and even the Holy Spirit, as is sufficiently testified by the beautiful and devout songs that have been made about it. I do not trust myself to express it. I most gladly hear you sing and speak of it, but as long as no joy is there, so long is faith still weak or even nonexistent, and you still do not believe the angel.
You can see what our papists and Junkers, who have chosen innumerable saviors, have felt about this faith. Indeed, the papists still want to retain the mass, the invocation of saints, and their invented works by which we are to be saved. This is as much as to say, I do not believe in the Savior and Lord whom Mary bore; and yet they sing the words of the angel, hold their triple masses [at Christmas] and play their organs. They speak the words with their tongues but their heart has another savior. And the same is true in the monasteries: if you want to be saved, remember to keep the rule and regulations of Francis4 and you will have a gracious God! And at the Diet of Augsburg they decided to stick to this. In the name of all the devils, let them stick there! It has been said sufficiently that this Savior lies in the manger. But if there is any other thing that saves me, then I rightly call it my savior. If the sun, moon, and stars save, I can call them saviors. If St. Bartholomew5 or St. Anthony6 or a pilgrimage to St. James7 or good works save, then they surely are my savior. If St. Francis, then he is my savior. But then what is left of the honor of the child who was born this day, whom the angel calls Lord and Savior, and who wants to keep his name, which is Savior and Christ the Lord. If I set up any savior except this child, no matter who or what it is or is called, then he is not the Savior. But the text says that he is the Savior. And if this is true—and it is the truth—then let everything else go.
One who hears the message of the angel and believes it will be filled with fear, like the shepherds.
True, it is too high for me to believe that I should come into this treasure without any merit on my part.
And yet, so it must be. In the papacy this message was not preached in the pulpit, and I am afraid that it will disappear again. It was the other message that the devil initiated and has allowed to remain in the papacy. All their hymns are to this effect. Among the Turks the devil has completely wiped it out.
Therefore, remember it, sing it, and learn it, while there is still time! I fear that the time will come when we shall not be allowed to hear, believe, and sing this message in public, and the time has already come when it is no longer understood; though Satan does allow it to be spoken with the mouth, as the papists do.
But when it comes to declaring that he is born for you, and to singing:
Now sing with hearts aglow!
Our delight and pleasure Like sunshine is our treasure —this he is unwilling to allow.
What we have said, then, has been about that second faith, which is not only to believe in Mary's Son, but rather that he who lies in the virgin's lap is our Savior, that you accept this and give thanks to God, who so loved you that he gave you a Savior who is yours. And for a sign he sent the angel from heaven to proclaim him, in order that nothing else should be preached except that this child is the Savior and far better than heaven and earth. Him, therefore, we should acknowledge and accept; confess him as our
Savior in every need, call upon him, and never doubt that he will save us from all misfortune. Amen.
Cor. 3:4–6, Preached on the Afternoon of August 27, 1531 Preached in the parish church in Wittenberg, this sermon on the bold and confident certainty of the true preacher is a bright picture of Luther himself as a preacher. The text is preserved in two sets of notes,
Rörer's and the Nürnberg Codex Solger, and the translation is based on these compared with Buchwald's reconstruction (op. cit., II, 457–463).
- 90 Text in macaronic Latin; WA 34II, 156–165.
This is the Epistle for today and it is our custom to preach on it, but I do not like to preach on this Epistle because it is not for the people who cannot follow it. However, in order not to disturb the order, I shall deal with it briefly.
This was the situation at the time alter Paul had preached at Corinth: When he turned his back, other preachers had come in his place, and everything he had planted they rooted out and did much better. But there were also some sincere hearts there, who remained in the doctrine which Paul had given them, though many defected. And yet they were few and therefore the sectarians entered in force, as we read in the First Epistle. This is what happened to Paul, and in the very church where he himself had preached and installed preachers. It grieved him and it was a rotten business, for he did not know what to do. If he kept silent, this would not be good; if he said nothing concerning his office, it would be regrettable; if he were to praise himself, it would not sound well. Meanwhile the godless went on extolling themselves. This is the general meaning of what he outlines in this chapter: he lauds himself but yet does not laud himself and then lashes out and gives the false apostles a slap. In short, the office of preaching is an arduous office, especially when it is like what Paul encountered here. I have often said that, if I could come down with good conscience, I would rather be stretched upon a wheel or carry stones than preach one sermon. For anyone who is in this office will always be plagued; and therefore I have often said that the damned devil and not a good man should be a preacher. But we're stuck with it now. Our Lord God was a better man than we are. And so it was with Jeremiah [Jer. 20:14–18]. If I had known I would not have let myself be drawn into it with twenty-four horses. Ingratitude is our reward; and after that we still have to bother ourselves with the sectarians and give an account to God on the last day. And for this we have let the peasants and the noblemen starve us until we feel like turning in our key and saying, "Go, preach yourselves, in the name of all the devils!"
So Paul here hardly knows what to do. "Do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? You yourselves are our letter of recommendation" [II Cor. 3:1–2]. His words are kindly for the sake of the devout, who have the gospel in their hearts and have not been defected, not for those who are evangelical in name but are devils nevertheless. But he says, "Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God" [II Cor. 3:4]. And that we can set down and let stand. If I can't convert the whole crowd, then I'll gain one or two. This is our confidence: when we have preached, it will not have been in vain. If the townsmen, peasants, and the big fellows don't want it, let them leave it; let them go; they will see for themselves that they will regret it. And then there are some who always know better, like the sectarians and our young noblemen, who can handle it better than we can. But when it comes to a showdown, they turn out to be scamps and traitors. The townsmen, the fellows who, when they have read one book are hall of the Holy Spirit, are the worst. If I were to follow my own impulse I would say, "Let the damned devil be your preacher!" So I have often thought, but I cannot bring myself to do it. But then confidence returns and we say, let happen what may, we still have our confidence through Christ.
"Not that we are sufficient of ourselves" [II Cor. 3:5]. We have something else in which we put our confidence and that's the end of it. I cannot boast of anything higher except that I am preaching by God's command and will; it is his will and I know that it is not fruitless. Nevertheless, it is disgusting for me to have to look at the pope, the sectarians, and our own people chewing up the gospel. But we must shut our eyes and look to Him and remember that I did not invent this Word of God and this office. It is God's
Word, God's work, his office. There we two [i.e., God and I] are at one in the cause. It didn't grow in my garden. If he that is above is pleased, what can the world do to me? And I lump them all together: the wise, the powerful, and the hypocrites. It is our confidence, no matter how much the world may boast, that God has qualified us to be ministers, and, secondly, that it is not only pleasing to the heart of God but also that we shall not preach in vain and that this ministry will lift to heaven some few who receive the Word.
So Paul comforted himself, since he was having the same trouble that we are. All of Asia defected from Paul to the false apostles, as most of Germany now. What should he do? Should he fall into desperation and disputation as to whether God had really sent him? No, he says, "Fall away who will, be wise who will, we have confidence through Christ toward God." But quickly he turns and says, "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves." Before he says, "Such confidence have we," he says, "It has pleased God to call me to the ministry. I have taught the Corinthians rightly and God sent me and qualified me. But they do not consider me qualified. Therefore we have confidence that God has qualified us. If he does so, that's all
- 91 that matters. If the world does not consider us qualified, so be it!" So Paul lays about him. "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves." As if he were saying: This is what the others, the noblemen, are doing; they qualify themselves, just like my little squires, the dunces who do not even have one little spark of faith and haven't even begun with works. We can't do things right for them; they can do much better, these fellows who know nothing and yet dispute our preaching. And it is true, when they come to make a speech they can talk a lot, but when you examine it by daylight it's nothing but chaff. So they are sufficient of themselves. And Paul says: These godless people, whom God did not send and who are not qualified by God and do not have the Holy Spirit, are self-qualified and what they preach, they think is right. So he gives them a slap. The truth is that no matter how learned a man may be, if he has no sure call and does not rightly teach the Scriptures, he may talk as he will but there is nothing behind it. And the same is true of those who want to judge others; if they understand a single word, then the devil take me!
So there you have two kinds of preachers. First those who qualify themselves and preach whatever they please. But Paul says: Such we do not want to be. We are not sufficient of ourselves, but God has made us suffcient, so that we know what the whole world does not know. So poor Paul is obliged to praise himself and rebuke others, even though it is courteously spoken. They speak as they please. That is politely said but nevertheless it is a rough slap. And this is high praise to say, God has qualified me; nor can I be censured by those who say God does not praise me and has not qualified me. Therefore anybody who wants to be a preacher, and especially one who is going to fight the battle, must learn this. We shall have these two kinds, Mr. Wiseacre and the good preachers, if not here, then outside. If they dared to do it, they would stop my mouth and that of all the learned men here. So it's a rotten office to have to deal with these people, not to speak of having to suffer such physical misery and give an accounting on the last day, that a man would rather be a swineherd. But this is our consolation, I can boast to them: if it pleases God, good enough; if it does not please him, let it fall. I wouldn't risk a hair of my head to uphold my office.
But if it pleases God, I'd like to see the fellow who would knock it down.
"Our sufficiency is from God" [II Cor. 3:5]. What Paul means is that whatever good we do in preaching is done by God; when we preach it is God's work if it has power and accomplishes something among men. Therefore if I am a good preacher who does some good, it isn't necessary for me to boast. It's not my mind, my wisdom, my ability. Otherwise at this hour all of you would be converted and the godless would be damned and all the wiseacres, anti-sacramentalists, sectarians, and Anabaptists who say,
"The gospel in Wittenberg is nothing, because it does not make people holy," would be checked. Let Paul give the answer here! "If I were the one who could make people holy, I would begin with myself and make everybody else holy. I do not ascribe this to myself but to God. If my ministry is profitable, I ascribe it to God. If it produces fruit, I do not glory in myself; this is not my work, but the mercy of God, who has used me as his instrument. This the false scholars, wiseacres, and fanatics cannot do." These are real blows, thunder and lightning hurled against the false apostles, who also were boasting that they would make the people holy and who today are saying, "A good beginning has been made but we're going to do better." But the answer to that is that what we have done was done by God. If anybody can do it better, then by God's grace I have the humility to say: If somebody else can do better, we will follow him. There are many who want to do it, but how many are able? I would help to pay him myself, if there were such a person. I know what preaching is.
"Who has qualified us to be ministers of a new covenant, not in a written code but in the Spirit; for the written code kills, but the Spirit gives life" [II Cor. 3:6]. These are all words of attack and they are all aimed at vile preaching. We know nothing; you know everything, as he says in I Cor. 4 [:10], "We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ." If I say, I am more learned than you, I am a proud dunce. If I humble myself, then nobody will want to learn from me. Therefore I say, I am utterly nothing,
God knows it. But when I accomplish anything through God, I do it not for the sake of the crowd but to commend our office, that is, good luck to you,1 but we still preach better than you; we preach the New
Testament. Here he sets up a mark for them. Emulate me in this! You are preachers and learned men. We know the New Testament and preach it; you preach the Old Testament.
"Not in a written code but in the Spirit." These are Pauline words. You have heard that Paul exalted his office over against those who have put themselves forward and gloried in its fruits over against the sectarians. Now he also glories in the doctrine. And this is the controversy: We preach the Spirit and the New Testament, you the letter and the Old Testament. None of you preach the Spirit and no wiseacre
- 92 teaches the New Testament; you all preach the letter and the Old Testament, that is, the law. Nobody preaches the New Testament except those whom God has qualified. In all the apostles who taught at that time you can see how they fought against the false apostles who taught the Old Testament. And look at the Anabaptists today. When they rise up they say, We must follow Christs example, leave wife and child.
That has a fine shine on it, but if you examine it you see that this is only preaching about what I should do.
Likewise the anti-sacramental fanatics will not admit that there is forgiveness of sins in the sacrament and insist that it is only a work. The pope, too, says the mass is a good work One who makes himself wise can never preach the New Testament, no matter how he preaches. In short, it is impossible for a sectarian to preach the New Testament. Therefore we can boast that we have not only the ministry and the fruits which proceed from it but also the doctrine; for I know that nobody except us proclaims this doctrine. They do not know what the New Testament is. Even though they talk about it they still run out into juridical legalism. They preach what magistrates and kings should be preaching. But Paul calls all this the "letter" which "kills." All doctrine which does not preach the New Testament, the Spirit, he calls the "letter." Ah, dear Paul, you are a vexing preacher when you hurl back these fellows and say that when they preach long sermons it still is nothing but words in a man's mouth and letters in a book. All their blabbering is like a letter in a book; it produces nothing. He who lacks the New Testament loves not God, believes not, hears and teaches not God's Word, and there is nothing there but what is written in a book. It is letter and remains letter, it produces nothing, and a man remains an angry, envious man, a thief, rascal, backbiter, adulterer. That's what it means to preach the letter, which teaches nothing more than what I should do.
Then I and the preacher have nothing but letters and a book has just as many of them as we do. It lies like a dead letter in the heart, but I do not accept it for myself; it is a dead letter in a book. Therefore where the only preaching is, "Do this," it remains only a letter. So Paul is against the false apostles who disparaged and reviled him. He could not please anybody. In short, they preach the letter, but they themselves neither hear nor perform what they preach, they remain without God and with the Spirit. Hence there is no fear, no faith, no obedience to God, no chaste hearts, no humility.
Therefore we preach something better: the Spirit and the New Testament, which is that Jesus Christ has come for your sake and taken your sins upon himself. There you hear, not what you should do, but what God is doing through Christ, which means, of course, that he works faith and bestows the Holy
Spirit. This is what it means to preach the New Testament and the Holy Spirit. But nobody who wants to make people good through laws is practicing this preaching. That's Moses' and the hangman's business.
Otherwise all people would long since have been good; for I preach daily that you should be good and not steal, but the more you hear it the worse you become; you remain the same rascals you were before.
Therefore it remains merely letter. When the hangman comes he can chop off a finger, but the heart remains a rogue. I don't want to talk in subtleties about the law and how it frightens people, but only crassly. We have the confidence to say that we preach rightly, that we are sufficient and the fruit follows, that our doctrine is true, and that our ministry is pleasing to God. If we have these three things, then I who preach and you who hear have enough. If the vulgar crowd departs, what is that to me? I might well be angry on account of ingratitude and the fanatics, but I must let it be, as Paul did. If it does not please the world, it is enough that it pleases God. If it does not produce fruit in all, it is enough that it produces fruit in some. If the doctrine be true, let those who preach falsely go. There I can defend myself against spite and vexation. But that I should wish to stop their mouths and persuade the people not to despise me and to be grateful, this confidence we must not have. God is my Lord, the world is my enemy. The fruit will come and the third2 will come too. So in the fourth chapter also, Paul comforts himself and his followers, admonishing them not to be offended when it appears that our doctrine is lost, if only it please the One who is above.
Elector John of Saxony died on August 15, 1532 and the funeral was held in the Castle Church at 7 a.m. on Sunday, August 18, with Luther preaching the sermon. At the request of the new Elector John
Frederick, he preached again in the Castle Church at 9 a.m. on the following Thursday, continuing his treatment of the same text. Two versions of these sermons are given in the Weimar edition: Rörer's transcript and the printed version of 1532 (probably prepared on the basis of Rörer's stenographic notes
- 93 by an unknown person). The present translation is based on the printed version compared with Rörer's text.
Text in German; WA 36, 237–270.
Thess. 4:13–14, August 18, 1532 My dear friends, since this misfortune has happened to our beloved sovereign prince, and the habit and custom of holding masses for the dead and funeral processions when they are buried has ceased, we nevertheless do not wish to allow this service of worship to be omitted, in order that we may preach God's
Word to the praise of God and the betterment of the people. For we must deal with the subject and also do what is right on this occasion, since the Lord our God has again1 taken unto himself and graciously summoned our beloved head. Therefore we shall take as our text what St. Paul says to the Thessalonians in the fourth chapter:
"But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep" [I Thess. 4:13–14].
So much we shall take up for now, in order that I may not overburden myself and you. You know that the greatest divine service is the preaching [of the Word of God], and not only the greatest divine service, but also the best we can have in every situation; but especially on these solemn occasions of sorrow [there is nothing better we can do than to preach]. Now St. Paul writes to the Thessalonians that they are not to sorrow as others do who have no hope. For there were some pagans who held that it was a manly virtue not to grieve or weep when a good and loved friend died, just as in our times the sectarians began to try and make sticks and stones of us by alleging that one must eliminate the creature altogether and not accept anything that is natural; even though father, mother, son, daughter, [or prince] should die, one must simply go on with dry eyes and a serene heart. Thus these heathens were trying to re-establish virtue. But at bottom it is an artificial virtue and a fabricated strength, which God did not create and also does not please him at all. And the reason is that such a hard heart, which is not softened when a good friend dies, shows that he never did have any real liking or love for him, or he wants to be a hypocrite and appear to be so firm before men that they will praise him and say: Ah, there's a man who has a firm hold on himself!
This fabricated sectarian and heathen virtue we condemn and say that it is not right. For not only examples from the holy fathers but also the Word of God in the Scriptures declare that it is right and fitting, even godly, to mourn a good friend who has died, as Paul himself indicates in these words which he utters at the end of this chapter: "Therefore comfort one another" [I Thess. 4:18]. If one is to comfort oneself, then there must have been sorrow, grief, and mourning. Now obviously those to whom Paul is here writing were Christian people, who were pleasing to God and possessed of the Holy Spirit, and yet Paul does not disapprove of their grief but only that it must be Christian and in moderation.
Since this is so, why should not we too properly mourn and grieve because our head, the beloved sovereign, lies here dead? For the steadfast man is not the one who thinks himself so strong that he refuses to be touched when a good friend has slipped away; rather the Christian is one who is hurt but yet endures it in such a way that the spirit rules the flesh. For God has not created man to be a stick or a stone. He has given him five senses and a heart of flesh in order that he may love his friends, be angry with his enemies, and to lament and grieve when his dear friends suffer evil. Thus St. Paul also says in Phil. 2 [:27] that his heart was grieved for his servant Epaphroditus and that God had had mercy not only on Epaphroditus but on him and permitted him to be restored, lest he should have sorrow upon sorrow. Christ also was deeply moved at the death of Lazarus in John 11 [:33]. These and similar examples are far more sure and better than this unprofitable chatter which would make sticks and stones of us and forbid us to weep or sorrow over the deceased.
Let this suffice as a preface and introduction to this sermon. Now let us listen to the text as it comforts us. This is what the beloved Paul says:
"But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope" [I Thess. 4:13].
Here St. Paul puts in some good sugar, mixing the bitterness which is here with sweetness, and saying:
You are sorrowful and grieving over those who have died. It is true that it hurts to lose a good friend. I do - 94 not reproach you for this; I praise it, for it is a sign that these are good hearts which are thus concerned about the deceased. But you must discriminate between your death and the death of the heathen, between your sorrow and that of the heathen. They have no hope after this life, but you know that you do not die but only fall asleep. For "since we believe," he goes on, "that Jesus died and rose again" [I Thess. 4:14], it is also certain that God will bring with him those who have died in Christ and will not let them simply remain where we think they remain, but will bring them to himself.
Note particularly that he does not say: Since you believe that Christ fell asleep. He rather speaks more sternly of Christ's death than ours and says: Since we believe that Christ died. But of us he says that we do not die, but only fall asleep. He calls our death not a death, but a sleep, and Christ's death he calls a real death. Thus he attributes to the death of Christ such exceeding power that by comparison we should consider our death a sleep. For this is the right way to give comfort, to take the death which we suffer as far as possible from our eyes, at least according to the spirit, and look straight at the death of Christ.
Therefore St. Paul in these words is saying: Why do you think so much about your death? Look at him who is really dead, compared with whom all the other dead are as nothing. They did not die, but he died.
Therefore, if we are going to grieve, we should also grieve over Christ's death. That was a real death, not only in itself, because it was so bitter, ignominious, and grandiose, but also because it is so potent that it has baptized all the other dead, so that now they are called, not dead, but sleepers. And this is true, for we see in the Passion that Christ died as no one else dies or ever will die.
Therefore, says St. Paul, if you are assailed by sorrow and grief on account of your good friends whom you have lost, then look to this death and mingle, yea, cover with the death of Christ all other human deaths, and so magnify this death that other deaths are only a sleep compared with it. If this is true, why should we sorrow much over the death of others or even our own death and burial? After all, it is only a man that dies, and not even the whole man, but only a part, the body, but here is God's Son himself, here the Lord of creation dies. My death and your death will not have the bitterness which Christ's death had because he is immeasurably different from all other dead, in himself and by reason of his person.
Thus St. Paul is trying to turn us around and draw us into the death of Christ, that we may see how immeasurably great it is, in order that when your heart is grieved over a good friend who has died you may learn to say: Here you are grieving so much over your friend, who would have to die some day anyhow; why don't you also grieve over this death? Why aren't you also weeping and lamenting over Christ your Lord, whose death was so much greater and more horrible than that of all other men? As the beloved apostles [cf. Luke 24:17–24] had to do when they were present at his passing and also thought he would remain dead; as we think when we judge according to our five senses. No better comfort can be found than to contemplate this death and see how mighty and glorious it has become and how it has devoured all other deaths, so that, by comparison, this death is the most grievous and cruel of all.
Therefore he goes on to say:
"For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep" [I Thess. 4:14].
It is as if he were saying: Be of good courage and cheer up, for if this is true there is no need to sorrow over those who have fallen asleep. The only important thing here is that we lay hold of this article that Christ died and rose again, when we are in distress and there is sorrow and grief. Just as now, when our sovereign prince, our beloved lord and father has fallen, under whose protection we have lived in peace till now and from whose hands we have eaten our dear bread, and now there will be another ruler and government, and nobody knows how it will turn out. The only one who knows is God, who has now taken from us our head and has not revealed what he proposes to do with us henceforth. Therefore in this case we may well be afraid and distressed; although I do not doubt that there are some among you who are not particularly concerned about it and think that it is an easy matter to take hold of government. But changing and improving are two different things. Changing the government we will leave to men, but improving it is in God's hands alone.
Now, because all this is so, the best consolation is to say with St. Paul: Beloved, look not at this dead body; you have something higher and better to contemplate, namely, the death and resurrection of Jesus
Christ. If you gaze steadfastly at this mirror and image, at Christ the Lord, who died and rose again, you will see where you will go and where those will go who have not fallen asleep in Christ, namely, that God intends to bring with him you and all others who have been baptized and have fallen asleep in Christ,
- 95 because he has wrapped them in Christ's death and included them in his resurrection and does not intend to leave them lying under the ground, even though for our reason and five senses there is no reason why this should be so, in order that faith may find room and we learn to trust God even in that which we do not see.
Therefore, even though it is hard, we must learn to look at the death of Christ, through which our death is destroyed, and even though it seems otherwise to our eyes, the Holy Spirit nevertheless mingles this sour vinegar with honey and sugar, that our faith may soar up to God and learn to see the dead, not lying in the grave and coffin, but in Christ. When you see him there, then the dead body is no longer in the coffin. Even though the carcass be foul and stinking it makes no difference; turn your eyes and nose and all five senses away and remember what St. Paul says in the fifteenth chapter of I Corinthians [I Cor.
15:42–50]: One buries the body in all dishonor; this is true, but don't look at that, for it will rise again in all glory. It is buried and sown as something perishable and it will rise up imperishable. It is sown in weakness and will rise in power. It is sown a natural body and will rise a spiritual body, etc. Thus he is constantly taming our hearts, because he cannot turn our eyes, away from that which the eyes see to that which God is saying and to Christ, so that we may have no doubt that he will bring us with Christ. So anyone who can believe this will have good comfort in his own death and the death of other people.
Since St. Paul so extols the dead, as you have heard, we ought to thank God unceasingly for his grace in also including our beloved elector in the death of Christ and embracing him in his resurrection. For you know what a death he suffered in Augsburg at the Diet.2 I shall not praise him now for his great virtues, but rather let him remain a sinner like all the rest of us, who also purpose to go to the judgment and hand over to our Lord God many a grievous sin, as we too hold steadfast to that article which is called "the forgiveness of sins." Therefore I am not going to make out that our beloved lord was altogether pure, though he was a very devout, kindly man, free of all guile, in whom never in my lifetime have I seen the slightest pride, anger, or envy, who was able to bear and forgive all things readily and was more than mild.
I shall say no more of this virtue now.
If along with this he sometimes failed in government, what can be said against that? A prince is also a human being and always has ten devils around him where another man has only one, so that God must give him special guidance and set his angels about him. When we see them sometimes make a false step in government we are quick to say, Ah, I would have done so and so, but if we were to govern we would probably drive the cart into the mire or even turn it upside down. So nobody can do right as far as we are concerned, and if we look at ourselves we have never yet been right. All this we shall pass over now and we shall stick to praising him, as St. Paul praises his Christians, saying that God will bring with him those who are in Christ, and we shall not look upon him according to his temporal death, but according to Christ's death and his spiritual death, which he died in accord with Christ.
For you all know how, following Christ, he died two years ago in Augsburg and suffered the real death,3 not only for himself, but for us all, when he was obliged to swallow all kinds of bitter broth and venom which the devil had poured out for him. This is the real, horrible death, when the devil wears a man down. There our beloved elector openly confessed Christ's death and resurrection before the whole world and he stuck to it, staking his land and people, indeed his own body and life, upon it. There can be no doubt that he felt this death and its severity in his heart. And since this confession is publicly known we are ready to praise him for it as a Christian. If along with this there should be something lacking in his personal life [in government], we shall let this pass, for we will not consider such insignificant sins in such a great person, but rather, over against this, praise the fact that he confessed Christ's death and resurrection, by which He swallowed up death and hell and all sins, and remained steadfast in this confession. This covers and swallows up the multitude of sins as the great ocean swallows a spark of fire.
Therefore all other sins are as nothing compared with this one thing, that Christ's death and resurrection be not denied, but openly confessed.
We should therefore take comfort in the fact that Christ died and our beloved prince is caught up and fallen asleep in Christ's death and that he suffered a far more bitter death at Augsburg than now, a death which we are still obliged to suffer daily and incessantly from the tyrants and sectarians, and, indeed, also from our own conscience and the devil. This is the real death. The other physical death, when we pass away in bed, is only a childish death [Kindersterben] or an animal death. The other, however, is the real, manly death, which still faces us, the death in which we would rather risk our neck, if this were possible,
- 96 before we would deny the man who is called Jesus Christ. This may be called a manly, real death, and St.
Paul also speaks of it in the eleventh chapter of I Corinthians [I Cor. 15:31]: "I protest, brethren, by my pride in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day!" The other death is only when the reason and the five senses die, the eyes no longer see, the ears do not hear, and the hands no longer feel, etc. So a cow also dies; it is only an outward dying away of the body, the poor bag [of worms];4 it is only a childish death compared with the other death.
As far as that death is concerned, our beloved prince has now passed away and one could feel that it was only a childish death; for our Lord God had so caught him up in His death that he suffered no buffering at all nor disputed much with the devil, as some do, who fall into despair over the grievous thought of sin, the last judgment, hell, and the like, which the devil inspires in them, and labor over it so that the cold sweat breaks out and they are almost paralyzed. This is a real death, not a baby death. But when it happens, as it did with our beloved prince, that the body merely lies upon the bed and there is no fright and trembling, because he was called into Christ's kingdom through baptism and afterwards openly confessed Christ and listened with all diligence and his whole heart to God's Word, and thus only the five sense died away—then this is the least of death and only half of death, when a man struggles only with physical death, even though we untempted folk think it the greatest. [It is not the real death, which one should struggle with in the heart.]
Therefore, the person whom God takes away in such a way that he does not feel the posioned darts of the devil dies truly and well. So God took this man away. There was nothing there, as I saw it, except a real childish death. Our dear Lord God was thinking: The good prince has already gone through his real death at Augsburg; therefore I have included him in my death and henceforth he shall nevermore die, except physically. So that he passed away as in a sleep, as children and irrational animals die, except that animals have no hope of another life. Therefore it is a comforting death when a person dies so gently, his five senses simply dying away, if only the person looks upon it rightly; when he passes on so wrapped in our Lord Christ's suffering that our Lord God says: I will allow the devil to destroy you only physieally; therefore do not look so steadily at your death, but look at the faet that my Son died for you and the faet that you have already been spiritually killed. So now I will send death to you only in the sense that you will die as far as your five senses are concerned, as in a sleep.
For this reason we shall reckon our beloved sovereign among those who sleep in Jesus Christ, but especially because he did not depart from the confession of the death and resurrection of Christ, but suffered all manner of injury and affront for it. We therefore are not going to make him a living saint. If some sin crept in,5 let it go, we shall let him remain a human being, but will so cloak it over that the devil will not see such small sins and emphasize the great works which the angels in heaven will extol. For what can the devil bring up against his personal righteousness, since Christ is standing there alongside him and for him with His death and resurrection, which is more than the sin of the whole world?
It is my hope that we too shall die this way and carry with us to heaven a poor sinner, if only we hold on to this cloak and wrap ourselves in the death of the Son of God and cover and veil ourselves with his resurrection. If we stand firmly upon this and never depart from it, then our righteousness will be so great that all our sins, no matter what they are, will be as a tiny spark and our righteousness as a great ocean, and our death will be far less than a sleep and a dream. Moreover, the shame of our being buried so nastily is covered with a dignity which is called the resurrection of Jesus Christ, by which it is so adorned that the sun is put to shame when it looks upon it and the beloved angels cannot gaze upon it sufficiently. We are graced and adorned with such beauty that all the other uncleanness of our poor body, such as death and the like, are as nothing.
Hence, one must look upon a Christian death with different eyes, not the way a cow stares at a new gate, and smells it in a different way, not as a cow sniffs grass, by learning to speak and think of it as the Scriptures do and not considering deceased Christians to be dead and buried people. To the five senses that is the way it appears. As far as they can lead us, it brings only woe. Therefore go beyond them and listen to what St. Paul says here, that they are sleeping in Christ and God will bring them with Christ [as he brought with him the Savior, the devourer of death, the destroyer of the devil]. Learn to comfort yourselves with these words and instil in your hearts the fact that it is far more certain that Duke John of Saxony will come out of the grave and be far more splendid than the sun is now [cf. Dan. 12:3; Isa. 60:19] than that he is lying here before our eyes. This is not so certain as the fact that he will live again and go
- 97 forth with Christ because God cannot lie. But take it to heart! For he who does not have this comfort can neither comfort himself nor be happy, but the more the Word escapes him the more the consolation also escapes him.
Therefore, let us comfort ourselves now in this sorrow with the fact that we know with certainty that he will rise again with Christ. For here the words of Christ stood sure: "Every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father" [Matt. 10:32]. Otherwise, if that Man had not ascended into heaven, we could have little hope indeed.
But when some keep coming with the law and arguing: Now my dear, who knows whether God will consider you to be good? This is the dismal devil himself, who is always pointing us to personal righteousness,6 how good I am and how bad I am; for his whole skill consists in using this image of our goodness to snatch from our eyes the image of the Man who died and rose again. Therefore, it was a very good thing that happened with our prince, that he was not drawn into this disputation,7 otherwise the devil would doubtless have assailed him: Listen to me; how have you lived, how have you reigned? and so on; and would have presented him with a record which would have terrified him and subjected him to a hard struggle. This is the devil's strategy and he often hies it on me. He asks me how good and how evil I am, and, what is more, he makes a very masterful use of the Scriptures and the law. You must do this and that.
You must be good and keep the law. But you have not kept it? How are you going to get out of that?
And with that thought he brings one into such anxiety that one is ready to despair. And again when occasionally I have done something good, he is nevertheless able to turn it around in such a way that my holiness is reduced to nothingness. Then I make haste to seize hold of the article of the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ, who died and rose again for my sins [el. I Cor. 15:31]; and this is precisely what he does not want to let into my heart. But what does go into the heart is that I have done this and not done that, that I have given alms, been good, etc., just as I can say of our beloved prince that he had a faithful heart, devoid of malice and envy.
But by all means take care not to let anybody persuade you of this on your deathbed; for then the devil is not far away; he can throw in your face a little sin which reduces all such fine virtues to nothing, so that finally you come to such a pass that you say: Devil, rage as much as you please, I do not boast of my good works and virtues before our Lord God at all, nor shall I despair on account of my sins, but I comfort myself with the fact that Jesus Christ died and rose again, as the text here says.
Lo, when I believe this with my whole heart, then I have the greatest treasure, namely, the death of Christ and the power which it has wrought, and I am more concerned with that than with what I have done. Therefore, devil, begone with both my righteousness and my sin. If I have committed some sin, go eat the dung; it's yours. I'm not worrying about it, for Jesus Christ died. St. Paul bids me comfort myself with this, that I may learn to defend myself from the devil and say: Even though I have sinned, it doesn't matter; I will not argue with you about what evil or good I have done. There is no time to talk of that now; go away and do it some other time when I have been a bad boy, or go to the impenitent and scare them all you please. But with me, who have already been through the anguish and throes of death, you'll find no place now. This is not the time for arguing, but for comforting myself with the words that Jesus Christ died and rose for me. Thus I am sure that God will bring me, along with other Christians, with Christ to his right hand and carry me through death and hell. Therefore, they should not be called dead people but sleeping and henceforth death should not be called death but a sleep, and such a deep sleep that one will not even dream; as without doubt our beloved lord and prince lies in a sweet sleep and has become one of the holy sleepers. And all this, not because he was a mild, merciful, kindly master, but because he confessed Christ's death and clung to it and stuck to it.
This, then, is the devil's real strategy, as I have said, to tear us away from this comfort and meanwhile lead us into an argument about how good we are. On the other hand you have now heard that you should tell him to go to those who have such thoughts, who care nothing for Christ's suffering and death and live their lives away in reveling and let him argue with them. But this he will not do, he's got them already, they are already his. Therefore he also wants these others, the discouraged, timid, and terrified consciences. The others he has because they go on living in insolence and security and without any fear of God. These he tries to get through despondence and despair. But you must learn to say: Devil, you're coming at the wrong time. No devil is going to argue with me now, but rather I shall talk with my Lord
- 98 Jesus Christ, that I may learn that he suffered for me and died and rose again for my sins, and that God will bring me with him on the last day.
And for a sign of all this I have his dear baptism, his gospel, his Word and sacraments, to which I have been called and which I have confessed before the whole world. These seals and letters cannot fail me, any more than God himself can fail me. If some few sins should occur, such as living and doing wrongly, these nevertheless will not count, in order that Christ's death and resurrection may be prized beyond my sin and the sin of the whole world. Speak out freely and say: No matter how much sin I have committed, even more than ten worlds can commit, I still know that Christ's death and resurrection is far greater.
Swiftly fling out that defiance and boast, not of yourself or your righteousness, but of the fact that Jesus Christ died and rose again for you. If you believe this, then be bold and assured that he will bring you with Christ, and as you have heard that Christ is risen, so you too will rise again.
You see, dear friends, this is the meaning of this text [which I have wanted to speak on this morning]: that we should sorrow over our beloved ruler according to the outward man. For who knows why our dear
Lord God has taken him away? You know that we are all wicked, ungrateful villains and that the people, young and old, are so utterly wanton that there is no longer any discipline or fear. If now our Lord God so manifests himself and takes away the head, not even sparing a prince, he is surely giving you to understand that this means you. Therefore humble yourself and improve your life, that you, like him, may be among those who suffer and die with Christ. I hope that there are many of you who have died and suffered as my ruler did at Augsburg, for then you too will attain to such a gentle death that it will come as softly and easily as sleep. This will be the end of all who believe in the death and resurrection of Christ and confess the same; they will finally rise with him and be brought with Christ. May God grant this to us.
Second Sermon at the Funeral of the Elector, Duke John of Saxony, I Thess. 4:13–18, August 22, 1532 Since we are still in the week of mourning and have begun to comfort ourselves with God's Word from St. Paul's Epistle, we shall now speak somewhat further about it for further comfort and expound the chosen text fully.
In the first part of this Epistle of St. Paul we have heard how he admonishes and comforts the Christians, telling them that they should not act so dreadfully by weeping and wailing over the deceased, but rather show that there is a difference between those who have no hope, that is, the unbelievers and pagans, and us, who believe in Christ and have far different minds, hearts, and thoughts from theirs. For a Christian should be a new creature or a newly created work of God, who in all things speaks and thinks and judges differently from the way the world speaks or judges. And because he is a new man, everything here in this life should and must become new through faith, as it will become new in the life to come through manifest revelation itself. Now the world cannot do anything else but think of death according to its ancient custom and nature, that it is the most abominable and horrible thing on earth, the end of life and all joy, just as it also follows that ancient delusion in looking upon all other misery and misfortune as something which is evil and intolerable, from which it should flee, and when it happens, it is terrified and is ready to give up in despair.
But a Christian, on the contrary, as a new man, should be so constituted that he can have far different, even completely opposite thoughts and, as St. Paul says in Rom. 5 [:3], can even boast and glory and rejoice when things go wrong, and his heart should seize only upon such thoughts as that he possesses great wealth when he is poor, that he is a mighty prince and lord when he lies in prison and superlatively strong when he is weak and sick, and that he is floating in honors when he is being covered with shame and ignominy. He should know that he only becomes a new, living man when he dies here and now; in short, he must gain a completely new heart and mind and thereby make all things on earth new, and thus begin here a prelude to the life to come, when all things will become as new, manifestly and visibly, as he now imagines and conceives them by faith according to his new nature.
And all this, not in us, but in Christ, as St. Paul here shows us; for he alone accomplished the deed of having all things new already in this manifest and visible life and, as St. Paul says in Rom. 6 [:9], will never die again and death has no power or dominion over him, but rather everything that it was able to do, even physically, was stripped away, so that it was no longer able to bind, or imprison or torment him with - 99 hunger, thirst, and wounds. In short, death lost all its venom, cords, spear, sword, and whatever evil it possesses to Christ. In this Man we too should allow ourselves to think even now that all things have become new and accustom ourselves to the strong thoughts of faith, keeping ever before our eyes the beloved image of the dead and risen Christ and carrying it with us against the old nature, which still assails and confronts us and tries to frighten us with misery, distress, misfortune, poverty, death, and whatever else there may be.
You see why the Apostle uses these particular words: you should be different from the other people, who have no hope, simply because you believe that Christ rose from the dead and that through him death has been conquered. It is as if he were saying: In this way you have become people who are altogether different from what you were as you came from your father and mother and earthly being. Since you have been baptized in His name, as well as into His nature and kingdom, death and resurrection, you must remember that your whole attitude toward those things of which the world is terrified should be different, and that you should have eyes, ears, senses, and thoughts which are different from those you had before from Adam, when you were frightened and sorrowful, as those who had no hope. But now you no longer act this way, but think and speak just the opposite, confident that, because he has overcome death, he will also snatch us from death and bring us with him. For he rose again in order that he take us with him out of death into life and eternal glory [cf. Eph. 2:6].
This, after all, is what had to be done by the dear patriarchs, who had not yet seen the work and image of Christ's rising from the dead which has been presented to us, but saw it only in faith and from afar, as through dark blue clouds, whereas for us the clear, bright sun is shining. Nevertheless, they had to depend on Christ, who was still far away, and also soar up to the comforting thought that through his resurrection they too would rise up from death and live with him. That is why they sang such comforting songs:
"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints" (Ps. 116 [:15]).9 Again in Ps. 72 [:14]:
"Precious is their blood in his sight." And again in Ps. 9 [:12]: "He who avenges blood is mindful of them."
So they go on speaking, those devout hearts, and from such words they must have spun many a strong sermon—though they were doubtless briefly expressed and written only as a theme or conclusion of their sermons—for they have provided mighty and rich consolation, with which one can lift up a man's heart, because they argue so powerfully. [This is their argument:] Dear friend, you may well think otherwise and to your eyes it looks as if the death of the saints is pure defeat and destruction and it appears as if they now were utterly forgotten and silenced, as if they had no God to befriend them, because he did not befriend them while they were living and allowed them to perish so miserably as those who are torn and devoured and burned and pulverized. So no rational mind can say anything else but that their death was a pitiful, miserable, shameful thing. But before God, say the dear patriarchs, you must take it as sure truth that when a saint (which means every Christian) dies, then there is offered to him excellent, costly, precious sacrifice, the loveliest and sweetest odor of incense and the best and highest worship [Gottesdienst] that can ever be given to him.
For he does not care so much for the living saints as the dead. Indeed, while they are living he allows them to go their way, so weak and miserable and tormenting themselves with sin, the world, the devil, and death, as if he did not even see it and would not help them. But no sooner are they out of the sight of men and have become a foul, stinking carcass, which nobody can abide, or powder and dust, so that nobody knows where they are, cut off and forgotten by all the world as those who have nothing more to hope for, then, and precisely then, do they begin to become a precious thing in the sight of God. Then they not only begin really to live but also become a precious treasure which God himself holds dear and precious and glories in beyond all else. And the more they are forgotten in the eyes of the world the more he honors and glorifiesthem.
You have a beautiful example of this in the first two brothers in Gen. 4 [:8–16]. When the rascal Cain had secretly murdered and buried his brother he walked away and wiped his mouth as if he had done nothing wrong,10 thinking that nobody would know and it would remain secret, since Abel had nobody to take his part, etc. And when God asked him, "Were is Abel your brother?" he acted so holy and pure that he even boasted that he was not responsible for him and said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?"
But then came "he who avenges blood" [Ps. 9:12],11 who requires and avenges the blood of his saints [cf.
Ezek. 3:18–20; Rev. 6:10; 19:2], and said, "The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the - 100 ground" [Gen. 4:10]. Who tells God to speak so? He cannot forget it, now that he is dead and gone, but must call out from heaven and cry over this blood which troubles him so greatly that he can neither bear it nor keep silent, even though he could have averted it and prevented Cain's now being alone without a brother or heir, but punishes him so severely that he must be cast out by his parents and even the earth is cursed on his account. That means that he really cares for this blood which was now corrupted. He did not show such care and concern while Abel was living, except that he was pleased with his sacrifice. But now that he is gone and lying under the ground, he forthwith becomes alive and speaks in heaven, so that God himself speaks for him and makes such an outcry in all the world that both he and his murderer must stand eternally as an example in the Scriptures which will never be extinguished.
You see, this is how the dear patriarchs looked upon such an example and drew from it their sayings that the dead saints most certainly live in the sight of God and will rise again more glorious than before.
For he does not concern himself in this way with any living beasts or cattle and whatever has no hope, nor with the tyrants and the godless, who die in the devil's name. But he is concerned with his poor saints, who perish so miserably and shamefully, and consider their deaths more precious than their whole lives.
For their lives cannot be without sin, even though they too are subject to forgiveness and to Christ; but it is as nothing compared to a man's leaving this life and dying to sin and the world; for then God opens both his eyes and all the angels must be there to wait upon him, below and above and round about him, if it so be that he is clothed with the baptism of Christ and with faith and God's Word that he may be counted among those who are called God's saints.
For surely you know, thank God, who God's saints are; that the Scriptures do not mean the saints in heaven above, as the pope creates saints, whom one should invoke, whose days one should observe with fasting, and whom one should choose as mediators. Nor does it mean those who have sanctified themselves, like the Carthusians, the barefooted friars, and other monks or [pilgrims]12 and such like devils who want to make themselves holy through their works. It means rather those whom God has sanctified, without any of their works or co-operation whatsoever, by reason of the fact that they are baptized in Christ's name, sprinkled and washed clean with his blood, and endowed and adorned with his dear Word and gifts of the Holy Spirit. All of which we have not engendered and cannot engender, but must receive from him by pure grace. But he who does not have this and seeks some other holiness is a stench and abomination to the Lord, because he denies that this bath of the blood of the innocent Lamb does not make one holy and clean.
Now those who are such baptized Christians, who love his Word, hold fast to it, and die in the same, no matter whether they are hanged, broken on the wheel, burned, drowned, or perish of pestilence, fever, or the like, simply include them in Christ's death and resurrection and without a moment's hesitation speak this text over them: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints" [Ps. 116:15]; for he deems it [i.e., their dying] an excellent and beautiful treasure, the most precious jewel on earth. Whether the devil strangle you in your bed or the hangman on the gallows, it is settled that such a death is a holy death and so highly esteemed by him that he will not leave it unavenged, but will hale the devil who kills you before the judgment and torture him with eternal punishment, strike off the head of sin, bury death in hell, and avenge everything that has caused his saint to die.
And because he so greatly cares for them, he certainly will not allow them to remain in death, perishing and decaying in the earth, but will raise them again, so that their death shall not be a death, but a completely new life with Christ in everlasting light and glory, as we confidently and without all doubt hope in the case of our beloved head [the deceased Elector John]. Though we have lost him according to the body and the old nature, he is not lost and not forgotten before God in Christ, who has received him and brought him to rest, so that now he is safe from the devil and all enemies, and will bring him and all the saints with him on the last day before our eyes and the eyes of the whole world.
Behold, this is what St. Paul is trying to do with this text, with which he bids his Thessalonians to comfort one another, and with which we also ought to comfort ourselves as they did and thank God when we see him taking away a person in the knowledge of his Word, even though it is true that as far as the outward man is concerned it is not altogether without grief and sorrow. For not yet do we have holiness entire, but only in our hearts by faith. We still do not lay hold of it in our outward being; we are still stuck in the muck and mire of our old Adam, who still befouls himself and hawks and snuffles. We must let him
- 101 have his clinging muck, infirmities, and sins until he is completely buried; then there will be an end to all grief and suffering.
Nevertheless, beyond and above this grief there should be the faith that Christ died and rose again for the sake of his Christians and that their death is a noble, precious treasure, in order that we may learn to distinguish between the world's eyes and God's eyes, between reason, according to which the old man remains in the grave, and faith, by which we are new, heavenly men and receive totally new hearts and thoughts about death and all misfortune. And we must on no account judge as the world sees it, but as it appears before God in the new being, which we do not see but only hear spoken of in the Word. We should lay hold of this example, which the Scriptures provide, that he was so greatly and earnestly concerned about the dead Abel, and realize that it was written for us and set before us as a fine mirror, yea, as a sun, for all who die, as he died, in God's Word, and that as he looked upon him after his death so he will most certainly look upon all who live and die in faith in him.
This, then, was St. Paul's conclusion: If you have believed and understood that Christ died and rose again, then there can be no doubt that he will also raise up with him those who have fallen asleep, if they have remained in him and therefore have died in him and through him and, indeed, also for his sake. For if we are baptized and believe in Christ, we shall certainly not die for our sake but for Christ's sake, as he too did not die for his own sake, for there was no death in him. But the devil kills the Christians and destroys them with all manner of torments, and this he does solely because they believe and are Christians.
For he cannot abide anybody on earth who believes in Christ, though he also gives the others their due.
But to these he is especially hostile and he means to destroy them, the sooner the better. He slinks about day and night and will not rest until he kills and exterminates them. And to accomplish this he employs all kinds of plagues, war, sword, fire, water, pestilence, syphilis, apoplexy, dysentery, etc., which, as the Scripture says, are all his weapons, his arrows, armor, and equipment, by which he accomplishes nothing less than to kill the Christians. For he is the master and author of death, who first introduced death, says the Epistle to the Hebrews [Heb. 2:14], and the chief hangman to destroy the believers. And he also honestly pursues his craft throughout the whole world and kills us all in the end, as he also killed Christ, so that every Christian owes his death to him.
But Christ, on the other hand, is a lord and prince13 of life beyond all the power of the devil. Therefore he leads out his own and brings them with him to heaven, because they are in him, and they live and die and lie in his bosom and arms, not in the grave or in the power of the devil, except in the old being. Just as Christ also, though he lay in the grave, yet in a moment he was both dead and alive and rose again like a lightning flash from heaven. So he will raise us too in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, out of the grave, the dust, the water, and we shall stand in full view, utterly pure and clean as the bright sun. This is what St. Paul certainly wants us to conclude and believe (though it is incredible and ridiculous to reason) as a sure consequence of the fact that Christ died and rose again. Then he goes on and proceeds to explain how this will happen, saying:
"For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep" [I Thess. 4:15].
With these words he provides a preface, the more to strengthen their faith. For he is concerned, the dear Apostle, lest this message be considered too slightly and not be taken as the Word of God, this message which speaks of such glorious, incomprehensible things. For God himself had not let it ring forth from heaven with glorious splendor by thousands of angels, in which case we should all have had to fall on our knees and accept it and believe it with trembling, but rather committed it to an insignificant, poor man like Paul, who was a poor, plain person. He himself says that the Corinthians were saying of him that he preached and wrote as if he were a god and yet was such a small, insignificant person with a thin, dried-up body, which was the reason why the false apostles proudly despised and belittled him [II Cor.
So he says: I know very well that I am speaking of things so high that the world and reason is offended. Therefore I beg and admonish you not to look upon us, nor to accept as our word what we are saying, but rather to forget our person and listen to it as the word of the divine Majesty spoken from heaven. For it is a great hindrance to faith to stare at the masks and persons with one's eyes, as flesh and reason does, so that one cannot see and esteem the Word as greatly as it should be. This also happens with baptism, where one sees nothing but the finger of the man who is baptizing and the water which he pours
- 102 over the child, a mere creature, and hears nothing but the poor voice from the lips of the baptizer, so that for us men it seems all too insignificant.
Therefore, see to it, he is saying, that you pay no heed to how insignificant the person or creature may be, but rather be assured that the word which I speak is God's Word, which he himself is speaking. But if it is God's Word, then it must be mightier than heaven and earth and all angels and the devil besides. For what is all power in heaven and earth compared with what God says? If, then, you believe that what I preach to you is God's Word, then you will easily believe what is says. That's the only effort that's necessary, positively to believe that it is God's Word; after that there is no trouble. For with one word he created heaven and earth and all that is in them when everywhere there was still nothing and every year creates new fruits and what lovely summer brings. So it is here; though you see that everything dies away and less remains of man than summer in coldest winter, when neither foliage nor grass remains and no leaf or fruit is to be found upon a tree, here there is even less life, since what the person has been becomes altogether powder and dust, burned to powder by fire or wasted in water or eaten by birds and animals and worms in the ground. And yet, as surely as God's Word is true, you must firmly believe that he will bring us forth again as a whole transformed body, just as he now does every year as a symbol, bringing back from dead winter a beautiful, green summer, and as he made everything out of nothing. Therefore, by all means remember to accept it, not as man's word, but as God's Word.
This is what will happen, he says: "We who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep" [I Thess. 4:17]. This is a paraphrase, spoken in a roundabout way, but, briefly, what it says is that we shall all go thither together at the same time, both those who have died previously and those who have lived until Christ's coming and that thus all will soar up together in an instant and see one another again. It says, therefore, that we who may still be living will not see the Lord
Christ any sooner than those who have died, even though we shall be drawn upward with open eyes and still be living in the body, whereas the others have long since decayed and, to our minds, become nothing, and even though it would seem that we, who are still living, would be the first and would see the Lord much sooner than the dead. But he would have it that the dead would all rise with us in the same moment and have eyes as pure and fine as ours to see as well as we do. (Reason calls this ridiculous, but he tells me that he is speaking the Word of God:)
He therefore will do the same with Christians that he did with Christ, whom he raised up from the locked and sealed grave in the twinkling of an eye, so that in the selfsame moment he was in it and out of it. So in the last moment he will bring together both us who are still living in our five senses, and all who are decomposed, pulverized, and scattered throughout the world, and we and they together will be caught up to heaven, soaring in the clouds (as he says later), lighter than the birds [cf. I Cor. 15:39] and more beautiful than the sun [cf. I Cor. 15:41], and the heavens will be so full of light and splendor that all the light and splendor of the sun and all the stars will be as nothing compared with it, and we shall see neither sun nor stars for the light and splendor of Christ and his angels and saints. Now I know that this sounds as false as a sweet idea and human dream, but I have declared that it is God's Word. He who will not believe this cannot believe us either. It's one and the same thing.
Then he goes on to tell how the Lord Christ will come, by what means he will perform it, and what power he will employ to accomplish it.
"For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel's call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words" [I Thess. 4:16–18].
This is the meaning we have just explained, namely, that everything will happen at once, that we are not to think that we who are living will arrive and see Christ sooner, but will be caught up together with him, all in one moment, that we shall be changed and they be made alive again out of the grave and the dust in the selfsame moment, and, wherever we may be found, fly straightway into the air, most beautifully clothed. And this he, the Lord, will do. He will no longer send an apostle or preacher or John the Baptist, but will come down in his own person as a Lord in his majesty, with a great shout of command and the voice and trumpet of the arch-angel.
These words are purely allegorical. He was trying to paint a pieture, as we must use pictures with children and simple people, and use words which we are accustomed to use in describing a grand,