Brethren, my heart's desire and my supplication to God is for them, that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. (Rom. 10:1This is something monstrous: it constitutes the most telling single opposition to faith; it refuses obedience and makes men stiff-necked and incorrigible, as heretics and schismatics plainly demonstrate. For as if they could not possibly be mistaken, they stay put on their good intention with unyielding obstinacy and they stake their salvation on the fact that they are engaged in religious pursuits with a divine zeal. The Scripture characterizes such people as being of a twisted and bent heart and of a corrupt mind, even though they are not corrupt in the flesh or in corporeal vices. Yet they are spiritually corrupt in so far as they obstinately persist in their own opinion and in their own way in pursuing the spiritual good. Such people are reproved by the Holy
Virgin as she says: "He has scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart'' (Luke 1:51).
Today there belong to them those higher clergymen and princes who, under neglect of their proper duties, devote themselves to other affairs out of a zeal for God and with an upright intention,1 and also everyone else who forsakes the lesser good he ought to do in order to pursue a greater good, i.e., a good that, by deceit of the devil, has the appearance of being greater. For the devil is the mind and head of the serpent of old and the cause and source of all discord, the father of pride, and obstinacy, and unbelief. Giving himself the appearance of acting on behalf of salvation, he blocks salvation.
We must note, therefore, that "to have a zeal for God according to knowledge" means to have a zeal for God in devout ignorance and in mental darkness;2 in other words: to regard nothing as so wonderfully good, even if it seems to be God himself in all his glory, so as not always to be ready, with fear and trembling, to be led and guided to any kind of lesser good in order to be instructed by it. Not claiming to know, feel, or think anything, one must be indifferent to everything, whatever may be required of him either by God or by a man or by any other creature. For one does not claim to be able to know what to choose, but one expects to be chosen and called. Hence, Ps. 18:26 says: "With the chosen thou wilt be chosen/' but it does not say: By choosing, you will be chosen.
Such people are soft and teachable, like gold that can be shaped and fashioned in any form. Hence, we find that, in the Holy Scriptures, a distinction is made between "upright'* and "good," as, for example, in Ps. 125:4 f.: "Do good, O Lord, to those that are good, and to the upright in heart. But such that turn aside into bonds"
(i.e., into crooked ways, against and away from uprightness) "the Lord shall lead forth with the workers of iniquity," i.e., with those who do a good they value in terms of the vain standards of their crookedness.
This word "uprightness"3 is usually interpreted as "equity"; correctly understood, this means that the right kind of righteousness is the right good and that the wrong kind of righteousness or self-righteousness is a wrong and perverted good. Ecclesiastes
1:15: "The perverse are difficult to correct." Hence, Ps. 45:6 speaks of the "scepter of equity" or a staff that gives "direction," i.e., a staff of uprightness, which is "the scepter of thy Kingdom."4 For "it directs the meek in judgment," i.e., those who do not know anything and do not direct themselves according to their own judg2 In his lectures, so it seems, Luther reduced what follows to these sentences
(WA 57, 207, 10 ff.): "It is to be noted, therefore, that 'to have zeal for God according to knowledge' means to have zeal for God in devout ignorance and in mental darkness. For the highest knowledge is to know that one knows nothing; true faith accomplishes this knowledge. Men of this knowledge are those who regard nothing as so wonderfully great, even if it seems to be God himself and all his glory, as not always to be ready, with fear and trembling, to be drawn and led to some less important good. And so they are disinterested in everything, having no specific knowledge of anything and no mind of their own. For they themselves do not choose, but they look forward to be chosen and called. Hence it says in Ps. 18:26: 'With the chosen one you will be chosen.' It does not say, 'With the one who chooses you will be chosen.'"
4 Luther here follows Faber in the Psalterium Quincuplex.
LUTHER: LECTURES ON ROMANS ment and conceit. "To have zeal according to knowledge" means, therefore, not at all to know what one has a zeal for. For to know that one does not know5 is a kind of knowledge on which the Jews do not base their zeal. For they know that they have knowledge.
But one who knows that he does not know is gentle and willing to be directed; he is not obstinate but ready to give his hand to everybody.
For, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law unto righteousness to everyone that believes. For Moses writes that the man that does the righteousness which is of the law shall live thereby. But the righteousness which is faith speaks thus: Say not in your heart: Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down), or: Who shall descend into the abyss? (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what says the Scripture? The word is nigh you and in your heart, that is, the word of faith which we preach. For if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised him up from the dead, you shall be saved.
Moses writes these words in Deut. 30:12, and he does not have the meaning in mind they have here, but his abundant spiritual insight enables the apostle to bring out their inner significance.
It is as if he wanted to give us an impressive proof of the fact that the whole Scripture, if one contemplates it inwardly, deals everywhere with Christ, even though in so far as it is a sign and a shadow, it may outwardly sound differently. This is why he says:
"Christ is the end of the law" (Rom. 10:4); in other words: every word in the Bible points to Christ. That this is really so, he proves by showing that this word here, which seems to have nothing whatsoever to do with Christ, nevertheless signifies Christ.
There are several ways to expound this passage. First, there is the exposition as I gave it in the Gloss:6 The apostle compares two kinds of righteousness with each other: he attributes the good work to the righteousness of the law, but the word to the righteousness of faith. For the law requires a deed, but the word requires faith (the deed requires the law in order that one may know what one must do, but faith requires the word not in order that one may know but that one may believe). The first kind of righteousness depends on the good work one does, but the second kind
5 Cf. Tauler, Sermones (Serm. 6).
6 The exposition that follows is practically identical with the one Luther offers in the Gloss, depends on the word one believes. Now what this word is he makes plain by saying: Say not in your heart: Who shall ascend into heaven? or, in other words: The word that one must believe is nothing else but this: Christ died and he is risen.
This is why these negative and questioning forms of expression contain very strong affirmations. For example, the question: Who shall ascend into heaven? means: Say constantly in your heart:
Christ is ascended into heaven, and you will be saved. Do not doubt in the slightest that he ascended. For this is the word that will save you. This is what the righteousness of faith teaches. This is the short way to salvation, the way of the compendium! But the righteousness of the law is a long, winding, and roundabout way, as it is symbolically represented by the people of Israel in the desert.
Second: Faber Stapulensis7 thinks that by these words Moses insinuated the righteousness of Christ and his descent into hell and his ascent into heaven. Hence, he translates as follows: "But of the righteousness which is of faith he speaks thus: Who shall ascend into heaven? This signifies the descent of Christ. Or: Who shall descend in the abyss? This signifies Christ's restoration from the dead." He therefore relates the phrase "this is" or "this signifies" to the interrogatory sentences: "Who shall ascend?" and "Who shall descend?" but not to the phrase "Say not in your heart." But this exposition is so labored, and he himself is so uncertain about it that one cannot find any meaning in it.
Third: Erasmus8 thinks that there is no difficulty here and that the expositors struggle with it in vain, because, in his opinion, the apostle means to say that by these words Moses wanted to curb those who do not believe unless they see direct evidence. The meaning of the question, "Who shall ascend into heaven?" then would be: Say not in thy heart: Christ is not in heaven; even though you do not see him, at least believe it. For one who does not believe this and says: "Who shall ascend into heaven?" does the same as one who denies that Christ is there or who demands that he be given proof and evidence for this faith.
But however this may be, the apostle means to say that the whole righteousness of man leading to salvation depends on the word apprehended by faith and not a work based on knowledge.
This is why God causes all his prophets to reprove the people for nothing so much as that they do not want to hear his voice. Hence, he committed to his prophets not works, but words and sermons.
Jeremiah says expressly: "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of * Cf. Faber's Comm., ad loc.
* Erasmus, Annot., ad loc.
LUTHER: LECTURES ON ROMANS Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat the flesh.
For I spoke not to your fathers, and I commanded them not, in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning the matter of burnt offerings and sacrifices. But this thing I commanded them: Hearken to my voice, and I will be your God and you shall be my people." (Jer. 7:21 ff.) And Isa. 1:10 f.: "Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; give ear to the law of your
God, you people of Gomorrah. To what purpose do you offer me the multitude of your sacrifices?" And then there follows the word
(Isa. 1:19): "If you be willing and will hearken to me, you shall eat the good things of the earth." And, at the end of the book, he says: "But to whom shall I look but to him that is poor and little, and of a contrite spirit, and that trembles at my words? He that sacrifices an ox is as if he slew a man; he that burns incense is as if he blessed an idol. . . . All these things they have chosen in their ways," etc.
Only faith can accomplish this. It extinguishes all wisdom of the flesh and all insistence on knowledge and makes one ready to be taught and led and willing to listen and to yield. For God does not require a magnitude of works but the mortification of the old man in us. But he cannot be mortified except by faith, which humbles our self-will and subjects it to that of another. For the whole life of the old man is concentrated in the thinking or mind or wisdom and prudence of the flesh just as the life of the serpent is centered in its head. If this head is crushed, the whole old man is dead. And, as I have said before, faith in the word of God brings this about; faith not only in the word that sounds forth from heaven but in that word which also proceeds from the mouth of any good man, especially that of an ecclesiastical superior.
This is why unbelievers are contentious and always take offense at the word of faith. For when they are asked to have faith, they demand visible proof, because, in their presumptuousness, they think that they are able to tell what is right and that all others are mistaken. It is absolutely certain that Adam and the old man are still alive in a man who does not yield and who thinks that he is always right. In such a man Christ is not yet risen.
Hence, God conceals obedience, which, in his eyes, is of greatest value, under works great and small alike. He does not consider the difference between works but only the value of obedience. But the prudence of the foolish always regards the work as more important than the word and tends to judge the worth of the word in terms of the worth or unworth of the works. Where the work has proved itself to be mean and lowly, it immediately judges also the word to be mean and lowly and despises it. For the "prudence
ROMANS, CHAPTER TEN of the flesh" that distinguishes between good and evil is as alive today as when it originated in the first sin at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:9, 17; 3:6 f.).
By contrast, the prudence of spiritual men knows neither good nor evil. It always looks at the word and not at the work, and it judges and weighs the worth of the work by the word. Hence, even though a work may be the meanest of all, it regards it as most precious, because it always regards the word as that which is of all things the most precious.
By this trick the serpent of old deceived Eve, but not Adam, and, by the same trick, it deceives to this day all the proud. For right away he called Eve back from the word to the work by saying to her: "Why has God commanded you?" etc. (Gen. 3:1). Made aware of the littleness of the work, she then at once proceeded to despise also the word. Thus also Saul neglected the word of God for the sake of the great number of animals that were to be offered as sacrifices. (I Sam. 15:1 ff.) And so, too, the moralists,9 who rely on their good works, hope to this day to obtain salvation of a kind that corresponds to their works. But the fact that they are interested only in the size and extent of their works is the most certain sign by which one can recognize them as unbelievers who, in their pride, despise the word. For a man who lets himself be tempted to perform great good works, so that he despises and turns away from a little one but pants to do the great ones, he is the one who, together with the Jews and the heretics, stumbles at the stone of stumbling. For when something of this sort happens,
Christ stays with the mean works that are enjoined by the word, and he forsakes those who long to do only the great works that the devil suggests to them through the prudence of the flesh.
Hence, we must do nothing else but listen to the word with all our mind and all our strength, simply keeping our eyes closed and directing all our prudence only to it. And whether it enjoins something foolish or bad, something large or small, we must do it, judging what we do in terms of the word and not the word in terms of what we do.
One can recognize unbelievers by still another sign, namely, by the way in which they seize upon works which are regarded as great before men and are admired by the crowd. But as soon as people cease to admire them and begin to regard them as worthless, they who do them tire of them and lose interest in them, so that it is apparent that in doing them they were not concerned for good works or for God, but for their own vainglory. Thus, they have no interest in works that are of no value and that are not LUTHER*. LECTURES ON ROMANS highly regarded by men; but it is precisely such works that we should be eager to do in case we have to act without the word.
Now, this is what the unlearned preachers are concerned about, with the result that they mislead the common people. They either preach or read aloud about the great works that are told in the legends of the saints and impress only them upon the people by making them important. Then the common folk, who listen to them, conclude that there is something to good works and they turn immediately away from everything else and eagerly try to imitate the saints—and this is where so many grants of indulgences come from and so many permits for the building and decoration of churches and for the multiplication of ceremonies, and in the meantime no one cares one bit about what everyone owes to God according to his calling.
And the pope and the higher clergy, who are so liberal in granting indulgences for the temporal support of the churches, lack all feeling for what is right if they are not equally liberal, or even more so, in their concern for God and for the salvation of souls.
They freely received all they have and freely they should give it.
But "they are corrupt and are become abominable in their ways"
(Ps. 14:1); being themselves misled, they lead the people of Christ away from the true worship of God.
In this connection, I am reminded of an amusing story I once heard: There was once a simple fellow who heard a preacher say— one who made a big noise about the examples one should follow— that, according to the example of Simeon Stylites in the Lives of the Pillar Saints,10 one must do something really great for God's sake. Now in order to ridicule the silly talk of pulpit-performers11 of this sort, and in order to demonstrate what the result would be if men obeyed this frivolous nonsense, he decided by the will of God and out of love for God, not to make water. After he had done this for a few days, he became so sick that he almost died.
When others tried to dissuade him from what he was doing, he paid no attention. But now observe how, by another counsel of God, he was freed from his undertaking: A shrewd fellow, who, by the influence of God, was informed about everything, stepped up to him and confirmed him in his undertaking and urged him to continue with it. He said: Why, certainly! You are right, brotherl
Just go on doing what you are doing! I myself shall do what you are doing, just in order to show all my friends that I do not care for them. For they do not like me, just as yours do not like you. When the fellow heard that what he was doing meant so little and that,
*° Cf. Vitae patrum I: Vita S. Simeonis Stylitae, 5 (PL 73, 528).
11 "Ambonistae" a sarcastic word of Luther's own making. in the opinion of people, it did not amount to anything, indeed, that they said that he did what he was doing not because he liked them but because he disliked them, he became well immediately, and he said: If they think that this is the reason why I am doing it,
I shall not do it. He did what he did for the sake of men! This was the deadly ulcer in his heart. But as soon as it was cut out, he became well. O what a really wise counsel he received; only a teacher like God can give it! How directly it touched his sickness!
The moral of the story is this: One must not preach the works of the saints as such, i.e., one must not encourage people to imitate them without adding: See here, in his own station in life this man lives in this way or that as an example for you, in order that you should do likewise in your station in life but not in order that you should do the same as he by giving up your station and leaping over to his.
For with the heart man believes unto righteousness. (Rom.
It is just as if he wanted to say: One cannot obtain righteousness by any works, any wisdom, or any effort, nor by riches or honors, even though today many think that they can obtain release from sin by paying two pennies. And many regard themselves as righteous because they are great scholars and teachers or because they have a high title or position and are ministers of sacred affairs.
But this is a new way to obtain righteousness, a way that goes against Aristotle12 or beyond him, since, according to him, righteousness is brought about by actions, even if they are entirely outward, if only they are repeated often enough. But this is political righteousness, a righteousness that cannot prevail before God.
But true righteousness comes about only if one believes the words of God with his whole heart, as he says above in ch. 4:3 of this letter: "And Abraham believed in God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness." But if one divides righteousness, as the philosopher13 understands it, into a distributive and a commutative righteousness and then also a general one,14 this is an effect either of mental blindness or of that human wisdom which is intent only upon earthly matters that must be dealt with in terms of reason, where it can happen, for example, that one is in debt and obligation to none, another to several, and still another to many.
12 Aristotle, Eth. Nicom., II, 1; III, 7; V, 9, 10.
13 Cf. Aristotle, op. cit., V, 5.
14 Gabriel Biel, III Sent., d. 34, a. i, n. 3 (according to Duns Scotus, III Sent, d.34, q.un.,n.i?).
LUTHER: LECTURES ON ROMANS But in the righteousness of God, man is a debtor to everyone because "he is guilty to all" (James 2:10). To the Creator, whom he has offended, he owes glory and a blameless life, and to the creature, good use and co-operation in the service of God. And he cannot pay this debt unless, taking the loWest seat, he humbly takes all this upon himself and seeks nothing for himself in anything. As the lawyers say: "One who has given up all his goods has made satisfaction." A man, therefore, who submits to God and his creatures, even if it should cost him his life, who is ready and willing to walk into nothingness and death and damnation, and who does not regard himself as worthy to share in any of these goods, such a man has truly satisfied God and is righteous. For he kept nothing for himself but yielded everything to God and his creatures. This is accomplished by faith. Then man lets his mind be captive to the word of the cross and denies himself and renounces everything, having died to himself and everything else.
Thus he lives to God alone, "to whom all live," even the dead.
But with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Rom.
In other words: the faith that leads to righteousness does not reach its goal of righteousness or salvation if it does not arrive at confession. For confession is the principal work of faith: Man denies himself and confesses God and he does this to such an extent that he will deny even his life and everything else before affirming himself. For by confessing God and denying himself, he dies. And how can he better deny himself than by dying in order to confess God? For then he forsakes himself, in order that God and the confession to him may stand.
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek: for the same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich unto all that call upon him. (Rom.
A new form of expression! For he could have said "ready,"
"willing," or, as the law says: "merciful to them that cry unto him and compassionate to hear them" (Ex. 22:27; Joel 2:13), just as it says in Ps. 86:5:15 "For thou, O Lord, are sweet and mild, and plenteous in mercy to all that call upon thee." But the apostle wanted to emphasize what he says also elsewhere, namely, that God gives to those who call upon him beyond what they ask for, so that, compared with what they receive, what they ask for is poor and modest. No one would think of such great gifts when he prays, much less ask for them. As he says in Eph. 3:20: "He is
15 Luther writes: Ps. 43. able to do all things more abundantly than we can ask or think."
And above in Rom. 8:26: "We do not know what we should pray for as we ought." And in II Cor. 9:8: "God is able to make all grace abound in you."
God, therefore, is rich as he hears our prayers, but we are poor as we call upon him. He is strong when he fulfills our prayers, but we are hesitant and weak when we pray. For we do not pray for as much as he can and wants to give to us; in other words: we do not pray in proportion to his power, but far below his power in proportion to our weakness. But he cannot give except according to his power. Hence, he always gives more than he is asked for. Therefore, he says: "Open your mouth wide and I will" (not: drop something into it, but) "fill it" (Ps. 81:10), i.e., pray for as much as you can and I shall give more, for my giving is more powerful than the strength of your praying. Hence, "the spirit helps our infirmity" (Rom. 8:26) when we pray.
Now this "being able or potent," which is here asserted with respect to God, is not to be understood, as in logic, as the contingent and free ability and faculty of acting when and where one wants to. The Greek word is "dynameno" "to him that is able."16
This signifies that ability which I have defined above as "strength" or "powers" or "power," so that its meaning is this: When God gives, he gives so potently and strongly that his giving far exceeds what we could have imagined it would be. For he is so able, i.e., so very powerful and strong, that he gives more than our weakness asks for. But he adds: "according to the power" (in Greek:
"dynamin") "that works in us." Thereby he excludes the power of the flesh. For he does not work in us or hear us according to the power of the flesh, but according to spiritual power. This is what is meant by "beyond what we can think," in Greek "noumen" i.e., what we feel and know, from noys17 mind, thought, judgment.
For his way of granting our prayers goes beyond all our thinking, i.e., it is not as we preconceived it, thought it out, and prudently, so it seemed to us, chose it. For we choose weakly and impotently, or in other words: if what we ask for were given to us in proportion to our weak way of asking, it would be weak and impotent, for it could not transcend the limits of our understanding, and hence we would immediately tire of it as of something temporal. In the same way he says in Phil. 4:7: "And the peace of God which surpasses all thought" (i.e., "noun"), i.e., knowing, feeling, understanding, as we said before, "keep your hearts and minds," i.e.,
16 Cf. Eph. 3:20. Luther follows Faber.
LUTHER! LECTURES ON ROMANS "noemata/' i.e., what you feel and think by reason and mind, or as we would say, "your thoughts/*18
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved. How, then, shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? (Rom. 10:13-15.)
People who are of a proud mind, such as the Jews, the heretics and schismatics, arrogate to themselves these four propositions, one by one; for they are all deceived by what appears to be piety.
For these four statements are so related to one another that one follows from the other and the last one is the antecedent cause of all others. In other words: one cannot preach if one is not sent; it follows from this that one cannot hear if one is not preached to; and from this, that one cannot believe if one does not hear, and then, that one cannot call upon God if one does not believe, and, finally, that one cannot be saved if one does not call upon God.
The whole source and origin of salvation, therefore, is in God's sending. If he does not send them, the preachers preach falsely, and such preaching is the same as no preaching; indeed, it would be better for them not to preach at all. And the hearers hear falsely, and it would be better for them not to hear at all. And they who believe them believe falsely, and it would be better for them not to believe at all. And those who thus invoke God do not call upon him at all, and it would be better for them not to do so at all. Since preachers of this kind do not preach, the hearers do not believe, those who invoke God do not call upon him, and those who are to be saved are damned. Proverbs 1:28: "Then they shall call unto me, and I will not hear them." (Psalm 110:2:
"The Lord will send forth the scepter of your power out of Zion."
And then: "Rule!" i.e., act strongly, "and your preaching shall be effective in the midst of your enemies." But those people rule in the midst of their friends and they attract them to themselves by flattering them.) And Ps. 18:41: "They cried, but there was none to save them, to the Lord, and he heard them not." Therefore, they are like reflected images before God; they have ears but do not hear; they have a mouth and do not speak, etc. (Ps. 115:5 f.;
Ps. 135:15 f.). Why? Because they are not from God. For when God sends forth his word, sso geets mit gewalt (it goes forth with power), so that it converts not only its friends and those who applaud it but also its enemies and those who oppose it.
Hence, we must see to it, before everything else, that a preacher 18 Here Luther follows Erasmus. is sent as John was sent (John 1:6). We can recognize this if he proves by miracles and a testimony from heaven that he was sent
(as the apostles were) or if he proves that later he is sent by apostolic authority confirmed from above and that he preaches in humble submission to this authority, always ready to stand under its judgment and to speak only what is commanded to him and not what he likes or has invented. (As it says in Zech. 13:3: "And it shall come to pass that when any man shall prophesy any more, his father and mother that brought him into the world," [i.e., his ecclesiastical superior and the church]19 "shall say to him: You shall not live" [i.e., you shall be condemned and excommunicated]
"because you have spoken a lie in the name of the Lord. And his father and his mother, his parents, shall thrust him through when he shall prophesy.") This is the very sharp spear by which the heretics will be pierced. For they preach without the testimony of God or without divinely confirmed authority, but from their own initiative, and they are elevated to their position by a semblance of religiousness.
We read in Jer. 23:21: "They ran and I did not send them."
And yet they dare say: We shall be saved because we have invoked the name of the Lord; we believe because we hear; we hear because we preach. But what they cannot say is this: We preach because we are sent. Here, at this point, they go down! Here is all that matters for salvation. Apart from this, everything is wrong, even if they do not think so. This is what the apostle emphasizes so strongly in Rom. 1:2, lest one think that the gospel came into the world through a man. First, it was promised long before it came; it was no new invention. Furthermore, it came into the world not by one but by many, by the prophets of God and not only in form of the spoken word but also in form of the Holy Scriptures. A heretic must present this kind of testimony for his heretical doctrine. He must also show where it was promised earlier and by whom, and then also by whom it was taught, and, finally, in what Scriptures it is to be found so as to produce also writings as witnesses. But they are not in the least concerned about this and they say foolishly: We have the truth; we believe; we hear; we call upon God
—as if it were sufficient proof that something is from God if one imagines it to be so, and as if it were not necessary for God to confirm his word and to work with it by signs that follow upon it later and by promises and prophecies that precede it.
And so the ecclesiastical authority was established which the Roman Church maintains to this day: only they preach safely who preach the gospel without defects that come from somewhere else.
19 Cf. Lyra's exposition of the passage.
LUTHER: LECTURES ON ROMANS Now the word which the heretics preach gives them great satisfaction20 because it sounds as they want it to sound. They aim at the highest religiousness21 (so it seems to them). And so their own thinking remains unchanged and their will unbroken. For the word does not come to them counter to or beyond what they think but according to their own ideas, as if they were its equal or even its judges.
But, in reality, the word of God comes, when it comes, in opposition to our thinking and wishing. It does not let our thinking prevail, even in what is most sacred to us, but it destroys and uproots and scatters everything. As we read in Jer. 1:10 and 23:29:
"Are not my words as fire and as a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?"
Hence, it is an infallible sign that one really has the word of God and that he carries it in his heart if he is not satisfied but only dissatisfied with himself and if he is troubled in all he knows, says, does, and suffers, finding pleasure only in others or in God.
Conversely, it is a most evident sign that the word of God is not in one if he is satisfied with himself and rejoices in what he says, knows, does, and suffers, as if he had produced it all.
This is so because the word of God "crushes the rock"; it destroys and crucifies all our self-satisfaction and leaves in us only dissatisfaction with ourselves. Thus it teaches us to have pleasure, joy, and confidence in God alone and to find happiness and wellbeing outside ourselves or in our neighbor.
Even as it is written: How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, of them that bring glad tidings of good things. (Rom. 10:15.)
First, they are called "beautiful" because of their purety, since they do not preach the gospel for the sake of advanatge or vainglory, as it is done everywhere today, but only from obedience to God and for the sake of the salvation of their hearers.
Secondly, in terms of its specific meaning in Hebrew, "beautiful" means "desirable"; it refers to something that is favored or worthy of love and affection, or as one would say in German, lieblich und genehm (lovely and agreeable). And so the meaning of the text is this: For those who are under the law, the preaching of the gospel is lovely and desirable. For the law lays sin open, makes guilty, and tightens the conscience with dread, but the gospel announces the desired remedy to those who find themselves in these narrows. Hence, the law proclaims something bad, but 20 "Suaveplacentiam" perhaps a translation of Wohlgefallen (good pleasure).
21 "Summam pietatem." the gospel, something good; the law proclaims wrath, but the gospel, peace. The law says (according to the quotation of the apostle in Gal. 3:io):22 "Cursed is everyone that does not abide in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them."
But nobody abides in them to do them, as it is stated in the same place: "For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse."
But the Gospel says: "Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world." (John 1:29.) The law oppresses the conscience through the sins it uncovers, but the gospel sets it free and gives it peace through faith in This is what it says above in ch. 10:5 of the letter before us:
"Moses writes that the man that does the righteousness which is of the law shall live thereby," and the apostle says: None does it, hence none shall live thereby. Hence, once more, Gal. 3:11: "But that no man is justified in the law before God, it is manifest: because the righteous shall live by faith. But the law is not of faith, but he that does those things shall live in them." And, above in ch. 2:13 of this letter he said: "For not the hearers of the law are righteous before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified."
In other words: before God all who are outside faith are only hearers, for "he that does these things, shall live." But none does.
Why else would faith be necessary?
In the phrase "of them that preach the gospel," the Spirit gives expression to something that goes beyond what we have stated in the Gloss,24 namely, that the "peace" and the "good things" that are mentioned here cannot be seen and that they do not correspond to anything that is in the world. They are so concealed that they can be made known only by the word and apprehended only by faith in the word. These good things and this peace are not within the reach of direct apprehension, but they are pro24 Luther's marginal gloss reads as follows (WA 56, 102, igff.): "The apostle proves by this one term 'of them that preach the gospel' that one cannot preach unless he is sent. For 'to preach the gospel' is the same as 'to proclaim it.' But nobody can proclaim the word of God and be its messenger, whom God has not sent and upon whom he has not laid his word. For one cannot seize the word of God; it must be received from God as he commits it to one and sends him to preach it. Any preacher who preaches on a condition other than this most certainly speaks a lie even if he appears to speak the truth. Then too, he defines by this term the nature of peace and of good things, namely, that they are of such a nature that they can only be heard through the word and that they must be comprehended by faith.
They cannot be exhibited to sight, as the Jews expect."
LUTHER: LECTURES ON ROMANS claimed by the word and thus are perceivable only by faith, i.e., they cannot be experienced until the future life comes.
Now the expression "good things" refers to the granting of the gifts of grace and the word "peace" to the removal of evil. Hence, the apostle puts peace ahead of "good things." These "good things" are to be found under the cross, for none can receive this peace and its goods unless he has first renounced the peace and the goods of the world and unless he patiently bears the evils and troubles of this world and of his conscience for the sake of faith.
And what is the meaning of "feet"? According to a first interpretation, they signify the inner attitude of those who preach: it must be free from all desire for gain and glory.
But according to the Hebrew text and a more adequate exegesis,25 we must say the following: Even though one can interpret
"feet" literally in the sense that the coming of the preachers of good things is eagerly awaited by those who are in anguish of sin and an evil conscience, they signify more correctly their very words or the sound and the syllables or pronunciation of their words and preachings. For voices are like feet and vehicles or wheels by which the word is conveyed, carried, or moved to the ears of the hearers. Hence, it says: "Their sound has gone forth into all the world." (Ps. 19:4.) If it went forth, it must have feet.
And again: "His word runs swiftly." (Ps. 147:15.) What runs has feet. The spoken word runs and therefore has feet, and they are the diction and the sounds of words. This must be so, for otherwise the saying of Isa. 32:20 would be absurd: "Blessed are you that sow upon all waters, sending thither the foot of the ox and the ass." And Ps. 91:13: "You shall walk upon the asp and the basilisk, and you shall trample underfoot the lion and the dragon."
This can be done only by the word. For while the hearer sits quietly and receives the word, the "feet" of the preacher run over him and he tramples him underfoot as he betters him. As we read in Micah 4:13: "Arise and tread, O daughter of Zion, for I will make your horn iron, and your hoop I will make brass, and you shall beat in pieces many peoples." "Treading" here means the same as when an ox thrashes with his feet. The feet of the church as she preaches are, therefore, the utterances and words by which she strikes and shakes up the peoples and "beats them to pieces."
And she does this with nothing else than her words and utterances.
But they are "beautiful" and desirable to those who are depressed by a sinful conscience.
Two couples of terms are therefore put in opposition to each other:
25 Luther is dependent on Erasmus' Annot.
Law-sin: The law uncovers sin; it makes the sinner guilty and sick; indeed, it proves him to be under condemnation.
Gospel-grace: The gospel offers grace and forgives sin; it cures the sickness and leads to salvation.
But all do not obey the gospel. For Isaiah says: Lord, who has believed our report? Faith, then, comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. But I say: Have they not heard? Yes, verily, their sound has gone forth into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the whole world. (Rom. 10:16-18.)
This has reference to what was said before; it is to confirm those four propositions that followed one another in order. First of all, we must relate to what he says here the saying: "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Rom. 10:13; Joel
2:32). For if "they all did not obey the gospel," why do they presume to call upon the name of the Lord according to the word of the prophet? How could they all call upon him if they did not believe in him? But obviously they did not all believe, for Isaiah says: Lord, who has believed what we have heard?
Secondly, also, this other sentence is confirmed: "How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?" (Rom. 10:14).
For he says: Hence, faith comes by hearing: in other words: if they do not hear, they cannot believe, just as it is stated in the word of Isaiah.
Thirdly, he confirms also the proposition: How shall they hear without a preacher? For hearing comes through the word of Christ.
Fourthly, the same interpretation applies to the saying: "How beautiful. . ." as we have sufficiently explained.
"What we have heard"26 here means "hearing"27 (i.e., the perception of the word heard), listening to its sound and voice. He says: "what we have heard," because only they received it. And he speaks of the gospel whose sound has gone forth throughout the world and that has been heard or is being heard. The meaning of the saying is then very clearly this: O Lord, who has believed what we now hear being spoken and preached throughout the world or what is now being heard. Now, it is not without reason that the apostle expresses himself in this way, for he could have said: Who has believed the gospel? inasmuch as he says in this passage: "They all do not obey the gospel." But he expresses himself here in the way he does in order to make plain that the word is of such a character that unless it is received by hearing and by faith, none can grasp it. At this the Jews were offended, for they strove after signs and wonders.
2« "Auditus" ("what we have heard"; "report").
27 "Axi&itio" ("hearing").
LUTHER: LECTURES ON ROMANS But I say: Has not Israel known? First, Moses says: I will provoke you to jealousy by that which is not a nation; by a foolish nation
/ will anger you. But Isaiah is bold, and says: I was found by them that did not seek me. I appeared openly to them that asked not after me. But to Israel he says: All the day long have I spread my hands to a people that believes not and contradicts me. (Rom.
These are words of grace, i.e., they are spoken in order to praise grace: God saves only sinners; he instructs only the foolish and the stupid; he enriches only the poor; he quickens only the dead; and, indeed, he saves, etc., not those who merely imagine and consider themselves to be sinners, etc., but those who really are such and acknowledge themselves as such. For it was really so that the heathen were not God's people and that they were a foolish nation, so that, being saved without any merits and effort of their own, they might acknowledge God's grace.
The proud, however, who trust in their own merits and wisdom, become angry and grumble when others, who do not deserve it, are given freely what they themselves have been seeking with so much zeal. In the Gospel, Christ speaks of this in parables with respect to the elder brother (Luke 15:28), who turned away from his prodigal brother and did not want to let him come in, and also with respect to those who, having received one shilling for a whole day, grumbled about it that the Lord made the last equal with the first (Matt. 20:11).
Now these are the ones who are "foolish." Instead of rejoicing in the salvation of others, they advance presumptuous claims in their own behalf. Thereby they show that they were not seeking
God for God's sake but for their own sake, namely, from self-love and from a desire for personal advantage (i.e., impurely). And then they even go so far as to be proud of this impurity and loathsomeness of theirs and are therefore twice as loathsome as those on account of whom they are offended. If they were really seeking
God, they would not be offended at the salvation of others, but they would rejoice in it; they would be very well pleased at seeing
God so well pleased, for we must love his good pleasure above everything.
It is, then, in opposition to their vain high estimation of their own merits that Isaiah is so bold as to say: I was found of them that sought me not, etc. (Isa. 65:1), i.e., I became known to them by my grace and not by anyone's effort and merits. Why, then, do you presume in your pride that your merits are so great that you must find me?
Of this sort was the hermit of whom the story is told28 that when he saw a robber being taken to heaven, he indignantly returned to the world. Of the same kind was that other hermit who said to a repentant robber as he expressed the wish that he might be like him: "That is fine! You can wish to be like me. But O that you werel" And he was damned. Of the same kind was also a certain nun who, as she lay on her deathbed, heard the people that stood about her speaking well of her. Then she began to compute with her fingers the day of her death on which her feast would be celebrated. It is true, then, that "whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled" (Matt. 23:12).
All this, therefore, is spoken, written, and done in order that the proud presumptuousness of men might be humbled and the grace of God commended so that "he that glories may glory not in his own race but in the mercy of the Lord" (I Cor. 1:31).
What will a proud man say, one who has accomplished much in his life, if God prefers some poor little woman and mother to him and says: Behold, she has served me only by bearing children,29 and I gladly prefer what she has done to all your great accomplishments! What will he say then? All works have only as much worth as God reckons them to have, and he can put much value on something that is very unimportant and very small, and he can reject what is very great and important. Shall we, then, not do the good? No. But we must do so with humility; then God will not reject it. Those people of today, therefore, are wonderfully strange fools as they pile up what they regard as many and grand good works in the belief that they are good because they cost them much labor and because they appear to be good to them. But all this is in vain. Only the works of humility are good works. And these people do not even know what humility is!
Who has believed our hearing? (Rom. 10:16.) The Scripture or rather its translator frequently uses "hearing" and "seeing" for "that which was heard" and "that which was seen," as we have stated in the Gloss.30 This is so, first, because that which is proclaimed is invisible and can be perceived only by hearing and believing, and, secondly, and more appropriately so,
28 This and the following story are to be found in Speculum exemplorum.
(Cf. Ficker, p. 427, n. 26.) 29 Cf. I Tim. 2:15, a passage frequently quoted by Augustine, e.g., De trin., 30 In the Gloss, Luther quotes several Scripture passages to prove his statement, e.g., Ezek. 7:26; Obad. 1:1; Ps. 16: 45; 110:7; Heb. 3:2; Isa. 1:1.
LUTHER! LECTURES ON ROMANS because the word of God is very good in itself but as it is spread to men it becomes something diverse, and, being itself without any variety, it must undergo variation.31 It is life to good men and death to evil ones; it is good to the good and evil to the evil.
Now, it is capable of this differentiation only in so far as it is preached and heard. The righteous wish to hear it. Filled with sorrow and amazement that the wicked do not listen to such a good word, they say: Who has believed what we have had heard?
In other words: Why do not also others believe that very good report32 which we hear and believe?
81 WA 56, 428, 18: "Verbum Dei in seipso est optimum, sed diffusum ad homines fit varium et patitur differentiam ipsum indifferens."