any other name, in order that this article may remain true. Otherwise there would be no forgiveness or grace, but it would have to be called a crown of righteousness and of my own deserving.

Apart from forgiveness there is and remains nothing but sin which condemns us.

Sermons from the year 1529. [W.A. 29. 573f.]

I think, to be sure, that this book of mine will be quite in vain, because the mischief has gone so far and has completely got the upper hand in all lands; and because those who understand the Gospel ought to be able in such easy, external things to let their own conscience be judge of what is proper and what is not. Nevertheless I have been urged and begged to touch upon these financial misdoings and to expose some of them, so that even though the majority may not want to do right, some, if only a few, may yet be delivered from the gaping jaws of avarice. For it must be that among the merchants, as among other people, there are some who belong to Christ and would rather be poor with God than rich with the devil, as says Psalm 37:16, “Better is the little that the righteous hath than the great possessions of the godless.” For their sake, then, we must speak out.

It is not to be denied that buying and selling are necessary. They cannot be dispensed with and can be practiced in a Christian manner, especially when the articles of trade serve a necessary and honorable purpose. For in this wise even the patriarchs bought and sold cattle, wool, grain, butter, milk and other goods. These are gifts of God, which He bestows out of the earth and distributes among men. But foreign trade, which brings from Calcutta, India, and such places, wares like costly silks, gold-work and spices, which minister only to luxury and serve no useful purpose, and which drains away the wealth of land and people – this trade ought not to be permitted, if we had government and princes. But of this it is not my present purpose to write, for I think that like overdressing and overeating, it will have to stop of itself when we have no more money. Until then neither writing nor teaching will do any good. We must first feel the pinch of want and poverty.

God has cast us Germans off. We have to throw our gold and silver into foreign lands and make the whole world rich while we ourselves remain beggars. England would have less gold if Germany let it keep its cloth, and the king of Portugal, too, would have less if we let him keep his spices. Count up how much gold is taken out of Germany, without need or reason, from a single Frankfurt fair, and you will wonder how it happens that there is a heller left in German lands. Frankfurt is the golden and silver hole through which everything that springs and grows, is minted or coined here, flows out of Germany. If that hole were stopped up we should not now have to listen to the complaint that there are debts everywhere and no money; that all lands and cities are burdened with taxes and ruined with interest payments. But let that pass. So it will go anyhow. We Germans must be Germans; we never stop unless we must. It is our purpose here to speak about the abuses and the sins of trade so far as they concern the conscience. The injury they work to the purse we leave to the care of princes and lords, that they may do their duty.

Conscience and natural law

First – The merchants have among themselves one common rule, which is their chief maxim and the basis of all their sharp practices. They say: I may sell my goods as dear as I can. This they think their right. Lo, that is giving place to avarice and opening every door and window to hell. What does it mean? Only this: “I care nothing about my neighbor; so long as I have my profit and satisfy my greed, what affair is it of mine if it does my neighbor ten injuries at once?” There you see how shamelessly this maxim flies squarely in the face not only of Christian love, but of natural law. Now what good is there in trade? How can it be without sin when such injustice is the chief maxim and the rule of the whole business? On this basis trade can be nothing else than robbing and stealing other people’s property.

For when this rogue’s eye and greedy belly of a merchant finds that people must have his wares, or that the buyer is poor and needs them, he takes advantage of him and raises the price. He considers, not the value of the goods or what he has earned by his trouble and risk, but only the other man’s need; not that he may relieve it, but that he may use it for his own profit, to raise the price of goods, which he would not have raised if it had not been for his neighbor’s need. Because of his greed, therefore, the wares must have a price proportioned to his neighbor’s need for them, and his neighbor’s need, like his own wares, must have a valuation. Pray, is not that unchristian and inhuman conduct? Is not that selling a poor man his own poverty? If, because of his need, he has to buy his wares so much the dearer, it is just the same as if he had to buy his own need; for what is sold is not the wares as they are, but the wares plus the fact that he must have them. This and like abominations are the necessary consequence when the rule is: I may sell my wares as dear as I can.

The rule ought to be, not: I may sell my wares as dear as I can or will, but: I may sell my wares as dear as I ought, or as is right and proper. For your selling ought not to be a work that is entirely within your own power and will, without law or limit, as though you were a god and beholden to no one; but because this selling of yours is a work that you perform toward your neighbor, it must be so governed by law and conscience, that you do it without harm and injury to your neighbor, and that you be much more concerned to do him no injury than to make large profits. But where are such merchants? How few merchants there would be and how trade would fall off, if they were to amend this evil rule and put things on a Christian basis!

You ask, then, How dear may I sell? How am I to get at what is fair and right so as not to overreach or overcharge my neighbor? I answer: That is indeed a thing that will never be governed either by writing or speaking, nor has anyone ever undertaken to fix the price of every sort of wares. The reason is that wares are not all alike: one sort comes from a greater distance than another, one sort costs more than another. On this point, therefore, everything is, and must remain, uncertain and no fixed rule can be made, any more than one can set a certain city as the place from which all wares are to be brought or establish a definite cost price for them, since it may happen that the same wares, brought from the same city by the same road, cost vastly more one year than another, because, perhaps, the weather is had or the road is worse, or something else happens that raises the cost at one time above that at another time. Now it is fair and right that a merchant take as much profit on his wares as will pay the cost of them and repay him for his trouble, his labor, and his risk. Even a farmhand must have food and hire for his labor; who can serve or labor for nothing? The Gospel says, “The laborer is worthy of his hire.”

Price setting

But in order not to leave this question entirely unanswered, the best and safest way would be for the temporal authorities to appoint over this matter wise and honest men who would appraise the cost of all sorts of wares and fix accordingly the outside price at which the merchant would get his due and have an honest living, just as at certain places they fix the price of wine, fish, bread and the like. But we Germans are so busy with drinking and dancing that we cannot tolerate any such regulation. Since, then, we cannot hope for such a law, the next best thing is to hold our wares at the price which they bring in the common market or which is customary in the neighborhood. In this matter we can accept the proverb: “Do like others and you are no fool.” Any profit made in this way, I consider honest and well earned, since there is risk of loss in wares and outlay, and the profits cannot be all too great.

But when the price of goods is not fixed either by law or custom, and you must fix it yourself, then indeed no one can give you any other instructions except to lay it upon your conscience to be careful and not overcharge your neighbor, and seek not avaricious gain, but only an honest living. Some have wished to make it a rule that a man may take a profit of onehalf on all wares; some say one-third; others say something else; but none of these things is a safe rule unless it be so decreed, either by the temporal authorities or by common law; what they would determine would be safe. Therefore you must make up your minds to seek in your trading only your honest living, count your costs, trouble, labor and risk on that basis, and then fix, raise, or lower the price of your goods, so that you are repaid for your trouble and labor.

To be sure, I would not have anyone’s conscience so perilously restrained or so closely bound on this point as to insist that one must strike the right measure of profit to the very heller; for it is not possible to get at the exact amount that you have earned with your trouble and labor. It is enough that with a good conscience you seek to arrive at the exact amount, for it lies in the very nature of trade that the thing is impossible. The saying of the Wise Man will hold in your case too: “A merchant will hardly deal without sin, and a merchant will hardly keep his lips from evil.” If you therefore take a little too much profit, unknowingly and unintentionally, let that go into your Lord’s Prayer, where we pray, “Forgive us our debts,” for no man’s life is without sin. Besides, the time will come when you will get too little for your trouble; throw that in the scale to balance the times when you have taken too much.

For example, if you had a business of a hundred gulden a year, and above all the costs and honest returns which you had for your trouble, labor, and risk, you were to take an excessive profit of one or two or three gulden, that I should call a mistake which could not well be avoided, especially on a whole year’s business. Therefore you should not burden your conscience with it, but bring it to God in the Lord’s Prayer, as another of those inevitable sins that cleave to all of us. It is not selfishness or greed that forces you to this mistake, but the very nature of your occupation (I am speaking now of good-hearted, God-fearing men, who would not willingly do wrong), just as the marriage duty is not performed without sin, and yet because of its necessity God winks at it, for it cannot be otherwise.

In deciding how much profit you ought to take on your business and your labor, there is no better way to reckon it than by estimating the amount of time and labor you have put on it and comparing it with that of a day laborer, who works at another occupation, and seeing how much he earns in a day. On that basis reckon how many days you have spent in getting your wares and bringing them to your place of business, how great the labor has been and how much risk you have run, for great labor and much time ought to have so much the greater returns. That is the most accurate, the best and the most definite advice that can be given in this matter; if anyone mislikes it, let him better it. My ground is, as I have said, in the Gospel, “A laborer is worthy of his hire,” and Paul also says, “He that feedeth the flock shall eat of the milk; who goeth to war at his own cost and expense?” If you have a better ground than that, you are welcome to it.

Surety

Second – There is a common error, which has become a widespread custom, not only among merchants but throughout the world, by which one man becomes surety for another; and although this practice seems to be without sin and looks like a virtue springing from love, nevertheless it causes the ruin of many and brings them irrevocable injury. King Solomon often forbade it and condemned it in his Proverbs, and says in Proverbs 6:8, “My son, if thou be surety for thy neighbor, thou hast bound thine hand, thou art snared with the words of thy mouth and taken with the words of thy mouth. Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, for thou art come into the hand of thy neighbor; go, hasten, and urge thy neighbor; give not sleep to thine eyes nor slumber to thine eyelids; deliver thyself as a roe out of the hand and as a bird out of the hand of the fowler.” So also in Proverbs 20:16, “Take his garment that becomes surety for a stranger, and take a pledge of him for the stranger’s sake.” Likewise in Proverbs 22:26, “Be not of those that strike hands and become surety for debts.” And again in Proverbs 27:13, “Take his garment that becomes surety for another and take a pledge of him for the stranger’s sake.”

See with what strictness and vehemence the wise king forbids in Holy Scripture that one become surety for another, and the German proverb agrees with him, Burgen soll man wurgen; as if to say, “Standing surety should be slain.” It serves the surety right when he is caught and has to pay, for he acts thoughtlessly and foolishly in standing surety. Therefore it is decreed in Scripture that no one shall become surety for another unless he is able and entirely willing to assume the debt and pay it. It seems strange that this practice should be wrong and be condemned, though many have discovered the folly of it when it has made them scratch their heads.

Why, then, is it condemned? Let us see. Standing surety is a work that is too lofty for a man; it is unseemly, for it is presumptuous and an invasion of God’s rights. For, in the first place, the Scriptures bid us to put our trust and place our reliance on no man, but only on God; for human nature is false, vain, deceitful, and unreliable, as the Scriptures say and as experience teaches everyday. But he who becomes surety puts his trust in a man, and risks life and property on a false and insecure foundation; therefore it serves him right when he falls and fails and goes to ruin.

In the second place, a man puts his trust in himself and makes himself God, for that on which a man puts his trust and reliance is his god. But of his life and property a man is not sure and certain for a single moment, any more than he is certain of the man for whom he becomes surety, but everything is in God’s hand only, and He will not allow us a hair’s breadth of power or right over the future or have us for a single moment sure or certain of it.

Therefore the man who becomes surety acts unchristianlike, and deserves what he gets, because he pledges and promises what is not his and is not in his power, but in the hands of God alone. Thus we read in Genesis 43:9 and Genesis 44:14 how the patriarch Judah became surety to his father Jacob for his brother Benjamin, promising that he would bring him back or bear the blame forever, but God finely punished his presumption so that he could not bring Benjamin back until he gave himself up for him, and afterwards was barely freed by grace. It served him right, too, for these sureties act as though they did not need to be on speaking terms with God or to consider whether they were sure of a tomorrow for their life and property. They act without fear of God, as though their life and property were their own, and were in their power as long as they wished to have it; and this is nothing but a fruit of unbelief. James in his Epistle, James 4:13, calls this pride and says, “Go to, now, ye who say, Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that city and there trade and get gain; whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor which endureth a little time and then vanisheth. For that ye ought to say, If we live and God will, we shall do this or that; but now ye glory in your pride.”

Moreover, God has condemned this presumption about the future and disregard of Him in more places, such as Luke 12:16, where the rich man had so much grain one year that he wanted to pull down his barns and build greater, and bestow his goods therein, and said to his soul, “Good soul, thou hast much goods for many years; eat, drink and be merry.” But God said to him, “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee, and whose shall that be which thou hast laid up?” So it is with all that are not rich toward God. So He answers the apostles also in Acts 1:7, “It is not for you to know the time or the hour which the Father hath in his own power”; and in Proverbs 27:1, “Boast not thyself of the morrow, for thou knowest not what may yet happen today.” Wherefore He has bidden us, in the Lord’s Prayer, to pray for nothing more than our daily bread today, so that we may live and act in fear and know that at no hour are we sure of either life or property, but may await and receive everything from His hands. This is what true faith does. Indeed we daily see in many of God’s works that things must happen thus, whether it suits us or not.

Solomon has devoted almost the whole of that book of his that is called Ecclesiastes to this teaching, and shows how all man’s planning and presumption are vanity and trouble and misfortune, unless God is brought into them, so that man fears Him and is satisfied with the present and rejoices in it; for God is the enemy of that secure and unbelieving presumption which forgets Him, wherefore He opposes it in all He does, lets us fail and fall, snatches away life and property when we least expect it, and “comes at the hour when we think not,” so that the godless, as the Psalter says, never live out half their days, but always, unexpectedly and just when they are getting started, must depart and leave it, as Job also says in many places.

Four Christian manners

If you say, however, “How then are people to trade with one another, if surety is not allowed? Many would have to stay back who can otherwise get on well”; I answer: There are four Christian ways of trading external goods with others.

Risk capital

The first way is to let them rob us of our property and take it from us, as Christ says in Matthew 5:40, “If any man take thy cloak, let him have the coat also, and ask it not of him again.” This way of dealing counts for nothing among the merchants, and besides it has been neither held nor preached as a general Christian teaching, but as a counsel and as good intention for the clergy and the perfect, though they keep it even less than the merchants. But true Christians keep it, for they know that their Father in heaven has assuredly promised, in Matthew 6:11, to give them this day their daily bread. If all of us were to act thus, not only would numberless abuses in all kinds of business be avoided, but very many people would not become merchants, because reason and human nature flee and avoid that sort of risk and damage above all things else.

Present

The second way is to give freely to everyone who needs it, as Christ teaches in the same passage. This is a lofty Christian work and therefore counts for little among people, and there would be fewer merchants and less trade if it were put into practice; for the man who does this must truly lay hold on heaven and look always to God’s hand and not to his accumulations of property, knowing that it is God’s will to support him, even though all his corners be bare. He knows that it is true, as He said to Joshua, “I will not forsake thee, nor take away my hand,” and as the proverb puts it, “God has more than ever He gave away.” But that takes a true Christian, and a true Christian is a rare animal; the world and nature pay no heed to them.

Unconditional loan

The third way is lending; that is, I give away my property and take it back if it is returned to me; if not, then I must do without it. Christ Himself makes a rule for this kind of lending and says, “Lend, hoping for nothing again”; that is, Ye shall lend freely and run the risk that it may not be returned; if it comes back, take it; if not, make it a gift. The Gospel makes only one distinction between lending and giving, viz., a gift is not taken back and a loan is taken back if it is returned; but when we make a loan, we take the risk that it may be a gift. He who lends expecting to get back something more or something better than he has loaned, is clearly a damned usurer, since even those who lend demanding or expecting to get back just what they have lent, and taking no risk of its return, are not acting in a Christian way. This too, as I think, is a lofty Christian work and a rare one, when the way of the world is considered, and if it were practiced it would greatly lessen and destroy trade of all sorts.

These three ways of dealing, then, are a masterly keeping of the commandments not to presume upon the future nor to put trust in any man or in self, but to depend solely on God. In this way everything is paid in cash and the word of James is applied, “If God will, so be it.” In this way we deal with people as with those who may fail and are unreliable; we give our money without profit and take the risk that what we lend may be lost.

But here someone will say: “Who then can be saved and where shall we find Christians? Nay, in this way there would be no trade in the world; everyone would have his property taken or borrowed and the door would be thrown open for the idle gluttons, of whom the world is full, to take everything with their lying and cheating.” I reply: I have already said that Christians are rare in the world; therefore the world needs a strict, hard temporal government that will compel and constrain the wicked not to steal and rob and to return what they borrow, even though a Christian ought not demand it, or even hope to get it back. This is necessary in order that the world may not become a desert, peace may not perish, and trade and society may not be utterly destroyed: all which would happen if we were to rule the world according to the Gospel and not drive and compel the wicked, by laws and the use of force, to do and suffer what is right. We must, therefore, keep the roads open, preserve peace in the towns, and enforce law in the land, and let the sword hew brisky and boldly against the transgressors, as Paul teaches in Romans 13:4. For it is God’s will that those who are not Christians shall be held in check and kept from doing wrong, at least with impunity. Let no one think that the world can be ruled without blood; the sword of the ruler must be red and bloody; for the world will and must be evil, and the sword is God’s rod and vengeance upon it. But of this I have said enough in my little book On the Temporal Authorities. Borrowing would be a fine thing, if it were practiced between Christians.

In that case everyone would return what he had borrowed and the lender would willingly do without it if the borrower could not pay; for Christians are brethren and one does not forsake another, nor is any of them so lazy and shameless as not to work, but to depend on another’s wealth and labor, or be willing to consume in idleness another’s goods. But if men are not Christians, the temporal authorities ought to compel them to repay what they have borrowed; if the authorities are negligent and do not compel repayment, the Christian ought to put up with the robbery, as Paul says, in 1 Corinthians 6:7, “Why do ye not rather suffer wrong?” But if a man is not a Christian, you may exhort him, demand of him, treat him as you will; he pays no attention, for he is not a Christian and does not heed Christ’s doctrine.

There is a grain of comfort for you in the fact that you are not bound to make a loan except out of your surplus and what you can spare from your own necessities, as Christ says of alms, “What you have left over, that give in alms; so are all things clean unto you.” If, therefore, someone wanted to borrow from you an amount so great that you would be ruined if it were not returned, and you could not spare it from your own necessities, then you are not bound to make the loan; for your first and greatest duty is to provide for the necessities of your wife and children and servants, and you must not divert from them what is due them from you. Thus the best rule to follow is that if the amount asked as a loan is too great, you give something outright, or lend as much as you would be willing to give, taking the risk of losing it. John the Baptist did not say, “He that hath one coat, let him give it away,” but “He that hath two coats, let him give one to him that hath none, and he that hath food, let him do likewise.”

Cash payment

The fourth way of trading is buying and selling, and that with cash money or payments in kind. If a man wishes to practice this method, he must make up his mind not to rely on anything in the future but only on God, and to deal with men who will certainly fail and lie. Therefore the first piece of advice to such a man is that he shall not borrow anything or accept any security, but take only cash. If he wishes to lend, let him lend to Christians, or else take the risk of losing it and lend no more than he would be willing to give outright or can spare from his own necessities. If the government will not help him get his loan back, let him lose it; and let him beware of becoming surety for any man, but let him far rather give what he can. Such a man would be a true Christian merchant and God would not forsake him, because he trusts Him finely and gladly takes a chance, in dealing with his risky neighbor.

Now if there were no such thing in the world as becoming surety, and the free lending of the Gospel were in practice and only cash money or ready wares were exchanged in trade, then the greatest and most harmful dangers and faults and failings in merchandising would be well out of the way; it would be easy to engage in all sorts of business, and the other sinful faults could the better be prevented. For if there were none of this becoming surety and lending on security, many a man would have to keep down and be satisfied with a moderate living, who now aspires day and night after the high places, relying on borrowing and standing surety. This is the reason that everyone now wants to be a merchant and get rich. Out of this come the countless dangerous and wicked tricks and wiles that have become a jest among the merchants. There are so many of them that I have given up the hope that trade can be entirely corrected; it is so overladen with all sorts of wickedness and deception that it cannot drag its own length; by its own weight it must fall in upon itself.

In what has been said I have wished to give a bit of warning and instruction to everyone about this great, nasty, widespread business of merchandising. If we were to accept the principle that everyone may sell his wares as dear as he can, and were to approve the custom of borrowing and forced lending and standing surety, and yet try to advise men how they could act the part of Christians and keep their consciences good and safe – that would be the same as trying to teach men how wrong could be right and bad good, and how one could at the same time live and act according to the divine Scriptures and against the divine Scriptures. For these three errors – that everyone may sell what is his own as dear as he will, borrowing, and becoming surety – these, I say, are the three sources from which the stream of abomination, injustice, treachery and guile flows far and wide: to try to stem the flood and not stop up the springs, is trouble and labor lost.

Business swindle

At this point, therefore, I wish to tell of some of these tricks and evil doings which I have myself observed and which pious, good people have described to me, to make it apparent how necessary it is that the rules and principles which I have set down above be established and put in practice, if the consciences of merchants are to be counseled and aided; also in order that all the rest of their evil doings may be learned and measured by these; for how is it possible to tell them all? By the three aforementioned sources of evil, door and window are thrown wide to greed and to wicked, wily, self-seeking nature; room is made for them, occasion and power is given them to practice unhindered all sorts of wiles and trickery, and daily to think out more such schemes, so that everything stinks of avarice, nay, is drowned and drenched in avarice as in a great new Deluge.

First, There are some who have no conscientious scruples against selling their goods on credit for a higher price than if they were sold for cash: nay, there are some who wish to sell no goods for cash but everything on credit, so that they may make large profits. Observe that this way of dealing – which is plainly against God’s Word, against reason and all fairness, and springs from sheer wantonness and greed – is a sin against one’s neighbor, for it does not consider his loss, and robs and steals from him that which belongs to him; it is not a seeking for an honest living, but only for avaricious gain. According to divine law, goods should not be sold for a higher price on credit than for cash.

Again, there are some who sell their goods at a higher price than they command in the common market, or than is customary in the trade; and raise the price of their wares for no other reason than because they know that there is no more of that commodity in the country, or that the supply will shortly cease, and people must have it. That is a very rogue’s eye of greed, which sees only one’s neighbor’s need, not to relieve it but to make the most of it and grow rich on one’s neighbor’s losses. All such people are manifest thieves, robbers and usurers.

Again, there are some who buy up the entire supply of certain goods or wares in a country or a city, so that they may have those goods solely in their own power and can then fix and raise the price and sell them as dear as they like or can. Now I have said above that the rule that a man may sell his goods as dear as he will or can is false and unchristian. It is far more abominable that one should buy up the whole commodity for that purpose.

Even the imperial and temporal laws forbid this and call it “monopoly,” i.e., purchase for self-interest, which is not to be tolerated in city or country, and princes and lords would stop it and punish it if they did their duty. Merchants who do this act just as though God’s creatures and God’s goods were made for them alone and given to them alone, and as though they could take them from other people and set on them whatever price they chose.

Punctual care

If anyone wishes to urge the example of Joseph in Genesis 41:48, how the holy man gathered all the grain in the country and afterwards, in the time of famine, bought with it for the king of Egypt all the money, cattle, land and people – which seems, indeed, to have been a monopoly, or practice of self-interest – this is the answer: This purchase of Joseph’s was no monopoly, but a common and honest purchase, such as was customary in the country. He prevented no one else from buying during the good years, but it was his God-given wisdom which enabled him to gather the king’s grain in the seven years of plenty, while others were accumulating little or nothing. For the text does not say that he alone bought in the grain, but that he “gathered it in the king’s cities.” If the others did not do likewise, it was their loss, for the common man usually devours his living unconcernedly and sometimes, too, he has nothing to accumulate. We see the same thing today. If princes and cities do not provide a reserve supply for the benefit of the whole country, there is little or no reserve in the hands of the common man, who supports himself from year to year on his yearly income. Accumulation of this kind is not selfinterest, or monopoly, but a really good Christian providence for the community and for the good of others. It is not practiced in such a way that they seize everything for themselves alone, like these merchants, but out of the yield of the common market, or the yearly income which everyone has, they set aside a treasury, while others either cannot or will not accumulate, but get out of it only their daily support. Moreover the Scriptures do not tell us that Joseph gathered the grain to sell it as dear as he would, for the text clearly says that he did it not for greed’s sake, but in order that land and people might not be ruined. But the merchant, in his greed, sells it as dear as he can, seeking only his own profit, caring nothing whether land and people are ruined by it.

But that Joseph used this means to bring all the money and cattle, and all the land and people beside, into the king’s possession, does not seem to have been a Christian act, since he ought to have given to the needy for nothing, as the Gospel and Christian love bid us do. Yet he did right and well, for Joseph was conducting the temporal government in the king’s stead. I have often taught that the world ought not and cannot be ruled according to the Gospel and Christian love, but only by strict laws, with sword and force, because the world is evil and accepts neither Gospel nor love, but lives and acts according to its own will unless it is compelled by force. Otherwise, if only love were applied, everyone would eat, drink and live at ease on someone else’s goods, and nobody would work; nay, everyone would take from another that which was his, and there would be such a state of affairs that no one could live because of the others.

Therefore, because God so disposes things, Joseph did right when he got possession of everything by such fair and honest purchase as the time permitted, and following the temporal law, allowed the people to remain under restraint and sell themselves and all they had; for in that country there was always a strict government and it was customary to sell people like other goods. Besides, there can be no doubt that as a Christian and a good man, he let no poor man die of hunger but as the text says, after he had received the king’s law and government, he gathered, sold, and distributed the corn for the benefit and profit of land and people. Therefore the example of the faithful Joseph is as remote from the doings of the unfaithful, self-seeking merchants as heaven is far from earth. So far this digression; now we come back to the merchants’ tricks.

Trade agreements and cartels

When some see that they cannot establish their monopolies in any other way because other people have the same goods, they proceed to sell their goods so cheap that the others can make no profit, and thus they compel them either not to sell at all, or else to sell as cheap as they themselves are selling and so be ruined. Thus they get their monopoly after all. These people are not worthy to he called men or to live among other men, nay they are not worth exhorting or instructing; for their envy and greed is so open and shameless that even at the cost of their own losses they cause loss to others, so that they may have the whole place to themselves. The authorities would do right if they took from such people everything they had and drove them out of the country. It would scarcely have been necessary to tell of such doings, but I wanted to include them so that it might be seen what great knavery there is in trade, and that it might be plain to everybody how things are going in the world, in order that everyone may know how to protect himself against such a dangerous class.

Again, it is a fine piece of sharp practice when one man sells to another, by means of promises, (Mit worten ym sack), goods which he himself has not, as follows. A merchant from a distance comes to me and asks if I have such and such goods for sale. I say, Yes, though I have not, and sell them to him for ten or eleven gulden when they could otherwise be bought for nine or less, promising him to deliver them in two or three days.

Meanwhile I go and buy the goods where I knew in advance that I could buy them cheaper; I deliver them and he pays me for them. Thus I deal with his – the other man’s – money and property, without risk, trouble or labor, and I get rich. That is called “living off the street,” on someone else’s money; he who does this need not travel over land and sea.

Again it is called “living off the street” if a merchant has a purseful of money and wishes no longer to subject his goods to the risks of land and sea, but to have a safe business, and settles down in a great business city.

Then when he hears of a merchant who is pressed by his creditors and must have money to satisfy them and has none, but has good wares, he gets someone to act for him in buying the wares and offers eight gulden for what is otherwise worth ten. If this offer is not accepted, he gets someone else to offer six or seven, and the poor man begins to be afraid that his wares are depreciating and is glad to take the eight so as to get cash money and not have to stand too much loss and disgrace. It happens, too, that these needy merchants seek out such tyrants and offer their goods for cash with which to pay their debts. They drive hard bargains and get the goods cheap enough and afterwards sell them at their own prices. These financiers are called “cutthroats,” but they pass for very clever people.

Here is another bit of self-seeking. Three or four merchants have in their control one or two kinds of goods that others have not, or have not for sale. When these men see that the goods are valuable and are advancing in price all the time because of war or of some disaster, they join forces and pretend to others that the goods are much in demand and that not many people have them on sale; if however there are some who have these goods for sale they put up a stranger to buy up all these goods, and when they have them entirely in their own control they make an agreement to this effect: Since there are no more of these goods to be had we will hold them at such and such a price, and whoever sells cheaper shall forfeit so and so much. This trick, I hear, is practiced chiefly and mostly by the English merchants in selling English or London cloth. It is said that they have a special council for this trade, like a city council, and all the Englishmen who sell English or London cloth must obey this council on penalty of a fine. The council decides at what price they are to sell their cloth and at what day and hour they are to have it on sale and when not. The head of this council is called the “court-master” and is regarded as little less than a prince. See what avarice can and dare do.

Dishonest financial speculation

Again, I must report this little trick. I sell a man pepper or the like on six months’ credit and know that he must sell it again by that time to get ready money. Then I go to him myself, or send someone else, and buy the pepper back for cash, but on these terms. What he bought from me for twelve gulden I buy back for eight, and the market price is ten. So I make going and coming, so that he may get the money and maintain his credit; otherwise he might have the disgrace of having no one extend him credit in the future.

The people who buy on credit more than they can pay for, practice or have to practice this kind of trickery – a man, for example, who has scarcely two hundred gulden obligates himself for five or six hundred. If my creditors do not pay, I cannot pay, and so the mischief goes deeper and deeper and one loss follows another the farther I go in this kind of dealing, until at last I see the shadow of the gallows and I must either abscond or go to jail. Then I keep my own counsel and give my creditors good words, telling them I will pay my debts. Meanwhile I go and get as much goods on credit as I can and turn them into money, or get money otherwise on a promissory note, or borrow as much as I can. Then when it suits me, or when my creditors give me no rest, I close up my house, get up and run away, hiding myself in some monastery, where I am as free as a thief or murderer in a church yard. Then my creditors are glad that I have not fled the country and release me from a half or a third of my debts on condition that I pay the balance in two or three years, giving me letter and seal for it.

Then I come back to my house and am a merchant who has made two or three thousand gulden by getting up and running away, and that is more than I could have got in three or four years either by running or trotting. Or if that plan will not help and I see that I must abscond, I go to the court of the Emperor or the Viceroy and for one or two hundred gulden I get a Quinquernell, i.e., a letter with the imperial seal permitting me to be at large for two or three years despite my creditors, because I have represented that I have suffered great losses; for the Quinquernells, too, make a pretense at being godly and right. These are knaves’ tricks.

Again there is another practice that is customary in the companies. A citizen deposits with a merchant one or two thousand gulden for six years. The merchant is to trade with this and pay the citizen annually two hundred gulden fixed interest, win or lose. What profit he makes above that is his own, but if he makes no profit he must still pay the charge. In this way the citizen is doing the merchant a great service, for the merchant expects with two thousand gulden to make at least three hundred; on the other hand, the merchant is doing the citizen a great service, for otherwise his money must lie idle and bring him no profit. That this common practice is wrong and is true usury I have shown sufficiently in the Discourse on Usury. I must give one more illustration to show how borrowing and lending leads to misfortune. When some people see that a buyer is unreliable and does not meet his payments, they can repay themselves finely in this way. I get a strange merchant to go and buy that man’s goods to the amount of a hundred gulden or so, and say: “When you have bought all his goods, promise him cash or refer him to a certain man who owes you money; and when you have the goods bring him to me, as though I owed you money and act as though you did not know that he is in my debt; thus I shall be paid and will give him nothing.” That is called “finance” and ruins the poor man entirely together with all whom he may owe; but so it goes in this unchristian borrowing and lending.

Again, they have learned to store their goods in places where they increase in bulk. They put pepper, ginger and saffron in damp cellars or vaults so that they may gain in weight; woolen goods, silks, furs of martin and sable, they sell in dark vaults or booths, keeping them from the air, and this custom is so general that almost every kind of goods has its own kind of air, and there are no goods that some way is not known of taking advantage of the buyer, in the measure or the count or the yard or the weight. They know, too, how to give them a false color; or the best looking are put top and bottom and the worst in the middle. Of such cheating there is no end and no merchant dare trust another out of his sight and reach.

Ready to risk

Now the merchants make great complaint about the nobles or robbers – saying that they have to transact business at great risk and are imprisoned and beaten and taxed and robbed. If they suffered all this for righteousness’ sake the merchants would surely be saints because of their sufferings. To be sure, it may happen that one of them suffers some wrong before God, in that he has to suffer for another in whose company he is found and pay for another man’s sins; but because of the great wrong that is done and the unchristian thievery and robbery that is practiced by the merchants themselves all over the world, even against one another, what wonder is it if God causes this great wealth, wrongfully acquired, to be lost or taken by robbers, and the merchants themselves to be beaten over the head or imprisoned besides? God must administer justice, for He has Himself called a righteous Judge.

Not that I would excuse the highwayman and bushwhackers or approve of their thievery! It is the princes’ duty to keep the roads safe for the sake of the wicked as well as of the good; it is also the duty of the princes to punish unfair dealing and to protect their subjects against the shameful skinning of the merchants. Because they fail to do it, God uses the knights and the robbers to punish the wrongdoing of the merchants, and they have to be His devils, as He plagues Egypt and all the world with devils or destroys it with enemies. Thus He flogs one knave with another, but without giving us to understand that the knights are less robbers than the merchants, for the merchants rob the whole world everyday, while a knight robs one or two men once or twice a year.

Of the companies I ought to say much, but that whole subject is such a bottomless abyss of avarice and wrong that there is nothing in it that can be discussed with a clear conscience. For what man is so stupid as not to see that companies are nothing else than mere monopolies? Even the temporal law of the heathen forbids them as openly injurious, to say nothing of the divine law and Christian statutes. They have all commodities under their control and practice without concealment all the tricks that have been mentioned; they raise and lower prices as they please and oppress and ruin all the small merchants, as the pike the little fish in the water, just as though they were lords over God’s creatures and free from all the laws of faith and love.

So it comes that all over the world spices must be bought at their price, which is alternating. This year they put up the price of ginger, next year of saffron, or vice versa, so that all the time the bend may be coming to the crook and they need suffer no losses and take no risks. If the ginger spoils or fails, they make it up on saffron and vice versa, so that they remain sure of their profit. All this is against the nature, not only of merchandise, but of all temporal goods, which God wills should be subject to risk and uncertainty. But they have found a way to make sure, certain, and perpetual profit out of insecure, unsafe, temporal goods, though all the world must be sucked dry and all the money sink and swim in their gullet.

How could it ever be right and according to God’s will that a man should in a short time grow so rich that he could buy out kings and emperors? But they have brought things to such a pass that the whole world must do business at a risk and at a loss, winning this year and losing next year, while they always win, making up their losses by increased profits, and so it is no wonder that they quickly seize upon the wealth of all the world, for a pfennig that is permanent and sure is better than a gulden that is temporary and uncertain. But these companies trade with permanent and sure gulden, and we with temporary and uncertain pfennigs. No wonder they become kings and we beggars!

Public supervision with business

Kings and princes ought to look into these things and forbid them by strict laws, but I hear that they have an interest in them, and the saying of Isaiah is fulfilled, “Thy princes have become companions of thieves.” They hang thieves who have stolen a gulden or half a gulden and trade with those who rob the whole world and steal more than all the rest, so that the proverb may hold true: Big thieves hang the little ones, and as the Roman senator Cato said: Simple thieves lie in prisons and in stocks; public thieves walk abroad in gold and silk. But what will God say to this at last? He will do as He says by Ezekiel; princes and merchants, one thief with another, He will melt them together like lead and brass, as when a city burns, so that there shall be neither princes nor merchants anymore. That time, I fear, is already at the door. We do not think of amending our lives, no matter how great our sin and wrong may be, and He cannot leave wrong unpunished.

No one need ask, then, how he can belong to the companies with a good conscience. The only advice to give him is: Let them alone, they will not change. If the companies are to stay, right and honesty must perish; if right and honesty are to stay, the companies must perish. “The bed is too narrow,” says Isaiah, “one must fall out; the cover is too small, it will not cover both.”

I know full well that this book of mine will be taken ill, and perhaps they will throw it all to the winds and remain as they are; but it will not be my fault, for I have done my part to show how richly we have deserved it if God shall come with a rod. If I have instructed a single soul and rescued it from the jaws of avarice, my labor will not have been in vain, though I hope, as I have said above, that this thing has grown so high and so heavy that it can no longer carry its own weight and they will have to stop at last.

Finally, let everyone look to himself. Let no one stop as a favor or a service to me, nor let anyone begin or continue to spite me or to cause me pain. It is your affair, not mine. May God enlighten us and strengthen us to do His good will. Amen.

“On trading and usury” (1524), Works of Martin Luther [Philadelphia: A. J. Holman Company, 1915, vol. 4]

Therefore we should not be afraid of powers. But we should fear our prosperity and good days which cause us more harm than our anguish and persecution; and we should not be afraid in the face of the wisdom and the shrewdness of the world, for they can do us no harm. Yes, the more the wisdom of the world opposes the truth, the purer and clearer does the truth become, consequently the Gospel can experience nothing better than that the world rise up against it with all its force and wisdom; yea, the more my conscience, sin and satan attack me, the stronger does my righteousness become. For the sins which worry me, pain me; then I persevere harder and harder in prayer and in my cry to God; then faith and righteousness become stronger and stronger. This is what St. Paul means when he says in Corinthians 12:9: my power is made perfect in weakness. Now since we possess such a treasure that becomes stronger by virtue of trial and opposition we should not fear, but be of good courage and rejoice in tribulation; as St. Paul says to the Romans, Romans 5:3: and as the Apostles did who departed from the presence of the council with great rejoicing, and thanked God that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the Name, Acts 5:41. If satan were only prudent enough to keep quiet and let the Gospel be preached, he would receive less injury from it; for if the Gospel is not attacked it completely rusts and has no occasion or reason to make its power and influence manifest.

Thus we are here still secure, no one attacks us; as a result we always continue just as we were, yea, we become worse. In that certain enemies attack us with the Scriptures, they gain very little. In that they have taken up their pen against us, they accomplish no more than if they blew into the fire; but if they had east us into the fire or beat our heads, there would indeed be more Christians for our sake.

Consequently we have here a consolation, when we are attacked; that Christ is in us and holds the field of victory through us. Christ is so near us that we triumph at all times through him because we abide in Christ. As long as we do not have opposition taking us by the neck, he does nothing; but when we are attacked and conquered, then he is at hand and puts all our enemies to shame.

See also:

1. Let’s Not Worry About Good Seed; Worry About Good Fruits!

In short let every man examine his own heart, and he will find a false Christian who imagines that he knows all about this subject before he has learned the first principles of it. The words are soon heard, read and repeated, but to carry out the principle in practice and in character, so that it may live within us, and our conscience may be founded upon it and rest in it, is not in the art of man. Therefore I say and admonish, that those who wish to be Christians may always keep it in mind, assimilate it, practice it, and chastise themselves with it, that we may at least have a taste of it, and as James says, 1, 18, be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. For we shall never advance so far in this life as to come to a perfect understanding of it; nor did even the blessed Apostles full of the Spirit and of faith, advance so far.

Thus far I have explained the first part, what Christian righteousness is and in what it consists. But if you ask further, whence it comes, or how it has been brought about or gained, I answer: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has come from heaven and has been made man, has suffered and died for our sins. This is the cause, the means, and the treasure, through which we obtain the forgiveness of sin and for the sake of which the grace of God is bestowed upon us; for such a treasure does not come to us without means or merit. But since all of us are born in sin and are the enemies of God, we have deserved only eternal wrath and punishment. All that we are and have is condemned, and there is no help or way out of it. For sin is so grievous that no creature can quench it, the wrath so great that no man can appease and conciliate it. Therefore another man must take our place, namely Jesus Christ, God and man, and through his suffering and death make satisfaction for our sins and pay for them. This is the price that has been set, and has been expended for us, by which sin has been quenched and the wrath of God appeased, the Father has been reconciled and made our friend.

Christians alone know this and believe it, and are in this respect different from those of every other faith and worship on earth. For the Jews, Turks, false Christians, and those who would be righteous by works, also boast that God is merciful; and there is no man on earth but knows something of the grace of God, and yet all of them fail to obtain it, or in other words, they do not have the treasure in which it lies and from which it flows. They continue in their blindness and imagine they can acquire it by their works, rigid life, and their own holiness, with which they only make the wrath and displeasure of God the more grievous.

Therefore it is necessary that we rightly learn to know this treasure, and seek forgiveness where it may be found; that is, that we thoroughly learn to know, comprehend, and keep the Lord Jesus Christ. For it is ordained that no one shall come into God’s presence, find grace, nor obtain forgiveness of the least sin except through Christ. Because you are a sinner, and will always remain one, your conscience is ever present, condemns and threatens you with God’s wrath and punishment, so that you cannot see the grace of God.

Via Luther’s Sermon for the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity; Matthew 9:1-8 (2nd sermon)

2. This is the same as permitting Pelagians and all heretics to triumph, indeed, the same as conceding victory to them.

3. It is the same as making sport of the authority of all doctors of theology.

4. It is therefore true that man, being a bad tree, can only will and do evil [cf. Matt 7,17-18].

5. It is false to state that man’s inclination is free to choose between either of two opposites. Indeed, the inclination is not free, but captive. This is said in opposition to common opinion.

6. It is false to state that the will can by nature conform to correct precept. This is said in opposition to [Duns] Scotus and Gabriel [Biel].

7. As a matter of fact, without the grace of God the will produces an act that is perverse and evil.

8. It does not, however, follow that the will is by nature evil, that is, essentially evil, as the Manicheans maintain.

9. It is nevertheless innately and inevitably evil and corrupt.

10. One must concede that the will is not free to strive toward whatever is declared good. This is in opposition to Scotus and Gabriel.

11. Nor is it able to will or not to will whatever is prescribed.

12. Nor does one contradict St. Augustine when one says that nothing is so much in the power of the will as the will itself.

13. It is absurd to conclude that erring man can love the creature above all things, therefore also God. This is in opposition to Scotus and Gabriel.

14. Nor is it surprising that the will can conform to erroneous and not to correct precept.

15. Indeed, it is peculiar to it that it can only conform to erroneous and not to correct precept.

16. One ought rather to conclude: since erring man is able to love the creature it is impossible for him to love God.

17. Man is by nature unable to want God to be God. Indeed, he himself wants to be God, and does not want God to be God.

18. To love God above all things by nature is a fictitious term, a chimera, as it were. This is contrary to common teaching.

19. Nor can we apply the reasoning of Scotus concerning the brave citizen who loves his country more than himself.

20. An act of friendship is done, not according to nature, but according to prevenient grace. This is in opposition to Gabriel.

21. No act is done according to nature that is not an act of concupiscence against God.

22. Every act of concupiscence against God is evil and a fornication of the spirit.

23. Nor is it true that an act of concupiscence can be set aright by the virtue of hope. This is in opposition to Gabriel.

24. For hope is not contrary to charity, which seeks and desires only that which is of God.

25. Hope does not grow out of merits, but out of suffering which destroys merits. This is in opposition to the opinion of many.

26. An act of friendship is not the most perfect means for accomplishing that which is in one. Nor is it the most perfect means for obtaining the grace of God or turning toward and approaching God.

27. But it is an act of conversion already perfected, following grace both in time and by nature.

28. If it is said of the Scripture passages, “Return to me, . . . and I will return to you” [Zech 1,3], “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you” [Jas 4,8], “Seek and you will find” [Matt 7,7], “You will seek me and find me” [Jer 29,13], and the like, that one is by nature, the other by grace, this is no different from asserting what the Pelagians have said.

29. The best and infallible preparation for grace and the sole disposition toward grace is the eternal election and predestination of God.

30. On the part of man, however, nothing precedes grace except indisposition and even rebellion against grace.

31. It is said with the idlest demonstrations that the predestined can be damned individually but not collectively. This is in opposition to the scholastics.

32. Moreover, nothing is acheived by the following saying: Predestination is necessary by virtue of the consequence of God’s willing, but not of what actually followed, namely, that God had to elect a certain person.

33. And this is false, that doing all that one is able to do can remove the obstacles to grace. This is in opposition to several authorities.

34. In brief, man by nature has neither correct precept nor good will.

35. It is not true that an invincible ignorance excuses one completely (all scholastics notwithstanding);

36. For ignorance of God and oneself and good work is always invincible to nature.

37. Nature, moreover, inwardly and necessarily glories and takes pride in every work which is apparently and outwardly good.

38. There is no moral virtue without either pride or sorrow, that is, without sin.

39. We are not masters of our actions, from beginning to end, but servants. This is in opposition to the philosophers.

40. We do not become righteous by doing righteous deeds but, having been made rightous, we do righteous deeds. This in opposition to the philosophers.

41. Virtually the entire Ethics of Aristotle is the worst enemy of grace. This is in opposition to the scholastics.

42. It is an error to maintain that Aristotle’s statement concerning happiness does not contradict Catholic doctrine. This is in opposition to the doctrine on morals.

43. It is an error to say that no man can become a theologian without Aristotle. This is in opposition to common opinion.

44. Indeed, no one can become a theologian unless he becomes one without Aristotle.

45. To state that a theologian who is not a logician is a monstruous heretic–this is a monstruous and heretical statement. This is in opposition to common opinion.

46. In vain does one fashion a logic of faith, a substitution brought about without regard for limit and measure. This is in opposition to the the new dialecticians.

47. No syllogistic form is valid when applied to divine terms. This is in opposition to the Cardinal [Peter of Ailly].

48. Nevertheless it does not for that reason follow that the truth of the doctrine of the Trinity contradicts syllogistic forms. This is in opposition to the same new dialecticians and to the Cardinal.

49. If a syllogistic form of reasoning holds in divine matters, then a doctrine of the trinity is demonstrable and not the object of faith.

50. Briefly, the whole Aristotle is to theology as darkness is to light. This is in opposition to the scholastics.

51. It is very doubtful whether the Latins comprehended the correct meaning of Aristotle.

52. It would have been better for the church if Porphyry with his universals had not been born for the use of theologians.

53. Even the more useful definitions of Aristotle seem to beg the question.

54. For an act to be meritorious, either the presence of grace is sufficient, or its presence means nothing. This is in opposition to Gabriel.

55. The grace of God is never present in such a way that it is inactive, but it is a living, active and operative spirit; nor can it happen that through the absolute power of God an act of friendship may be present without the presence of the grace of God. This is in opposition to Gabriel.

56. It is not true that God can accept man without his justifying grace. This is in opposition to Ockham.

57. It is dangerous to say that the law commands that an act of obeying the commandment be done in the grace of God. This in opposition to the Cardinal and Gabriel.

58. From this it would follow that “to have the grace of God” is actually a new demand going beyond the law.

59. It would also follow that fulfilling the law can take place without the grace of God.

60. Likewise it follows that the grace of God would be more hateful than the law itself.

61. It does not follow that the law should be complied with and fulfilled in the grace of God. This is in opposition to Gabriel.

62. And that therefore he who is outside the grace of God sins incessantly, even when he does not kill, commit adultery, or become angry.

63. But it follows that he sins because he does not spiritually fulfill the law.

64. Spiritually that person does not kill, does not do evil, does not become enraged when he neither becomes angry nor lusts.

65. Outside the grace of God it is indeed impossible not to become angry or lust, so that not even in grace is it possible to fulfill the law perfectly.

66. It is the righteousness of the hypocrit actually and outwardly not to kill, do evil, etc.

67. It is by the grace of God that one does not lust or become enraged.

68. Therefore it is impossible to fulfill the law in any way without the grace of God.

69. As a matter of fact, it is more accurate to say that the law is destroyed by nature without the grace of God.

70. A good law will of necessity be bad for the natural will.

71. Law and will are two implacable foes without the grace of God.

72. What the law wants, the will never wants, unless it pretends to want it out of fear or love.

73. The law, as taskmaster of the will, will not be overcome except by the “child, who has been born to us” [Isa. 9,6].

74. The law makes sin abound because it irritates and repels the will [Rom 7,13].

75. The grace of God, however, makes justice abound through Jesus Christ because it causes one to be pleased with the law.

76. Every deed of the law without the grace of God appears good outwardly, but inwardly it is sin. This is in opposition to the scholastics.

77. The will is always averse to, and the hands inclined toward, the law of the Lord without the grace of God.

78. The will which is inlined toward the law without the grace of God is so inclined by reason of its own advantage.

79. Condemned are all those who do the works of the law.

80. Blessed are all those who do the works of the grace of God.

81. Chapter Falsas concerning penance, dist. 5, confirms the fact that works outside the realm of grace are not good, if this is not understood falsely.

82. Not only are the religious ceremonials not the good law and the precepts in which one does not live (in opposition to many teachers);

83. But even the Decalogue itself and all that can be taught and prescribed inwardly and outwardly is not good law either.

84. The good law and that in which one lives is the love of God, spread abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

85. Anyone’s will would prefer, if it were possible, that there would be no law and to be entirely free.

86. Anyone’s will hates it that the law should be imposed upon it; if, however, the will desires the imposition of the law it does so out of love of self.

87. Since law is good, the will, which is hostile to it, cannot be good.

88. And from this it is clear that everyone’s natural will is iniquitous and bad.

89. Grace as a mediator is necessary to reconcile the law with the will.

90. The grace of God is given for the purpose of directing the will, lest it err even in loving God. In opposition to Gabriel.

91. It is not given so that good deeds might be induced more frequently and readily, but because without it no act of love is performed. In opposition to Gabriel.

92. It cannot be denied love is superfluous if man is by nature able to do an act of friendship. In opposition to Gabriel.

93. There is a kind of subtle evil in teh argument that an act is at the same time the fruit and the use of the fruit. In opposition to Ockham, the Cardinal, Gabriel.

94. This holds true also of the saying that the love of God may continue alongside an intense love of the creature.

95. To love God is at the same time to hate oneself and to know nothing but God.

96. We must make our will conform in every respect to the will of God (in opposition to the Cardinal).

97. So that we not only will what God wills, but also ought to will whatever God wills.

In these statements we wanted to say and believe we have said anything [presumably translator means "nothing"] that that is not in agreement with the Catholic church and the teachers of the church.

See also:

1. Table Talk of Martin Luther about the Early Church Fathers
2. Sermon Preached by Martin Luther at Erfurt in 1521
3. The Theology of Facts vs the Theology of Rhetoric
4. Martin Luther’s Prefaces to the Psalter 1531 & 1545

Dear friends, you have often heard that there has never been a public sermon from heaven except twice. Apart from them God has spoken many times through and with men on earth, as in the case of the holy patriarchs Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and others, down to Moses. But in none of these cases did he speak with such glorious splendor, visible reality, or public cry and exclamation as he did on those two occasions. Rather God illuminated their heart within and spoke through their mouth, as Luke indicates in the first chapter of his gospel where he says, “As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old” [Luke 1:70].

Now the first sermon is in Exodus 19 and 20; by it God caused himself to be heard from heaven with great splendor and might. For the people of Israel heard the trumpets and the voice of God himself.

In the second place God delivered a public sermon through the Holy Spirit on Pentecost [Acts 2:2-4]. On that occasion the Holy Spirit came with great splendor and visible impressiveness, such that there came from heaven the sudden rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled the entire house where the apostles were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to preach and speak in other tongues. This happened with great splendor and glorious might, so that thereafter the apostles preached so powerfully that the sermons which we hear in the world today are hardly a shadow compared to theirs, so far as the visible splendor and substance of their sermons is concerned. For the apostles spoke in all sorts of languages, performed great miracles, etc. Yet through our preachers today the Holy Spirit does not cause himself to be either heard or seen; nothing is coming down openly from heaven. This is why I have said that there are only two such special and public sermons which have been seen and heard from heaven. To be sure, God spoke also to Christ from heaven, when he was baptized in the Jordan [Matt. 3:17], and [at the Transfiguration] on Mount Tabor [Matt. 17:5]. However none of this took place in the presence of the general public.

God wanted to send that second sermon into the world, for it had earlier been announced by the mouth and in the books of the holy prophets. He will no longer speak that way publicly through sermons. Instead, in the third place, he will come in person with divine glory, so that all creatures will tremble and quake before him [Luke 21:25-27]; and then he will no longer preach to them, but they will see and handle him himself [Luke 24:39].

Now the first sermon, and doctrine, is the law of God. The second is the gospel. These two sermons are not the same. Therefore we must have a good grasp of the matter in order to know how to differentiate between them. We must know what the law is, and what the gospel is. The law commands and requires us to do certain things. The law is thus directed solely to our behavior and consists in making requirements. For God speaks through the law, saying, “Do this, avoid that, this is what I expect of you.” The gospel, however, does not preach what we are to do or to avoid. It sets up no requirements but reverses the approach of the law, does the very opposite, and says, “This is what God has done for you; he has let his Son be made flesh for you, has let him be put to death for your sake.” So, then, there are two kinds of doctrine and two kinds of works, those of God and those of men. Just as we and God are separated from one another, so also these two doctrines are widely separated from one another. For the gospel teaches exclusively what has been given us by God, and not – as in the case of the law – what we are to do and give to God.

We now want to see how this first sermon sounded forth and with what splendor God gave the law on Mount Sinai. He selected the place where he wanted to be seen and heard. Not that God actually spoke, for he has no mouth, tongue, teeth, or lips as we do. But he who created and formed the mouth of all men [Exod. 4:11] can also make speech and the voice. For no one would be able to speak a single word unless God first gave it, as the prophet says, “It would be impossible to speak except God first put it in our mouth” [Num. 22:38]. Language, speech, and voice are thus gifts of God like any other gifts, such as the fruit on the trees. Now he who fashioned the mouth and put speech in it can also make and use speech even though there is no mouth present. Now the words which are here written were spoken through an angel. This is not to say that only one angel was there, for there was a great multitude there serving God and preaching to the people of Israel at Mount Sinai. The angel, however, who spoke here and did the talking, spoke just as if God himself were speaking and saying, “I am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt,” etc. [Exod. 20:1], as if Peter or Paul were speaking in God’s stead and saying, “I am your God,” etc. In his letter to the Galatians [3:19], Paul says that the law was ordained by angels. That is, angels were assigned, in God’s behalf, to give the law of God; and Moses, as an intermediary, received it from the angels. I say this so that you might know who gave the law. He did this to them, however, because he wanted thereby to compel, burden, and press the Jews.

What kind of a voice that was, you may well imagine. It was a voice like the voice of a man, such that it was actually heard. The syllables and letters thus made sounds which the physical ear was able to pick up. But it was a bold, glorious, and great voice. As told in Deuteronomy 4:12, the people heard the voice, but saw no one. They heard a powerful voice, for he spoke in a powerful voice, as if in the dark we should hear a voice from a high tower or roof top, and could see no one but only hear the strong voice of a man. And this is why it is called the voice of God, because it was above a human voice.

Now you will hear how God used this voice in order to arouse his people and make them brave. For he intended to institute the tangible and spiritual government. It was previously stated how, on the advice of Jethro, his father-in-law, Moses had established the temporal government and appointed rulers and judges [Exod. 18:13-26]. Beyond that there is yet a spiritual kingdom in which Christ rules in the hearts of men; this kingdom we cannot see, because it consists only in faith and will continue until the Last Day.

These are two kingdoms: the temporal, which governs with the sword and is visible; and the spiritual, which governs solely with grace and with the forgiveness of sins. Between these two kingdoms still another has been placed in the middle, half spiritual and half temporal. It is constituted by the Jews, with commandments and outward ceremonies which prescribe their conduct toward God and men.

The Law of Moses Binds Only the Jews and Not the Gentiles

Here the law of Moses has its place. It is no longer binding on us because it was given only to the people of Israel. And Israel accepted this law for itself and its descendants, while the Gentiles were excluded. To be sure, the Gentiles have certain laws in common with the Jews, such as these: there is one God, no one is to do wrong to another, no one is to commit adultery or murder or steal, and others like them. This is written by nature into their hearts; they did not hear it straight from heaven as the Jews did. This is why this entire text does not pertain to the Gentiles. I say this on account of the enthusiasts. (2) For you see and hear how they read Moses, extol him, and bring up the way he ruled the people with commandments. They try to be clever, and think they know something more than is presented in the gospel; so they minimize faith, contrive something new, and boastfully claim that it comes from the Old Testament. They desire to govern people according to the letter of the law of Moses, as if no one had ever read it before.

But we will not have this sort of thing. We would rather not preach again for the rest of our life than to let Moses return and to let Christ be torn out of our hearts. We will not have Moses as ruler or lawgiver any longer. Indeed God himself will not have it either. Moses was an intermediary solely for the Jewish people. It was to them that he gave the law. We must therefore silence the mouths of those factious spirits who say, “Thus says Moses,” etc. Here you simply reply: Moses has nothing to do with us. If I were to accept Moses in one commandment, I would have to accept the entire Moses. Thus the consequence would be that if I accept Moses as master, then I must have myself circumcised, (3) wash my clothes in the Jewish way, eat and drink and dress thus and so, and observe all that stuff. So, then, we will neither observe nor accept Moses. Moses is dead. His rule ended when Christ came. He is of no further service.

That Moses does not bind the Gentiles can be proved from Exodus 20:1, where God himself speaks, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” This text makes it clear that even the Ten Commandments do not pertain to us. For God never led us out of Egypt, but only the Jews. The sectarian spirits want to saddle us with Moses and all the commandments. We will just skip that. We will regard Moses as a teacher, but we will not regard him as our lawgiver – unless he agrees with both the New Testament and the natural law. Therefore it is clear enough that Moses is the lawgiver of the Jews and not of the Gentiles. He has given the Jews a sign whereby they should lay hold of God, when they call upon him as the God who brought them out of Egypt. The Christians have a different sign, whereby they conceive of God as the One who gave his Son, etc.

Again one can prove it from the third commandment (4) that Moses does not pertain to Gentiles and Christians. For Paul [Col. 2:16] and the New Testament [Matt. 12:1-12; John 5:16; 7:22-23; 9:14-16] abolish the sabbath, to show us that the sabbath was given to the Jews alone, for whom it is a stern commandment. The prophets referred to it too, that the sabbath of the Jews would be abolished. For Isaiah says in the last chapter, “When the Savior comes, then such will be the time, one sabbath after the other, one month after the other,” etc. [Isa. 66:23]. This is as though he were trying to say, “It will be the sabbath every day, and the people will be such that they make no distinction between days. For in the New Testament the sabbath is annihilated as regards the crude external observance, for every day is a holy day,” etc.

Now if anyone confronts you with Moses and his commandments, and wants to compel you to keep them, simply answer, “Go to the Jews with your Moses; I am no Jew. Do not entangle me with Moses. If I accept Moses in one respect [Paul tells the Galatians in chapter 5:3], then I am obligated to keep the entire law.” For not one little period in Moses pertains to us.

Question: Why then do you preach about Moses if he does not pertain to us?

Answer to the Question: Three things are to be noted in Moses.

I want to keep Moses and not sweep him under the rug, because I find three things in Moses.

In the first place I dismiss the commandments given to the people of Israel. They neither urge nor compel me. They are dead and gone, except insofar as I gladly and willingly accept something from Moses, as if I said, “This is how Moses ruled, and it seems fine to me, so I will follow him in this or that particular.” (5)

I would even be glad if [today's] lords ruled according to the example of Moses. If I were emperor, I would take from Moses a model for [my] statutes; not that Moses should be binding on me, but that I should be free to follow him in ruling as he ruled. For example, tithing is a very fine rule, because with the giving of the tenth all other taxes would be eliminated. For the ordinary man it would also be easier to give a tenth than to pay rents and fees. Suppose I had ten cows; I would then give one. If I had only five, I would give nothing. If my fields were yielding only a little, I would give proportionately little; if much, I would give much. All of this would be in God’s providence. But as things are now, I must pay the Gentile tax even if the hail should ruin my entire crop. If I owe a hundred gulden in taxes, I must pay it even though there may be nothing growing in the field. This is also the way the pope decrees and governs. But it would be better if things were so arranged that when I raise much, I give much; and when little, I give little.

Again in Moses it is also stipulated that no man should sell his field into a perpetual estate, but only up to the jubilee year [Lev. 25:8-55]. When that year came, every man returned to the field or possessions which he had sold. In this way the possessions remained in the family relationship. There are also other extraordinarily fine roles in Moses which one should like to accept, use, and put into effect. Not that one should bind or be bound by them, but (as I said earlier) the emperor could here take an example for setting up a good government on the basis of Moses, just as the Romans conducted a good government, and just like the Sachsenspiegel (6) by which affairs are ordered in this land of ours. The Gentiles are not obligated to obey Moses. Moses is the Sachsenspiegel for the Jews. But if an example of good government were to be taken from Moses, one could adhere to it without obligation as long as one pleased, etc.

Again Moses says, “If a man dies without children, then his brother or closest relative should take the widow into his home and have her to wife, and thus raise up offspring for the deceased brother or relative. The first child thus born was credited to the deceased brother or relative” [Deut. 25:5-6]. So it came about that one man had many wives. Now this is also a very good rule.

When these factious spirits come, however, and say, “Moses has commanded it,” then simply drop Moses and reply, “I am not concerned about what Moses commands.” “Yes,” they say, “he has commanded that we should have one God, that we should trust and believe in him, that we should not swear by his name; that we should honor father and mother; not kill, steal, commit adultery; not bear false witness, and not covet [Exod. 20:3-17]; should we not keep these commandments?” You reply: Nature also has these laws. Nature provides that we should call upon God. The Gentiles attest to this fact. For there never was a Gentile who did not call upon his idols, even though these were not the true God. This also happened among the Jews, for they had their idols as did the Gentiles; only the Jews have received the law. The Gentiles have it written in their heart, and there is no distinction [Rom. 3:22]. As St. Paul also shows in Romans 2:14-15, the Gentiles, who have no law, have the law written in their heart.

But just as the Jews fail, so also do the Gentiles. Therefore it is natural to honor God, not steal, not commit adultery, not bear false witness, not murder; and what Moses commands is nothing new. For what God has given the Jews from heaven, he has also written in the hearts of all men. Thus I keep the commandments which Moses has given, not because Moses gave the commandment, but because they have been implanted in me by nature, and Moses agrees exactly with nature, etc.

But the other commandments of Moses, which are not [implanted in all men] by nature, the Gentiles do not hold. Nor do these pertain to the Gentiles, such as the tithe and others equally fine which I wish we had too. Now this is the first thing that I ought to see in Moses, namely, the commandments to which I am not bound except insofar as they are [implanted in everyone] by nature [and written in everyone's heart].

The second thing to notice in Moses

In the second place I find something in Moses that I do not have from nature: the promises and pledges of God about Christ. (7)

This is the best thing. It is something that is not written naturally into the heart, but comes from heaven. God has promised, for example, that his Son should be born in the flesh. This is what the gospel proclaims. It is not commandments. And it is the most important thing in Moses which pertains to us. The first thing, namely, the commandments, does not pertain to us. I read Moses because such excellent and comforting promises are there recorded, by which I can find strength for my weak faith. For things take place in the kingdom of Christ just as I read in Moses that they will; therein I find also my sure foundation.

In this manner, therefore, I should accept Moses, and not sweep him under the rug: first because he provides fine examples of laws, from which excerpts may be taken. Second, in Moses there are the promises of God which sustain faith. As it is written of Eve in Genesis 3:15, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head,” etc. Again Abraham was given this promise by God, speaking thus in Genesis 22:18, “In your descendants shall all the nations be blessed”; that is, through Christ the gospel is to arise.

Again in Deuteronomy 18:15-16 Moses says, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brethren-him you shall heed; just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly,” etc. Many are these texts in the Old Testament, which the holy apostles quoted and drew upon.

But our factious spirits go ahead and say of everything they find in Moses, “Here God is speaking, no one can deny it; therefore we must keep it.” So then the rabble go to it. Whew! If God has said it, who then will say anything against it? Then they are really pressed hard like pigs at a trough. Our dear prophets have chattered thus into the minds of the people, “Dear people, God has ordered his people to beat Amalek to death” [Exod. 17:8-16; Deut. 25:17-19]. (8) Misery and tribulation have come out of this sort of thing. The peasants have arisen, not knowing the difference, and have been led into this error by those insane factious spirits.

Had there been educated preachers around, they could have stood up to the false prophets and stopped them, and said this to them, “Dear factious spirits, it is true that God commanded this of Moses and spoke thus to the people; but we are not this people. Land, God spoke also to Adam; but that does not make me Adam, God commanded Abraham to put his son to death [Gen. 22:2]; but that does not make me Abraham and obligate me to put my son to death. God spoke also with David. It is all God’s word. But let God’s word be what it may, I must pay attention and know to whom God’s word is addressed. You are still a long way from being the people with whom God spoke.” The false prophets say, “You are that people, God is speaking to you.” You must prove that to me. With talk like that these factious spirits could have been refuted. But they wanted to be beaten, and so the rabble went to the devil.

One must deal cleanly with the Scriptures. From the very beginning the word has come to us in various ways. It is not enough simply to look and see whether this is God’s word, whether God has said it; rather we must look and see to whom it has been spoken, whether it fits us. That makes all the difference between night and day. God said to David, “Out of you shall come the king,” etc. [II Sam, 7:13]. But this does not pertain to me, nor has it been spoken to me. He can indeed speak to me if he chooses to do so. You must keep your eye on the word that applies to you, that is spoken to you.

The word in Scripture is of two kinds: the first does not pertain or apply to me, the other kind does. And upon that word which does pertain to me I can boldly trust and rely, as upon a strong rock. But if it does not pertain to me, then I should stand still. The false prophets pitch in and say, “Dear people, this is the word of God,” That is true; we cannot deny it. But we are not the people. God has not given us the directive. The factious spirits came in and wanted to stir up something new, saying, “We must keep the Old Testament also..’ So they led the peasants into a sweat and ruined them in wife and child. These insane people imagined that it had been withheld from them, that no one had told them they are supposed to murder. It serves them right. They would not follow or listen to anybody. I have seen and experienced it myself, how mad, raving, and senseless they were.

Therefore tell this to Moses: Leave Moses and his people together; they have had their day and do not pertain to me. I listen to that word which applies to me. We have the gospel. Christ says, “Go and preach the gospel,” not only to the Jews as Moses did, but to “all nations,” to “all creatures” [Mark 16:15]. To me it is said, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved” [Mark 16:16]. Again, “Go and do to your neighbor as has been done to you” [cf. Matt. 7:12]. These words strike me too, for I am one of the “all creatures.” If Christ had not added, “preach to all creatures,” then I would not listen, would not be baptized, just as I now will not listen to Moses because he is given not to me but only to the Jews. However because Christ says: not to one people, nor in this or in that place in the world, but to “all creatures,” therefore no one is exempt. Rather all are thereby included; no one should doubt that to him too the gospel is to be preached. And so I believe that word; it does pertain also to me. I too belong under the gospel, in the new covenant. Therefore I put my trust in that word, even if it should cost a hundred thousand lives.

This distinction should be noticed, grasped, and taken to heart by those preachers who would teach others; indeed by all Christians, for everything depends entirely upon it. If the peasants had understood it this way, they would have salvaged much and would not have been so pitifully misled and ruined. And where we understand it differently, there we make sects and factions, slavering among the rabble and into the raving and uncomprehending people without any distinction, saying, “God’s word, God’s word.” But my dear fellow, the question is whether it was said to you. God indeed speaks also to angels, wood, fish, birds, animals, and all creatures, but this does not make it pertain to me. I should pay attention to that which applies to me, that which is said to me, in which God admonishes, drives, and requires something of me.

Here is an illustration. Suppose a housefather had a wife, a daughter, a son, a maid, and a hired man. Now he speaks to the hired man and orders him to hitch up the horses and bring in a load of wood, or drive over to the field, or do some other job. And suppose he tells the maid to milk the cows, churn some butter, and so on. And suppose he tells his wife to take care of the kitchen and his daughter to do some spinning and make the beds. All this would be the words of one master, one housefather. Suppose now the maid decided she wanted to drive the horses and fetch the wood, the hired man sat down and began milking the cows, the daughter wanted to drive the wagon or plow the field, the wife took a notion to make the beds or spin and so forgot all about the kitchen; and then they all said, “The master has commanded this, these are the housefather’s orders!” Then what? Then the housefather would grab a club and knock them all in a heap, and say, “Although it is my command, yet I have not commanded it of you; I gave each of you your instructions, you should have stuck to them.”

It is like this with the word of God. Suppose I take up something that God ordered someone else to do, and then I declare, “But you said to do it.” God would answer, “Let the devil thank you; I did not tell you to do it.” One must distinguish well whether the word pertains to only one or to everybody. If, now, the housefather should say, “On Friday we are going to eat meat,” this would be a word common to everybody in the house. Thus what God said to Moses by way of commandment is for the Jews only. But the gospel goes through the whole world in its entirety; it is offered to all creatures without exception. Therefore all the world should accept it, and accept it as if it had been offered to each person individually. The word, “We should love one another” [John 15:12], pertains to me, for it pertains to all who belong to the gospel. Thus we read Moses not because he applies to us, that we must obey him, but because he agrees with the natural law and is conceived better than the Gentiles would ever have been able to do. Thus the Ten Commandments are a mirror of our life, in which we can see wherein we are lacking, etc. The sectarian spirits have misunderstood also with respect to the images; for that too pertains only to the Jews.

Summing up this second part, we read Moses for the sake of the promises about Christ, who belongs not only to the Jews but also to the Gentiles; for through Christ all the Gentiles should have the blessing, as was promised to Abraham [Gen. 12:3].

The third thing to be seen in Moses

In the third place we read Moses for the beautiful examples of faith, of love, and of the cross, as shown in the fathers, Adam, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and all the rest. (9) From them we should learn to trust in God and love him. In turn there are also examples of the godless, how God does not pardon the unfaith of the unbelieving; how he can punish Cain, Ishmael, Esau, the whole world in the flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, etc. Examples like these are necessary. For although I am not Cain, yet if I should act like Cain, I will receive the same punishment as Cain. Nowhere else do we find such fine examples of both faith and unfaith. Therefore we should not sweep Moses under the rug. Moreover the Old Testament is thus properly understood when we retain from the prophets the beautiful texts about Christ, when we take note of and thoroughly grasp the fine examples, and when we use the laws as we please to our advantage.

Conclusion and Summary

I have stated that all Christians, and especially those who handle the word of God and attempt to teach others, should take heed and learn Moses aright. Thus where he gives the commandments, we are not to follow him except so far as he agrees with the natural law. Moses is a teacher and doctor of the Jews. We have our own master, Christ, and he has set before us what we are to know, observe, do, and leave undone. However it is true that Moses sets down, in addition to the laws, fine examples of faith and unfaith – punishment of the godless, elevation of the righteous and believing – and also the dear and comforting promises concerning Christ which we should accept. The same is true also in the gospel. For example in the account of the ten lepers, that Christ bids them go to the priest and make sacrifice [Luke 17:14] does not pertain to me. The example of their faith, however, does pertain to me; I should believe Christ, as did they.

Enough has now been said of this, and it is to be noted well for it is really crucial. Many great and outstanding people have missed it, while even today many great preachers still stumble over it. They do not know how to preach Moses, nor how properly to regard his books. They are absurd as they rage and fume, chattering to people, “God’s word, God’s word!” All the while they mislead the poor people and drive them to destruction. Many learned men have not known how far Moses ought to be taught. Origen, Jerome, and others like them, have not shown clearly how far Moses can really serve us. This is what I have attempted, to say in an introduction to Moses how we should regard him, and how he should be understood and received and not simply be swept under the rug. For in Moses there is comprehended such a fine order, that it is a joy, etc.

God be praised.

(1) Martin Luther, “How Christians Should Regard Moses,” trans. and ed. by E. Theodore Bachmann, Luther’s Works: Word and Sacrament I, vol. 35 (Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1960), 161-174. This sermon was delivered on August 27, 1525 in Luther’s long series of seventy-seven sermons on Exodus preached from October 2, 1524 to February 2, 1527.

(2) The “enthusiasts” were the Anabaptists or radical reformers (the left wing extreme of the reformation) like Thomas Munzer, who Luther also refers to as “factitious or sectarian spirits” and “false prophets.” These radicals should be distinguished from the magisterial reformers like Luther and Calvin. They were known for their millennialism (chiliasm; apocalyptic fanaticism), which led to their insistence of violent measures to bring about a more radical reformation. They were also known as “spiritualists” because they purported to receive direct revelations from the Holy Spirit who was leading them to stir up the masses (peasants) to use all means necessary, even violent rebellion and revolution against authorities, to bring in the new age. Luther was afraid that such preaching would bring massive anarchy throughout the land. Further, they argued that the social laws of the land ought to be replaced by judicial laws of the Mosaic covenant. “Pastor Jacob Strauss at Eisenach and the court preacher Wolfgang Stein at Weimar had brought their considerable influence to bear on the Saxon princes in favor of substituting the more humane laws of the Old Testament for the then current imperial and canon laws. Luther opposed the notion that the Scriptures would be properly exalted if Mosaic precepts were suddenly, as law, to replace laws of the German state and church. He warned that while seemingly honoring the Scriptures, one can actually distort the meaning and intention of the Word of God . . . ‘Moses’ is not the Word of God in the sense that ‘Moses’ could be substituted for a piece of human legislation . . . Anyone who, like the enthusiasts, erects Mosaic law as a biblical-divine requirement does injury to the preaching of Christ. Just as the Judaizers of old, who would have required circumcision as an initial requirement, so also the enthusiasts and radicals of this later era do not see that Christ is the end of the Mosaic law. For all the stipulations of that law, insofar as they go beyond the natural law, have been abolished by Christ. The Ten Commandments are binding upon all men only so far as they are implanted in everyone by nature. In this sense Luther declares that ‘Moses is dead’ . . . Besides, the Jewish assembly of Sinai and of the decalogue has been replaced by the Christian congregation of Pentecost and of the new covenant. The era of Mosaic law extends from Sinai to Pentecost. In this era the Jewish people served its particular purpose, for this people, alone among all the peoples, was during that time span both state and church. It was just one national ethnic group among others on earth, but at the same time it was peculiar people set apart for God as an instrument of his plan for all peoples. So far as ‘Moses’ is simply the Sachsenspiegel or law code of the Jewish people as a national ethnic group, it can be listed as just one code of laws among many, features of which may or may not be considered desirable in another age or nation. But so far as the Mosaic law is the law of the Old Testament congregation of God, it has a prophetic and promissory significance comparable to nothing in the laws of other peoples; and it has a continuing relevance not to any people simply as people but only to the post-Pentecost church of God spread among all peoples (from introduction to sermon, pp. 157-159; written by E. Theodore Bachman). This imposition of the Mosaic law upon the state sounds very similar to the modern error of theonomy or Christian reconstruction.

(3) In a letter to Chancellor Bruck of Saxony dated January 13, 1524, Luther wrote that the people of Orlamunde, Karlstadt’s parish, would probably circumcise themselves and be wholly Mosaic.

(4) The reformers numbered the commandments differently. Calvin referred to this as the fourth commandment (Inst. 2.8.28).

(5) This is what Luther and Calvin would refer to as the “natural law.” Calvin referred to these laws as the “equity” of the Mosaic law (Inst. 4.20.16). Both Calvin and Luther agreed that anything in the Mosaic law that was not “general,” “common,” or “equitable” to all nations no longer applied to the state, seeing that those specific laws were applicable only to Israel. Calvin argued, “I would have preferred to pass over this matter in utter silence if I were not aware that here many dangerously go astray. For there are some who deny that a commonwealth is duly framed which neglects the political system of Moses, and is ruled by the common laws of nations. Let other men consider how perilous and seditious this notion is; it will be enough for me to have proved it false and foolish . . . It is a fact that the law of God which we call the moral law is nothing else than a testimony of natural law and of that conscience which God has engraved upon the minds of men. Consequently, the entire scheme of this equity of which we are now speaking has been prescribed in it. Hence, this equity alone must be the goal and rule and limit of all laws. Whatever laws shall be framed to that rule, directed to that goal, bound by that limit, there is no reason why we should disapprove of them, howsoever they may differ from the Jewish law, or among themselves . . . For the statement of some, that the law of God given through Moses is dishonored when it is abrogated and new laws preferred to it, is utterly vain. For others are not preferred to it when they are more approved, not by a simple comparison, but with regard to the condition of times, place, and nation; or when that law is abrogated which was never enacted for us. For the Lord through the hand of Moses did not give that law to be proclaimed among all nations and to be in force everywhere; but when he had taken the Jewish nation into his safekeeping, defense, and protection, he also willed to be a lawgiver especially to it; and — as became a wise lawgiver — he had special concern for it in making its laws (Inst. 4.20.14, 16; also see Calvin’s comments on Rom. 1:21-27 and 2:14-15).

(6) This “Saxon code of law” was a thirteenth century compilation of the economic and social laws obtaining in and around Magdeburg and Halberstadt; it was influential in the codification of German law until the nineteenth century. The radical Reformers sometimes sought to replace it with the law of Moses or the Sermon on the Mount.

(7) Here Luther refers to gospel given progressively in types and shadows throughout the Old Testament and looking forward to fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

(8) Thomas Munzer in a sermon of July, 1524, at Allstedt demanded that the princes wipe out all the godless, including godless rulers, princes, and monks.

(9) Here Luther argues that we can find many moral illustrations of good and bad behavior throughout the Old Testament

See also:

1. Take Heed and Learn Moses Correctly
2. Leave Moses & His People Together. We Have the Gospel.
3. Grace, Forgiveness & Moses
4. Do Not Make Christ Into A Moses

In short, the church is a dwelling, in order that God may be loved and heard. Not wood or stones, not dumb animals, it should be people, who know, love, and praise God. And that you may be able to trust God with certainty in all things, including cross and suffering, you should know that it is the true church, even though it be made up of scarcely two believing persons. That’s why Christ says: He who loves me keeps my Word; there I will dwell, there you have my church.

So now you must guard yourselves against the pope’s church, bedaubed and bedizened with gold and pearls; for here Christ teaches us the opposite. To love God and keep his Word is not the pope’s long robe and crown, nor even his decretals. There is a great difference between what God commands and what men command. Look how the pope brazenly announces—we should invoke the saints and conduct ourselves according to his human precepts. Does God’s Word command this too? I still do not see it. But this I know very well, that God’s Word says: I, Christ, go to the Father, and he who believes in me will be saved. For, I have suffered for him and I also give him the Holy Spirit from on high.

So the Lord Christ and the pope each have their own church, but with this mighty difference, which Christ himself, the best dialectician (der beste Dialecticus), here describes, telling us what it is and where it is, namely, where his Word is purely preached. So where you hear this, there you may know that this is the true church. For where the Word of God is not present, there also are not true-believing confessors and martyrs. And if the World of God were lacking, then we would have been deceived by Christ; then he really would have betrayed us!

Fritz von Uhde, "Walking to Emmaus" (1891)

It would, of course, be desirable if we could always have both: the Word and our temporal crumbs, but the good venison, peace, is very scarce in the kingdom of heaven. It’s therefore something which must be recognized as a great blessing of God when there is peace among temporal lords and mutual understanding. But if not, then let them all go — goods, fame, wife, and child — if only this treasure remain with us.

I fear, however, that unfortunately there will be among us many weathercocks, false brethren, and such like weeds; and yet I am not going to be a prophet, because I must prophesy nothing but evil, and who would presume to be able to fathom it all? It will turn out all right; now we have it, let us see to it that we hold on to it. But let us be valiant against Satan, who intends to sift us like wheat (cf. Luke 22:31). For it may well be that you will have your bit of bread under a good government and then the devil will soon set a snare for you in your security and presumption, so that you will no longer trust and give place to the Word of God as much as you did before. That’s why Christ says: My sheep not only hear me, they also obey and follow me (John 10:3-5); they increase in faith daily through hearing the Word of God and the right and perfect use of the blessed sacraments. There is strengthening and comfort in this church. And it is also the true church, not cowls, tonsures, and long robes, of which the Word of God knows nothing, but rather wherever two or three are gathered together (Matt. 18:20), not matter whether it be on the ocean or in the depths of the earth, if only they have before them the Word of God and believe and trust in the same, there is most certainly the real, ancient, true, apostolic church.

Via Luther’s sermon at the Castle Pleissenberg in Leipzig, 1539.

0, what a blessed world we would have, if people believed this, and every man remained at his post, always keeping in mind God’s will and command. Then there would shower from heaven all kinds of blessings and gifts instead of the many vexations and heart-aches, which we now have, are looking for, and deserve.

Above this external piety there is another, which does not belong to this temporal life on earth but which avails only before God and which leads us to the life beyond and keeps us in it. The former piety consists in works, which this present life requires to be done among men, whether they be our superiors or inferiors, our neighbors, or our kindred. It has its reward here upon earth, also ends with this life, and they who do not practice it shorten their days. But this latter piety moves and soars far above everything that is upon earth, and has nothing to do with works. For how can it have works, since all that this body can perform and that is called works, is already included in the former piety.

This piety is now called the grace of God, or the forgiveness of sins, of which Christ speaks in this and other gospels, and which is not an earthly but heavenly righteousness; it does not come of our work and ability but is the work and gift of God. For that human piety may well shield us against punishment and the hangman, and permit us to enjoy temporal gifts; but it cannot attain for us God’s grace and the forgiveness of sin. Therefore, even though we may have this external piety, we must nevertheless have a much higher one, which alone avails before God, frees us from sin and an evil conscience, and leads us out of death into eternal life.

Luther delivered this sermon on October 3, 1529 at the Marburg Colloquy, where he and the Wittenberg party had gathered with the South Germans and the Swiss to overcome their disagreement over the real presence of Christ’s body and blood in the Lord’s Supper. It was published in 1530. Via Luther’s Church Postil, taken from volume V:212-225 of The Sermons of Martin Luther, published by Baker Book House (Grand Rapids, MI, 1983). It was originally published in 1905 in English by Lutherans in All Lands (Minneapolis, MN), as The Precious and Sacred Writings of Martin Luther, vol. 14. This e-text was scanned and edited by Richard P. Bucher.

See also:

1. Psalm 130 – Prayer for Forgiveness of Sins
2. Is forgiveness enough?
3. How May We Obtain the Remission of Sins?
4. Who Gave Himself For Our Sins

1. This Gospel or parable Christ our Lord spoke in reply to St. Peter, to whom he had just entrusted the keys to loose and to bind, Mat. 16, 19, when Peter asked him how often he should forgive his neighbor, whether seven times were enough 7 He answered: “Not seven times, but seventy times seven,” and Christ then related this parable, and with it concludes, that our heavenly Father will do unto us, if we forgive not our neighbor, as this king did unto his servant, who would not forgive his fellow-servant a very small debt, after he had forgiven him so great a debt.

2. First, before we consider the Gospel itself, let us examine what kind of a rebuke it is, by which this servant’s right is denied. For the other servant who owed him a hundred shillings, should according to justice have justly paid him this money. Even the first also had a good right to demand what was his own. If an appeal had been made to the public sentiment, every one would have been compelled to agree with him and say: It is just and right for him to pay what he owes. Why then this procedure, that his lord abolishes his claim, and besides condemns the servant because he demands and executes his right? Answer: It was thus written that we might know that it is altogether a different thing in the eye of God than it is in the eye of the world, and often that which is not right before God, is right and just before the world. For before the world this servant stands an honorable man; but before God he is called a wicked servant, and he is blamed for acting as one who is worthy of eternal condemnation.

3. It is therefore decreed when we deal with God that we must stand free, and let goods, honor, right, wrong, and every thing go that we have; and we will not be excused when we say: I am right, therefore I will not suffer a man to do me wrong, as God requires that we should renounce all our rights and forgive our neighbor. Concerning this, however, our high schools and the learned have preached and taught quite differently, that we are not obliged to give way to another and surrender our rights, but that it is just for every one to secure his dues. This is the first rebuff. Now let us consider this Gospel more fully.

4. We have often said that the Gospel or kingdom of God is nothing else than a state or government, in which there is nothing but forgiveness of sins. And wherever there is a state or government in which sins are not forgiven, no Gospel or kingdom of God is found there. Therefore we must clearly distinguish these two kingdoms from each other, in which sins are rebuked, and sins are forgiven, or in which our right is demanded, and our right is pardoned. In the kingdom of God, where God rules with the Gospel, there is no demand for right and dues, but all is pure forgiveness, pardon and giving, no anger, no punishment, but all is pure brotherly service and kindness.

5. By this, however, our civil rights are not abolished. For this parable teaches nothing of the kingdom of this world, but only of the kingdom of God. Therefore, whoever is only under the civil government of the world, is far from the kingdom of heaven, for all this still belongs to perdition. As when a prince so rules his people as not to permit anyone to be wronged, and punishes the evil doer, does well and is praised. For thus it is in this government: Pay what thou owest, if not, you will be cast into prison. Such government we must have, but no one will thereby get to heaven, nor will the world be saved by it. But it is necessary for the reason that the world may not become worse, it is only a protection against and a prevention of wickedness. For if it were not for this government, one would devour the other, and no person could protect his life, goods, wife and child. So in order that everything may not go to ruin, God has instituted functions of the sword, by which wickedness may in part be prevented, so that the civil government may secure and maintain peace, and no one may wrong another. Therefore it must be tolerated. And yet as we have said, it has not been established for citizens of heaven, but simply in order that the people may not fall deeper into hell, and make matters worse.

Therefore no one dare boast, who is under the civil government, that he therefore does right before God. Before him, all is yet wrong. For you must come to the point, that you also avoid what the world claims to be right.

6. The aim of this Gospel is to describe to us forgiveness for both parties. First the lord forgives the servant all his debt. Then he demands of him that he also in like manner forgive his fellow-servant and pardon his debt. This God demands, and thus his kingdom shall stand. Hence no one should be so wicked and allow himself to be so angry, as to be unable to forgive his neighbor. And, as is written, if he would even offend you seventy times seven times, that is, as often as he is able to offend you, you are to let your right and claim go, and freely give him everything. Why so? Because Christ has also done the same for you, in that he began and, established a kingdom in which there is nothing but grace, that is to endure forever, that every thing, as often as you sin, may be forgiven; because he has sent forth his Gospel, not to proclaim punishment, but grace alone. Now, because this government stands, you can at all times rise again, however deep and often you fall. For even if you fall, yet this Gospel and mercy-seat remain and stand forever; therefore as soon as you come and rise again, you again have grace. But he requires of you to forgive your neighbor whatever he has done against you, else you will neither be in this gracious kingdom nor enjoy the Gospel, that your sins may be forgiven. This in short is the idea and sense of this Gospel.

7. However, it is here not forgotten who those are who grasp and enjoy the Gospel. For it is indeed a glorious kingdom and a gracious government, because there is preached in it nothing but the forgiveness of sins, though it does not enter every one’s heart. Hence there are many rude and vicious people who misuse the Gospel, who live a free life and do as they please, and think no one shall ever rebuke them, because the Gospel preaches nothing but the forgiveness of sins. To those the Gospel is not preached, who thus despise the great treasure and treat it wantonly; for this reason they do not belong to this kingdom, but only to the civil government, where they may be prevented from doing whatever they wish.

8. To whom then is the Gospel preached? To those who feel their distress as this servant does his. Therefore observe, how it is with him? The lord has compassion on his wretchedness, and gives him more than he could desire. But before this is done, the text says that the lord would make a reckoning with his servants; and as he began to reckon this one appeared before him, who owed him ten thousand talents; but as he had not wherewith to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. This was indeed no cheering sermon, nothing but great earnestness, and the most terrible sentence. Now he becomes so uneasy that he falls down and pleads for grace, and promises more than he has and can pay, and says: “Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.” Here are pictured and set forth those who enjoy the Gospel in its full measure.

9. For thus it is between God and us. When God wishes to reckon with us, he sends forth the preaching of the law, by which we learn to know what we owe. As when God says to the conscience: “Thou shalt have no other gods,” but esteem me only as God and love me with all thy heart, and trust in me alone; this is the reckoning and the register, in which is written what we owe, this he takes in hand and reads to us and says: Do you see what you are required to do? You are to fear, love and honor me alone, and trust only in me, and hope in me for the best. But you do the contrary and are my enemy, you do not believe in me, but put your trust in other things. To sum up, you see here you do not keep a single letter of the Law.

William Blake "Cain flees" (1825)

10. Now when the conscience hears such things, and the Law thoroughly comes at us, then we see our duty, and that we have not done it, and we perceive that we have not kept a letter of it, and must confess we have not believed or loved God a single moment. What now will the Lord do? When the conscience is thus led captive and confesses that it must be lost, and becomes anxious and fearful, he says: Sell him and all he has, that payment may be made. This is the sentence which immediatetly follows, when the Law reveals sins and says: This thou shouldst do and have done, but thou hast not done it. For punishment follows sin, that payment may be made. For God has not given his Law to the end to allow those to escape who disobey it. It is not sweet nor friendly, but brings with it bitter, horrible punishment, and delivers us to satan, casts us into hell, and leaves us in punishment until we have paid the uttermost farthing.

This St. Paul has correctly explained to the Romans, 4, 15:

For the Law worketh wrath.

That is, when it reveals to us that we have done wrong, it brings home to our hearts nothing but his wrath and displeasure. For when the conscience sees it has done wrong, it feels that it is worthy of eternal death; and if punishment would soon follow, it would have to despair. This is meant, when the lord commands this servant to be sold with all he has, because he cannot make payment.

11. What does the servant do now? He foolishly goes to work and thinks he will still pay the debt, falls down and asks the lord to have patience with him. This is the torment of all consciences, when sin comes and smarts deeply until they feel in what a sad state they are before God; then they have no rest, run hither and thither, seek help here and there, to become free from sin, and in their presumption think they can do enough to pay God in full. As we have been taught hitherto; from which also have come so many pilgrimages, charitable foundations, cloisters, masses and other nonsense; so we fasted and scourged ourselves, and became monks and nuns. And all this came because we undertook to begin a life and to do many works of which God should take account and allow himself to be paid by them, and had thought to quiet and put the conscience at peace with God; and so we have acted just like this fool in today’s lesson.

12. Now a heart that is thus smitten with the Law, and feels its blows and distress, is truly humiliated. Therefore it falls before the Lord and asks for grace, except that it still makes the mistake that it will help itself; for this we cannot root out of our nature. When the conscience feels such misery, it dare promise more than all the angels in heaven are able to do. Here one can easily promise and bind himself to do every thing that may be required of him; for he finds himself at all times thus prepared, that he still hopes to do enough for his sin by means of his good works.

13. Now behold the things men were guilty of heretofore in the world’s history, and you will find it so. Then men preached: Give to the church, run into the cloister, establish many masses, and then your sins will be forgiven. And when they forced our consciences in the confessional, we did everything they imposed upon us, and gave more than they demanded of us. What should the poor people do? They were glad to be helped in this manner; therefore they ran and martyred themselves to get rid of their sins; and yet it did no good whatever, for the conscience remained in doubt as before, so that it did not know on what terms it stood with God; or if it were secure; it became still worse and fell into the presumption, that God had to regard their works. Reason cannot let this alone nor get around it, so as to abandon it.

14. Hence the Lord comes and sympathizes with this distress, because the servant thus lies captive and bound in his sins, and in addition to this is such a fool as to want to help himself, looks for no mercy, knows nothing to say of grace, and feels nothing but sins, which press him heavily, and knows no one to help him. Then his lord has mercy on him and sets him free.

15. Here is represented to us the Gospel and its nature, and how God deals with us. When you are thus held fast in sins and you torment yourself to become free from them, the Gospel comes and says: “No, not so, my dear friend, it will do no good for you to torture and torment yourself to madness; your works accomplish nothing, but God’s mercy does it all; he has compassion on your affliction, and sees you a captive in such anguish, struggling in the mire and that cannot help yourself out, he sees that you cannot pay the debt, therefore he forgives you all.”

Hence it is nothing but pure mercy. For he forgives you the debt, not because of your works and merit, but because he pities your cries, complaints and humiliation. This means that God has regard for an humble heart, as the Prophet David says in Psalm 51, 19: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, 0 God, thou wilt not despise.” Such a heart, he says, is broken and cast down and cannot help itself, and is glad when God gives it a helping hand; this is the best Sacrifice before God, and the true way to heaven.

16. Now this follows out of mercy; because God pities our distress, he yields his claims and nullifies them and never says: Sell what you have and make payment. He might well have proceeded and said: You must pay, I have the right to demand it, I will not on your account annul my own right, and no one could have blamed him. Yet, he does not wish to deal with him according to our ideas of right, but changes justice into grace, has mercy on him, and gives him liberty, with wife and child and everything he has, and makes him a present of the debt besides.

This is what God preaches through the Gospel, namely: He who believes, to him not only the debt, but also the punishment shall be remitted. To this no works are to be added; for whoever preaches that through his works one can atone for his debt and punishment, has already denied the Gospel. For the two can not be tolerated together, that God should have mercy, and that you should have any merit. If it is grace, then it is not merit: but if it is merit, then it is justice and no grace. Rom. 11, 6. For if you pay what you owe, he shows you no mercy; but if he shows mercy, you do not pay for what you receive. Therefore we must leave him alone to deal with us, receive from him and believe. This is what today’s Gospel teaches.

17. Now you see, since this servant is thus humbled through the knowledge of his sins, that the Word ministers very strong comfort to him, when the Lord declares him free, and remits him both the debt and the punishment. By this is indicated that the Gospel does not reach vicious hearts, nor those who walk forth impudently, but only troubled consciences whose sins oppress them, from which they desire to be free; on these God will have mercy and bestow upon them all things.

18. Thus this servant now received the Word, and thereby became God’s friend. For if he had not received the Word, it would have done him no good, and forgiveness would have amounted to nothing. Therefore it is not enough that God has the forgiveness of sins offered to us, and has proclaimed the golden year of the kingdom of grace; but it must also be grasped and believed. If you believe it, then you are free from sin, and all is right. Now this is the first part of a Christian life, taught by this and all the Gospels, which properly consists in faith, that deals only with God. Besides it is also indicated that we cannot, grasp the Gospel, unless there be present first a conscience that is afflicted and miserable because of sin.

19. Now conclude from this that it is nothing but deception that is preached in relation to our works and free will, and if a different way to blot out sin and obtain grace is taught, than this Gospel here advocates, namely, that the divine Majesty looks upon our wretchedness and has mercy upon us. For the text says clearly, that he presents and remits to those who have nothing; and thus concludes that we have nothing wherewith to remunerate God. So you may have free will as you wish in temporal things, in outward life and character, or in outward piety and virtue, as man can have in his own strength, yet you hear now that it is nothing before God. What can free will do here? There is nothing in it at any rate but struggling and trembling. Therefore, if you would be free from sin, you must desist from and despair in all your own works, and cling to the cross and plead for grace, and then lay hold of the Gospel by faith.

20. Now follows the second part of this parable, that of the fellow-servant. We would gladly die every hour for the sake of our faith. For this servant has enough, he retains his life and goods, wife and child and has a gracious lord; so he would be a great fool if he would now go and do everything he could to obtain a gracious lord. His lord might then well say, he only mocks me. Therefore, he dare not add any work, but only receives the grace offered him, be joyful and thank the Lord, and do unto others as the Lord did to him.

21. Thus it is now with us. If we believe, then we have graclous God, and need no more, and it would indeed be well for us to die soon. But if we are to live on earth, our life must not be devoted to obtain God’s favor by means of our works; for he who does this mocks and blasphemes God. As men hitherto have taught, that we must so long lie at God’s ears with our good works, praying, fasting and the like, until we obtain grace. Grace we have already received, not through our works but through God’s mercy. If you are to live, you must have something to do and work at, and all this must be devoted to your neighbor, says Christ.

22. But that servant went out. How does he go out? Where has he been within? He had been in faith, but now he goes out through love, by which he is to show himself to the people. For faith leads the people from the people unto God, but love leads out unto the people. Previously he was within, between God and himself alone, for no one can see or vouch for faith, how both Work together. Therefore one must needs go out of the eyes of the people, where no one is seen or felt but God; this is transacted alone through faith, and no external work can be added to it. Now he comes out before his neighbor. If he had remained within, he could well have died; but he must come out and live among other people and mingle with them. Here he finds a fellowservant whom he strikes and beats, and throttles him, demands payment and shows no mercy.

23. This is what we have often said, that we Christians must break forth, and show by our deeds and before the people that we have the true faith. God does not need your works, he has enough in your faith. Yet he wants you to work that you may show thereby your faith to yourself and all the world. For God indeed sees faith, but you and the people do not yet see it, therefore you should devote the works of faith to the benefit of your neighbor. Thus this servant is an example and picture of all those who should serve their neighbor through faith.

24. But what does he do? Just as we who think we believe, and partly do believe, and rejoice that we have heard the Gospel and can say a great deal about it; but no one wants to follow it in his life. We have brought matters so far, that the doctrine and jugglery of the devil have been partly overthrown, and we now see what is right and what is wrong, that we must deal with God alone through faith, but with our neighbor through our works. But we cannot bring it to pass, that, as to love, one does to another as God has done to him; as we ourselves complain that some of us have become much worse than they were before.

25. As this servant will not forgive his neighbor, but seeks to collect his claim; so we also do and say: I am not in duty bound to give what is my own to another, and yield my rights. If another has offended me, he owes it to me to reconcile me and ask pardon. For thus the world teaches and acts. And here you are right, and no prince or king will compel you to give to another what is your own; but they must permit you to do what you wish with your own. The civil government only compels so far, that you may not do with another’s goods what you would, not that you must give your goods to another. This is right before the world, as reason concludes: To every one belongs his own. Therefore, he does not do wrong, who uses his goods as he will, and robs no one of his own.

26. But what says this Gospel? If God also would have acted thus and had maintained his right and said: I act in harmony with justice, when I punish the wicked and take what is my own, who will prevent me? where then would we all be? We would all go to ruin. Therefore, because he has given up his claim on thee, he desires that you too should do likewise. Therefore, also give up your right and think: If God has given me ten thousand pounds, why should I not give my neighbor a hundred shillings?

27. Thus your goods are no longer your own, but your neighbor’s. God could indeed have kept his own, for he owed you nothing. Yet he gives himself wholly unto you, becomes your gracious Lord, is kind to you, and serves you with all his goods, and what he has is all yours; why then will you not also do likewise? Hence, if you wish to be in his kingdom you must do as he does; but if you want to remain in the kingdom of the world, you will not enter his kingdom. Therefore the sentence in Mat. 25, 42, which Christ will speak on the last day belongs to those who are not Christians: “For I was hungry, and ye did not give me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink,” and so on.

28. But you say: Do you still insist that God will have no regard for our good works, and on their account will save no one? Answer: He would have them done freely without any thought of remuneration; not that we thereby obtain something, but that we do them to our neighbor, and thereby show that we have the true faith; for what have you then that you gave him and by which you merit anything, that he should have mercy on you and forgive you all things that you have done against him? Or what profit has he by it? Nothing has he, but that you praise and thank him, and do as he has done, that God may be thanked in thee, then you are in his kingdom and have all things that you should have. This is the other part of the Christian life, which is called love, by which one goes out from God to his neighbor.

29. Those who do not prove their faith by their works of love are servants who want others to forgive them, but do not forgive their neighbor, nor yield their rights; hence it will also be with them as with this servant. For when the other servants, who preach the Gospel, see that God has freely given them all things, and they refuse to forgive anyone, they become sad to see such things, and they are pained, that they act so foolishly toward the Gospel, and no one lays hold of it. What do they do then? They can do no more than come before their Lord with their complaint and say: So it goes; you forgive them both the debt and the punishment, and freely give them all things; but we cannot prevail upon them to do to others as you have done to them. This is the complaint. Then God will summon them to appear before him at the last judgment and accuse them of these things and say: When you were hungry, thirsty and afflicted, I helped you; when you lay in sins I had compassion upon you and forgave the debt; therefore you must also now pay your debt. There is now no grace nor mercy, nothing but wrath and eternal punishment, no prayers will help from now on, and they become speechless, and are cast into torment until they pay the uttermost farthing.

30. St. Peter said the same of those who heard the Gospel and again fell away. 2 Pet. 2, 21: “For it were better for them, not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered unto them.” Why would it be better? Because if they turn back it will be twofold worse with them, than it was before they had heard the Gospel; as Christ says in Mat. 12, 45, of the unclean spirit, who takes unto himself seven other spirits worse than himself, comes with them and dwells in the man out of whom they were cast, and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.

31. Thus it is now with us also, and it will be still more so. So it also was with Rome. There things were in a fine condition in the days of the martyrs. But afterwards they went to ruin, and abominations arose and Antichrist ruled, and the city became so wicked that it could not be worse. The grace of God preached through the Gospel is so great that the people do not grasp it, therefore great and terrible punishment must also follow. Thus we will see just punishment come upon us, inasmuch as we do not obey the Gospel we have and know.

32. For as often as God has afflicted the people with severe punishment, he previously set up a great light; as when he led the Jews out of their country into captivity, he first brought forth the pious king Josiah, who again restored the law in order to reform the people; but when they again fell away, God punished them as they deserved. So also when he wished to overthrow the Egyptians, he sent Moses and Aaron to preach and enlighten them, Ex. 4, 14. Again, when he wished to destroy the world with the flood, he raised up the patriarch Noah, Gen. 6, and 7. But when the people would not believe and only grew worse, terrible punishment followed. So it was with the five cities; Sodom and Gomorrah with the rest were punished, because they would not hear pious Lot, Gen. 19.

Therefore such terrible punishments will also now come upon those who hear the Gospel and do not receive it. So this servant in the Gospel is cast off, and must pay what he owes. This means, that he must endure the pain and consequences. But he who endures the pain for the debt, will never be saved. For to sin belongs death, and when one dies he dies forever, and there is no more help nor salvation for him. Therefore let us receive these things as a warning; those, however, who are hardened and will not hear, will guard against it.

33. This is an elegant, comfortable Gospel, and is sweet to the afflicted conscience, because it contains nothing but forgiveness of sins. But for stubborn heads and hardened hearts it is a terrible sentence, and particularly so because this servant is not a heathen, but belongs to those under the Gospel, who held the faith. For as the Lord has mercy on him and forgives him what he had done, he must without doubt be a Christian. Hence this is not a punishment for the heathen, neither for the common crowd who hear the Gospel with the external ear, and have it on their tongue, but do not live according to it. Thus we have the sum of this Gospel.

34. What further the sophists are accustomed here to discuss, whether the sins will come back that were once forgiven, I let pass. For they do not know what forgiveness of sin is, and think it is something that sticks in the heart and lies still there, whereas it is the whole kingdom of Christ, which lasts forever without end. For as the sun shines and gives light none the less, although I close my eyes, so this mercy seat or forgiveness of sins stands forever, though I fall. And as I see the sun again as soon as I open my eyes, so I have the forgiveness of sins again when I look up and again come to Christ. Therefore we must not make forgiveness so narrow, as the fools dream. This is said on today’s Gospel.

Via Luther’s Church Postil, from volume V:279-292 of The Sermons of Martin Luther, published by Baker Book House (Grand Rapids, MI, 1983). Originally published in 1905 in English by Lutherans in All Lands (Minneapolis, MN), as The Precious and Sacred Writings of Martin Luther, vol. 14. This e-text was scanned and edited by Richard P. Bucher.

As he began this sermon against the teaching and faith of the Jews (and indeed not of them alone, but of the whole world, even where it is at its best, which clings to the notion that it is well off if it only has possessions, honor, and its mammon, and it serves God only for this end), he now continues and shows the folly of what they regarded as the best, most blessed life upon earth, viz., having good, quiet days and suffering no discomfort, as some are described in the <197301> seventy-third Psalm: “They are not in trouble as other men, neither are they plagued like other men.”

For that is the chief thing that men desire, that they may have joy and pleasure and have no trouble. Now Christ turns the leaf over, states the exact opposite, and calls those blessed that have sadness and suffering, and so throughout, all these statements are made in direct opposition to the world’s way of thinking, as it would like to have it. For it does not want to suffer hunger, trouble, disgrace, contempt, injustice and violence, and those who can be free from all this it counts blessed.

So that he means here to say that there must be another life than the one they seek and care for, and that a Christian must see to it that he is a sufferer and sorrow-bearer in this life. He who will not do this may indeed have a good time here, and live according to all his heart’s desire, but he will have to suffer forever hereafter, as Luke says, 6:25, “Woe unto you that laugh now! For ye shall mourn and weep.” So it went with the rich man, Luke 16., who lived sumptuously and joyfully every day, clothed in purple and fine linen, and thought he was a great saint and well off before God because he had given him so much that was good, though he at the same time let poor Lazarus lie daily before his door full of sores, in hunger and distress and great misery. But what kind of a judgment did he hear at last when he was lying in hell? “Remember thou in thy lifetime didst receive thy good things and Lazarus his evil things, therefore thou art now tormented and he is comforted,” etc. See, that is exactly our text: “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted;” and again, as much as to say: Those who here seek and have nothing but joy and pleasure shall weep and howl forever.

Do you ask again: What then are we to do? Are those all to be damned that laugh, sing, dance, dress well, eat and drink? We surely read about kings and holy people that were cheerful and lived well. And especially Paul is a wonderful saint, who insists upon it that we be always cheerful, Philippians 4:4, and says, Romans 12:15, “Rejoice with them that do rejoice,” and again: “Weep with those that weep.” Observe, that seems inconsistent, to rejoice evermore and yet weep and mourn with others.

Answer: Just as I said before, that to have riches is no sin, nor is it forbidden; just so to be cheerful, to eat and drink well, is no sin, nor is it condemnatory; in like manner it is not wrong to have honor and a good name; and yet I am to be blessed if I do not have this, or can do without it, and instead of this suffer poverty, wretchedness, disgrace and persecution.

So both of these things are here, and must be, to mourn and be cheerful, to eat and suffer hunger, as Paul boasts concerning himself, Philippians 4:11 seq.: “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased and how to abound: everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.” Also, 2 Corinthians 6:8 seq.: “By honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report: as dying, and behold we live; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing,” etc.

Therefore, the meaning is: Just as not he is called spiritually poor who has no money or anything of his own, but he who does not hanker after it or put his confidence in it as if it were his kingdom of heaven: so also not he is said to mourn who is always outwardly of downcast countenance, looking gloomy and never laughing; but he who does not comfort himself with having a good time and living sumptuously, as the world does — that cares for nothing but having constant joy and pleasure, and revels in it, and does not think or care how it goes with God or the people.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, "The Procession to Calvary" (1564)

Thus many excellent, great people, kings and others, that were Christians, have had to mourn and bear trouble, although they lived splendidly before the world; as David everywhere in the Psalms complains about his weeping and sorrowing. And also now I could easily give examples of great people, lords and princes, who have had the same bitter experience with reference to the precious gospel; as, now at the late diet at Augsburg and on other occasions, although they got along very well outwardly, and were clothed in princely style in silk and gold, and to all appearance were like those who walk upon roses, yet they had to be daily right among poisonous serpents, and they had to experience at heart such unheard-of arrogance, insolence and shame, so many evil tricks and words from the shameful papists, who took pleasure in embittering their hearts and as far as they could in preventing them from having a single cheerful hour, so that they had to chew the cud of inward misery and do nothing but lament before God with sighs and tears. Such people know something of what it means to mourn and be sorrowful, although they do not at once show it, but eat and drink with others, and sometimes with laughing and jesting, to conceal their sorrow. For you must not think that mourning means only weeping and lamenting, or wailing, like children and women; this is not yet the real deep grief, if it has found its way to the heart and pours itself out through the eyes; but that is it, when the real hard blows come that strike and crush the heart, so that one cannot weep or dare complain to any one.

Therefore mourning is not a rare plant among Christians, although it makes no outward show, even if they would gladly be cheerful in Christ, and also outwardly as much as they can. For when they look at the world they must daily see and be painfully conscious of so much malice, arrogance, contempt for and blasphemy of God and his word, and besides so much misery and misfortune that the devil occasions, both in church and state, that they cannot have many cheerful thoughts, and their spiritual joy is very weak. And if they were to look at such things all the while, and did not sometimes turn their eyes away, they could never be cheerful at all; it is enough that this really happens oftener than they would wish, so that they need not go far to find it.

Therefore only begin and be a Christian, and you will soon learn what mourning means. If you cannot do better, take a wife, and settle yourself, and make a living in faith, so that you love the word of God and do what belongs to your calling; then you will soon learn, both from neighbors and in your own house, that things will not go as you would like, and you will be everywhere hindered and hedged so that you will get enough to suffer and must see what will make you sad at heart. Especially however the dear preachers must learn this thoroughly, and be daily exercised with it, so that they must take to heart all manner of envy, hatred, scorn and ridicule, ingratitude, contempt besides, and revilement, so that they are inwardly pierced and uninterruptedly tormented.

But the world will have none of this mourning, therefore it seeks those callings and modes of living in which it can have a good time and need not suffer anything from anybody, as the monks’ and priests’ calling used to be. For it cannot endure that it should in a divinely given calling serve other people with constant care, trouble and labor, and get nothing for this but ingratitude and contempt and other malicious treatment as a reward.

Therefore when things do not go with it as it wishes, and one is scowled at by another, they can do nothing but pound away with cursing and swearing, yes, and with their fists besides, and are ready to sacrifice property and reputation, land and people. But God orders it so, that they still must not get off so easily, that they need not see or suffer any misery, and he awards to them as a recompense, because they try to avoid it, that they still must suffer, and even make this twofold greater and heavier by their wrath and impatience, and cannot have any comfort and good conscience. But Christians have this advantage, that although they mourn they shall be comforted and be blessed both here and there.

Therefore, whoever does not want to be out and out a worldling, but to have part with Christians, let him be counted in as one who helps to sigh and mourn, so that he may be comforted, as this promise tells. We read of a case of this kind in the prophecy of Ezekiel, chapter nine, how God sent six men with deadly weapons to the city of Jerusalem. But he commissioned one among them to go through the midst of the city with “a writer’s inkhorn by his side,” to “set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.” Those thus marked were to remain alive, but the rest were all to be slain. See, this is the advantage of Christians, that although they must see only sorrow and misery in the world, yet at last it comes to pass, when the world is most secure and is moving along in full enjoyment, that the little wheel turns, and suddenly a misfortune overtakes them in which these must remain and perish, whilst the others are snatched out of it and delivered, as in the case of dear Lot at Sodom, when they had long vexed his heart (as St. Peter says) “with their filthy conversation.” Therefore let the world now laugh and live in revelry, according to its lust and wantonness. And though you have to mourn and weep, and daily see what grieves your heart, submit and hold fast to the saying [of our text], that you may be satisfied and comfort yourself with it, and also outwardly refresh yourself and be as cheerful as you can.

For those who thus mourn may properly have and take joy when they can, so that they do not utterly sink through sadness. For Christ also added these very words and promised this consolation, that they should not despond in their sorrow, or let the joy of their heart be entirely taken away and extinguished, but should mingle this mourning with consolation and refreshment, otherwise, if they never had any comfort or joy, they would have to pine and shrivel away. For no man can endure nothing but mourning; for it sucks out the very juices of the body, as the wise man says: “Grief has killed many people.” Also: “A gloomy spirit dries up the marrow in the bones.” Therefore we should not only avoid this, but we should commend and urge such people to be cheerful sometimes, if possible; or at least to moderate their grief and partly forget it.

Therefore Christ does not wish that there should be nothing but mourning and sadness here, but warns against those who will not mourn at all, who want to have only a good time and all their comfort here; and he wants to teach his Christians, if it goes badly with them and they have to mourn, that they may know that this is God’s good pleasure, and it should also be theirs, and that they should not swear, or rage, or despair, as though their God had no mercy. When this is the case, the little bitter draught is to be mixed with honey and sugar, and so made less repulsive; that is the purpose of this promise, that this is well pleasing to him, and that he calls them blessed, besides that he comforts them here, and there they shall be entirely relieved of sorrow.

Therefore bid good-bye to the world and all that harm us, in the name of their lord, the devil, and let us sing this song and be cheerful, in the name of God and Christ. For it will surely not end with them as they wish; but, although they now rejoice at our misfortune, and do much to injure us, we will still keep up good courage, and shall live to see that they will have to weep and lament when we are comforted and happy.

Via Luther’s Commentary on the Sermon on the Mount

See also:

1. Oh How Blessed Are You
2. How Blessed, From the Bonds of Sin
3. Blessed are the Meek
4. Blessed are the Barren and the Wombs that Never Bare

The Law is a prison to those who have not as yet obtained grace. No prisoner enjoys the confinement. He hates it. If he could he would smash the prison and find his freedom at all cost. As long as he stays in prison he refrains from evil deeds. Not because he wants to, but because he has to. The bars and the chains restrain him. He does not regret the crime that put him in jail. On the contrary, he is mighty sore that he cannot rob and kill as before. If he could escape he would go right back to robbing and killing.

The Law enforces good behavior, at least outwardly. We obey the Law because if we don’t we will be punished. Our obedience is inspired by fear. We obey under duress and we do it resentfully. Now what kind of righteousness is this when we refrain from evil out of fear of punishment? Hence, the righteousness of the Law is at bottom nothing but love of sin and hatred of righteousness.

All the same, the Law accomplishes this much, that it will outwardly at least and to a certain extent repress vice and crime.

But the Law is also a spiritual prison, a veritable hell. When the Law begins to threaten a person with death and the eternal wrath of God, a man just cannot find any comfort at all. He cannot shake off at will the nightmare of terror which the Law stirs up in his conscience. Of this terror of the Law the Psalms furnish many glimpses.

The Law is a civil and a spiritual prison. And such it should be. For that the Law is intended. Only the confinement in the prison of the Law must not be unduly prolonged. It must come to an end. The freedom of faith must succeed the imprisonment of the Law.

Happy the person who knows how to utilize the Law so that it serves the purposes of grace and of faith. Unbelievers are ignorant of this happy knowledge. When Cain was first shut up in the prison of the Law he felt no pang at the fratricide he had committed. He thought he could pass it off as an incident with a shrug of the shoulder. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” he answered God flippantly. But when he heard the ominous words, “What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground,” Cain began to feel his imprisonment. Did he know how to get out of prison? No. He failed to call the Gospel to his aid. He said: “My punishment is greater than I can bear.” He could only think of the prison. He forgot that he was brought face to face with his crime so that he should hurry to God for mercy and for pardon. Cain remained in the prison of the Law and despaired.

As a stone prison proves a physical handicap, so the spiritual prison of the Law proves a chamber of torture. But this it should only be until faith be revealed. The silly conscience must be educated to this. Talk to your conscience. Say: “Sister, you are now in jail all right. But you don’t have to stay there forever. It is written that we are ‘shut up unto faith which should afterwards be revealed.’ Christ will lead you to freedom. Do not despair like Cain, Saul, or Judas. They might have gone free if they had called Christ to their aid. Just take it easy, Sister Conscience. It’s good for you to be locked up for a while. It will teach you to appreciate Christ.”

How anybody can say that he by nature loves the Law is beyond me. The Law is a prison to be feared and hated. Any unconverted person who says he loves the Law is a liar. He does not know what he is talking about. We love the Law about as well as a murderer loves his gloomy cell, his straight-jacket, and the iron bars in front of him. How then can the Law justify us?

Via Luther’s Commentary on Galatians

See also:

1. Spiritual Wisdom
2. Liturgy & Spiritual Awakening

31. How beautifully the apostle in these strong words extols the grace of God bestowed in baptism! He refers to baptism as a washing, whereby not our feet only, not our hands, but our whole bodies are cleansed. Baptism perfectly and instantaneously cleanses and saves. For the vital part of salvation and its inheritance, nothing more is necessary than this faith in the grace of God. Truly, then, are we saved by grace alone, without works or other merit. So, eternally pure love, praise and gratitude for, and honor unto, divine mercy shall possess us; we will not boast of nor delight in our own powers or achievements: as has already frequently and sufficiently been declared.

32. The righteousness of man, however, is a different sort of cleansing, simply a washing of garments and vessels, as recorded of hypocrites in Matthew 23, 25. Externally they appear clean, but internally remain full indeed of filth. Paul terms baptism not a bodily cleansing, but a “washing of regeneration.” It is not a superficial washing of the skin, a physical cleansing; it converts the whole nature, destroying the first birth, that of the flesh, with all inherited sin and condemnation.

This verse clearly indicates that salvation is not to be secured by works, but is an instantaneous gift. In physical birth we are given, not one member alone–hands or feet–but the entire body and the life; our life operates, not to effect birth, but because we are born. Similarly works do not render us pure and godly or save us: we are first made clean and godly and receive salvation; then we freely perform good works to the honor of God and the benefit of our neighbor.

33. This, mark you, is the true knowledge of the pure grace of God. Thus we learn to know God and ourselves, to praise him and reject ourselves, to seek consolation from him and despair of ourselves. This doctrine is an occasion of much stumbling to them who presume to compel men to seek salvation by laws, commands and works.

34. For the sake of conveying a clearer understanding of this washing and this regeneration, Paul adds the word “renewing,” because the individual is a new man, with a new nature. He is a new creature, with an altogether different disposition. He loves in a different way, and speaks, acts and lives in a manner unlike his former self. The apostle says (Gal 6, 15): “For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision”–that is, no work of the Law has significance–”but a new creature.” The thought is: It will not do to patch up, or mend, the life here and there with works. An entirely new disposition is necessary; the nature must be changed. Then works will follow spontaneously.

35. Concerning this birth, Christ also declares (Jn. 3, 3): “Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Here we are taught that works will not answer; the individual must himself die and obtain a different nature. This takes place in baptism when he believes, for faith is this renewing. The damned will also be born again in the last day, but theirs will be a birth without a renewing. They will remain unclean, as here in the old Adamic life. So, then, this washing, this regeneration, makes new creatures.

36. Much is said at various places in the Scriptures relative to the new birth. God refers to his Word and Gospel as the womb (“matricem” and “vulvam”) of the new birth: “Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, that have been borne by me from their birth, that have been carried from the womb” (Is 46, 3), or under my heart, as women speak of bearing children. Whosoever believes the Gospel, is conceived and born of God. But more on this subject at some other time.

Giotto, "Baptism of Christ"

37. We see how all these sayings overthrow works and presumptuous human mandates, and make clear the nature of faith, how the individual instantaneously and fully receives grace and is saved, works not aiding him in the matter but following as a result. Salvation by grace would be perfectly illustrated were God to produce from a dry log a live, green tree, the tree then to bring forth natural fruit. God’s grace is powerful and effective. It does not, as visionary preachers presume to teach, lie dormant in the soul; nor is it an accessory to works, as the paint is an accessory to the wood. No, not so; it carries, it leads, drives, draws, changes. It effects all in man, making itself felt. Though concealed, its works are manifest. Words and works show where it is present, as the leaves and the fruit indicate the nature of the tree.

38. To make faith no more than an aid or ornament to works, as the sophists Thomas and Scotus, and the people, erroneously and perversely do, is a doctrine wherein faith falls far short of its real significance. For it not only aids in the accomplishment of works, but effects them unaided. Indeed, more than that, it changes and renews the whole being. Its object is to alter the character of the individual rather than to accomplish works by him. It claims to be a washing, a regeneration, a renewing, not only of works, but of the whole man.

39. Note, Paul here freely and fully preaches the grace of God. He does not say God has saved us by works. He loudly proclaims that God has saved us by a regeneration and a renewing. To patch up with works is unavailing; conversion of our whole nature is necessary. Therefore, believers must suffer and die before grace can manifest itself and reveal its nature. Observe, David says in this connection: “The works of Jehovah are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein,” Ps 111, 2. Who are these, his works? We are, sought out through grace in baptism. We are great works, new works, new born. It is indeed great that man is instantly saved, forever liberated from sin, death and hell. Hence, David says, “They are sought out of all them that have pleasure therein” or desire what God designs to accomplish through them, and–God does all that man desires. But what can man desire more than to be saved, to be delivered from sin, death and hell?

40. Finally: the apostle terms this washing a “regeneration,” a “renewing of the Holy Spirit,” to fully express the power and efficacy of grace. This washing is a thing so vitally important it must be effected, not by a creature, but by the Holy Spirit. How completely, 0 holy Paul, thou dost reject the free will, the good works and the great merits of presumptuous saints! How high thou exaltest our salvation, at the same time bringing it so near to us! yes, even within ourselves. How plainly and purely thou dost preach grace. Let works, then, be here or there, to renew the man, to change the life, is impossible except by the washing of regeneration of the Holy Spirit.

41. That fact is plainly evident in the self-righteous. None are more intolerant, presumptuous, proud and faithless than they. In their old Adamic nature, which they clothe and adorn with good works, they remain intractable, unrenewed and obdurate, hardened and immovable; their evil nature is unchanged. They possess only outward works. Oh, they are a people of pernicious influence, and in the sight of God wholly destitute of grace, though they imagine themselves his nearest friends.

42. Paul’s teaching here accords with that of Christ in John 3, 5, where he says, referring to the washing of regeneration: “Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Note here, the water answers to the washing; to be born again, to regeneration and renewing; and the Spirit, to him whom Paul mentions as the Holy Spirit.

43. Note here also the apostle’s apparent ignorance of the sacrament of confirmation. He teaches, as does Christ, the giving of the Holy Spirit in baptism; in baptism we are indeed born of the Holy Spirit. True, we read (Acts 8, 17) how the apostles laid their hands upon those who had been baptized, that they might receive the Holy Spirit. This incident has been construed to sanction confirmation, but its real purpose was to invoke the Holy Spirit as external evidence, and the gift of divers tongues for the preaching of the Gospel. But in course of time the ceremony was abandoned. It no longer exists except in ordination or consecration to the ministerial or preaching office. Even there it is deplorably abused. But more of this at some other time.

Via Luther’s “Second Christmas Sermon: Titus 3:4-8,” from his Church Postil of 1522.

See also:

1. Cleansed By God’s Own Fire

This beatitude follows admirably upon the first when he said: Blessed are the poor in spirit, etc. For as he there promised the kingdom of heaven and an eternal inheritance, so he here adds a promise of this present life and possessions here upon earth.

But how does this agree together? to be poor and to possess the land? It seems to me that the preacher has forgotten how he began. For, if one is to possess the land and worldly goods, he cannot be poor. But he does not mean to say here that to own the land and have all kinds of possessions here upon earth, means, that every one is to possess a whole country; else God would have to create more worlds; but he refers to the blessings that God bestows upon each one, that he gives to one wife, children, cattle, house and home, and what is implied in this, that he may abide in the land (where he lives) and have control of his worldly goods, as the scriptures usually speak, and it is repeatedly said in Psalm thirty-seven: “those that wait upon the Lord shall inherit the earth;” also, “such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth,” etc. Therefore, he himself adds here the gloss, that to be spiritually poor, of which he spoke before, does not mean to be a beggar, or to throw away money and goods. For he teaches here that they are to remain and dwell in the land and have to do with earthly possessions; as we shall hear bye and bye.

Now, what does it mean to be meek? Here you must, in the first place, be again reminded, that Christ is not speaking at all about the government and its official authority; for it does not belong to this to be meek (sanftmuthig, as we use the word Sanftmuth in German); for it holds the sword, that it may punish the wicked, and it has a wrath and vengeance that are called the wrath and vengeance of God; but he is speaking only of individual persons, how each one is to conduct himself towards others, aside from official position and control; as father and mother, if they do not live as father and mother towards their children, nor perform their official duty as father and mother, that is, towards those who are not called father or mother, as neighbors and others. For I have elsewhere often said that we must make a wide difference between these two, office and person. He who is known as Jack or Martin is a very different man from him who is called Elector, or Doctor, or Preacher.

For here we have two different persons in one man. One, in which we are created and born, according to which we are all alike, man, woman, child, young, old, etc. But when we have now been born, God makes of you another person, makes you a child, me a father; one a master, another a servant; this one a prince, that one a citizen, etc. That means then a divine person, holding a divine office, and moves clothed with its own dignity, and is not called simply Jack or Nicholas, but a prince of Saxony, or father and master. Here he says nothing about these, but lets them move on in their office and rank, as he has ordered it; but he is speaking of the mere, single, natural person, what each is to do for himself, as a man, towards others. Therefore, if we hold official and authoritative position, we must be strict and rigid, be wrathful and punish, etc. For here we must do what God places within our reach and of his own accord commands us to do.

Beyond this, in what is unofficial, let every one learn for himself that he be mild towards everybody, that is, not to deal with and treat his neighbor unreasonably, with a hateful or revengeful spirit, like those who rush through headlong, never willing to bear anything or yield an inch, but turning the world upside down, never listening to anybody or excusing him for anything, but pile on the bundles at once and never stop to think, only how they may take vengeance and strike back again. Rulers are not hereby forbidden to punish and enforce retribution by divine authority; but also no license is here granted for a judge, burgomaster, lord or prince, who is a villain, and confounds the two persons and goes beyond his official authority through personal malice, or from envy, hatred and hostility (as often happens) under the mantle of office and legal right’ as if our neighbors, under the name of the authorities, wanted to carry out something against us which they could not otherwise accomplish.

And especially he is here talking again with his Jews, as he had begun, who always insisted upon it that they were not to suffer anything from a heathen and a stranger, and that they were always right if they unhesitatingly avenged themselves, and quoted for this purpose the sayings of Moses, as Deuteronomy 8:23: “The Lord shall make thee the head and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only and not beneath,” etc., which would be all right enough. But the meaning is, if God himself does this, then it is well done. For it is altogether another matter if he orders it and says: I will do it, and if we do it ourselves, without authority. What he says, that shall and must be done. What we say, that happens if it can, or perhaps it does not happen at all. Therefore you have no right to apply to yourself this promise, and take confidence from it when you want to do something which he ought to do, and you will not wait till he tells you to do it.

Observe, Christ is here rebuking those wild saints who think every one is master in the whole world and has a perfect right to bear no suffering, but only to make a racket and bluster, and with violence to defend his own; and he teaches us that he who wishes to rule and possess his own, his property, home, etc., in peace, must be meek, so that he may overlook things and act reasonably, and suffer just as much as he can. For it cannot be otherwise but that your neighbor will sometimes take advantage of or injure you, either accidentally or through malice. If it was done accidentally, you make it no better on your part if you neither can nor will endure anything. If it was done maliciously, you only aggravate him by scratching and pounding, whilst he is laughing at you and making merry that he is worrying and vexing you, so that you still can have no peace or quietly enjoy your own.

Therefore choose one of the two, whichever you please: either to live with meekness and patience among the people and keep what you have with peace and a good conscience, or with racket and rumpus to lose your own, and besides have no peace. For this is settled, the meek shall inherit the earth. And look only yourself at those queer characters that are always quarreling and disputing about property and other matters, and yielding to nobody, but are determined to rush everything through, whether they do not squander more by quarreling and contending than they could ever gain, and at last lose land and people, house and home, with unrest and a bad conscience besides; and God adds his sanction to it, which says: “Be then not meek, so that you do not keep the land, nor enjoy your mite with peace.” But if you want to live rightly and have rest, then let your neighbor’s malice and hostility smother and extinguish itself; otherwise you cannot better please the devil, or more greatly harm yourself, than by getting up an angry racket. Have you a government over you? report the case and let them attend to it. For it is the business of the government not to permit the innocent to be much oppressed; and God will also overrule in such a way that his word and ordinance abides, and you according to this promise come to possess the land. Thus you will have peace and blessing from God, but your neighbor will have unrest, together with God’s displeasure and curse.

But this sermon is intended only for those who are Christians, and believe, and know that they have their treasure in heaven, that is secure for them, and cannot be taken from them; therefore they must have enough also here, although they do not have chests and pockets full of red ducats. Since you know this, why will you let your joy be disturbed and taken from you — yes, why even make disquiet for yourself and rob yourself of this excellent promise?

Via Luther’s Commentary on the Sermon on the Mount

See also:

1. Oh How Blessed Are You
2. How Blessed, From the Bonds of Sin
3. Blessed are the Barren and the Wombs that Never Bare
4. In The Undimmed Sunshine of God’s Blessed Favor

But you are saved and kept not by merely washing away the dirt on the flesh, that the body be clean, as was the practice of the Jews; such purification has no further value. But the answer of a good conscience toward God, that is, that your conscience be rightfully at peace within you, that it stands in harmony with God, and can say: “All that He has promised me, that He will fulfill, for He cannot lie.” Faith alone is the band by which we shall be held. Faith rests on the fact that Christ died, descended into hell, and has risen again from the dead. Had he continued to be subject to death, it would not have benefited us; but since He has risen and sits at the right hand of God, and permits this to be proclaimed to us so that we may believe on Him, through faith we have a union with God and a sure promise whereby we shall be saved, as Noah was saved in the ark.

Thus Jesus His disciples sent —
Go, teach ye every nation,
That, lost in sin, they must repent,
And flee from condemnation;
He that believes and is baptized
Shall thereby have salvation,
A newborn man he is in Christ,
From death free and damnation,
He shall inherit heaven.

From LCMS Sermon’s 5 Minutes a Day with Luther for July 30th.

The porter here is the preacher who rightly teaches the Law–shows that the Law exists and must reveal to us our helplessness; that the works of the Law do not help us, and yet they are insistent. He then opens to the shepherd, that is, to Christ the Lord, and lets him alone feed the sheep. For the office of the Law is at an end; it has accomplished its mission of revealing to the heart its sins until it is completely humbled. Then Christ comes and makes a lamb out of the sheep–feeds it with his Gospel and directs it how to regain cheer for the heart so hopelessly troubled and crushed by the Law.

The lamb then hears Christ’s voice and follows it. It has the choicest of pastures, and knows the voice of the shepherd. But the voice of a stranger it never hears and never follows. Just as soon as one preaches to it about works, it is worried and its heart cannot receive the teaching with joy. It knows very well that nothing is accomplished by means of works; for one may do as much as he will, still he carries a heavy spirit and he thinks he has not done enough, nor done rightly. But when the Gospel comes–the voice of the shepherd–it says: God gave to the world his only Son, that all who believe on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Then is the heart happy; it feeds upon these words and finds them good. The lamb has found its satisfying pasture; it wants none other. Yea, when it is given other pasture, it flees from it and will not feed therein. This pasture always attracts the sheep, and the sheep also find it. God says in the prophecy of Isaiah: “So shall my Word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish all in the things whereto, I sent it” (Is 55:11).

From Luther’s sermon on John 10:1-11, “Of the Office of Preaching & of Preachers & Hearers” via The Sermons of Martin Luther, [Baker Book House (Grand Rapids, MI)].

See also:

1. True Judges in the Church
2. The Miserable Moral Precepts of the Rationalist Preacher
3. True Ecumeny Is This…

The rest become blind and arrogant [are smitten with arrogance and blindness], and [insolently] conceive the opinion that they observe and can observe the Law by their own powers, as has been said above concerning the scholastic theologians; thence come the hypocrites and [self-righteous or] false saints.

But the chief office or force of the Law is that it reveal original sin with all its fruits, and show man how very low his nature has fallen, and has become [fundamentally and] utterly corrupted; as the Law must tell man that he has no God nor regards [cares for] God, and worships other gods, a matter which before and without the Law he would not have believed. In this way he becomes terrified, is humbled, desponds, despairs, and anxiously desires aid, but sees no escape; he begins to be an enemy of [enraged at] God, and to murmur, etc. This is what Paul says, Rom. 4, 15: The Law worketh wrath. And Rom. 5, 20: Sin is increased by the Law. [The Law entered that the offense might abound.]

Luther, The Smalcald Articles, Part III, II: Of the Law

Some people have an evil will. It’s easy to spot because it doesn’t tolerate any opposition. Other people have another type of will that appears to be good but is actually evil. It can be recognized by its fruit—impatience. A truly good will, if it’s hindered, says, “O God, I thought what I wanted would be good. If it’s not to be, I’m satisfied. Let your will be done.” Wherever there’s conflict and impatience, there’s nothing good—no matter how good it may seem.

William Blake, "God Judging Adam"

God often breaks a good will in order that a false, evil will won’t sneak in by appearing good. He does this so we learn that as good as our will might be it’s still immeasurably inferior to his will. So our inferior good will must yield to the infinitely good will of God.

Via Creation Revolution

See also:

1. Good & Evil
2. The Evil Angels
3. The Good News
4. Let’s Not Worry About Good Seed; Worry About Good Fruits!

Next St. Paul sketches further the nature of sin and the law. It is the law that makes sin really active and powerful, because the old man gets more and more hostile to the law since he can’t pay the debt demanded by the law. Sin is his very nature; of himself he can’t do otherwise. And so the law is his death and torture. Now the law is not itself evil; it is our evil nature that cannot tolerate that the good law should demand good from it. It’s like the case of a sick person, who cannot tolerate that you demand that he run and jump around and do other things that a healthy person does.

Titian, "The Crowning with Thorns" (ca. 1570 - 1576)

Then St. Paul shows how spirit and flesh struggle with each other in one person. He gives himself as an example, so that we may learn how to kill sin in ourselves. He gives both spirit and flesh the name “law,” so that, just as it is in the nature of divine law to drive a person on and make demands of him, so too the flesh drives and demands and rages against the spirit and wants to have its own way. Likewise the spirit drives and demands against the flesh and wants to have its own way. This feud lasts in us for as long as we live, in one person more, in another less, depending on whether spirit or flesh is stronger. Yet the whole human being is both: spirit and flesh. The human being fights with himself until he becomes completely spiritual.

Via Luther’s Commentary on Romans, “Introduction”

See also:

1. The Proper Function of the Law
2. The Function of Faith in Justification

I. THE INTRODUCTION TO THIS SERMON OF COMFORT, TREATING OF CHRIST’S LOVE.

1. In today’s Gospel Christ says plainly and bluntly: “If a man love me, he will keep my Word; he that loveth me not, keepeth not my words.” The text stands there clear; whoever loves God keeps his commandments, and on the contrary, whoever does not love God, does not keep his commandments. Christ here simply casts out of his kingdom all who do not keep his commandments with pleasure and love. Let us thoroughly understand this. It is briefly pictured to us here who are and who are not Christians. No one is a Christian unless he keeps Christ’s Word, as he here says. And no one can keep it, unless he first loves God. God had tested the plan of making people godly by means of force. For, in olden times, God dealt severely with his people, so that they were forced to keep his Word, and not to blaspheme God; to observe the Sabbath and to obey all the other commandments. To this end he threatened to afflict and punish them, severely, as is written in Lev 26 14ff. Thus, God from without coerced the people to be pious by means of the fear of punishment; but their hearts were not obedient. The result is the same in the present day. Therefore, to keep God’s Word is a thing that can be accomplished only by divine love.

Van Limburg Brothers, "The Multiplication of Bread and Fishes" (1413-16)

2. Accordingly, in the New Testament, God ceased to punish and only administered the Word; for the means must yet come to the point that the divine love be present. Neither the stake, nor bulls nor bans help in the least. Where this love is not, all amounts to nothing, do as we will. If one were to take all the swords in the world in his hands, he would not bring a single heretic to the faith. The people may, indeed, appear to accept the Word, but in their inward hearts there is no faith. Hence God has abolished the sword in this matter and his plan of salvation aims to possess the heart. The bishops are commanded first to take the heart captive, so that it may find love and pleasure in the Word, and the work is then accomplished. Hence, be who wishes to be a true bishop, arranges all his administration to the end that he may win souls

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and develop a love for and a delight in God’s Word and be able to oppose the false babblers with sound teaching, and to stop their mouths. Titus 1, 11. This will never be accomplished by means of commandments, bans and bulls.

3. Thus the true spiritual leaders fight. They strike Satan dead and rescue souls from him; for to pierce Satan to death is nothing else than to rescue from him a human being whom he has taken captive by deceitful teaching. And that is the right kind of spiritual tactics. But in case people will not outwardly obey the Word, their parents should educate their children, and the civil government its subjects, to obedience. However, by this method, none are yet brought to believe. For it is affirmed in our text: “He that loveth me not keepeth not my words.” Thus you hear what a Christian life is, namely to love God; it is not to storm about, eat flesh, destroy pictures in churches, become monks or nuns–neither a married nor a single life avails here. It means to love, and they do this who keep his Word.

4. Now, what is God’s Word? It is that we love one another as Christ loved us, and that we believe on him. If one truly possesses the Word, it must break forth out of the heart from pure love. One may possess the words and commands of man, even if he does not love; he may receive the command of a superior and execute it. But the only thing that will keep God’s commandments and Word is love. Therefore, observe how foolishly our princes and bishops act, in that they coerce and constrain the people to believe by means of force.

5. How does one now acquire this love? The human heart is so false that it cannot love unless it first sees the benefit of loving. When, in the Old Testament, God struck blows among the people as if among dogs, and he dealt severely and fearfully with them, they naturally had no love for him. Then God thought: I must show my love to you and be so affectionate that you cannot help but love me. Then he took his Son and sent him into our filth, sin and misery, pouring out his mercy so freely and fully that we had to boast of all his treasures as if they were our own. He thus became a loving Father, and he declared his mercy and caused it to go forth into all

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the world that whosoever believes this and lays hold of it with his heart shall have a gracious and merciful God, who never becomes angry nor deals blows, but who, instead, is kind and affectionate. Now, where a heart believes and experiences this, and gets glimpses of so much, then it must place all its confidence and affection in God, and deal with its neighbor as God has dealt with itself. As a result the Word of God goes forth out of the heart, and his commandments will be kept with pleasure. Thus, first, there is no other God; secondly, man calls upon the name of the Lord; and thirdly, he lets God reign–God can do as he will, and he possesses his soul in quiet and observes the Sabbath. In this way, the commandments of the First Table are fufilled. Henceforth, he is kindly and humbly disposed toward all persons, he honors his father and mother and serves his neighbor as his highest pleasure and with all the love of his heart. His thought is ever this: I will do to my neighbor, as God has done to me. Thus love alone is the fulfilment of the Law, as Paul says to the Romans (13, 10).

6. Now, no man can bring this love into the heart. Therefore, God struck in among the people with the Law that man might experience and feel that no human being could love the divine, righteous, just and holy Law. In view of this he gave us his Son, thus graciously poured out his greatest treasures, and sunk and drowned all our sins and filth in the great ocean of his love, so that this great love and blessing must draw man to love, and cheerfully be ready to fulfil the divine commandments with willing heart. In no other way can the heart love or have any love; it must be assured that it was first loved. Now, man cannot do this; therefore, Christ comes and takes the heart captive and says: Learn to know me. Then the heart replies: Aye, who art thou? I am Christ, who placed myself in your misery to drown your sins in my righteousness. This knowledge softens your heart, so that you must turn to him. Thus love is awakened when one learns who Christ is.

7. And a Christian should glory in this knowledge, as God says in Jer 9, 23-24: “Thus saith Jehovah, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him

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that glorieth in this, that he hath understanding, and knoweth me, that I am Jehovah who exerciseth lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith Jehovah.” So also, Peter in his Second Epistle (3, 18) says: “But grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” In all the prophets and especially in the Psalms and in many places in the Bible there is much written about this knowledge. It is this knowledge of Christ that must convert or it will never be accomplished. No one is so hardened that he will not be converted and made tender if once his heart knows Christ. And the same knowledge causes one to steadfastly live a godly life. Isaiah says, The time will come when this knowledge shall flow forth like a deluge. This came to pass in the time of the apostles. Therefore, whoever loves God will keep his commandments, and that love brings a knowledge of God. Now Christ says, further, in our Gospel:

“And my Father will love him.”

8. It comes to pass in this way: I know first, that Christ has served me by his whole life, and that Christ is God; thus I see that it is God’s will that Christ should give himself for me and that the Father commissioned him to that end. Thus, I climb to the Father through Christ. Then my confidence in him begins to grow, so that I esteem him as a loving Father. Christ here means to say: Man must begin with my love and then he will come to the Father; Christ is a mediator. Therefore, I must first be loved–must first feel the great treasure and blessing in Christ. Hence, God takes the very first step and allows his dear child to die for me, before I ask him to do so, yea, before I ever know him. Then a confidence in and love to God grow in me; this I must feel. Christ also says here: “And my Father will love him;” that is, the convert will feel that he is placed with me in the same kingdom and coinheritance, and will, through me and with me and with my voice, say to the Father in comforting confidence: Dearly beloved Father. Then the text continues:

“And we will come unto him, and make our abode with. him.”

9. When I come to the point of knowing that God is my

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Father, then I let him rule in my heart according to his pleasure, and allow him to be all in all. Therewith, my heart becomes a quiet, humble abode of God. Thus, God is a co-laborer with me and assists me as he says in Isaiah 66, 1-2 and in Acts 7, 49-50: “Thus saith Jehovah, Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: what manner of house will ye build unto me? and what place shall be my rest? For all these things hath my hand made, and so all these things came to be, saith Jehovah: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at my Word.” The heart must come to the point where it knows God’s glory, God’s power and God’s wisdom, and lets God rule in everything. It knows that all is God’s work; therefore, it cannot fear anything, cold, hunger, hell, death, Satan, poverty or any like thing. Then the heart says: My God, who has made his abode in me, is greater than Satan, death and all the powers of hell.

10. Thus there develops in man a confident defiance of everything upon earth, for he has God and all that is God’s. He does all that he is now required to do, and fears not. On the contrary, where there is no love of God, that heart does not keep God’s Word; and if the heart does not keep God’s Word, the hand never will. There God will never enter and make his abode. There the devil dwells, until the weak and despairing soul will even fear the sound of a driven leaf, as Moses says in Lev 26, 36. Man cannot endure the gnawing of conscience. The conscience can never know any peace when oppressed by sin, nor can it experience a joyful confidence in God; yea, it will sink lower than hell, while confidence is higher than the heavens. There is then nothing but despair and fear for that heart. All creatures are above it. Such is a picture of the kingdom of Satan. Christ continues by saying:

“And the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me.”

11. These words Christ speaks only in order to bring us to the Father, either in a gracious or ungracious way, either with pleasure and love or with fear, for all must lean and de-

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pend upon him. Hence, whoever will not understand these words scorns God. Then no teaching, no words nor anything else will help in his case. Now Christ comes and says:

“These things have I spoken unto you, while yet abiding with you. But the Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said unto you.”

II. THE SERMON OF COMFORT.

Photo by Sacred Destinations @Flickr

12. Here Christ says, The Father will send you the Holy Spirit, who will bring to your remembrance what I told you, and the same Spirit will explain it to you. In other words: Your hearts are as yet rough and untutored and you cannot understand what I have spoken to you; but when the Holy Spirit comes he will make all so plain to you that you will experience the assurance that it is as I told you before. Thus, the Holy Spirit, and he alone, has explained the Scriptures and Christ, and made them clear. This knowledge, then, is sufficient for me and enables me to fulfil God’s commandments. Beyond this, however, I have no obligations. Christ comforts his disciples further, and says:

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you.”

13. As if he had said: I shall now leave you. Farewell! It was a common greeting among the Jews, in the Hebrew language, when they met or parted, to say: Peace be with you! That is as much as to say: Take good care of yourself, be of good spirits, hope you may prosper; as we in German say: God greet you (Gott grusze euch), or God bless you!

14. And the Lord adds the kind of peace he wishes them to have, and says: My peace I give unto you; not as the world is in the habit of giving peace. In plain words he distinguishes between his peace and the peace of the world. The disciples, however, did not understand it, just as they did not understand what it was to love and to keep God’s commandments. Now, it is the nature of the world’s peace that it consists only in outward things, in eating and drinking and dancing; its pleasure is in the flesh. Christian peace, how-

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ever, is in the heart, although at the same time the heart may suffer great persecution, fear, want and opposition. The Lord had told them of all these things in the words: “Ye shall weep and lament.” The world will persecute you, will reject your teaching, will scourge, banish and finally put you to death; but in the midst of all ye shall have peace and rejoice. Cling only to me and my Word!”

15. And his words were soon fulfilled. When they had received the Holy Spirit, Luke writes in Acts 5, 41, Peter, John and the other disciples, though scourged and forbidden to preach, departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the Name. But the disciples did not at this time understand and they were troubled because of the Lord’s discourse. Therefore, he gives them further comfort and says:

“Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.”

16. These are consoling words, but for the time they are not effectual. Be not afraid, he says, for you have my peace. No one will harm you; only cling to me. The words they indeed hear, as do we, but without seeing their significance. Therefore he says in clearer language:

“Ye heard how I said to you, I go away, and I come unto you.”

17. As if he said: Be not fearful because I said to you I go away from you: I will come again to you; yea, it is especially for your sake that I go away, that afterwards when I return to you, you may be the happier and be of good spirits. But neither did they understand this until the Holy Spirit later interpreted it to them. Just so it is with us in the time of temptation: we do not then understand what God intends to teach us; but later, when grace and comfort return, we understand it very well. The Lord says to the disciples:

“If ye loved me, ye would have rejoiced, because I go unto the Father.”

18. His words mean: The only failing you have is that you do not love me, or do not understand what it is to love. If ye loved me, ye would gladly let me go; yea, ye would laugh for joy, because I depart from you. And the more you

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are visited with ill-fortune and adversity, the happier you should be. But human reason does not understand this. It is certainly true that the more a Christian suffers persecution from without, the happier he is in heart, and the more peace he possesses. The reason is that he loves Christ. This St. Paul well understood from his own experience when he wrote to the Corinthians in the second epistle (4, 4-10): We are pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not unto despair; pursued, yet not forsaken; smitten down, yet not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body.”

And again, he says, in verses 16 to 18: “Wherefore we faint not; but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is for the moment, worketh for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

19. This is the experience of the Christian heart when the Holy Spirit has entered it. St. Paul writes more about this later, in the sixth chapter of Second Corinthians. It made an impression upon the heathen when they saw the Christians thus hastening to death; they thought the Christians were foolish and intervened to spare their lives. The Gentiles did not understand what it meant; but the Christians very well knew whence it came. Therefore the Lord adds:

“For the Father is greater than I.”

20. Even if I should tell you many things, ye would not understand them; they reach no farther than the ears and never enter the heart. However, when I return to the Father, then I will take upon myself the power to send into your hearts the Holy Spirit, through whose help ye may understand all that I said to you. For the present I am in the service of my ministry upon earth; I only speak and preach the Word as it has been commanded me by my Father. The Arians paid no attention here to the words: “I go to the

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Father,” which means nothing more than, I go and receive the honor the Father has. It is as if the Lord had said to his disciples: I have two offices. At present I am upon the earth, where I am performing my office of preaching, for which I was sent by the Father. When I come to the Father I will fulfil the other office, namely, this: I will send the Holy Spirit into your hearts. The disciples could not understand this, and neither do we understand how he administers the gift. He concludes by saying:

“And now I have told you before it come to pass, that when it is come to pass, ye may believe.”

21. The meaning is: I know very well that you do not understand this now; but I tell you it now so that, when it comes to pass as I have told you, you may remember that I declared it to you before, and you can then say: It is true. In what follows now in this Gospel, the Lord speaks of the hour of his suffering, that it is at hand, and says:

“I will no more speak much with you, for the prince of the world cometh; and he hath nothing in me; but that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.”

III. THE CONCLUSION OF THIS SERMON OF CONSOLATION.

22. In other words: The time of my suffering and death is at hand. The prince of this world, the devil, is present in his adherents, and will seize me. But he will accomplish nothing, for he will unjustly lay hold of me, desiring to crush me. His tactics will fail; I will triumph over him, and I will do it justly.

23. One may reply: Did not Satan conquer Christ? Did he not put him to death? Christ himself answers this and says that he dies for the very purpose of satisfying the will of the Father. It is not due to the power of Satan that Christ dies, but to the will of the Father, who would blot out sin through the death of bis only begotten Son. Hence, it does not rest in the power of the world nor of Satan to put to death either Christ or any of his followers. But it does rest

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in the will of the Father, who reveals his power through our weakness, before all his creatures; as St. Paul says in I Cor 15, 27. In view of this, Christ here says to his disciples: I will indeed die, but I will rise again. I die to the end that the world may know that I love the Father and that I do what my Father hath commanded me. I seek the Father’s glory in this, who wills that I should so do. And all this for the sake of your salvation and blessedness. Therefore, be of good cheer and let not your heart be troubled; for you will have great joy because of my death and my leaving you.

Via Luther’s Church Postil, taken from volume III:288-297 of The Sermons of Martin Luther, published by Baker Book House (Grand Rapids, MI), 1983. It was originally published in 1907 in English by Lutherans in All Lands (Minneapolis, MN), as The Precious and Sacred Writings of Martin Luther, vol. 12. The pagination from the Baker edition has been maintained for referencing. This e-text was scanned and edited by Richard P. Bucher.

I. Today we celebrate the festival of the Holy Trinity, to which we must briefly allude, so that we may not celebrate it in vain. It is indeed true that the name “Trinity” is nowhere to be found in the Holy Scriptures, but has been conceived and invented by man. For this reason it sounds some-

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what cold and we had better speak of “God” than of the “Trinity.”

2. This word signifies that there are three persons in God. It is a heavenly mystery which the world cannot understand. I have often told you that this, as well as every other article of faith, must not be based upon reason or comparisons, but must be understood and established by means of passages from the Scriptures, for God has the only perfect knowledge and knows how to speak concerning himself.

3. The great universities have invented manifold distinctions, dreams and fictions by means of which they would explain the Holy Trinity, and have made fools of themselves. We shall therefore quote only passages from the Scriptures in order to determine and establish the divinity of Christ. In the first place, we quote from the New Testament, where we find many proof texts; for instance, John 1, 1-3: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that hath been made.” Now if he is not made, but is himself the Maker, he must indeed be God. John also says afterwards: “And the Word became flesh.”

4. Again, we quote from the Old Testament, where David says, in Ps 110, 1: “Jehovah saith unto my lord, Sit thou at my right hand,” that is, sit upon the royal throne and be a lord and king over all creatures, all which must be subject to thee–”until I make thine enemies thy footstool.” In Ps 8, 4-8, we read: “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him.? For thou hast made him but little lower than God, and crownest him with glory and honor. Thou makest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.” That means: Thou hast made him Lord of the whole world. Paul explains this passage, in Eph 1, 20 and Col 2, 9-10, in a masterly way. Now, if God has set him at his right hand and made him lord

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of all in heaven and on earth, he must indeed be God; for it would not be fitting that he should set him at his right hand and give him as much power over all creatures as he himself possesses, if he were not God. God will not give his glory to another, as he says in Is 48, 11. Thus, we have here two persons, the Father, and the Son to whom the Father has given all that is subject to him. To “sit at the right hand of God” means to be over all God’s creatures; he must therefore be God to whom is given all this.

5. God has also commanded us not to worship strange gods. Now, we read in John that, according to the will of God, we should honor the Son even as we honor the Father. These are the words of John 5, 19-23, where Christ says to the Jews: “Verily, Verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father doing: for what things soever he doeth, these the Son also doeth in like manner. For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth: and greater works than these will he show him, that ye may marvel. For as the Father raiseth the dead and giveth them life, even so the Son also giveth life to whom he will. For neither doth the Father judge any man, but he hath given all judgment unto the Son; that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father that sent him.” These are, to my mind, truly clear and distinct words concerning the divinity of Christ. Now, as God commands that we should have only one God, and should not render to any other creature the glory which belongs to God and is due him, and yet he gives this glory to Christ, Christ must indeed be God.

6. Paul says in Rom 1, 2-4: “The Gospel he promised afore through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead; even Jesus Christ our Lord.” Therefore, according to the flesh he began to exist, but according to the spirit he existed from eternity, although it was not clearly understood be-

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fore; as it was not necessary that we should make a God of him, but only that we should declare and understand that he is the Son of God. This is the work of the Holy Spirit, as Christ himself says in John 16, 13: “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the truth.” And elsewhere the Evangelist writes, John 17, 1-5: “These things spake Jesus; and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that the Son may glorify thee: even as thou gavest him authority over all flesh, that to all whom thou hast given him, he should give eternal life. And this is life eternal, that they should know thee the only true God, and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus Christ. I glorified thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which thou hast given me to do. And now, Father. glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.”

7. We also read in Ps 2, 8: “Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” He is truly enthroned king of all. He is God’s child, and the world is subject to no other prince or king. Likewise, in another psalm, David openly calls him God, when he says: “Thy throne, 0 God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of equity is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.” Ps 45, 6-7. God will make no one such a king who is not God, for he will not give the reins out of his hands; he alone will be the Lord over heaven and earth, death, hell, the devil and all creatures. If he, then, makes Christ Lord of all that is created, Christ must truly be God.

8. We can, therefore, have no surer foundation for our belief in the divinity of Christ than that we enwrap and enclose our hearts in the declarations of the Scriptures. The Scriptures gradually and beautifully lead us to Christ; first revealing him to us as a man, then as the lord of all creatures. and finally as God. Thus we are successfully led to the true knowledge of God. But the philosophers and the wise men of this world would begin at the top and so they have become

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fools. We must begin at the bottom and gradually advance in knowledge, so that the words of Proverbs 25, 27 may not apply to us: “It is not good to eat much honey; so for men to search out their own glory is grievous.”

9. Our faith in these two persons, the Father and the Son, is therefore sufficiently established and confirmed by passages from the Scriptures. But of the Holy Spirit, the third person, we read in Mt 28, 19 that Christ sent forth his disciples, saying to them: “Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Here divinity is also ascribed to the Holy Spirit, since I may trust or believe in no one but God. And I must trust only in one who has power over death, hell, the devil and all creatures, whose authority withholds them from harming me, and who can save me. None will suffice except one in whom I may trust absolutely. Now, Christ in this passage commands that we should also believe and trust in the Holy Spirit; therefore he must be God. In the Gospel according to John, Christ speaks frequently to his disciples of the Holy Spirit, his power or existence.

10. In Gen 1, 2 we read: “And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” But this passage is not as clear as the one last quoted; the Jews attack it and affirm that the word “spirit” in Hebrew signifies “wind.”

11. David says in Psalm 33, 6: “By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the Spirit of his mouth.” Here it is quite clear that the Holy Spirit is God, because the heavens and all their hosts were made by him. And, again, David says in Ps 139, 7-8: “Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, thou art there.” Now, this cannot be said of any creatures–that it is everywhere and fills the whole world-but only of God, the Creator.

12. Therefore, we cling to the Scriptures, those passages which testify of the Trinity of God, and we say: I know very well that in God there are the Father, the Son and the Holy

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Spirit; but how they can be one I do not know, neither should I know it. This may suffice for the first part. Now we will come back to the Gospel and say something on that in the time that is left us.

Part II: The Explanation of this Gospel; Christ’s Conversation with Nicodemus.

I. The Conversation in General

1. In this Gospel you see clearly what reason and freewill can do. You may see it distinctly in Nicodemus, who was the best of the best, a prince and leader of the Pharisees, and the Pharisees held first place in their day. They were, however, in the highest things–in spiritual life–altogether blind and dead before God, however holy, wise, good and mighty they may have been considered by men. The longer Nicodemus associates with Christ, the less he understands Christ, although he is expected to understand only earthly things and the manner of Christ’s death. Reason is so blind that it can neither perceive nor understand the things of God, nor all things which properly belong to its own sphere, This is a

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blow to nature and human reason, which have been rated so high by philosophy and the wise men of this world; the wise ones have said that reason always strives to attain the best.

2. God has here given us an example showing that even the best in nature must fail. In instances where human nature is at its best it is blind, not to speak of its envy and hatred. Christ has here demonstrated by examples, words and deeds that human reason is altogether blind and dead before God, Hence, it cannot appreciate divine things nor desire them.

3. Now, Nicodemus, who is a pious and well-meaning man, cannot grasp the work and Word of God; how then would Annas and Caiaphas? He comes to the Lord at night, which he did from fear, not desiring to be called a heretic by others. From this we may conclude that he was in nature an old Adam, cowardly seeking Christ by night, and that he did not yet possess the true light. If he had been a “new man,” he would have come in the bright light of day, fearing no one. Because of his hypocrisy, the Lord deals sharply with him, cutting off his salutation and all further speech, as we shall see. Nicodemus approaches the Lord with these words:

“Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God. for no one can do these signs that thou doest, except God be with him.”

II. The Conversation In Detail.

4. He thinks that he has uttered these words in all sincerity; but there is still the old life and nothing but hypocrisy. For this reason Christ will not accept his salutation, but will take from Nicodemus everything in which he feels secure and will make a “new” man of him, giving him a new heart and enabling him to walk by faith. He says to him:

“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

5, Christ’s words are as if to say: No, my dear Nicodemus, I am not moved by your beautiful words. You must give up your old life and become a new man. You have not the faith which you say you have; you are still afraid. Although the natural man hears the Word of God, the Gospel, and delights

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in it, yet it does not enter the heart. Therefore, we must slay reason and experience the new birth. This is what Christ means when he says that we must be born anew. Reason cannot understand this, wherefore Nicodemus replies:

“How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?”

6. Thus reason takes offense at the Spirit, imagines unrealities and conceives of this new birth as a natural birth. Therefore Christ proceeds, explaining this birth to him to clear his misunderstanding, and says:

“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”

7. In other words: The new birth of which I speak must be otherwise explained. I do not abolish the natural birth but I speak of a birth which is of water and the Spirit. Then he continues:

“That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is borne of the Spirit is spirit.”

8. These words cannot be grasped by reason, which seeks to explain the words “Spirit” and “water,” speculating how such birth may be. Here it sees nothing in the nature of a birth and therefore plays the part of a fool by saying: How can a man be born of water and the Spirit? Indeed, such a source would produce but water-bubbles.

Hans Baldung Grien, "The Trinity and Mystic Pietà" (1512)

9. Now, Christ speaks and destroys reason, saying: “Art thou the teacher of Israel, and understandest not these things?” You should teach others the spiritual birth, that they might become righteous, but you yourself do not understand it. He defeats reason and the whole law and says: My friend, do you not know how these things can be? It is plain to me, as it was also to the prophets, who corroborate my words. Renounce your reason and close your eyes; cling only to my Word and believe it. Again he says:

“Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born anew. The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”

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10. As if to say: You presume to judge spiritual things by your reason, and at the same time you cannot understand the simple things of nature. He calls Nicodemus’ attention to the wind. No philosopher or scientist has ever been able to comprehend and describe the nature of the wind–where it has its beginning or where it ends. We cannot see where the wind comes from, or how it blows past us, or how far it goes. Now, if we cannot by our reason fathom those things which we see daily in nature, much less will we be able to fathom with our reason the divine works which God accomplishes within us.

11. How a man is born anew may easily be told in words. When, however, it is a question of experience, as it was here with Nicodemus, then it is a hard matter to understand and it requires effort to attain the experience. It is easy to say: We must blind our reason, disregard our feelings, close our eyes and only cling to the Word–finally die and yet live. But to persevere in this, when it becomes a matter of experience and when we are really tested, requires pains and labor. It is a very bitter experience.

12. An example of this new birth we have in Abraham, whose son was to inherit the world and whose seed was to be like the stars in heaven, as was promised him in Gen 15, 5. Then God came and commanded him to slay his son. Now had Abraham acted as reason dictated, he would have concluded thus: Aye, God has given me this seed, by which he has promised to increase my family, and now he commands me to offer him up as a sacrifice. Surely, God cannot command this; it must be the devil. But Abraham slays reason and honors God, thinking: God is so powerful that he can raise my son from death and increase my family through him. or he can give me another son, or effect his purpose in some other way, which I do not know. So Abraham commends all to God. Here Abraham leaves his old life and surrenders himself to God, believes in him and becomes a new man. Then the angel comes and says to him: “Abraham, Abraham, lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not

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withheld thy son, thine only son, from me,” Gen 22, 11-12. Abraham could not have imagined that God would thus come to his rescue; nay, he had already in his heart slain his son.

13. Now, the beginning of this birth was in baptism. The water is baptism; the Spirit is that grace which is given to us in baptism. The result of this birth is clearly seen in the hour of death or in times of test by poverty and temptation. He who is born of the flesh fights to defend himself, looks hither and thither, employs his reason to make his living. But he who is born anew reasons thus: I am in God’s hands, who has preserved and nourished me before in a wonderful manner; he will also feed and preserve me in the future and save me from all sorrow and misfortune.

14. When we are about to die we feel that we must depart and we know not whither; the house of shelter is not ready and we know not whether it will be a white or a black house. For where there is flesh and blood, there is still the old Adam, who does not know where he shall go, whether below or above, to the left or to the right; on what he should rest his soul and depart. Then there is anxiety and misery in the nature of a real hell; for the torment of hell is nothing but fear, terror, dread and despair. But if I believe in God and am born anew, I close my eyes and do not grope about. I am willing that the condition of the soul be changed entirely, and I think 0 God, my soul is in thy hands; thou hast preserved it during my life and I have never known where thou hast put it, neither do I wish to know, to which place thou wilt now assign it. I only know that it is in thy hands and thou wilt take care of it. Thus we must abandon the life of the flesh and enter into a new life, being dead to the old. This is a real dying and not merely a painful sensation, like the scratching off of a scab, as the philosophers have said; and they have compared the entering upon the new life with the rinsing of a pot by the cook. There must be a real change and an entire transformation of nature, for the natural state and natural feeling must be completely overthrown.

15. Now, the Lord says here: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh.” “Flesh” means the whole man, with body and

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soul, reason and will, who is not yet born of the Spirit. For the soul has entered so deeply into the flesh to guard and protect it from harm that the soul is more flesh than the flesh itself. We see it in death, when the flesh does not willingly give up life because the soul is still present; but as soon as the soul has departed, the body allows itself to be mutilated and permits everything that may be done with it. The Lord our God also alludes to this with these words in Genesis, spoken before the deluge: “My Spirit shall not strive with man for ever, for that he also is flesh.” Man does not desire the destruction of the flesh, or, in other words, to die; but this is the will of the Spirit, wherefore he desires that the flesh may soon be destroyed. Thus the nature of the soul must change and it must become an enemy of the body, desiring that the body may die, so that it (the soul) may enter into a new life. That this will be, we are to believe, but not to know how. It is the work of God, and he has not commanded us to fathom it.

16. Thus the Lord would point out with this simile of the wind that the spiritual man is neither here nor there and is not limited to any time or place. He does not put on a hood, neither does he do any of the things that are merely material, for he knows that they will not avail. In brief, no pilgrimage, no fasting, no money given for masses, no good work at all is of any avail; there must be a new life, that is, all our works must perish and come to naught, as has been said. The new life, however, consists not in dependence upon works, but it abides and perseveres in the grace of God, which he gives us through Jesus Christ. If I would then hold my ground, my works and all I have devised must fall to pieces and come to naught. Consequently, there is in the new man no definite beginning nor end. We indeed hear the blowing of the wind, but do not know whence it comes and whither it goes. Thus it is here: A man preaches and the Word is in his mouth, but no one knows whence it comes to him, what it will accomplish and where it will bring forth fruit.

17. Hence, we conclude from this passage that a Christian should not depend upon works, upon certain places or persons.

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Reason wonders at this and inquires: How can it be that everyone, who is born of the Spirit is to be compared with the wind and that all our works mean nothing? What results can possibly follow? If this were so, all priests, monks and nuns, with their beautiful and worthy lives, must be condemned. Christ answers Nicodemus’ question, “How can these things be?” as follows:

“Art thou the teacher of Israel, and understandest not these things?”

18. In other words: You surely should know this, because you are one of those who teach the people, but I see that you know nothing of it. That which I have explained to you, namely, that we must be born anew, you should have taught the people. But you have taught them the contrary–have endeavored to know whence the wind comes and whither it goes, have concerned yourselves about its blowing and other useless things; but the things most necessary to you and the people, you have disregarded. Hear then what I tell you:

“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that which we know, and bear witness of that which we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.”

19. As if Christ said: Should I point out to you how these things can be? It cannot be done. You should believe me, since you say yourself that I am a teacher come from God. When I have said that a man must be born anew and that all your works are worthless, it cannot be demonstrated so that you may see it with your eyes; it can only be explained in words. If you believe it, you will understand it. But Nicodemus did not understand it. Therefore, the Lord, disclosing more and more to him his folly, continues:

“If I told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things?”

20. I have only told you of earthly things–how we must all come to naught; that man is dust and must return to dust: how the wind blows–and yet you do not understand it. What would you know if I should tell you much about God? I have spoken to you about insignificant things, and you do not understand them. How would you understand if I told you that

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our immortal bodies, after death, will shine as bright and clear as the sun? And what if I told you of what comes after death? You would understand this much less. He then explains to Nicodemus a few of these heavenly things and continues:

“And no one hath ascended into heaven, but he that descended out of heaven, even the Son of man, who is in heaven.”

21. Reason does not understand what this means, for it is a sermon from heaven; as if Christ would say: The Son of man came upon earth and yet remained in heaven. He again ascended into heaven; that is, he became Lord of heaven and earth and all creatures. Know then that I am he who has come down, who even descended into hell, and yet remained in heaven. For when Christ was in death, he lived; when he was considered the most insignificant and despised of men, he was before God regarded as the most worthy of honor, and the greatest. He ascended again into heaven, after he rose from the dead, assumed again all power, and has become lord of all creatures on earth. No one has followed him in this.

22. We are truly also in death, but at the same time we are in heaven like Christ. Sin and death rule within us, but they have not been able to conquer Christ; nay, in his hand and in his power are life and death, as he says in John 10, 17-18: “Therefore doth the Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one taketh it away from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” No one but Christ obtains such power that all things are subject to him. Although before the world he was dead, yet he lived before God, his Father; and although before the world he was in great disgrace and shame, he was yet greatly honored by God. But all this he did only for our sakes. For in the fall of our first father Adam, we are all fallen. Christ had to atone for this fall by his disgrace, shame, ignominy and death, so that we might again obtain honor and life.

23. Christ rebukes Nicodemus here again, as he had done before when be said: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh.”

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He says in effect: You presume to ascend into heaven and to escape from hell, but you will fail. Flesh and blood cannot enter into heaven. Only he ascends into heaven, who has come down from heaven, so that the control of all may be in his hands. He can destroy all that lives, make alive all that is dead and make poor all that is rich. It is then here determined that nothing can enter into heaven that is born of the flesh. But Christ’s ascent into heaven, as well as his descent to us, was for our benefit, so that we, who are carnal, might also enter heaven. Yet it is only on the condition that first our mortal body must perish. In short, we cannot effect anything by our own works, for God will save us only through Christ, who alone is the ladder by means of which we ascend into heaven. How this ascent into heaven is granted to us, how it becomes our own, Christ explains when he says:

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life.”

24. What does Christ mean by this? He means that all who would enter heaven and follow him must become new creatures; he ascended into heaven that we might follow him. The narrative to which Christ refers is written in Num 21. 6-9: “And Jehovah sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, because we have spoken against Jehovah, and against thee; pray unto Jehovah, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And Jehovah said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a standard: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he seeth it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it upon the standard: and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked unto the serpent of brass, he lived.”

25. Christ uses this Scripture to point to himself; his reference is as if to say: Just as the Jews in the desert, who were bitten by fiery serpents, were saved by looking upon the serpent of brass, which Moses set upon a standard, so it is also

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with regard to me. None who looks upon me will perish; that is, all those who have an evil conscience, are tormented by sin and death, should believe that I have come down for their sakes and have ascended again. Then neither sin nor death shall harm them; nay, they shall not perish in all eternity. Whoever would enter heaven and be saved, must be saved by this serpent, which is Christ; otherwise he will perish. Thus, this Gospel condemns freewill and everything of human accomplishment and points only to this serpent.

26. The spiritual significance of the narrative in Numbers is this: The serpent, which bit and poisoned the Jews is sin, death and an evil conscience. I know that I must die and that I am under the power of death; I cannot free myself and must remain in this state until a dead serpent is set up for me, one which, because it is not alive, can harm no one, but rather benefit, as did the serpent of Moses. Now, this is Christ. I see him hanging on the cross, not beautiful nor greatly honored. If his death upon the cross were in fashion to win for him the plaudits of men, the flesh might say that he deserved his honors and his exaltation by his works. But I see him hanging in disgrace on the cross, like a murderer and malefactor; thus, reason must say that he is cursed before God. The Jews believed that this was true and they could only consider him the most cursed of all men before God and the world, for they remembered this passage in the Law of Moses: “He that is hanged is accursed of God.” Deut 21, 23.

27. Moses had to set up a serpent of brass, which looked like the fiery serpents, but did not bite or harm any one, nay, it rather saved the people. Thus, Christ also has the form and the appearance of a sinner, but has become my salvation; his death is my life; he atones for my sin and takes away from me the wrath of the Father. The living, fiery serpent is within me, for I am a sinner, but in him is a dead serpent; he was indeed regarded a sinner, but he never committed any sin.

28. If, then, man believes that the death of Christ has taken away his sin, he becomes a new man. The carnal, natural man cannot believe that God will gratuitously take

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away and forgive us all our sins. Reason argues in this manner: You have sinned, you must also atone for your sin. Then it invents one good work after another and endeavors to take away sin by good works. But the Gospel of Christ is: If you have fallen in sin, another must atone for you, if a man believes this, he becomes one with Christ, and has everything that is Christ’s.

29. This Gospel, then, signifies that our works are nothing, and that all human power can do is useless, but faith in Christ does it all.

A sermon for Trinity Sunday on John 3:1-15, via Luther’s Church Postil, 1522; taken from volume III:406-421 of The Sermons of Martin Luther, published by Baker Book House (Grand Rapids, MI). It was originally published in 1907 in English by Lutherans in All Lands Press (Minneapolis, MN), as The Precious and Sacred Writings of Martin Luther, vol. 12. The pagination from the Baker edition has been maintained for referencing. This e-text was scanned and edited by Richard P. Bucher.

See also:

1. On the Holy Trinity
2. Holy Trinity
3. Summary of the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity
4. The Virgin Birth

Lucas Cranach the Elder, "Jesus and the Adulteress" (1532)

Righteousness, then, is such a faith and is called “God’s righteousness,” or “the righteousness that avails before God,” because God gives it and counts it as righteousness for the sake of Christ, our Mediator, and makes a man give to every man what he owes him. For through faith a man becomes sinless and comes to take pleasure in God’s commandments; thus he gives to God the honor that is His and pays Him what he owes Him; but he also serves man willingly, by whatever means he can, and thus pays his debt to everyone. Such righteousness nature and free will and all our powers cannot bring into existence. No one can give himself faith, and no more can he take away his own unbelief; how, then, will he take away a single sin, even the very smallest? Therefore, all that is done apart from faith, or in unbelief, is false; it is hypocrisy and sin, no matter how good a show it makes (Romans 14).

Via Luther’s “Introduction” to the Commentary on Romans

But since the Diatribe thus pertly argues — “Would the righteous Lord deplore that death of His people, which He Himself works in them? This would seem quite absurd” —

I answer, as I said before, — we are to argue in one way, concerning the WILL OF GOD preached, revealed, and offered unto us, and worshipped by us; and in another, concerning GOD HIMSELF not preached, not revealed, not offered unto us, and worshipped by us. In whatever, therefore, God hides Himself and will be unknown by us, that is nothing unto us ‘and here, that sentiment’ stands good — ‘What is above us, does not concern us.’

And that no one might think that this distinction is my own, I follow Paul, who, writing to the Thessalonians concerning Antichrist, saith, (2 Thess. ii. 4.) “that he should exalt himself above all that is God, as preached and worshipped:” evidently intimating, that any one might be exalted above God as He is preached and worshipped, that is, above the word and worship of God, by which He is known unto us and has intercourse with us. But, above God not worshipped and preached, that is, as He is in our own nature and majesty, nothing can be exalted, but all things are under His powerful hand.

God, therefore, is to be left to remain in His own Nature and Majesty; for in this respect, we have nothing to do with Him, nor does He wish us to have, in this respect, anything to do with Him: but we have to do with Him, as far as He is clothed in, and delivered to us by, His Word; for in that He presents Himself unto us, and that is His beauty and His glory, in which the Psalmist celebrates Him as being clothed. Wherefore, we say, that the righteous God does not ‘deplore that death of His people which He Himself works in them;’ but He deplores that death which He finds in His people, and which He desires to remove from them. For GOD PREACHED desires this: — that, our sin and death being taken away, we might be saved; “He sent His word and healed them.” (Psalm cvii. 20.) But GOD HIDDEN IN MAJESTY neither deplores, nor takes away death, but works life and death and all things: nor has He, in this Character, defined Himself in His Word, but has reserved unto Himself, a free power over all things.

But the Diatribe is deceived by its own ignorance, in not making a distinction between GOD PREACHED and GOD HIDDEN: that is, between the word of God and God Himself. God does many things which He does not make known unto us in His word: He also wills many things which He does not in His word make known unto us that He wills. Thus, He does not ‘will the death of a sinner,’ that is, in His word; but Hewills it by that will inscrutable. But in the present case, we are to consider His word only, and to leave that will inscrutable; seeing that, it is by His word, and not by that will inscrutable, that we are to be guided; for who can direct himself according to a will inscrutable and incomprehensible? It is enough to know only, that there is in God a certain will inscrutable: but what, why, and how far that will wills, it is not lawful to inquire, to wish to know, to be concerned about, or to reach unto — it is only to be feared and adored!

Therefore it is rightly said, ‘if God does not desire our death, it is to be laid to the charge of our own will, if we perish:’ this, I say, is right, if you speak of GOD PREACHED. For He desires that all men should be saved, seeing that, He comes unto all by the word of salvation, and it is the fault of the will which does not receive Him: as He saith. (Matt. xxiii. 37.) “How often would I have gathered thy children together, and thou wouldest not!” But WHY that Majesty does not take away or change this fault of the will IN ALL, seeing that, it is not in the power of man to do it; or why He lays that to the charge of the will, which the man cannot avoid, it becomes us not to inquire, and though you should inquire much, yet you will never find out: as Paul saith, (Rom. ix, 20,) “Who art thou that repliest against God!” — Suffice it to have spoken thus upon this passage of Ezekiel. Now let us proceed to the remaining particulars.

Via Bondage of the Will, Section LXIV.

See also:

1. God preached & not preached… of His revealed & secret will.
2. God Preached and Not Preached…
3. God Preached and God Hidden
4. The Preached God

There is a common inquiry among men concerning blessedness; and there is no one who does not wish that it may be well with him, and does not dread the thought that it should be ill with him. And yet all who have ever thus inquired have wandered from the knowledge of true blessedness and they have wandered the most widely who have inquired with the greatest diligence, such as the philosophers, the greatest of whom have placed true blessedness in virtue, or in the works of virtue; whereby, having rendered themselves more unhappy than the rest, they have deprived themselves of the blessings both of this life and of that which is to come. Whereas, the common people, though their ideas were the more grossly mad, by making blessedness to consist in carnal pleasure, enjoyed at least the good of this life.

This teacher, however, deriving his doctrine from heaven, and detesting all the devoted endeavors of men, gives this only true definition of blessedness which is wholly unknown to men — that he is the “blessed” man who loves the law of God. It is, indeed, a short definition, but it contains a savour that is contrary to all human ideas, and especially to human wisdom. First of all let us consider the grammatical signification of this passage, with respect to the theology contained in it.

In the Hebrew, the word “blessed’ is a plural noun, ASHRE, bessednesses — that is, all blessedness are the portion of that man who has not gone away, etc. As though it were said, ‘all things are well with that man who, etc. Why do you hold any dispute? Why draw vain conclusions? If a man has found that pearl of great price, to love the law of God and to separate from the ungodly, all blessednesses belong to that man, but if he has not found this jewel, he will seek for all blessednesses, but will never find one. For as all things are pure unto the pure, so all things are lovely unto the loving, all things good unto the good; and, universally, such as thou art thyself, such is God himself unto thee, though he is not a creature. He is perverse unto the perverse, and holy unto the holy. Hence nothing can be good or saving unto him who is evil; nothing sweet unto him to whom the law of God is not sweet.

It is well known that “to walk,” and ‘to go,’ in the scripture mode of expression are used figuratively, and are of the same signification, as to have life and conversation. As in Ps. 15:2, “He that walketh uprightly.” And Ps. 101:6, “He that walketh in a perfect way he shall serve me.” And again, Rom. 8:1, “There is no condemnation to them who walk not after the flesh.”

The word “counsel” is without doubt here to be received as signifying decrees and doctrines, seeing that, no society of men exists without being formed and preserved by decrees and laws. David, however, by this term strikes at the pride and reprobate temerity of the ungodly. First, because they will not humble themselves so as to walk in the law of the Lord, but rule themselves by their own counsel. And then, he calls it their “counsel,” because it is their prudence, and the way that seems to them to be without error. For this is the destruction of the ungodly — their being prudent in their own eyes and in their own esteem, and clothing their errors in the garb of prudence and of the right way. For, if they came to men in the open garb of error, it would not be so distinguishing a mark of blessedness not to walk with them. But David does not here say ‘in the folly of the ungodly’ or ‘in the error of the ungodly.’ And, therefore, he admonishes us to guard with all diligence against the appearance of what is right, that the devil transformed into an angel of light may not seduce us by his craftiness. And he contrasts the counsel of the wicked with the law of the Lord, that we may learn to beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing; who are always ready to give counsel to all, to teach all, and to offer assistance unto all, when they are of all men the least qualified so to do.

The “ungodly” man, who in the Hebrew is called RASCHA, is by Hilary most rightly defined to be ‘he who thinks evilly concerning God.’ For ungodliness is properly the sin of unbelief, and is committed in the heart. But the term has been variously translated, and differently at different times. Do thou, therefore, always understand these two to be contrary the one to the other, — faith in God and ungodliness; as also, the law of God and the counsel of men. For when we speak of godliness and ungodliness, we do not speak of actions but of thoughts, that is, of the fountain-spring of actions. Because he who is rightly taught concerning God, cannot but do what is right, and lead a good life. For, if the just man fall even seven times a day, he shall rise again; but the ungodly rush wholly into evil and do not rise again. These, because they are in a state of unbelief, do not a single good work, though every thing that they do may have a fair appearance, being that shade that covers behemoth. Job 40:22, whereby they deceive themselves and draw in the simple. Hence, he is godly who lives by faith, and he who lives in unbelief is ungodly.

Who “sinners” are we may plainly see, for this is the outward man of the ungodly; but the counsel and the ungodly man that are hidden in the heart we see not. Here therefore, David is speaking of those works, actions, and ways which appear outwardly; and this he calls the “way,” because now, the inward counsel is supposed to have come forth into habit and practice, as they say, and because the ungodly here commit outwardly the evil which they imagined inwardly. But this “way,” as I have observed, is for the most part of a better outward show than that even of the godly. For, as to those grosser sinners, any one might easily beware of them without this admonition, or at least, might know them.

The term “stood” describes their obstinacy, stiff-neckedness, wherein they harden themselves and make their excuses in words of malice, having become incorrigible in their ungodliness, which they consider to be godliness. For, ‘to stand,’ in the figurative manner of scripture expression, signifies to be firm and fixed, as in Rom. 14 4. “To his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up, for God is able to make him stand,” Hence, the word ‘column’ is by the Hebrews derived from their verb to stand, as is the word ‘statue’ among the Latins. For this is the very self-excuse and self-hardening of the ungodly — their appearing to themselves to live rightly and to shine in the external show of works above all others.

With respect to the term “seat,” — to sit in the seat means to teach, to act the part of an intsructor and teacher, as in Matt. 23 :2. “The scribes sit in Moses’ chair.” So, to sit on a throne is to reign or act as king as we frequently find it expressed in the Books of Kings. So also, to sit on a chair of state, signifies to act as ruler, and to sit on a tribunal, to act as a judge.

In respect to “pestilence,” — though the translation is not literal, yet it is very forcible. The word in the Hebrew is ‘of the mockers,’ or ‘of the scornful.’ But the scornful are they at whom he strikes in the Ps. under the terms ‘deceitful,’ and ‘false tongues;’ as being those who under a show of sound doctrine diffuse the poison of erroneous doctrine. For the pestilence in the bodies of men is not half so contagious as that of ungodly doctrine for their souls; “their word,” saith the apostle, 2 Tim. 2:17, “will eat as doth gangrene.” As the wise are called the health of the world. Wis. 6 :26, so these ungodly are rightly called the pestilence of the world. And what mockery can be more pestilential, than to administer deadly poison unto souls that are thirsting after the purity of the truth?

The Psalmist, therefore, according to that usual manner adopted throughout the church of distinguishing the good life from the evil by faith and walk, the former distinguishing the godly from the ungodly, the latter saints from sinners, here describes these two states, and to them adds a third. For, after ungodliness has infected a man inwardly in his thoughts, and outwardly in his life, it would not be able to go farther, did it not rush forth and draw others along with it into the same perdition. And therefore, ungodliness is not contented with being wicked in thought and wicked in life, unless it teach others ungodliness also. — So far, concerning the grammatical part.

It is also especially to be observed in scripture — how wisely it omits to mention the names of sects and persons. For this Ps. without doubt strikes first at the people of the Jews; as the apostle saith, Rom. 1:16, “to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” And Rom. 3:19. “We know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law.” Yet the Psalmist does not say, ‘blessed is the Jew,’ or ‘blessed is that certain person’: nor does he say, ‘in the counsel of the Gentiles, or of these or those certain persons’; but in general or absolutely, “blessed is the man;” and, “the counsel of the ungodly;” and, “in the way of sinners;” and also, “in the seat of the scornful;” whoever they may be, for there is no respect of persons with God. And this was highly necessary to be done, in order that the Word of God, as it is eternal, should apply to all ages of mankind. For although manners, persons, places, and customs, may vary in different times, yet both godliness and ungodliness are the same in all ages. Hence we see, that the prophets used the same scriptures against the false prophets, the apostles against the false apostles, and the true teachers against heretics, though they found not in those scriptures the names of the prophets, or the apostles, or the teachers, or their adversaries, but only the godly and the ungodly.

Moreover, if any particular person were mentioned, then the rest would not believe that the evil which was spoken of belonged to them; or, that the good which was spoken of belonged to them only. Even as the Jews apply to themselves, all the good that was spoken to the seed of Abraham and to Israel. At whom, first, this Psalm undoubtedly strikes, as I before observed. Hence we also, after the example of the holy fathers, apply this Ps. to the generation in which we live; or rather, we follow it while it leads us thereunto, seeing that it goes before us arraigning all the ungodly, and is rather found of us already doing this, than forced by us to do it.

Therefore, saith the Psalmist, “blessed is the man that hath not walked;” that is, while there are so many millions of the ungodly around us, that you may well say with Ps. 12:1, “help. Lord, for the godly man ceaseth, for the faithful fail from among the children of men.” And as Micah 7 :2 also saith, “the good man is perished out of the earth, and there is none upright among men.” And is he not a blessed man, and a man truly strong in the faith, who, in the midst of so great a multitude, does not walk in the broad way? who, moreover, suffers from the same, reproaches and many evils, and yet, does not so consent unto them as to walk with them? and who is not deceived by the most specious counsel of the ungodly, which might deceive the very elect?

It is a great thing not to be overcome by riches, pleasures, and honours: but, to overcome the specious righteousness and wisdom of the ungodly, which direct their attack most of all against pure faith, is the greatest of all victories!

But you are to notice that these words are the words of faith, and that they do not speak of men according to what they appear to be. For, as I have already observed, no one would imagine such to be the ungodly. The prophet speaks in the spirit; and, spiritually, that is ungodly which the world considers to be the most godly, because it is devoid of faith, as it is written in Eccles. 8:10 ‘I saw the wicked buried, who, while they lived, had come and gone from the place of the holy, and were praised in the city as the doers of righteous works.’ And again, Ps. 37 135. ‘I have seen the wicked exalted as a cedar in Lebanon.’ These are awful things. Who could have thought to find ungodliness here, and that so deep?

But listen! This Psalm does not only strike at the ungodly and sinners for every man out of Christ is an ungodly man and a sinner, but chiefly at those who are twofold sinners, — who, though they are ungodly, do not acknowledge it, but all the while form to themselves a “counsel” to walk therein, and to follow after ungodliness. For David does not say, blessed is the man who does not walk an ungodly man, or, who does not stand a sinner; but “in the counsel of the ungodly,” and “in the way of sinners,” for such are not contented with being ungodly, but wish to be accounted righteous and saints; thus adding to their ungodliness the outside show of godliness.

And at whom, think ye, does he strike in this our day? I will not dare to mention by name any particular persons, lest I should split upon the implacable rock of some religious ones, priests or bishops. For such has ever been the nature of ungodly men, that they will not endure the Word of God, but will fill the world with martyrs; and for no other reason, than that they imagine that they thereby yield obedience unto God; and thus, while they seem to contend for godliness, thev are all the while most bitterly accusing the truly godly of ungodliness.

But know thou, and be well assured, that those are here pointed out, who shine in ceremonies, rites, and other pompous shows of godliness, and who measure their godliness by their garments, meats, times, and places, or, more especially, by their work and prayers; and more particularly, those who, on account of their observances, privileges, dignities, powers, and rights, divide themselves into implacable discords, and are ready to do and suffer any thing rather than humble themselves and yield to each other in mutual charity. And that these are the ungodly pointed at, you may conclude from this. Such are secure and confident in their lives, and there is no fear of God before their eyes.

And take this for a universal and infallible criterion, and as they say, for a certain touchstone, that the peculiar marks of the ungodly are, not to fear God, to be secure of his mercy, and to presume in all things! But on the contrary, of the godly, like Job, to be afraid of all their works, to have no trust in their own righteousness, and to account all their holiness as dung! And therefore, the latter cannot contend for these things, nor justify nor vindicate themselves, but consider themselves deserving the hatred and vengeance of all. Hence, as I said, we must have the eyes and ears of faith to hear these words of the Spirit and to understand their meaning, for man of himself cannot understand them.

Think not, however, that I condemn all holy ceremonies and good works. It is the false opinion, confidence, and devotedness that I call the pestilences; for it is through these things, as we see, that men rush forth into sects, strifes, backbitings, and infinite enormities of sin; all which by the veil of their counsel, and the show of their doctrines, they cover over with the name of godliness; whereas, if all their works were done in humility, they would certainly be good.

Nor standeth in the way of sinners.

After they have violated faith by ungodliness, what can remain but that their works are evil, and sins? But now thou wilt say, can the works of Jews, of heretics, and of the proud, be evil, when they fast, pray, do good, and accomplish all those things which no man dares to call evil? I have said that faith is wanting! Therefore, all those works are so much the worse, because they confirm their ungodliness, and cause them to stand and persevere in their way of sin; and they are sins, because they proceed from the ungodliness of their hearts. And, as saith the wise man. Sir. 34:4. ‘what truth will be spoken by a liar, or what godliness will be done by the ungodly?’

Christ however has given us excellent instruction on these points, when he taught us, that men are to be known by their fruits. And they have two sorts of works: some which he calls sheep’s clothing, which are not their proper fruits, but feigned according to their counsel and ways. But, when you touch them and oppose them, then, behold, their proper fruits burst forth — wrath, clamour, pride, backbiting, evil-speaking, self-excusing, envy, blasphemy, and the like enormities — nor can you ever gather other fruits from these thorns, than these very sharp thorns. And such, as you may see, are our ceremonial work-mongers.

Nor sifteth in the seat of pestilence (scoffers).

Yet this the Jews do, departing from Christ. Under their lips is the incurable poison of asps, Ps. 140:4, and their wine is the gall of dragons, Deut. 32 133, for they must of necessity teach contrary to Christ. These other heretics follow, under another name and person indeed, but with the same pestilence of ungodliness.

And, to come to our own times, they sit in the seat of pestilence, who fill the church with the opinions of philosophers, with the traditions of men, and with the counsels of their own brain, and oppress miserable consciences, setting aside, all tbe while, the Word of God, by which alone the soul is fed, lives, and is preserved. Whence it comes to pass that men are ignorant of every other righteousness but that which is obtained by works; whereas this is ungodliness and sin in the sight of God. For it is impossible that you can teach the work of any laws whatever without peril, unless, by the better doctrine and the better labor, you first teach in Christ. In the Epistle to the Romans Paul sets forth faith as the foundation in eleven chapters and then in five chapters the life springing from it. In five chapters of Galatians he teaches faith; and in one chapter, the sixth, life. He does the same in his other Epistles. Christ in the Gospel requires faith only.

V. 2. But his delight (will) is in the law of Jehovah {the Lord), and on his law doth he meditate day and night.

The grammatical and theological exposition of this passage:

See that thou distinguish, to tell thee once for all, the “law of the Lord” as widely and as differently as possible from all laws of men, and take heed with all diligence, that by confusing all in one chaos, as the teachers of pestilence do, they do not miserably destroy thee; while they attempt to make the traditions of men the law of God, and the law of God the traditions of men.

Let me give thee examples of this. The law of God is, “honor thy father and thy mother.” Out of this law the pharisees have made this tradition: ‘The gift which is brought to the alter is better than that which is given to the parents;’ as you read Matt. 15:4. Again: despising God in the true commandment, they honor him according to another commandment of their own law, thus establishing a law for God. For the elders had said, ‘wash thine hands when thou eatest:’ and not to hear the elders is the same as not hearing God. Therefore saith Christ in the same chapter, Matth. 15:7-9, “Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, this people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men.”

Lucas Cranach the Elder, "The Law and the Gospel" (1529)

Thus at this day matters are come to such a pass, that they boldly affirm, that the voice of the Popes and of the Roman council alone are to be heard with fear and trembling. When all the commands of God are at the same time laughed at, yea held in contempt; and not more so by any set of men than by those very characters who boast of the to-be-feared voice of their great council. In a word, they have carried these most impious superstitions to the extreme, that mass-priests are everywhere to be found, who imagine that they have sinned the sin unto death if they have celebrated mass without their stole or maniple, or any external that is attended to. Or, if they have made any like mistake or omission in the canonical form of celebrating mass, it is considered a most awful sin. But I am ashamed to proceed any farther in the enumeration of those ridiculous trifles with which the mass-priests and other religious ones of the same kind terrify their consciences. Whereas, all the while, if they have been living together in the sins of lust, wrath, envy, covetousness, and pride, and that for many years, and have despised God, they feel nothing of it whatever.

The term “will” here, does not imply any power in man, nor does it signify that inert habit which our modern theologians have dragged into their divinity out of Aristotle, to the subversion of a man’s true understanding of the scriptures, nor, again, does it signify that act which they say is allured forth out of that power or habit. No human being under heaven has such a “will” as is here signified: it must be given him from above. For since the nature of man is intent on, and prone to evil, as the divine authority asserts, Gen.6 :5; 8;21, and since the law of God is “holy, righteous, and good,” Rom. 7:12; it follows, that the will of man is against the law, hates the law, and flees from the law. And even if at any time from the fear of punishment, or from a want to get at what is promised, it pretends a love for the law, yet, the natural hatred of the law still remains within; nor can such a will love the law freely, for it does not love it because it is good, but because it seems to promise some advantage.

The “will,” therefore, here signified, is that delight of heart, and that certain pleasure in the law, which does not look at what the law promises, nor at what it threatens, but at this only, that ” the law is holy, righteous and good.” Hence it is not only a love of the law, but that loving delight in the law, which no prosperity nor adversity, nor the world, nor the prince of it, can either take away or destroy; for it victoriously bursts its way through poverty, evil report, the cross, death, and hell, and, in the midst of adversities, shines the brightest.

And this ‘will” springs from faith in God through Jesus Christ. Whereas, that will which is extorted by the fear of punishment, is servile and violently forced; and that which is drawn forth by a desire after the reward, is mercenary and feigned. But this is a free, spontaneous, and happy will. And hence it is that the people of Christ are called in the Hebrew NEDABOTH, that is, ‘spontaneous, voluntary, and free.’ Ps. 110:3.

From the above it is manifest that this Psalm is to be understood of Christ only. He is the mark and the goal to which the man that is “blessed” is to direct all his aims, for there is no one in this life who does not want something of this “will,” on account of the law and will in his members, which are contrary to it; as the apostle saith, Rom. 7 :23, which latter will, according to true theology, is to be crucified, but which, according to philosophy, is to be accounted a virtue.

To “meditate,” as it is generally understood, signifies to discuss, to dispute, and to exercise in words, as in Ps. 37 :30, “the mouth of the righteous shall meditate wisdom.” Hence Augustine, in his translation, has “chatter,’ a beautiful metaphor, as chattering is the employment of birds, so a continual conversing in the law of the Lord, since talking is peculiar to man, ought to be the employment of man. But I cannot worthily and fully set forth the gracious meaning and force of this word, for this ‘meditating’ consists first in an intent observing of the words of the law, and then in a comparing of the different scriptures, which is a certain delightful hunting, nay, rather a playing with stags in a forest or mountains, where the Lord furnishes us with the stags and opens to us their secret coverts, Ps. 29:6. And from this kind of employment there comes forth at length a man well instructed in the law of the Lord to speak unto the people.

For instance, “Thou shalt not kill,” if you pass it over in a cursory manner, is a frigid sentence, by which, according to the sound of letters, you merely understand that the act of murder is prohibited. But stop and meditate a little. It is not said, thy hand shall not kill, but thou shalt not kill. And what art thou? Soul and body, and thou hast many members and faculties in each, hand, eyes, tongue, mind, will, etc. When, therefore, thou art forbidden to kill, art thou not thereby forbidden to kill with thy hand, or thy tongue, or thy will? for whichever of these shall kill, it is Thou that killest. Therefore, we are not to be angry, we are not to wish evil, we are not to speak evil, we are not to calumniate, we are not to turn away our face, we are not to despise, we are not to injure, we are not to wish to injure; but, on the other hand, we are to love, to bless, to do good. What then is the purport of this scripture. Thou shalt not kill? Why this, that thou art not to be bitter and angry with, but kind and gentle to, thy neighbor. Therefore, look into what the scriptures teach concerning love, kindness, suavity, benevolence, goodness, and tenderness; and when thou hast collected and compared them all, hast thou not then well chattered and meditated in tlie law of thy Lord?

With respect to “day and night,” whether you understand them literally or figuratively for assiduosly, or allegorically for the time of adversity and prosperity, it matters not at all; for the righteous man, even when sleeping, loves and thinks upon the law of the Lord.

The Psalmist saith then of this man that is “blessed,” that his “will”‘ will be in the law of the Lord. He will neither look at, nor love, nor hate any created thing whatever, either good or evil, but will, by this ” will,” be entirely raised above all things that are created. What wonder therefore is it, that such a man should be blessed, who, being endowed with this heavenly will, has no taste whatever for those things by which the ignorant judges of blessedness are dashed to and fro.

Moreover, as such an one is by this his will now made one with the Word of God for love always unites the lover and the object loved, he must of necessity taste how good, sweet, and pure the holy and wonderful Word of God is, that it is the greatest of all good! But this they cannot taste, who have their hand or their tongue only in the law, while their will is immersed in the filth of the things of this world.

For there are many prating ones v/ho talk much about the law of the Lord, and pretend much about it, but who do not yet love it. It does not read, blessed is the man whose tongue is in the law of the Lord, nor whose hand, nor whose mind and speculations are in it; for by these things men are only puffed up, and bless themselves, as if they were already saints and saved.

Moreover, this “will” comprehends the whole life of man. For if the man has his will, which is the fountain-spring of his life, and his head, in the law, there is no fear that he will keep any other member out of it. For wherever love leads, the whole heart and body follow it. And herein observe the different conversation of the godly and the ungodly — The ungodly begin their righteousness from without, and then go on to that which is within They first feign works and then words, and then they go on to the exercising of thoughts; and this is the greatest height to which they attain And here, they begin to be teachers of others, and whatever they think, say, or do, they will have to be holy and divine; yet, after all, they never attain unto this secret “will.” But the godly begin within from this holy “will,” then follows “meditation,” and then the external work, and afterwards, the teaching of others, as we shall see hereafter.

And in his law doth he meditate day and night.

Meditation is not without damnation, unless there be first the “will;” but love of itself leads to meditation. This “will” is to be sought by us from heaven, as I have said, by humble faith in Christ, when we are brought to despair of all strength in ourselves. And mark this well. It is the manner and nature of all lovers to talk freely, to sing, to write, to compose, and to amuse their thoughts, on their loves, and to hear the same things. And so also this lover, this n^an that is “blessed,” has his love, the law of the Lord, always in his mouth, always in his heart, and always, if he can, in his ear. For “he that is of God heareth God’s words,” John 8 47. “Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage,” Ps. 1 19 :54. And again, “I will meditate always in thy statutes,” ver. 16.

And thinkest thou that they are blessed men, who turn over swine’s husks, and who talk day and night about natural things, about the opinions of men, about prebendaries, dignities, and the power and privileges of churches, and a thousand other vanities of the same kind? No ! They are far more miserable than those who talk about the loves of maidens and the fables of the poets. For the latter know that they are acting foolishly, and can sometime repent of what they have done. But the former, thinking that they are all the while acting wisely and holily, die in their ungodliness ; and too late to repent, that the laws which they have made have only heaped destruction and ungodliness on their own heads, because they meditated not on the law of the Lord.

V. 3. And he shall he like a tree (zvood) planted by the streams of ivater, that bringeth forth (giz’eth) its fruit in its season.

I have said that the blessedness of this man is hidden in the Spirit, in God; so that it cannot be known by faith and experience. And that this is true thou shalt clearly see. If thou look at his “will,” in which alone his blessedness consists, it does not stand in his riches, nor in his honors, nor in his righteousnesses and virtues, nor, in a word, in any good that can be mentioned excepting this will in the law itself either in or out of the man. Nay rather, it is found in the midst of the contraries, in poverty, in contempt, in foolishness, in all the evils that can be mentioned either within or without the man So that the man whom the prophet here calls “blessed,” is hated by the whole world, and they all judge him to be the most miserable of mortals And this Isaiah saw in Christ, the head and pattern of all these blessed ones, and therefore said, “he was despised, and rejected of men,” 53 :3. For the world and its prince cannot endure that man who desires to be blessed with this “will,” but despises all his blessedness together. And therefore it is, that David, contemplating the fewness of such men, breaks out, ‘O ! blessed is the man, who,’ etc.

Having thus described the “blessed” man in his own proper definition, he goes on to set forth the same by a similitude no Iess beautiful. The definition, indeed, was perfect, representing him as free from all evil, and filled with all good, which is what the generality of men call blessedness, but their blessedness stands in present things, while this man’s blessedness stands in faith. And so also the similitude proves him to be free from the same evil, and full of the same good. And since this “blessed” man that is hidden in faith, could not be set forth to view clearly by any farther definition, David, as it becomes all definers to do, sets him forth under the similitude of a visible thing. And since we know that he is describing a righteous man under a figure, we are not to quarrel about terms.

I however believe that it is the palm-tree that is alluded to in the figurative description, for it is said in another Psalm, “the righteous shall flourish like the palm tree, he shall increase like a cedar of Lebanon,” Ps. 92:12. And what is there briefly alluded to, is here more fully enlarged upon. For the palm tree loves the rivers of water as Pliny says and drinks freely all the year round and is always green and brings forth most sweet fruits. And perhaps this similitude is taken from those palms on the Jordan near Jericho, which were so much celebrated, for Jericho is on that account called the “city of palms;” and the Jordan is in many other places in the scriptures spoken of mystically. Hence we have this passage, “A well of living waters, and flowing streams from Lebanon,” Song 4:15 — Here the prophet gives you a rule for understanding the allegories of trees and rivers which occur in the scriptures. A tree signifies a man. The good tree signifies a good man, and the evil tree an evil man, as Christ also teaches us. Math. 7:18. Though I know that Augustine, when he was so hotly pressed by the Pelagians, that he might not in any way admit that the children of the faithful were born holy, rather chose by ‘tree’ not to understand man, but the will of man. And this may perhaps be given in his favour, that by the tree here the spiritual man is set forth, which is indeed the will itself, or the spirit. But I think we may with no less, if not rather with more propriety, here understand by “tree” the whole man; by the root, the will, and by the branches, the members and powers. But I will not contend for this.

The Psalmist says it is “planted,” wherein he distinguishes this palm tree from those which grow of their own accord, and represents it as being made what it is by the care and cultivation of another, and not becoming so by its own nature; that is, as being cut oflf from that which grew of its own accord and by nature, and planted by art as a branch in some other place. And this is what I said before, that the “will” in the law of the Lord is found in no man by nature, but brought down out of heaven by the great planter and cultivator, our heavenly Father, who transplants us out of Adam into Christ.

The “rivers of water” certainly signify the rivers of water of divine grace. For the palm is said to grow in a soft, sandy,
nitrous, and saline soil, and therefore it always loves rivers. And so also the “will,” which is the root of this tree, being in this dry unfruitful life, thirsts the more after the rivers of heavenly waters, the more it finds that there is nothing in this world that can make it flourish, as Ps. 63:1, saith “my flesh longeth for thee, in a dry and weary land, where no water is.” And thus, as Isaiah saith, 53:2, “he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground.” But, is it not wonderful that a tree should grow in a barren soil, being nourished by the rivers of water only? Blessed therefore is the man, who, the more he feels the barrenness of the world, the more he thirsts after heavenly waters. Thus, this tree does not grow by the richness of the earth, nor does the “blessed” man grow by the luxuries of this world.

Some have inquired why the prophet here saith ‘wood’, ligniini, rather than ‘a tree,’ arborcm, and, shall ‘give’ his fruit, rather than shall ‘bear’ his fruit. The reading in Genesis, is, that God created ‘wood’, lignum, not ‘the tree,’ arborem. And hence the scripture still preserves the metaphor ‘wood’ for ‘tree’. And the ‘giving’ of fruit shows that this blessed man serves not himself, but his neighbors, with that charity which we see to be commanded in every law of God. For there is no tree that brings forth fruit for itself, but every tree gives its fruit unto others. Nay, no creature only except man and the devil lives to itself, or serves itself. Nor does the sun shine for itself, nor the water flow for itself, etc.

Thus every creature observes the law of charity, and its whole substance is in the law of the Lord ; nay, even the different members of the human body do not serve themselves. It is the affection of the mind only that is ungodly, for this not only will not give every one his own, and will not serve any one, nor wish well to any one, but, it takes all from all for itself, and seeks its own profit in all things, even in God himself. So that you may truly say, that this is the tree, or thorn, or brier, which grows of its own accord, cherished by the cultivation of no other hand, nor delighting in the rivers of water; and bringing forth nothing but thorns, with which it goads, tears, and chokes the fruits of all other trees that grow near it ; and also pulls, plucks, and tears the garments, fleeces, skin, flesh, and every thing else of every object that passes by it. The prophet, therefore, has here set forth the benefit of good trees, — that, while they injure no one, they profit all, and give forth their fruits willingly.

In its season.

O golden and admirable word! by which, is asserted the liberty of Christian righteousness. The ungodly have their stated days, stated times, certain works, and certain places, to which they stick so closely, that if their neighbors were perishing with hunger they could not be torn from them. But this blessed man, being free at all times, in all places, for every work, and to every person, will serve you whenever an opportunity is offered him; whatsoever comes into his hands to do, he does it. He is neither a Jew, nor a Gentile, nor a Greek, nor a barbarian, nor of any other particular person. He gives his fruit in his season, as often as either God or man require his work.

Therefore, his fruits have no name, and his times have no name. He does not serve any particular person, nor in any particular time, place, or work; but he serves all in all things. And he is indeed a man of all hours, of all works, of all persons; and, after the likeness of his Father, he is all in all things, and to all men.

But the ungodly, as it is written Ps. 18:45, (Weimar Ed. 2 Sam. 22 46) ‘fall into their own pit, and are taken in their own net,’ and are tormented with the works, times, and places, which they themselves have chosen, aside from which they imagine nothing can be done rightly. And thus, being proud of their own fruits, they do nothing but attack, judge, and condemn the fruits of others, being most free and most ready at all times to censure others; in a word, being just such in evil doing, as the godly are in well doing. For they also are men of all hours, calumniating and injuring, not in one way, nor at one time, nor one person only, but all men in every way and at all times, just as circumstances throw them in their way. And even if they should turn this devotedness to what they may call good, yet they would not any the sooner become godly.

This I say indeed not because I wish to reject the ceremonies of the church and of the monasteries, for the first duty of those, who entered the monasteries, was to learn to be subject to their superiors, and to undertake nothing of their own will, but to be ready to serve all in all things. The monasteries were truly schools to awaken and develope Christian liberty, as they are still where they have maintained their primitive spirit. This, I say, was the aim and character of the ceremonies. For what are the works of love and mercy themselves except a kind of free ceremonies, since they are external and pertain to the body?

The ceremonies of the old law were likewise most useful exercises in the true and free divine life. But since they began to misuse them in a perverted way to the suppression of liberty and in that they took them as a pretext to extinguish piety, and instead of liberty, slavery reigns as a tyrant, it has become necessary to abolish them altogether, as it is now the aim of the pious pastor to do away with the unnecessary ceremonies, where they act as snares of the soul and as a barrier to the free divine life.

Whose leaf also doth not wither.

He still pursues this most beautiful figure. This “leaf” signifies the Word and doctrine. We have said that the palm tree is always green in leaf and flourishing. But it is said, Isaiah 1:30, concerning the ungodly, “ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth.” Now compare all these particulars. The ungodly walk in their own counsel; the godly man is fixed in the love of the law, and planted by the rivers of water. The former stand in the way of sinners; the latter meditates in the law of the Lord, and gives forth his fruit in his season. The ungodly sit in the seat of the scornful; the leaf of the latter never withers.

And note that he describes the fruit before he does the leaf. And though it is the nature of the palm to put forth its fruit, not among the leaves like all other trees, but among the branches, having all its leaves on the top, so that it might itself seem to produce its fruit before it does its leaves and we have said that this figure is taken from the palm, yet the Holy Spirit himself always teaches every faithful preacher in the church to know that the kingdom of God does not stand in word but in power, 1 Cor. 4:20. Again, “Jesus beg’an to do, and to teach,” Acts 1:1. And again, “Which was a prophet mighty in deed, and in word,” Luke 24:19. And thus, let him who professes the word of doctrine first put forth the fruits of life, if he would not have his leaf to wither ; for Christ cursed the fig tree which bore no fruit. And, as Gregory saith, that man whose life is despised is condemned by his doctrine; for he preaches to others, and is himself reprobated. And concerning such Matthew says, 7 :23, that in the day of judgment they shall hear this sentence, “depart from me, ye workers of iniquity;” even though they may have prophesied in the name of Christ, and done many wonderful works by his Word.

But some one may say, there have been many saints and martyrs, but neither their fruits nor their leaves are now remaining, but all have perished with them; nor indeed have we the words of all the apostles. How, then, can this praise be applicable to all blessed men?

I answer : — their word was not their own word. “For it is not ye that speak, saith Christ, but the Spirit of my Father that speaketh in you.” All the saints were taught by, and they all taught, the same Word; as we read, 1 Cor. 10 :3, 4, All did eat the same spiritual food, and all did drink the same spiritual drink.” And Ps. 119:89, “Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. Thy faithfulness is unto all generations.”

Thus it is apparent that this “blessed man” and this fruitbearing “tree,” signify the whole church, or those who hold the office of teaching. But there is nothing against its being understood also as signifying every righteous man, because he has likewise the same “leaf,” for if he does not teach others, he certainly teaches himself, meditating with his heart in the law of the Lord, which word remains in him unto eternity, as it does also in the whole church. And finally, as all the faithful are one body, although this leaf is peculiar to the member that teacheth, yet, by communion all things belong to all. For the word is mine which my tongue preaches, though I may be only the ear and not the tongue; and so we may say of the other members and of the whole body.

And whatsoever he doeth (worketh) shall prosper.

If he saith this with reference to the tree or palm, he alludes to the fact that the palm is said to be the only tree which still grows upwards against every weight and pressure. And they say that this is seen in beams made of palm trees.

And with respect to the word “doeth,” in this passage if I am not too bold, it does not signify the good works of a righteous man for these have been sufficiently commended already under the term ‘fruits’, but rather, those performances or productions which we achieve by means of the arts and sciences. For so, the philosophers refer ‘doing,’ agere, to wisdom, and ‘making,’ facere, to art. And we may see the same distinction in the Hebrew tongue according to my bold way of proceeding. For I find that the verb asa generally signifies ‘making’, facere, and paal, ‘doing’, agere. Thus, Ps. 28:5, “Because they regard not the works of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands ;” where “the operation of his hands” signifies the very thing formed. As it is also in another place, “Israel is the work of my hands.” And in Gen. 1:7, 16, 25, it is said, “And God made,” etc. And again, Ps. 95 :5, “The sea is his, and he made it.” But the works of God are those which lie does by his creatures ; and especially, by his word and his grace, by which he acts upon us and makes us act.

Let therefore this “doing” be considered to signify instituting, ordaining, distributing by various ecclesiastical ministrations, and as the apostles Peter, 1 Pet. 4:10, and Paul, I Cor. 12:4 etc., did, acting as stewards of the manifold grace of God, founding churches, and increasing them ; for thus, the very faithful are said to be of their fo’rming, their work, and their workmanship. Hence Paul ‘travailed in birth,’ for the Galatians, 4:19, and ‘begat’ the Corinthians, 1 Cor. 4:15. And again, “Are ye not my work in the Lord?” 1 Cor. 9:1. You understand therefore that this is the spiritual workmanship of a blessed man, not a tyrannical exercise of power, nor a pompous show, for these things even the gentiles can do and show forth. But the ‘doing’ of this blessed man is, making many good and blessed and like himself.

And with regard to this “prospering,” take heed that thou understand not a carnal prosperity. This prosperity is a hidden prosperity, and lies entirely secret in the spirit ; and therefore if thou hast not this prosperity that is by faith, thou shouldst rather judge thy prosperity to be the greatest adversity. For as the devil bitterly hates this leaf and the Word of God, so docs he also those who teach and hear it, and he persecutes such, aided by all the powers of the world. Therefore, thou hearest of a miracle, the greatest of all miracles, v/hen thou hearest that all things prosper which a “blessed” man doeth. For what is more miraculous than that the faithful should grow while they are destroyed, should increase while they are diminished, should prevail while otliers prevail over them, should enter while they are expelled, and should conquer while they are conquered? For thus the world and its prince are overcome. Yet hath the Lord wonderfully ordained, that, to his saint, Ps. 4:4, that should be the height of prosperity which is the height of misery. This is the prosperity of the wise and the conversion of men.

But now we see that word of Proverbs 1:32, is fulfilled, “For the careless ease of the simple shall slay them, and the backsliding of fools shall destroy them.” For in the present state of the church, we have made names and persons, and have turned the spirit into the flesh; and therefore what is now called a good state of the church, is opulence, tyranny, impurity, the peace of the flesh, and a pomp more than human. For the devil has seen, and at length understood, this spiritual prosperity, and therefore, he has turned himself round, and attacking us in another way, triumphs in our horrible misery. And thus, he who was conquered in a time of conflict, now triumphs in a time of peace; and God for wonderful ends has ordained both. Hence, Hlilary has wisely and most truly said, ‘that it is the nature of the church to increase in adversity, and decrease in prosperity.’ But this wisdom of the cross, and this new signification of things, are not only unknown to the very heads themselves of the church, but are considered by them the most horrible of things. And no wonder, since they have left the Holy Scriptures, and have devoted themselves to the unhappy ordinances of men, and to casting up of accounts and sums of money.

The wicked (ungodly) are not so.

In the Hebrew text “not so,” “non sic,” is not repeated, but that has little significance. When thou hearest the word “ungodly,” reme