simply doesn't know12 that a person has been baptized, one is simply to baptize unconditionally, and as if that person never had been baptized.
These are the reasons [for our position]: A conditional baptism accomplishes nothing; it neither denies nor affirms anything; it neither gives nor takes away anything. Suppose someone is baptized conditionally;13 this person is afterwards forced to say: I am now as ignorant and uncertain whether I am baptized as I was before, and so are all who have baptized me. For if the first baptism was a valid one (a fact which has to be unknown, whether I like it or not), then the second baptism is nothing (because it is a conditional one). If the first baptism was not a valid one (and again, I am unable to know this), then the second baptism also is nothing because it is a matter of uncertainty and has to be considered a matter of uncertainty, so long as the first baptism is a matter of uncertainty. Because of the condition attached to the first baptism,14 which has been a matter of uncertainty, the validity of the second baptism, too, remains forever a matter of uncertainty.
It is better now that baptism be a matter of certainty, at least for the baptizers themselves, who afterwards could testify before the congregation.15 Therefore, in this case16 one sins more safely by rebaptizing, if one sins at all (which we don't believe), than by giving an uncertain baptism;17 this would definitely be wrong, because such a baptism is not a matter of certainty, but is something uncertain. Under these circumstances we then have a true and certain baptizing versus an uncertain baptizing. In this way we do not, however, thereby become raging Anabaptists. For they, as you know, publicly condemn the first certain baptism and do not want to call it a baptism [at all]. We, however, wish to leave that which is uncertain to its own fate, commend it to God's judgment, and administer a certain baptism. We believe we thus act correctly and safely.
Further, should someone baptize with a different formula, as you write,18 for instance, "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of St. Michael," etc., then we are certain that this is no baptism at all, not even a conditional one.
Regarding the principle19 of condition in the law concerning jealousy,20 that is another argument.21 For law and gospel are different matters. The gospel is God's promise, which must be a matter of certainty.
The law deals with our things and works, can be observed or not observed, and can easily be made subject to a condition. And finally, the law also reveals the hearts of men to us who know nothing. But the promise simply bestows upon us things of God, whether we know it or not, even though we definitely know that men are in need of God's things, while we do not know with certainty, however, whether men have sinned against the law.22
Since I am busy, I am writing this without order and in a hurry. Please sort it out and collect from this jungle23 the better thoughts.
I thank you for the oranges which you have presented to us. A small washbasin, together with a twoarm candelabrum, was enclosed closed [with your last shipment]. I do not know whether you have given them [to us, since] you said nothing about it.
Farewell, and pray for me.
Wittenberg, May 12, 1531 To Mrs. Margaret Luther1 [Wittenberg,] May 20, 1531 Having been informed by his brother lames that their mother is seriously ill, Luther writes this letter of spiritual counsel to her. Luther impresses upon his mother that her present illness is a sign of God's gracious chastisement, which is slight if compared with Christ's suffering. Taking John 16:33, and I Corinthians 15:54 f., as point of departure, Luther introduces the theme of Christ's victory over death and the devil, a victory which is pledged to the faithful through Word and sacraments, and which has to be affirmed especially now in the hour of illness, because it is the devil's purpose to make this victory uncertain. Consequently Luther encourages his mother to see in this illness an opportunity for gratefulness to God for his act of salvation in Christ, and for the fact that God has rescued her from the papistic darkness and brought her to the light of the gospel. In closing, Luther commends his mother to God's grace, and assures her of the prayers of his whole family.
- 10 On Margaret Luther, see LW 48, 329 f.2
Text in German: WA, Br 6, 103–106.
Grace and peace in Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior, Amen My dearly beloved3 Mother! I have received my brother James's4 letter concerning your illness. Of course this grieves me deeply, especially because I cannot be with you in person, as I certainly would like to be.
Yet I am coming to you personally through this letter, and I, together with all the members of my family, shall certainly not be absent from you in spirit.
I trust that you have long since been abundantly instructed, without any help from me, that (God be praised) you have taken [God's] comforting Word into [your heart], and that you are adequately provided with preachers and comforters. Nevertheless I shall do my part too and, according to my duty, acknowledge myself to be your child, and you to be my mother, as our common God and creator has made us and bound us to each other with mutual ties, so that I shall in this way increase the number of your comforters.
First, dear Mother, by God's grace you well know by now that this sickness of yours is [God's] fatherly, gracious chastisement.5 It is a quite small chastisement in comparison with that which he inflicts upon the godless, and sometimes even his own dear children, when one person is beheaded, another burned, a third drowned, and so on.6 And so all of us must sing: "For Thy sake we are being daily killed and regarded as sheep to be slaughtered."7 This sickness therefore should not distress or depress you. On the contrary, you should accept it with thankfulness as being sent by God's grace; [you should] recognize how slight a suffering it is—even if it be a sickness unto death—compared with the sufferings of his own dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who did not have to suffer on behalf of himself, as we have to do, but who suffered for us and for our sins.
Second, dear Mother, you also know the true center and foundation of your salvation from whom you are to seek comfort in this and all troubles, namely, Jesus Christ, the cornerstone.8 He will not waver or fail us, nor allow us to sink or perish, for he is the Savior and is called the Savior of all poor sinners, and of all who are caught in tribulation and death, and rely on him, and call on his name.
[Christ] says: "Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."9 If he has overcome the world, surely he has also overcome the sovereign of this world10 with all his power. But what else is [the devil's] power but death, by which he has made us subject to himself, [and] held us captives on account of our sin? But now that death and sin are overcome, we may joyfully and cheerfully listen to the sweet words: "Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." We certainly are not to doubt that these words are indeed true. More than that, we are commanded to accept this comfort with joy and thanksgiving. Whoever would be unwilling to be comforted by these words would do the greatest injustice and dishonor to the dear
Comforter, as if it were not true that he bids us to be of good cheer, or as if it were not true that he has overcome the world. [If we acted thus,] we would only restore within ourselves the tyranny of the vanquished devil, sin, and death, and oppose the dear Savior. From this may God preserve us.
Let us therefore now rejoice with all assurance and gladness, and should any thought of sin or death frighten us, let us in opposition to this lift up our hearts and say: "Behold, dear soul, what are you doing?
Dear death, dear sin, how is it that you are alive and terrify me? Do you not know that you have been overcome? Do you, death, not know that you are quite dead? Do you not know the One who says of you:
'I have overcome the world?' It does not behoove me either to listen to your terrifying suggestions, or heed them. Rather [I should listen] to the comforting words of my Savior: 'Be of good cheer, be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.' He is the victor, the true hero, who gives and appropriates to me his victory with this word: 'Be of good cheer!' I shall cling to him, and to his words and comfort I shall hold fast; regardless whether I remain here or go yonder, I shall live by [this word, for] he does not lie to me.
You would like to deceive me with your terrors, and with your lying thoughts you would like to tear me away from such a victor and savior. But they are lies, as surely as it is true that he has overcome you and commanded us to be comforted.
"Saint Paul also boasts likewise and defies the terrors of death: 'Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy victory? O hell, where is thy sting?'11 Like a wooden image of death, you can terrify and challenge, but you have no power to strangle. For your victory, sting, and power have been swallowed up in Christ's victory. You can show your teeth, but you cannot devour, for God has given us the victory over you through Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be praise and thanks. Amen."