one stands with God, if the conscience is to be joyful and be able to stand. For when a person doubts this and does not steadfastly believe that he has a gracious God, then he actually does not have a gracious God.
As he believes, so he has. Therefore no one can know that he is in grace and that God is gracious toward him except through faith. If he believes it, he is saved; if he does not believe it, he is damned. For this confidence and good conscience is the real, basically good faith, which the grace of God works in us.
This, you see, is what the keys do for you; this is what the priests were ordained for. When you feel your heart wavering or doubting whether you are in grace in God's eyes, then it is high time that you go to the priest and ask for the absolution of your sin, and thus seek the power and the comfort of the keys. So when the priest makes a judgment and absolves you, that is as much as to say: Your sins have been forgiven; you have a gracious God. This is a comforting statement and it is the Word of God, who has bound himself to loose in heaven the one whom the priest looses [Matt. 16:19].
See to it then, that you never doubt that rids is so, and you should rather die many times than doubt the priest's judgment, for it is Christ's and God's judgment.
If you can believe this, then your heart must laugh for joy and it must cherish the power of the priest and praise and thank God for so comforting your conscience through the medium of men. But if you cannot believe and you think that you are not worthy of such forgiveness, you have not done enough.
Then you must ask God to give you this faith; for you must have it or you will perish everlastingly; otherwise it is a good sign that you have been too little instructed in faith and too much instructed in works. A thousandfold more depends on your firmly believing the judgment of the priest than your being worthy and doing sufficient works. Indeed, this selfsame faith makes you worthy and helps you to make a proper satisfaction. Thus the power of the keys helps, not the priest as a priest, but only the sinful and abashed consciences, which receive grace through faith, and their hearts are set at peace and good confidence toward God. The result then is that all life and suffering is light, and a man, who otherwise never does any good because of the unrest of his heart, can serve his gracious God with joy. This means then the sweet burden of our Lord Jesus Christ [Matt. 11:30]. Amen. Praise and glory to God.
20:19–20, April 7, 1521 The title of this sermon in its original printed form reads: "A Sermon by Dr. Martin Luther on his way to His Imperial Majesty at Worms, preached at Erfurt at the request of eminent and very learned men without previous preparation or special study, owing to the shortness of time.…" The Gospel for the day,
Quasimodo Geniti, was John 20:19–31, but Luther limited his sermon to the first two verses.
On his way to Worms Luther was received with great enthusiasm in Erfurt; the church of the Augustinians where he preached could not contain the tremendous crowd that gathered to hear him. The contains sharp strictures upon Rome, philosophy, and pulpit "fables." Eoban Hess, professor at the university, declared that, "by the power of his mouth hearts were melted like snow by the breath of spring as he showed the way to heaven's goods which had been closed for centuries." (Cf. Fife, op. cit., pp. 651–
652; Boehmer, op. cit., pp. 401–402.) A recent translation of this sermon, undependable and fiddled with errors, appeared in Bertram Lee Woolf (ed.), Reformation Writings of Martin Luther (New York, 1953),
II, 110–116. The transcriber of the sermon is Unknown and the printed version indicates that it was "published by a layman" and printed by Matthes Maler in Erfurt. Seven prims appeared in the year 1521.
Text in German; WA 7, 808–813.
Dear friends, I shall pass over the story of St. Thomas this time and leave it for another occasion, and instead consider the brief words uttered by Christ: "Peace be with you" [John 20:19] and "Behold my hands and my side" [John 20:27], and "as the Father has sent me, even so I send you" [John 20:21]. Now, it is clear and manifest that every person likes to think that he will be saved and attain to eternal salvation.
This is what I propose to discuss now.
You also know that all philosophers, doctors and writers have studiously endeavored to teach and write what attitude man should take to piety. They have gone to great trouble, but, as is evident, to little avail. Now genuine and true piety consists of two kinds of works: those done for others, which are the - 29 right kind, and those done for ourselves, which are unimportant. In order to find a foundation, one man builds churches; another goes on a pilgrimage to St. James'1 or St. Peter's2; a third fasts or prays, wears a cowl, goes barefoot, or does something else of the kind. Such works are nothing whatever and must be completely destroyed. Mark these words: none of our works have any power whatsoever. For God has chosen a man, the Lord Christ Jesus, to crush death, destroy sin, and sharer hell, since there was no one before he came who did not inevitably belong to the devil. The devil therefore thought he would get a hold upon the Lord when he hung between two thieves and was suffering the most contemptible and disgraceful of deaths, which was cursed both by God and by men [cf. Deut. 21:23; Gal. 3:13]. But the Godhead was so strong that death, sin, and even hell were destroyed.
Therefore you should note well the words which Paul writes to the Romans [Rom. 5:12–21]. Our sins have their source in Adam, and because Adam ate the apple, we have inherited sin from him. But Christ has shattered death for our sake, in order that we might be saved by his works, which are alien to us, and not by our works.
But the papal dominion treats us altogether differently. It makes rules about fasting, praying, and butter-eating, so that whoever keeps the commandments of the pope will be saved and whoever does not keep them belongs to the devil. It thus seduces the people with the delusion that goodness and salvation lies in their own works. But I say that none of the saints, no matter how holy they were, attained salvation by their works. Even the holy mother of God did not become good, was not saved, by her virginity or her motherhood, but rather by the will of faith and the works of God, and not by her purity, or her own works.
Therefore, mark me well: this is the reason why salvation does not lie in our own works, no matter what they are; it cannot and will not be effected without faith.
Now, someone may say: Look, my friend, you are saying a lot about faith, and claiming that our salvation depends solely upon it; now, I ask you, how does one come to faith? I will tell you. Our Lord
Christ said, "Peace be with you. Behold my hands, etc."3 [John 20:26–27]. [In other words, he is saying:] Look, man, I am the only one who has taken away your sins and redeemed you, etc.; now be at peace. Just as you inherited sin from Adam—not that you committed it, for I did not eat the apple, any more than you did, and yet this is how we came to be in sin—so we have not suffered [as Christ did], and therefore we were made free from death and sin by God's work, not by our works. Therefore God says: Behold, man, I am your redemption [of. Isa. 43:3]; just as Paul said to the Corinthians: Christ is our justification, redemption, etc.4 [I Cor. 1:30]. Christ is our justification and redemption, as Paul says in this passage. And here our [Roman] masters say: Yes, Redemptor, Redeemer; this is true, but it is not enough.
Therefore, I say again: Alien works, these make us good! Our Lord Christ says: I am your justification. I have destroyed the sins you have upon you. Therefore only believe in me; believe that I am he who has done this; then you will be justified. For it is written, Justicia est fides,5 righteousness is identical with faith and comes through faith. Therefore, if we want to have faith, we should believe the gospel, Paul, etc., and not the papal breves, or the decretals, but rather guard ourselves against them as against fire. For everything that comes from the pope eries out: Give, give; and if you refuse, you are of the devil. It would be a small matter if they were only exploiting the people. But, unfortunately, it is the greatest evil in the world to lead the people to believe that outward works can save or make a man good.
At this time the world is so full of wickedness that it is overflowing, and is therefore now under a terrible judgment and punishment, which God has inflicted, so that the people are perverthing and deceiving themselves in their own minds. For to build churches, and to fast and pray and so on has the appearance of good works, but in our heads we are deluding ourselves. We should not give way to greed, desire for temporal honor, and other vices and rather be helpful to our poor neighbor. Then God will arise in us and we in him, and this means a new birth. What does it matter if we commit a fresh sin? If we do not immediately despair, but rather say within ourselves, "O God, thou livest still! Christ my Lord is the destroyer Of sin," then at once the sin is gone. And also the wise man says: "Septies in die cadit iustus et resurgit." "A righteous man falls seven times, and rises again" [Prov. 24:16].
The reason why the world is so utterly perverted and in error is that for a long time there have been no genuine preachers. There are perhaps three thousand priests, among whom one cannot find four good ones
—God have mercy on us in this crying shame! And when you do get a good preacher, he runs through the gospel superficially and then follows it up with a fable about the old ass6 or a story about Dietrich of Berne,7 or he mixes in something of the pagan teachers, Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, and others, who are all
- 30 quite contrary to the gospel, and also contrary to God, for they did not have the knowledge of the light which we possess. Aye, if you come to me and say: The Philosopher says: Do many good works, then you will acquire the habit, and finally you will become godly;8 then I say to you: Do not perform good works in order to become godly; but if you are already godly, then do good works, though without affectation and with faith. There you see how contrary these two points of view are.
In former times the devil made great attacks upon the people and from these attacks they took refuge in faith and clung to the Head, which is Christ; and so he was unable to accomplish anything. So now he has invented another device; he whispers into the ears of our Junkers that they should make exactions from people and give them laws. This way it looks well on the outside; but inside it is full of poison. So the young children grow up in a delusion; they go to church thinking that salvation consists in praying, fasting, and attending mass. Thus it is the preacher's fault. But still there would be no need, if only we had right preachers.
The Lord said three times to St. Peter: "Petre, amas me? etc.; pasce oves meas" [John 21:15–17].
"Peter, feed, feed, feed my sheep." What is the meaning of pascere? It means to feed. How should one feed the sheep? Only by preaching the Word of God, only by preaching faith. Then our Junkers come along and say: Pascere means leges dare, to enact laws, but with deception. Yes, they are well fed! They feed the sheep as the butchers do on Easter eve. Whereas one should speak the Word of God plainly to guide the poor and weak in faith, they mix in their beloved Aristotle, who is contrary to God, despite the fact that Paul says in Col. [2:8]: Beware of laws and philosophy. What does "philosophy" mean? If we knew Greek, Latin, and German, we would see clearly what the Apostle is saying.
Is not this the truth? I know very well that you don't like to hear this and that I am annoying many of you; nevertheless, I shall say it. I will also advise you, no matter who you are: If you have preaching in mind or are able to help it along, then do not become a priest or a monk, for there is a passage in the thirty-third and thirty-fourth chapters of the prophet Ezekiel, unfortunately a terrilying passage, which reads: If you forsake your neighbor, see him going astray, and do not help him, do not preach to him, I will call you to account for his soul [Ezek. 33:8; 34:10]. This is a passage which is not often read. But I say, you become a priest or a monk in order to pray your seven canonical hours and say mass, and you think you want to be godly. Alas, you're a fine fellow! It [i.e., being a priest or monk] will fail you. You say the Psalter, you pray the rosary, you pray all kinds of other prayers, and say a lot of words; you say mass, you kneel before the altar, you read confession, you go on mumbling and maundering; and all the while you think you are free from sin. And yet in your heart you have such great envy that, if you could choke your neighbor and get away with it creditably, you would do it; and that's the way you say mass. It would be no wonder if a thunderbolt struck you to the ground. But if you have eaten three grains of sugar or some other seasoning, no one could drag you to the altar with red-hot tongs.9 You have scruples! And that means to go to heaven with the devil. I know very well that you don't like to hear this. Nevertheless, I will tell the truth, I must tell the truth, even though it cost me my neck twenty times over, that the verdict may not be pronounced against me [i.e., at the last judgment].
Yes, you say, there were learned people a hundred or fifty years ago too. That is true; but I am not concerned with the length of time or the number of persons. For even though they knew something of it then, the devil has always been a mixer, who preferred the pagan writers to the holy gospel. I will tell the truth and must tell the truth; that's why I'm standing here,10 and not taking any money for it either.
Therefore, we should not build upon human law or works, but rather have true faith in the One who is the destroyer of sin; then we shall find ourselves growing in Him. Then everything that was bitter before is sweet. Then our hearts will recognize God. And when that happens we shall be despised, and we shall pay no regard to human law, and then the pope will come and excommunicate us. But then we shall be so united with God that we shall pay no heed whatsoever to any hardship, ban, or law.
Then someone may go on and ask: Should we not keep the manmade laws at all? Or, can we not continue to pray, fast, and so on, as long as the right way is present? My answer is that if there is present a right Christian love and faith, then everything a man does is meritorious; and each may do what he wills
[cf. Rom. 14:22], so long as he has no regard for works, since they cannot save him.
In conclusion, then, every single person should reflect and remember that we cannot help ourselves, but only God, and also that our works are utterly worthless. So shall we have the peace of God. And every person should so perform his work that it benefits not only himself alone, but also another, his neighbor. If - 31 he is rich, his wealth should benefit the poor. If he is poor, his service should benefit the rich. When persons are servants or maidservants, their work should benefit their master. Thus no one's work should benefit him alone; for when you note that you are serving only your own advantage, then your service is false. I am not troubled; I know very well what man-made laws are. Let the pope issue as many laws as he likes, I will keep them all so far as I please.
Therefore, dear friends, remember that God has risen up11 for our sakes. Therefore let us also arise to be helpful to the weak in faith, and so direct our work that God may be pleased with it. So shall we receive the peace he has given to us today. May God grant us this every day. Amen.
EIGHT SERMONS AT WITTENBERG The title of the earliest printed version of these sermons reads: "Eight Sermons by Dr. M. Luther, preached by him at Wittenberg in Lent, dealing briefly with the masses, images, both kinds in the sacrament, eating [of meats], and private confession, etc."
In December, 1521, Luther returned secretly to Wittenberg from the Wartburg for a three-day conference on how to meet the turbulence and confusion caused by the radical reformers. Soon after his return to the Wartburg, Karlstadt put himself at the head of those who favored immediate abolition of Roman practices. At Christmas Karlstadt administered communion in two kinds for the first time in the parish church. (This had been done as early as September in the Augustinian monastery where Gabriel
Zwilling conducted mass in the vernacular and abolished private masses.) Karlstadt also declared that confession before communion was unnecessary, that images were not allowable in the church, and that rules of fasting were not binding, and this led to outbreaks of actual destruction of images and altars. He also taught the doctrine of direct illumination by the Spirit, which made scholarship and learning unnecessary for the understanding of the Scriptures. The corn sequence was that the city schools were closed and the university threatened with collapse. Allied with Karlstadt's followers were the Zwickau prophets, Storch, Drechsel, and Stübner, adherents of Thomas Münzer.
Luther, who hitherto had relied upon Melanchthon's leadership to keep order, returned to Wittenberg on March 6. On March 8 he conferred with Melanchthon, Justus Jonas, Nicholas Amsdorf, and Hieronymus Schurf. On March 9, Invocavit Sunday, he mounted the pulpit in the parish church and preached each day from the ninth to the sixteenth. This remarkable series of sermons, which are powerful, inspired preaching of the gospel, had the effect of restoring tranquility and order almost at once. His task was to lead his congregation away from fanatical enthusiasm back to the spirit of the gospel and to answer the questions that were agitating his people in the light of the gospel. (Further details may be found in an excellent introduction to the sermons in PE 2, 387–390 and in the biographies of Luther and the church histories.)
The sermons were transcribed by an unknown amanuensis and printed in many editions. Later versions by Stephan Roth, in the church postils, and Aurifaber, in the Eisleben edition, are simply free expansions of this oldest transcript. The present translation is a revision of that by A. Steimle in PE 2,
390–425. The minor differences, apart from style, are due largely to the fact that Steimle more frequently resorted to the undependable Aurifaber text.
Text in German; CL 7, 363–387, compared with WA 10III, 1–64 and MA3, 4, 33–58, 332–337.
The First Sermon, March 9, 1522, Invocavit Sunday1 The summons of death comes to us all, and no one can die for another. Every one must fight his own battle with death by himself, alone. We can shout into another's ears, but every one must himself be prepared for the time of death, for I will not be with you then, nor you with me. Therefore every one must himself know and be armed with the chief things which concern a Christian. And these are what you, my beloved, have heard from me many days ago.
In the first place, we must know that we are the children of wrath, and all our works, intentions, and thoughts are nothing at all. Here we need a clear, strong text to bear out this point. Such is the saying of St. Paul in Eph. 2 [:3]. Note this well; and though there are many such in the Bible, I do not wish to - 32 overwhelm you with many texts. "We are all the children of wrath." And please do not undertake to say: I have built an altar, given a foundation for masses, etc.
Secondly, that God has sent us his only-begotten Son that we may believe in him and that whoever trusts in him shall be free from sin and a child of God, as John declares in his first chapter, "To all who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God" [John 1:12]. Here we should all be well versed in the Bible and ready to confront the devil with many passages. With respect to these two points I do not feel that there has been anything wrong or lacking. They have been rightly preached to you, and I should be sorry if it were otherwise. Indeed, I am well aware and I dare say that you are more learned than
I, and that there are not only one, two, three, or four, but perhaps ten or more, who have this knowledge and enlightenment.
Thirdly, we must also have love and through love we must do to one another as God has done to us through faith. For without love faith is nothing, as St. Paul says (I Cor. 2 [13:1]): If I had the tongues of angels and could speak of the highest things in faith, and have not love, I am nothing. And here, dear friends, have you not grievously failed? I see no signs of love among you, and I observe very well that you have not been grateful to God for his rich gifts and treasures.
Here let us beware lest Wittenberg become Capernaum [cf. Matt. 11:23]. I notice that you have a great deal to say of the doctrine of faith and love which is preached to you, and this is no wonder; an ass can almost intone the lessons, and why should you not be able to repeat the doctrines and formulas? Dear friends, the kingdom of God,—and we are that kingdom—does not consist in talk or words [I Cor. 4:20], but in activity, in deeds, in works and exercises. God does not want hearers and repeaters of words [Jas.
1:22], but followers and doers, and this occurs in faith through love. For a faith without love is not enough —rather it is not faith at all, but a counterfeit of faith, just as a face seen in a mirror is not a real face, but merely the reflection of a face [I Cor. 13:12].
Fourthly, we also need patience. For whoever has faith, trusts in God, and shows love to his neighbor, practicing it day by day, must needs suffer persecution. For the devil never sleeps, but constantly gives him plenty of trouble. But patience works and produces hope [Rom. 5:4], which freely yields itself to God and vanishes away in him. Thus faith, by much affliction and persecution, ever increases, and is strengthened day by day. A heart thus blessed with virtues can never rest or restrain itself, but rather pours itself out again for the benefit and service of the brethren, just as God has done to it.
And here, dear friends, one must not insist upon his rights, but must see what may be useful and helpful to his brother, as Paul says, Omnia mihi licent, sed non omnia expediunt, " 'All things are lawful for me,' but not all things are helpful" [I Cor. 6:12]. For we are not all equally strong in faith, some of you have a stronger faith than I. Therefore we must not look upon ourselves, or our strength, or our prestige, but upon our neighbor, for God has said through Moses: I have borne and reared you, as a mother does her child [Deut. 1:31]. What does a mother do to her child? First she gives it milk, then gruel, then eggs and soft food, whereas if she turned about and gave it solid food, the child would never thrive [cf. I Cor. 3:2;
Heb. 5:12–13]. So we should also deal with our brother, have patience with him for a time, have patience with his weakness and help him bear it; we should also give him milk-food, too [I Pet. 2:2; of. Rom. 14:1–
3], as was done with us, until he, too, grows strong, and thus we do not travel heavenward alone, but bring our brethren, who are not now our friends, with us. If all mothers were to abandon their children, where would we have been? Dear brother, if you have suckled long enough, do not at once cut off the breast, but let your brother be suckled as you were suckled. I would not have gone so far as you have done, if I had been here. The cause is good, but there has been too much haste. For there are still brothers and sisters on the other side who belong to us and must still be won.
Let me illustrate. The sun has two properties, light and heat. No king has power enough to bend or guide the light of the sun; it remains fixed in its place. But the heat may be turned and guided, and yet is ever about the sun. Thus faith must always remain pure and immovable in our hearts, never wavering; but love bends and turns so that our neighbor may grasp and follow it. There are some who can run, others must walk, still others can hardly creep [cf. I Cor. 8:7–13]. Therefore we must not look upon our own, but upon our brother's powers, so that he who is weak in faith, and attempts to follow the strong, may not be destroyed of the devil. Therefore, dear brethren, follow me; I have never been a destroyer. And I was also the very first whom God called to this work. I cannot run away, but will remain as long as God allows. I - 33 was also the one to whom God first revealed that his Word should be preached to you. I am also sure that you have the pure Word of God.
Let us, therefore, let us act with fear and humility, cast ourselves at one another's feet, join hands with each other, and help one another. I will do my part, which is no more than my duty, for I love you even as I love my own soul. For here we battle not against pope or bishop, but against the devil [cf. Eph. 6:12], and do you imagine he is asleep? He sleeps not, but sees the true light rising, and to keep it from shining into his eyes he would like to make a flank attack—and he will succeed, if we are not on our guard. I know him well, and I hope, too, that with the help of God, I am his master. But if we yield him but an inch, we must soon look to it how we may be rid of him. Therefore all those have erred who have helped and consented to abolish the mass; not that it was not a good thing, but that it was not done in an orderly way. You say it was right according to the Scriptures. I agree, but what becomes of order? For it was done in wantonness, with no regard for proper order and with offense to your neighbor. If, beforehand, you had called upon God in earnest prayer, and had obtained the aid of the authorities, one could be certain that it had come from God. I, too, would have taken steps toward the same end if it had been a good thing to do; and if the mass were not so evil a thing, I would introduce it again. For I cannot defend your action, as I have just said. To the papists and blockheads I could defend it, for I could say: How do you know whether it was done with good or bad intention, since the work in itself was really a good work? But I would not know what to assert before the devil. For if on their deathbeds the devil reminds those who began this affair of texts like these, "Every plant which my Father has not planted will be rooted up" [Matt. 15:13], or "I have not sent them, yet they ran" [Jer. 23:21],2 how will they be able to withstand? He will cast them into hell. But I shall poke the one spear into his face, so that even the world will become too small for him, for I know that in spite of my reluctance I was called by the council to preach. Therefore I was willing to accept you as you were willing to accept me, and, besides, you could have consulted me about the matter.
I was not so far away that you could not reach me with a letter, whereas not the slightest communication was sent to me. If you were going to begin something and make me responsible for it, that would have been too hard. I will not do it [i.e., assume the responsibility]. Here one can see that you do not have the Spirit, even though you do have a deep knowledge of the Scriptures. Take note of these two things, "must" and "free." The "must" is that which necessity requires, and which must ever be unyielding; as, for instance, the faith, which I shall never permit any one to take away from me, but must always keep in my heart and freely confess before every one. But "free" is that in which I have choice, and may use or not, yet in such a way that it profit my brother and not me. Now do not make a "must" out of what is "free," as you have done, so that you may not be called to account for those who were led astray by your loveless exercise of liberty. For if you entice any one to eat meat on Friday, and he is troubled about it on his deathbed, and thinks, Woe is me, for I have eaten meat and I am lost! God will call you to account for that soul. I, too, would like to begin many things, in which but few would follow me, but what is the use? For I know that, when it comes to the showdown, those who have begun this thing cannot maintain themselves, and will be the first to retreat. How would it be, if I brought the people to the point of attack, and though I had been the first to exhort others, I would then flee, and not face death with courage? How the poor people would be deceived!
Let us, therefore, feed others also with the milk which we received, until they, too, become strong in faith. For there are many who are otherwise in accord with us and who would also gladly accept this thing, but they do not yet fully understand it—these we drive away. Therefore, let us show love to our neighbors; if we do not do this, our work will not endure. We must have patience with them for a time, and not cast out him who is weak in faith; and do and omit to do many other things, so long as love requires it and it does no harm to our faith. If we do not earnestly pray to God and act rightly in this matter, it looks to me as if all the misery which we have begun to heap upon the papists will fall upon us. Therefore I could no longer remain away, but was compelled to come and say these things to you.
This is enough about the mass; tomorrow we shall speak about images.
The Second Sermon, March 10, 1522, Monday after Invocavit3 Dear friends, you heard yesterday the chief characteristics of a Christian man, that his whole life and being is faith and love. Faith is directed toward God, love toward man and one's neighbor, and consists in such love and service for him as we have received from God without our work and merit. Thus, there are
- 34 two things: the one, which is the most needful, and which must be done in one way and no other; the other, which is a matter of choice and not of necessity, which may be kept or not, without endangering faith or incurring hell. In both, love must deal with our neighbor in the same manner as God has dealt with us; it must walk the straight road, straying neither to the left nor to the right. In the things which are
"musts" and are matters of necessity, such as believing in Christ, love nevertheless never uses force or undue constraint. Thus the mass is an evil thing, and God is displeased with it, because it is performed as if it were a sacrifice and work of merit. Therefore it must be abolished. Here there can be no question or doubt, any more than you should ask whether you should worship God. Here we are entirely agreed: the private masses must be abolished. As I have said in my writings,4 I wish they would be abolished everywhere and only the ordinary evangelical mass be retained. Yet Christian love should not employ harshness here nor force the matter. However, it should be preached and taught with tongue and pen that to hold mass in such a manner is sinful, and yet no one should be dragged away from it by the hair; for it should be left to God, and his Word should be allowed to work alone, without our work or interference.
Why? Because it is not in my power or hand to fashion the hearts of men as the potter molds the clay and fashion them at my pleasure [Ecclus. 33:13]. I can get no farther than their ears; their hearts I cannot reach. And since I cannot pour faith into their hearts, I cannot, nor should I, force any one to have faith.
That is God's work alone, who causes faith to live in the heart. Therefore we should give free course to the Word and not add our works to it. We have the jus verbi [right to speak] but not the executio [power to accomplish]. We should preach the Word, but the results must be left solely to God's good pleasure.
Now if I should rush in and abolish it by force, there are many who would be compelled to consent to it and yet not know where they stand, whether it is right or wrong, and they would say: I do not know if it is right or wrong, I do not know where I stand, I was compelled by force to submit to the majority. And this forcing and commanding results in a mere mockery, an external show, a fool's play, man-made ordinances, sham-saints, and hypocrites. For where the heart is not good, I care nothing at all for the work.
We must first win the hearts of the people. But that is done when I teach only the Word of God, preach the gospel, and say: Dear lords or pastors, abandon the mass, it is not right, you are sinning when you do it; I cannot refrain from telling you this. But I would not make it an ordinance for them, nor urge a general law. He who would follow me could do so, and he who refused would remain outside. In the latter case the Word would sink into the heart and do its work. Thus he would become convinced and acknowledge his error, and fall away from the mass; tomorrow another would do the same, and thus God would accomplish more with his Word than if you and I were to merge all our power into one heap. So when you have won the heart, you have won the man—and thus the thing must finally fall of its own weight and come to an end. And if the hearts and minds of all are agreed and united, abolish it. But if all are not heart and soul for its abolishment—leave it in God's hands, I beseech you, otherwise the result will not be good.
Not that I would again set up the mass; I let it in in God's name. Faith must not be chained and imprisoned, nor bound by an ordinance to any work. This is the principle by which you must be governed.
For I am sure you will not be able to carry out your plans. And if you should carry them out with such genera] laws, then I will recant everything that I have written and preached and I will not support you.
This I am telling you now. What harm can it do you? You still have your faith in God, pure and strong so that this thing cannot hurt you.
Love, therefore, demands that you have compassion on the weak, as all the apostles had. Once, when Paul came to Athens (Acts 17 [:16–32]), a mighty city, he found in the temple many ancient altars, and he went from one to the other and looked at them all, but he did not kick down a single one of them with his foot. Rather he stood up in the middle of the market place and said they were nothing but idolatrous things and begged the people to forsake them; yet he did not destroy one of them by force. When the Word took hold of their hearts, they forsook them of their own accord, and in consequence the thing fell of itself.
Likewise, if I had seen them holding mass, I would have preached to them and admonished them. Had they heeded my admonition, I would have won them; if not, I would nevertheless not have torn them from it by the hair or employed any force, but simply allowed the Word to act and prayed for them. For the Word created heaven and earth and all things [Ps. 33:6]; the Word must do this thing, and not we poor sinners.
In short, I will preach it, teach it, write it, but I will constrain no man by force, for faith must come freely without compulsion. Take myself as an example. I opposed indulgences and all the papists, but - 35 never with force. I simply taught, preached, and wrote God's Word; otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept [cf. Mark 4:26–29], or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends Philips5 and Amsdorf,6 the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it. I did nothing; the Word did everything. Had I desired to foment trouble, I could have brought great bloodshed upon Germany; indeed, I could have started such a game that even the emperor would not have been safe. But what would it have been? Mere fool's play. I did nothing; I let the Word do its work. What do you suppose is Satan's thought when one tries to do the thing by kicking up a row? He sits back in hell and thinks: Oh, what a fine game the poor fools are up to now! But when we spread the Word alone and let it alone do the work, that distresses him. For it is almighty, and takes captive the hearts, and when the hearts are captured the work will fall of itself. Let me cite a simple instance. In former times there were sects, too, Jewish and Gentile Christians, differing on the law of Moses with respect to circumcision. The former wanted to keep it, the latter not. Then came Paul and preached that it might be kept or not, for it was of no consequence, and also that they should not make a "must" of it, but leave it to the choice of the individual; to keep it or not was immaterial [I Cor. 7:18–24; Gal. 5:1]. So it was up to the time of Jerome, who came and wanted to make a "must" out of it, desiring to make it an ordinance and a law that it be prohibited.7
Then came St. Augustine and he was of the same opinion as St. Paul: it might be kept or not, as one wished. St. Jerome was a hundred miles away from St. Paul's opinion. The two doctors bumped heads rather hard, but when St. Augustine died, St. Jerome was successful in having it prohibited. After that came the popes, who also wanted to add something and they, too, made laws. Thus out of the making of one law grew a thousand laws, until they have completely buried us under laws. And this is what will happen here, too; one law will soon make two, two will increase to three, and so forth.
Let this be enough at this time concerning the things that are necessary, and let us beware lest we lead astray those of weak conscience [I Cor. 8:12].
The Third Sermon, March 11, 1522, Tuesday after Invocavit8 We have heard the things which are "musts," which are necessary and must be done, things which must be so and not otherwise: the private masses9 must be abolished. For all works and things, which are either commanded or forbidden by God and thus have been instituted by the supreme Majesty, are
"musts." Nevertheless, no one should be dragged to them or away from them by the hair, for I can drive no man to heaven or beat him into it with a club. I said this plainly enough; I believe you have understood what I said.
Now follow the things which are not necessary, but are left to our free choice by God and which we may keep or not, such as whether a person should marry or not, or whether monks and nuns should leave the cloisters. These things are matters of choice and must not be forbidden by any one, and if they are forbidden, the forbidding is wrong, since it is contrary to God's ordinance. In the things that are free, such as being married or remaining single, you should take this attitude: if you can keep to it without burdensomeness, then keep it; but it must not be made a general law; everyone must rather be free. So if there is a priest, monk, or nun, who cannot abstain, let him take a wife and be a husband, in order that your conscience may be relieved;10 and see to it that you can stand before God and the world when you are assailed, especially when the devil attacks you in the hour of death. It is not enough to say: this man or that man did it, I followed the crowd, according to the preaching of the dean,11 Dr. Karlstadt,12 or Gabriel,13 or Michael.14 Not so; every one must stand on his own feet and be prepared to give battle to the devil. You must rest upon a strong and clear text of Scripture if you would stand the test. If you cannot do that, you will never withstand—the devil will pluck you like a parched leaf. Therefore the priests who have taken wives and the nuns who have taken husbands in order to save their consciences must stand squarely upon a clear text of Scripture, such as this one by St. Paul, although there are many more: "In later times some will depart from the faith by giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of the devil (I think St. Paul is outspoken enough here!) and will forbid marriage and the foods which God created" [I Tim. 4:1–3]. This text the devil will not overthrow nor devour, it will rather overthrow and devour him.
Therefore any monk or nun who finds that he is too weak to maintain chastity should conscientiously examine himself; if his heart and conscience are thus strengthened, let him take a wife and be a husband.
Would to God all monks and nuns could hear this sermon and properly understand this matter and would all forsake the cloisters, and thus all the cloisters in the world would cease to exist; this is what I would
- 36 wish. But now they have no understanding of the matter (for no one preaches it to them); they hear about others who are leaving the cloisters in other places, who, however, are well prepared for such a step, and then they want to follow their example, but have not yet fortified their consciences and do not know that it is a matter of liberty. This is bad, and yet it is better that the evil should be outside than inside.15 Therefore
I say, what God has made free shall remain free. If anybody forbids it, as the pope, the Antichrist, has done, you should not obey. He who can do so without harm and for love of his neighbor may wear a cowl or a tonsure, since it will not injure your faith. The cowl will not strangle you, if you are already wearing one.
Thus, dear friends, I have said it clearly enough, and I believe you ought to understand it and not make liberty a law, saying: This priest has taken a wife, therefore all priests must take wives. Not at all. Or this monk or that nun has left the cloister, therefore they must all come out. Not at all. Or this man has broken the images and burnt them, therefore all images must be burned—not at all, dear brother! And again, this priest has no wife, therefore no priest dare marry. Not at all! For they who cannot retain their chastity should take wives, and for others who can be chaste, it is good that they restrain themselves, as those who live in the Spirit and not in the flesh [Rom. 8:4; I Cor. 7:40]. Neither should they be troubled about the vows they have made, such as the monks' vows of obedience, chastity, and poverty (though they are rich enough withal). For we cannot vow anything that is contrary to God's commands. God has made it a matter of liberty to marry or not to marry, and you, you fool, undertake to turn this liberty into a vow contrary to the ordinance of God! Therefore you must let it remain a liberty and not make a compulsion out of it; for your vow is contrary to God's liberty. For example, if I vowed to strike my father on the mouth, or to steal someone's property, do you believe God would be pleased with such a vow? Therefore, little as I ought to keep a vow to strike my father on the mouth, so little ought I to abstain from marriage because I am bound by a vow of chastity, for in both cases God has ordered it otherwise. God has ordained that I should be free to eat fish or flesh, and there should be no commandment concerning them.
Therefore all the Carthusians16 and all monks and nuns are departing from God's ordinance and liberty when they believe that if they eat meat they are defiled.
But now we must come to the images, and concerning them also it is true that they are unnecessary, and we are free to have them or not, although it would be much better if we did not have them at all. I am not partial to them. A great controversy arose on the subject of images between the Roman emperor and the pope; the emperor held that he had the authority to banish the images, but the pope insisted that they should remain, and both were wrong. Much blood was shed, but the pope emerged as victor and the emperor lost.17 What was it all about? They wished to make a "must" out of that which is free. This God cannot tolerate. Do you presume to do things differently from the way the supreme Majesty has decreed?
Surely not; let it alone. You read in the Law (Exod. 20 [:4]), "you shall not make yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth." There you take your stand; that is your ground. Now let us see! When our adversaries say: The meaning of the first commandment is that we should worship only one God and not any image, even as it is said immediately following, "You shall not bow down to them or serve them" [Exod. 20:5], and when they say that it is the worship of images which is forbidden and not the making of them, they are shaking our foundation and making it uncertain. And if you reply: The text says, "You shall not make any images," then they say: It also says, "You shall not worship them." In the face of such uncertainty who would be so bold as to destroy the images? Not I. But let us go further. They say: Did not Noah, Abraham,
Jacob build altars? [Gen. 8:20; 12:7; 13:4; 13:18; 33:20]. And who will deny that? We must admit it.
Again, did not Moses erect a bronze serpent, as we read in his fourth book (Num. 22 [21:9])? How then can you say that Moses forbade the making of images when he himself made one? It seems to me that such a serpent is an image, too. How shall we answer that? Again, do we not read also that two birds were erected on the mercy seat [Exod. 37:7], the very place where God willed that he should be worshipped?
Here we must admit that we may have images and make images, but we must not worship them, and if they are worshipped, they should be put away and destroyed, just as King Hezekiah broke in pieces the bronze serpent erected by Moses [II Kings 18:4]. And who will be so bold as to say, when he is challenged to give an answer: They worship the images. They will say: Are you the man who dares to accuse us of worshipping them? Do not believe that they will acknowledge it. To be sure, it is true, but we
- 37 cannot make them admit it. Just look how they acted when I condemned works without faith. They said:
Do you believe that we have no faith, or that our works are performed without faith? Then I cannot press them any further, but must put my flute back in my pocket; for if they gain a hair's breadth, they make a hundred miles out of it.
Therefore it should have been preached that images were nothing and that no service is done to God by erecting them; then they would have fallen of themselves. That is what I did; that is what Paul did in Athens, when he went into their churches and saw all their idols. He did not strike at any of them, but stood in the market place and said, "You men of Athens, you are all idolatrous" [Acts 17:16, 22]. He preached against their idols, but he overthrew none by force. And you rush, create an uproar, break down altars, and overthrow images! Do you really believe you can abolish the altars in this way? No, you will only set them up more firmly. Even if you overthrew the images in this place, do you think you have overthrown those in Nürnberg and the rest of the world? Not at all. St. Paul, as we read in the Book of Acts [28:11], sat in a ship on whose prow were painted or carved the Twin Brothers [i.e., Castor and Pollux]. He went on board and did not bother about them at all, neither did he break them off. Why must
Luke describe the Twins at this point? Without doubt he wanted to show that outward things could do no harm to faith, if only the heart does not cleave to them or put its trust in them. This is what we must preach and teach, and let the Word alone do the work, as I said before. The Word must first capture the hearts of men and enlighten them; we will not be the ones who will do it. Therefore the apostles magnified their ministry, ministerium [Rom. 11:13], and not its effect, executio.
Let this be enough for today.
The Fourth Sermon, March 12, 1522, Wednesday alter Dear friends, we have now heard about the things which are "musts," such as that the mass is not to be observed as a sacrifice. Then we considered the things which are not necessary but free, such as marriage, the monastic life, and the abolishing of images. We have treated these four subjects, and have said that in all these matters love is the captain. On the subject of images, in particular, we saw that they ought to be abolished when they are worshipped; otherwise not,—although because of the abuses they give rise to, I wish they were everywhere abolished. This cannot be denied. For whoever places an image in a church imagines he has performed a service to God and done a good work, which is downright idolatry. But this, the greatest, foremost, and highest reason for abolishing images, you have passed by, and fastened on the least important reason of all. For I suppose there is nobody, or certainly very few, who do not understand that yonder crucifix is not my God, for my God is in heaven, but that this is simply a sign. But the world is full of that other abuse; for who would place a silver or wooden image in a church unless he thought that by so doing he was rendering God a service? Do you think that Duke Frederick, the bishop of Halle,19 and the others would have dragged so many silver images into the churches, if they thought it counted for nothing before God? No, they would not bother to do it. But this is not sufficient reason to abolish, destroy, and burn all images. Why? Because we must admit that there are still some people who hold no such wrong opinion of them, but to whom they may well be useful, although they are few. Nevertheless, we cannot and ought not to condemn a thing which may be any way useful to a person. You should rather have taught that images are nothing, that God cares nothing for them, and that he is not served nor pleased when we make an image for him, but that we would do better to give a poor man a goldpiece than God a golden image; for God has forbidden the latter, but not the former. If they had heard this teaching that images count for nothing, they would have ceased of their own accord, and the images would have fallen without any uproar or tumult, as they are already beginning to do.
We must, therefore, be on our guard, for the devil, through his apostles, is after us with all his craft and cunning. Now, although it is true and no one can deny that the images are evil because they are abused, nevertheless we must not on that account reject them, nor condemn anything because it is abused. This would result in utter confusion. God has commanded us in Deut. 4 [:19] not to lift up our eyes to the sun
[and the moon and the stars], etc., that we may not worship them, for they are created to serve all nations.
But there are many people who worship the sun and the stars. Therefore we propose to rush in and pull the sun and stars from the skies. No, we had better let it be. Again, wine and women bring many a man to misery and make a fool of him [Ecclus. 19:2; 31:30]; so we kill all the women and pour out all the wine.
- 38 Again, gold and silver cause much evil, so we condemn them. Indeed, if we want to drive away our worst enemy, the one who does us the most harm, we shall have to kill ourselves, for we have no greater enemy than our own heart, as the prophet, Jer. 17 [:9], says, "The heart of man is crooked," or, as I take the meaning, "always twisting to one side." And so on—what would we not do?
He who would blacken the devil must have good charcoal, for he, too, wears fine clothes and is invited to the kermis.20 But I can catch him by asking him: Do you not place the images in the churches because you think it a special service to God? And when he says Yes, as he must, you may conclude that what was meant as a service of God he has turned into idolatry by abusing the images and practicing what God has not commanded. But he has neglected God's command, which is that he should be helpful to his neighbor.
But I have not yet caught him, though actually he is caught and will not admit it; he escapes me by saying:
Yes, I help the poor, too; cannot I give to my neighbor and at the same time donate images? This is not so, however, for who would not rather give his neighbor a gold-piece than God a golden image? No, he would not trouble himself about placing images in churches if he did not believe, as he actually does, that he was doing God a service. Therefore I must admit that images are neither here nor there, neither evil nor good, we may have them or not, as we please. This trouble has been caused by you; the devil would not have accomplished it with me, for I cannot deny that it is possible to find someone to whom images are useful.
And if I were asked about it, I would confess that none of these things give offense to one, and if just one man were found on earth who used the images aright, the devil would soon draw the conclusion against me: Why, then, do you condemn what may be used properly? Then he has gained the offensive and I would have to admit it. He would not have got nearly so far if I had been here. Proudly he scattered us, though it has done no harm to the Word of God. You wanted to blacken the devil, but you forgot the charcoal and used chalk. If you want to fight the devil you must know the Scriptures well and, besides, use them at the right time.
Let us proceed and speak of the eating of meats and what our attitude should be in this matter. It is true that we are free to eat any kind of food, meats, fish, eggs, or butter. This no one can deny. God has given us this liberty; this is true. Nevertheless, we must know how to use our liberty, and in this matter treat the weak brother quite differently from the stubborn. Observe, then, how you ought to use this liberty.
First, if you cannot abstain from meat without harm to yourself, or if you are sick, you may eat whatever you like,21 and if anyone takes offense, let him be offended. Even if the whole world took offense, you are not committing a sin, for God can approve it in view of the liberty he has so graciously bestowed upon you and of the necessities of your health, which would be endangered by your abstinence.
Secondly, if you should be pressed to eat fish instead of meat on Friday, and to eat fish and abstain from eggs and butter during Lent, etc., as the pope has done with his fool's laws, then you must in no wise allow yourself to be drawn away from the liberty in which God has placed you, but do just the contrary to spite him, and say: Because you forbid me to eat meat and presume to turn my liberty into law, I will eat meat in spite of you. And thus you must do in all other things which are matters of liberty. To give you an example: if the pope, or anyone else were to force me to wear a cowl, just as he prescribes it, I would take off the cowl just to spite him. But since it is left to my own free choice, I wear it or take it off, according to my pleasure.
Thirdly, there are some who are still weak in faith, who ought to be instructed, and who would gladly believe as we do. But their ignorance prevents them, and if this were preached to them, as it was to us, they would be one with us. Toward such well-meaning people we must assume an entirely different attitude from that which we assume toward the stubborn. We must bear patiently with these people and not use our liberty; since it brings no peril or harm to body or soul; in fact, it is rather salutary, and we are doing our brothers and sisters a great service besides. But if we use our liberty unnecessarily, and deliberately cause offense to our neighbor, we drive away the very one who in time would come to our faith. Thus St. Paul circumcised Timothy [Acts 16:3] because simpleminded Jews had taken offense; he thought: What harm can it do, since they are offended because of their ignorance? But when, in Antioch, they insisted that he ought and must circumcise Titus [Gal. 2:3], Paul withstood them all and to spite them refused to have Titus circumcised [Gal. 2:11]. And he stood his ground. He did the same when St. Peter by the exercise of his liberty caused a wrong conception in the minds of the unlearned. It happened in this way: when Peter was with the Gentiles, he ate pork and sausages with them, but when the Jews came in,
- 39 he abstained from this food and did not eat as he did before. Then the Gentiles who had become Christians thought: Alas! we, too, must be like the Jews, eat no pork, and live according to the law of Moses. But when Paul learned that they were acting to the injury of evangelical freedom, he reproved Peter publicly and read him an apostolic lecture, saying: "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?" [Gal. 2:14]. Thus we, too, should order our lives and use our liberty at the proper time, so that Christian liberty may suffer no injury, and no offense be given to our weak brothers and sisters who are still without the knowledge of this liberty.
The Fifth Sermon, March 13, 1522, Thursday after Invocavit We have heard of the things that are necessary, such as that the mass is not to be performed as a sacrifice, and of the unnecessary things, such as monks' leaving the monasteries, the marriage of priests, and images. We have seen how we must treat these matters, that no compulsion or ordinance must be made of them, and that no one shall be dragged from them or to them by the hair, but that we must let the Word of God alone do the work. Let us now consider how we must observe the blessed sacrament.
You have heard how I preached against the foolish law of the pope and opposed his precept,22 that no woman shall wash the altar linen on which the body of Christ has lain, even if it be a pure nun, except it first be washed by a pure priest.23 Likewise, when any one has touched the body of Christ, the priests come running and scrape his fingers, and much more of the same sort. But when a maid has slept with a naked priest, the pope winks at it and lets it go. If she becomes pregnant and bears a child, he lets that pass, too. But to touch the altar linen and the sacrament [i.e., the host], this he will not allow. But when a priest grabs it, both top and bottom, this is all right.
Against such fool laws we have preached and exposed them, in order that it might be made known that no sin is involved in these foolish laws and commandments of the pope, and that a layman does not commit sin if he touches the cup or the body of Christ with his hands. You should give thanks to God that you have come to such clear knowledge, which many great men have lacked. But now you go ahead and become as foolish as the pope, in that you think that a person must touch the sacrament with his hands.
You want to prove that you are good Christians by touching the sacrament with your hands, and thus you have dealt with the sacrament, which is our highest treasure, in such a way that it is a wonder you were not struck to the ground by thunder and lightning. All the other things God might have suffered, but this he cannot allow, because you have made a compulsion of it. And if you do not stop this, neither the emperor nor anyone else need drive me from you, I will go without urging; and I dare say that none of my enemies, though they have caused me much sorrow, have wounded me as you have.
If you want to show that you are good Christians by handling the sacrament and boast of it before the world, then Herod and Pilate are the chief and best Christians, since it seems to me that they really handled the body of Christ when they had him nailed to the cross and put to death. No, my dear friends, the kingdom of God does not consist in outward things, which can be touched or perceived, but in faith
[Luke 17:20; Rom. 14:17; I Cor. 4:20].
But you may say: We live and we ought to live according to the Scriptures, and God has so instituted the sacrament that we must take it with our hands, for he said, "Take, eat, this is my body" [Matt. 26:26].
The answer is this: though I am convinced beyond a doubt that the disciples of the Lord took it with their hands, and though I admit that you may do the same without committing sin, nevertheless I can neither make it compulsory nor defend it. And my reason is that the devil, when he really pushes us to the wall, will argue: Where have you read in the Scriptures that "take" means "grasping with the hands"? How, then, am I going to prove or defend it? Indeed, how will I answer him when he cites from the Scriptures the very opposite, and proves that "take" does not mean to receive with the hands only, but also to convey to ourselves in other ways? "Listen to this, my good fellow," he will say, "is not the word 'take' used by three evangelists when they described the Lord's taking of gail and vinegar? [Matt. 27:34; Mark 15:23;
Luke 23:36]. You must admit that the Lord did not touch or handle it with his hands, for his hands were nailed to the cross." This verse is a strong argument against me. Again, he cites the passage: Et accepit omnes timor, "Fear seized them all" [Luke 7:16], where again we must admit that fear has no hands. Thus
I am driven into a comer and must concede, even against my will, that "take" means not only to receive with the hands, but to convey to myself in any other way in which it can be done. Therefore, dear friends, we must be on firm ground, if we are to withstand the devil's attack [Eph. 6:11]. Although I must
- 40 acknowledge that you committed no sin when you touched the sacrament with your hands, nevertheless I must tell you that it was not a good work, because it caused offense everywhere. For the universal custom is to receive the blessed sacrament from the hands of the priest. Why will you not in this respect also serve those who are weak in faith and abstain from your liberty, particularly since it does not help you if you do it, nor harm you if you do not do it.
Therefore no new practices should be introduced, unless the gospel has first been thoroughly preached and understood, as it has been among you. On this account, dear friends, let us deal soberly and wisely in the things that pertain to God, for God will not be mocked [Gal. 6:7]. The saints may endure mockery, but with God it is vastly different. Therefore, I beseech you, give up this practice.
Concerning Both Kinds in the Sacrament Now let us speak of the two kinds. Although I hold that it is necessary that the sacrament should be received in both kinds, according to the institution of the Lord, nevertheless it must not be made compulsory nor a general law. We must rather promote and practice and preach the Word, and then afterwards leave the result and execution of it entirely to the Word, giving everyone his freedom in this matter. Where this is not done, the sacrament becomes for me an outward work and a hypocrisy, which is just what the devil wants. But when the Word is given free course and is not bound to any external observance, it takes hold of one today and sinks into his heart, tomorrow it touches another, and so on.
Thus quietly and soberly it does its work, and no one will know how it all came about.
I was glad to know when some one wrote me, that some people here had begun to receive the sacrament in both kinds. You should have allowed it to remain thus and not forced it into a law. But now you go at it pell mell, and headlong force every one to it. Dear friends, you will not succeed in that way.
For if you desire to be regarded as better Christians than others just because you take the sacrament into your hands and also receive it in both kinds, you are bad Christians as far as I am concerned. In this way even a sow could be a Christian, for she has a big enough snout to receive the sacrament outwardly. We must deal soberly with such high things. Dear friends, this dare be no mockery, and if you are going to follow me, stop it. If you are not going to follow me, however, then no one need drive me away from you
—I will leave you unasked, and I shall regret that I ever preached so much as one sermon in this place.
The other things could be passed by, but this cannot be overlooked; for you have gone so far that people are saying: At Wittenberg there are very good Christians, for they take the sacrament in their hands and grasp the cup, and then they go to their brandy and swill themselves full. So the weak and well-meaning people, who would come to us if they had received as much instruction as we have, are driven away.
But if there is any one who is so smart that he must touch the sacrament with his hands, let him have it brought home to his house and there let him handle it to his heart's content. But in public let him abstain, since that will bring him no harm and the offense will be avoided which is caused to our brothers, sisters, and neighbors, who are now so angry with us that they are ready to kill us. I may say that of all my enemies who have opposed me up to this time none have brought me so much grief as you.
This is enough for today; tomorrow we shall say more.
The Sixth Sermon, March 14, 1522, Friday after Invocavit24 In our discussion of the chief thing we have come to the reception of the sacrament, which we have not yet finished. Today we shall see how me must conduct ourselves here, and also who is worthy to receive the sacrament and who belongs there.
It is very necessary here that your hearts and consciences be well instructed and that you make a big distinction between outward reception and inner and spiritual reception. Bodily and outward reception is that in which a man receives with his mouth the body of Christ and his blood, and doubtless any man can receive the sacrament in this way, without faith and love. But this does not make a man a Christian, for if it did, even a mouse would be a Christian, for it, too, can eat the bread and perchance even drink out of the cup. It is such a simple thing to do. But the true, inner, spiritual reception is a very different thing, for it consists in the right use of the sacrament and its fruits.
I would say in the first' place that this reception occurs in faith and is inward and will have Christ.
There is no external sign by which we Christians may be distinguished from others except this sacrament and baptism, but without faith outward reception is nothing. There must be faith to make the reception
- 41 worthy and acceptable before God, otherwise it is nothing but sham and a mere external show, which is not Christianity at all. Christianity consists solely in faith, and no outward work must be attached to it.
But faith (which we all must have, if we wish to go to the sacrament worthily) is a firm trust that Christ, the Son of God, stands in our place and has taken all our sins upon his shoulders and that he is the eternal satisfaction for our sin and reconciles us with God the Father. He who has this faith is the very one who takes his rightful place at this sacrament, and neither devil nor hell nor sin can harm him. Why?
Because God is his protector and defender. And when I have this faith, then I am certain God is fighting for me; I can defy the devil, death, hell, and sin, and all the harm with which they threaten me. This is the great, inestimable treasure given us in Christ, which no man can describe or grasp in words. Only faith can take hold of the heart, and not every one has such faith [II Thess. 3:2]. Therefore this sacrament must not be made a law, as the most holy father, the pope, has done with his fool's commandment: All Christians must go to the sacrament at the holy Eastertide, and he who does not go shall not be buried in consecrated ground.25 Is not this a foolish law which the pope has set up? Why? Because we are not all alike; we do not all have equal faith; the faith of one is stronger than that of another. It is therefore impossible that the sacrament can be made a law, and the greatest sins are committed at Easter solely on account of this unChristian command, whose purpose is to drive and force the people to the sacrament. And if robbery, usury, unchastity, and all sins were cast upon one big heap, this sin would overtop all others, at the very time when they [who come to the sacrament] want to be most holy. Why? Because the pope can look into no one's heart to see whether he has faith or not.
But if you believe that God steps in for you and stakes all he has and his blood for you, as if he were saying: Fall in behind me without fear or delay, and then let us see what can harm you; come devil, death, sin, and hell, and all creation, I shall go before you, for I will be your rear guard and your vanguard [Isa.
52:12]; trust me and boldly rely upon me. He who believes that can not be harmed by devil, hell, sin, or death; if God fights for him, what can you do to him?
He who has such faith has his rightful place here and receives the sacrament as an assurance, or seal, or sign to assure him of God's promise and grace. But, of course, we do not all have such faith; would
God one-tenth of the Christians had it! See, such rich, immeasurable treasures [Eph. 2:7], which God in his grace showers upon us, cannot be the possession of everyone, but only of those who suffer tribulation, physical or spiritual, physically through the persecution of men, spiritually through despair of conscience, outwardly or inwardly, when the devil causes your heart to be weak, timid, and discouraged, so that you do not know how you stand with God, and when he casts your sins into your face. And in such terrified and trembling hearts alone God desires to dwell, as the prophet Isaiah says in the sixth chapter [Isa. 66:2].
For who desires a protector, defender, and shield to stand before him if he feels no conflict within himself, so that he is distressed because of his sins and daily tormented by them? That man is not yet ready for this food. This food demands a hungering and longing man,26 for it delights to enter a hungry soul, which is constantly battling with its sins and eager to be rid of them.
He who is not thus prepared should abstain for a while from this sacrament, for this food will not enter a sated and full heart, and if it comes to such a heart, it is harmful.27 Therefore, if we think upon and feel within us such distress of conscience and the fear of a timid heart, we shall come with all humbleness and reverence and not run to it brashly and hastily, without all fear and humility. So we do not always find that we are fit; today I have the grace and am fit for it, but not tomorrow. Indeed, it may be that for six months
I may have no desire or fitness for it.
Therefore those who are most worthy, who are constantly being assailed by death and the devil, and they are the ones to whom it is most opportunely given, in order that they may remember and firmly believe that nothing can harm them, since they now have with them him from whom none can pluck them away; let come death, devil, or sin, they cannot harm them.
This is what Christ did when he was about to institute the blessed sacrament. First he terrified his disciples and shook their hearts by saying that he was going to leave them [Matt. 26:2], which was exceedingly painful to them; and then he went on to say, "One of you will betray me" [Matt. 26:21]. Do you think that that did not cut them to the heart? Of course they accepted that saying with all fear and they sat there as though they had all been traitors to God. And after he had made them all tremble with fear and sorrow, only then did he institute the blessed sacrament as a comfort and consoled them again. For this
- 42 bread is a comfort for the sorrowing, a healing for the sick, a life for the dying, a food for all the hungry, and a rich treasure for all the poor and needy.
Let this be enough for this time concerning the use of this sacrament. I commend you to God.
The Seventh Sermon, March 15, 1522, Saturday before Yesterday we heard about the use of this holy and blessed sacrament and saw who are worthy to receive it, namely, those in whom there is the fear of death, who have timid and despairing consciences and live in fear of hell. All such come prepared to partake of this food for the strengthening of their weak faith and the comforting of their conscience. This is the true use and practice of this sacrament, and whoever does not find himself in this state, let him refrain from coming until God also takes hold of him and draws him through his Word.
We shall now speak of the fruit of this sacrament, which is love; that is, that we should treat our neighbor as God has treated us. Now we have received from God nothing but love and favor, for Christ has pledged and given us his righteousness and everything he has; he has poured out upon us all his treasures, which no man can measure and no angel can understand or fathom, for God is a glowing furnace of love, reaching even from the earth to the heavens.
Love, I say, is a fruit of this sacrament. But this I do not yet perceive among you here in Wittenberg, even though you have had much preaching and, after all, you ought to have carried this out in practice.
This is the chief thing, which is the only business of a Christian man. But nobody wants to be in this, though you want to practice all sorts of unnecessary things, which are of no account. If you do not want to show yourselves Christians by your love, then leave the other things undone, too, for St. Paul says in I Cor. 11 [I Cor. 13:1], "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." This is a terrible saying of Paul. "And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing"
[I Cor. 13:2–3]. Not yet have you come so far as this, though you have received great and rich gifts from God, the highest of which is a knowledge of the Scriptures. It is true, you have the true gospel and the pure Word of God, but no one as yet has given his goods to the poor, no one has yet been burned, and even these things would be nothing without love. You are willing to take all of God's goods in the sacrament, but you are not willing to pour them out again in love. Nobody extends a helping hand to another, nobody seriously considers the other person, but everyone looks out for himself and his own gain, insists on his own way, and lets everything else go hang. If anybody is helped, well and good; but nobody looks after the poor to see how you might be able to help them. This is a pity. You have heard many sermons about it and all my books are full of it and have this one purpose, to urge you to faith and love.
And if you will not love one another, God will send a great plague upon you; let this be a warning to you, for God will not have his Word revealed and preached in vain. You are tempting God too far, my friends; for if in times past someone had preached the Word to our forefathers, they would perhaps have acted differently. Or if it were preached even now to many poor children in the cloisters, they would receive it more joyfully than you. You are not heeding it at all and you are playing around with all kinds of tomfoolery which does not amount to anything.
I commend you to God.
The Eighth Sermon, March 16, 1522, Reminiscere Sunday A Short Summary of the Sermon of D[r.] M[artin] L[uther] Preached on Reminiscere
Sunday on Private Confession Now we have heard all the things which ought to be considered here, except confession. Of this we shall speak now.
In the first place, there is a confession which is founded on the Scriptures, and it is this: when anybody committed a sin publicly or with other men's knowledge, he was accused before the congregation. If he abandoned his sin, they interceded for him with God. But if he would not listen to the congregation
[häuffen], he was cast out and excluded from the assembly, so that no one would have anything to do with him. And this confession is commanded by God in Matt. 18 [:15], "If your brother sins against you (so - 43 that you and others are offended), go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone." We no longer have any trace of this kind of confession any more; at this point the gospel is in abeyance. Anybody who was able to re-establish it would be doing a good work. Here is where you should have exerted yourselves and re-established this kind of confession, and let the other things go; for no one would have been offended by this and everything would have gone smoothly and quietly. It should be done in this way:
When you see a usurer, adulterer, thief, or drunkard, you should go to him in secret, and admonish him to give up his sin. If he will not listen, you should take two others with you and admonish him once more, in a brotherly way, to give up his sin. But if he scorns that, you should tell the pastor before the whole congregation, have your witnesses with you, and accuse him before the pastor in the presence of the people, saying: Dear pastor, this man has done this and that and would not take our brotherly admonition to give up his sin. Therefore I accuse him, together with my witnesses, who have heard this. Then, if he will not give up and willingly acknowledge his guilt, the pastor should exclude him and put him under the ban before the whole assembly, for the sake of the congregation, until he comes to himself and is received back again. This would be Christian. But I cannot undertake to carry it out single-handed.
Secondly, we need a kind of confession when we go into a comer by ourselves and confess to God himself and pour out before him all our faults. This kind of confession is also commanded. From this comes the familiar word of Scripture: Facite judicium et justitiara.29 Judicium facere est nos ipsos accusare et detonate; justitiam autem facere est fidere misericordiae Dei.30 As it is written, "Blessed are they who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times" [Ps. 106:3]. Judgment is nothing else than a man's knowing and judging and condemning himself, and this is true humility and self-abasement.
Righteousness is nothing else than a man's knowing himself and praying to God for the mercy and help through which God raises him up again. This is what David means when he says, "I have sinned; I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin; for this all thy saints shall pray to thee" [Ps. 32:5–6].
Thirdly, there is also the kind of confession in which one takes another aside and tells him what troubles one, so that one may hear from him a word of comfort; and this confession is commanded by the pope. It is this urging and forcing which I condemned when I wrote concerning confession,31 and I refuse to go to confession simply because the pope has commanded it and insists upon it. For I wish him to keep his hands off the confession and not make of it a compulsion or command, which he has not the power to do. Nevertheless I will allow no man to take private confession away from me, and I would not give it up for all the treasures in the world, since I know what comfort and strength it has given me. No one knows what it can do for him except one who has struggled often and long with the devil. Yea, the devil would have slain me long ago, if the confession had not sustained me. For there are many doubtful matters which a man cannot resolve or find the answer to by himself, and so he takes his brother aside and tells him his trouble. What harm is there if he humbles himself a little before his neighbor, puts himself to shame, looks for a word of comfort from him, accepts it, and believes it, as if he were hearing it from God himself, as we read in Matt. 18 [:19], "If two of you agree about anything they ask, it will be done for them."
Moreover, we must have many absolutions, so that we may strengthen our timid consciences and despairing hearts against the devil and against God. Therefore, no man shall forbid the confession nor keep or draw any one away from it. And if any one is wrestling with his sins and wants to be rid of them and desires a sure word on the matter, let him go and confess to another in secret, and accept what he says to him as if God himself had spoken it through the mouth of this person. However, one who has a strong, firm faith that his sins are forgiven may let this confession go and confess to God alone. But how many have such a strong faith? Therefore, as I have said, I will not let this private confession be taken from me.
But I will not have anybody forced to it, but left to each one's free will.
For our God, the God we have, is not so niggardly that he has left us with only one comfort or strengthening for our conscience, or only one absolution, but we have many absolutions in the gospel and we are richly showered with many absolutions. For instance, we have this in the gospel: "If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you" [Matt. 6:14]. Another comfort we have in the Lord's Prayer: "Forgive us our trespasses," etc. [Matt. 6:12]. A third is our baptism, when I reason thus: See, my Lord, I have been baptized in thy name so that I may be assured of thy grace and mercy.
Then we have private confession, when I go and receive a sure absolution as if God himself spoke it, so that I may be assured that my sins are forgiven. Finally, I take to myself the blessed sacrament, when I eat
- 44 his body and drink his blood as a sign that I am rid of my sins and God has freed me from all my frailties; and in order to make me sure of this, he gives me his body to eat and his blood to drink, so that I shall not and cannot doubt that I have a gracious God.
Thus you see that confession must not be despised, but that it is a comforting thing. And since we need many absolutions and assurances, because we must fight against the devil, death, hell, and sin, we must not allow any of our weapons to be taken away, but keep intact the whole armor and equipment which God has given us to use against our enemies. For you do not yet know what labor it costs to fight with the devil and overcome him. But I know it well, for I have eaten a bit of salt or two with him. I know him well, and he knows me well, too. If you had known him, you would not have rejected confession in this way.
I commend you to God. Amen.
TWO SERMONS PREACHED AT WEIMAR In October, 1522, Luther journeyed to Weimar and Erfurt, having been invited to preach in Weimar by Duke John of Saxony and his son John Frederick, through the court preacher, Wolfgang Stein. There he preached six sermons, two on October 19, one on the 24th, another on the 25th, and two on the 26th. (On October 21 and 22 he visited Erfurt, where he preached three times.) He was accompanied on the journey by Melanchthon, John Agricola, and Jacob Propst and the transcriber may have been one of these. The first two of these six sermons, published together in Weimar, are here translated. Julius Köstlin said of them: "These six sermons, which we possess in a careful transcript, provide one of the best examples of his ability to set forth in brief compass the sum of the Christian faith simply, clearly, vividly, and practically for those of both high and low estate" (Martin Luther, Sein Leben und seine Schriften (1903),
Text in German; WA 10III, 341–352.
The First Sermon, Matt. 22:37–39, the Morning of October 19, The First Sermon Preached by Doctor Martin Luther at the Castle in Weimar on the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost,1 October 19, 1522
The Gospel is written in Matthew 22 [:37–39],2 "You shall love … God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind … and your neighbor as yourself, etc."
And the Gospel consists in two questions. First, what is the greatest commandment, by which one is saved, and second, what the law requires; and these two must agree with each other. And he who wants to be a Christian must know this, and this the unbeliever cannot understand and know, because he is blind and hardened. This is also the reason, believe me and understand this, why he is blind and has no understanding of the divine Word; and these are the ones who want to be considered wise, and yet they are obstinate fools.
Now we shall show what Christ here requires of us, and what the commandment is, and which is the greatest.
It is the law and commandment of Christ that one must love him with the whole soul, the whole mind, and all powers, and the neighbor as one's self; and he who has this has everything and God dwells in him; this is certain. But you may say: Oh, it is utterly impossible for a person to keep these two commandments. Yes, it is impossible for you to keep or perform them. You cannot do it; God must do it in you, for him it is possible. Now we shall see what the law requires.
The law requires that we love God with all our powers, etc.. and our neighbor as ourselves. Now, if it is true that the law requires that we love God and our neighbor with all our soul and all our powers, then it is certainly true that a person is not rightly fasting, praying, crying to God, and doing other things, if he does not first love God and his neighbor. If the works are not done out of love, then they are absolutely nothing; then there is nothing good in this love, and the outward works are performed and put on in order that the person may prove that he loves God or his neighbor and that in all these things he is devoting himself to them.
- 45 Thus circumcision among the Jews was a commandment commanded by God. It was a foolish commandment and to Christ it was not at all an acceptable commandment and it was nothing in the sight of God; they were obliged to do it only in order to show that they loved God. But then it is a shameful, disgraceful, and ridiculous commandment in the sight of God and of men, and among us it would be a disgrace and a shame to keep it and especially here. Therefore all works must be performed out of love, and where there is a heart that loves God, there all works are good. What good would circumcision do me as far as salvation is concerned? But if God were to command it, even the most shameful thing, then I should do it gladly on account of love for him.
This we can see in the case of Abraham, who sacrificed his son because this is what God wanted [Gen.
22:1–19]. According to nature and also in other respects, it was a foolish, stupid command; but Abraham was willing to follow God, and because of the love he bore for God, it was pleasing to God. If he had been able to kill his son a hundred times for the love of God, he would have done it. But God does not care about his killing, about his wanting to sacrifice his only son to him; he was looking at his love and obedience. Thus, when the children of Israel came into the promised land, they gave praise to Abraham, and they too sacrificed their children in great heaps [Ps. 106:37–38]. If someone had said to them: God doesn't care about that, they would not have believed it. God had no use for it whatsoever because they did not do it out of love; and afterwards the prophets preached mightily against it, even giving up their lives over it, for God would not have it. No, he wanted the love which Abraham had, for Christ says: Your circumcising and killing is nothing to me; it is not pleasing to me, for you serve me by loving me and not otherwise. Therefore, for love of him, we should do even the most contemptible works commanded us by God, and on this law depend all the commandments. And those commandments which do not come through and out of love are to be broken and they should be left undone, for when God does not find love in a person, he has no desire for his works either.
Thus we find in the old law that when God led the children of Israel out of Egypt through Moses, he did not command circumcision at that time at all; nor had they had it before, and yet it was not displeasing to God, for he was indifferent to it. But when they came into the wilderness he did command them to do this [Gen. 17:10], for in the beginning they loved him exceedingly and therefore he gave them circumcision and other commandments in order that they might show that they loved him, and having love, all works were pleasing to him and in good use. Therefore, as we said before, all works must issue from love; otherwise they are nothing.
Thus we read that as the disciples of Christ were going through the grainfields they plucked ears of grain and ate them [Matt. 12: 1–8]. The Jews were angry over this, but Christ said: Your sabbath is no commandment to me; I don't care about that. The point is that his disciples were hungry and, having loved
Christ and followed him, they preferred to break the sabbath rather than leave him. The Jews did not see the love. So one should break all the other commandments for the sake of love to God and one's neighbor.
David also did this. When he came to the priest, being hungry, he demanded bread, and the priest said: We have only holy bread which the priests eat [I Sam. 21:1–6]; David took it and ate it and paid no regard to the commandment of the Jews. Therefore, in that same Gospel Christ says to the Pharisees: Have you not read what David did? The devout David was hungry, destitute, and poor [Matt. 12:3], and they had to give it to him and honor him.
Thus, all the commandments of the law depend on love [Matt. 22:40]. That is to say, if they are not done out of love, they are contrary to God and are nothing; that's what you should go by. It is not to be done for the sake of other works, for your eye should be kept only on the work of love, and you should break all the laws rather than see your brother suffer want or affliction. For Christ imputes everything to love and our whole life should consist in this. And if you could save a soul with a mass and you see your brother suffering want, you should help him and let the other go; there is no other way out.
But isn't it a pitiful thing? A priest has a commandment, not from God, but from the pope, such as praying the seven hours,3 fasting the long fasts, doing this and doing that. He attaches more importance to fulfilling obedience to the pope than he does to doing this for the love of Christ; he would rather let his neighbor suffer hunger and want. Here is a lay person who is commanded as a penance to go to Rome, make a pilgrimage to this or that saint; he is to go barefoot and do a lot of other things. Now when he sees his neighbor suffering want, with wife and child, and the poor man asks him for help, he should look to the love of Christ, help him, and let the pilgrimage go. For love of one's neighbor is like the first
- 46 commandment. Therefore a priest should let his "hours" go and help his neighbor; he should interrupt the outward work, which is of no consequence to God, and say quite freely: This I should let lie and help my neighbor; this is what God commanded me, the other is the pope's, and now I shall follow God's commandment and let the other go. This would be a real Christian and priest.
But nowadays when a pilgrimage is imposed upon a person and his brother and neighbor asks him to help him, he goes to confession and receives the penance that he should help his neighbor and that he is unable to perform the pope's commandment. Thus he has more regard for the pope's commandment than for Christ's.
This is what the preachers accomplish! Oh, we have had blind preachers for a long time; they have been totally blind themselves and leaders of the blind, as the gospel says; they have left the gospel and followed their own ideas and preferred the work of men to the work of God [cf. Mark 7:8–9]. Oh, how well we have done, how interested God is in this! So say the seducers and shameful scoundrels. Therefore we have left Christ and followed our own opinions. God has commanded us to love him and our neighbor, but we have esteemed outward work more than love. It is just as if a master said to his servant: Go and plow for me; and he went and washed the pails, and then sulks against his master as if he needed a box on the ears.
Thus all our works should be done in love. So, even if I am a Carthusian or a monk and find that I am not helping my neighbor therein, I should break free from the order and help my neighbor. God doesn't want any works without love. Let this be your guide. Therefore the monk's life is all wicked, for it does not help the neighbor and it is just because of this commandment of the pope that many of you know so little of what Christ and his Word is. And the same people know neither the smallest nor the greatest commandment of Christ. Therefore, the more spiritual and hypocritical, the more blind they are. And yet the spirituals boast that they are the most devout of all; there is no faith in them and they have no understanding of Scripture at all, and yet we must pay them great honor. They should remember, however, that what people do to them, they should do also to them. Thus they have been so led astray by human laws that not one of them patiently follows Christ. If one is struck by another, he will not forgive him.
This is simply impossible. Christ teaches us to do things that are impossible, but God effects them in us.
Therefore, let each one of us look into his heart and remember the love which is able to do this.
Now, what is meant by "with all your heart"? Nothing else but that I do willingly and gladly everything that my God commands me. This I do not accomplish, however long I pray the rosary and other prayers in a secret place. Now one who loves with his whole heart always says: O God, as thou wilt, so I will; should I die, live, be poor, should I be sick, saved, or condemned, I shall do so gladly with all my will; it is thy will; lead me, therefore, through all shame. That person loves with his whole heart.
Then, loving with one's "whole soul." This is to love with one's whole, inmost heart, spirit, and one's whole life. Where do you find that kind of a person? Man, whether he hears, sees, wakes, sleeps, walks, or stands still, wants always to live his life without being bothered at all. That person who loves best is the person who loves with his whole soul.
And then, to go on, loving "with all your mind." This is to surrender oneself to God with one's whole mind, so that even his commands become good and right. But in these days our minds have been utterly corrupted by man-made laws, for the evil spirit usually concentrates on seizing the human mind and spirit, and this is the blindness in which our spirituals are living and they have been leading us in it for a long time.
This, then, is the love which Christ would have. And here we find that we are all under condemnation; no one does or has this love. When this law is kept, one needs no other law. To the Jews a ridiculous, trifling commandment was given, that of wearing tassels and borders on their garments [Num. 15:38–39].
God cares nothing about this; for as we have said, unless one wears them for love of him, it does not help them at all. Hence, a person, confronted with this love, must feel his inability and powerlessness to perform the least letter of the law and know that he can do nothing good. Now this knowledge does not come through works; nor do these contribute to our salvation, as Paul shows that salvation does not come through works or issue from works [Rom. 3:20]. You cannot have this knowledge through your own nature, for your nature is so blind that it does not know what Christ and his law is, nor does it know how deeply it lies in sin. Therefore Luke, who also records this Gospel, says that the Jews said to Christ that - 47 the commandment of love was right [Luke 20:39; cf. Luke 10:28, Mark 12:32]. But they would not accept it; they were too blind.
Therefore we conclude, by the authority of this Gospel, that monks, nuns, and priests have all been led and turned to blind, outward works, and there they are stuck, though we can accomplish nothing through them. For anyone who does not do his work out of love is blind. So it was also with the Jews and the Pharisees; though they were fine persons and honest men, they nevertheless were blind. So we accomplish nothing whatsoever by outward works. To be a monk, nun, a Carthusian, to go to Rome or to St. James,4 all this is nothing. He who does not acknowledge his sinfulness, like the Pharisees and Jews, is condemned. Christ came down from heaven to make himself known to us. He stepped down into our mire and became a man. But we do not know him, nor do we accept him, who came to help us out of every need and fear. But he who accepts Christ, acknowledges and loves him, he fulfils all things and all his works are good; he does good to his neighbor; he suffers all things for God's sake.
Therefore, this is what the law requires and says: You owe nothing except to love Christ and your neighbor; otherwise you are eternally condemned. But then afterwards Christ comes and says: I suffered, died, and rose again in order that I might fill you with the riches and grace of my Holy Spirit and thus strengthen you. So if you have the Spirit, then you are not an outward spirit; no, you have salvation. Then a person thinks this way: Now, Lord Jesus, I will serve you, die and live for you, and patiently suffer all that is disagreeable from you and from men; do with me as you will. That person will be washed of his sins by the blood of Christ.
Hence, if I have the Holy Spirit, I have faith, by which I cling to God. And if I believe in God, then I also have his love and I love God, foe, and friend. That is why Paul says: I can do all things through the Spirit of God [Phil. 4:13]. The Spirit does not come through fasting, praying, pilgrimages, running to and fro around the country; no, only through faith. So Christ bestows his gifts upon you without any merit whatsoever and what he did for him [i.e., Paul], he does for you also. Here, of course, you must guard against thinking that you are capable of faith; God must give it to you.
Therefore, this is what we say about the law; this is what it is and nothing else: The law kills; your God saves you. And he who does not believe is condemned. In short: Help us, O God, to this faith. Amen.
Therefore, guard yourselves against the fool preachers who say: Yes, good works will do it. No, first faith must be present in a man. So he who does not follow Christ and also does not love him is condemned.
As for us, we shall call upon God. Amen.
The Second Sermon on the Same Text, the Afternoon of The Second Sermon Preached by Martin [sic] at Weimar in the Parish [Church] on the Afternoon of the Above-named Sunday
This morning you heard the Gospel. Nevertheless we shall deal with its main point.
Now you know that we have all been baptized and are called Christians. Accordingly, we should endeavor to know what it means to be a Christian man and have the name of Christian, and also what one must do to be one. Similarly, when a shoemaker, a tailor, or some other craftsman wants to pursue his trade, he must know his trade, in order that he may fairly be called a tailor. If he could not establish his name it would be a disgrace. Likewise, if a person called himself a Carthusian, a Bernardine [i.e., a Cistercian], or a Benedictine and did not know the rule of the order, he would be a laughingstock.
Accordingly, we, too, must establish our name and demonstrate that we are rightly called Christians.
Therefore a person must first guard against human teachings and human commandments, in order that they may not take root in him. He should first open his mouth wide [Ps. 81:10] to rejoice in the teaching of Christ and also cultivate it in his heart; which teaching is the Gospel, which Paul [Rom. 1:16], Peter [I Pet.
1:12], and especially Christ in all the Gospels call the Word of God, because God through Him gave it and sent it from heaven. Neither I nor anyone else can ever preach the Word adequately; the Holy Spirit alone must utter and preach it. It is not being preached these days, not by a long shot, God have mercy on us.
And where it is not being preached, there you have tomfoolery, corruption, and the devil himself.
Therefore, the first thing to learn is the teaching of Christ and not that of men. For these latter teachings should be thrown out, which is highly necessary at the present time, for through them many a man is being
- 48 led astray. Now we shall preach only the gospel, which came from God and was proclaimed and revealed from heaven.
Moreover, the gospel proclaims nothing else but salvation by grace, given to man without any works and merits whatsoever. Natural man cannot abide, hear, or see the gospel. Nor does it enter into the hypocrites, for it casts out their works, declaring that they are nothing and not pleasing to God. Therefore nature is constantly fighting against the gospel; it will not tolerate it. They keep saying: Ah, should we not do good works? After all, were there not devout people in former times who did good works? My father and mother believed this, and where they have gone I want to go too. These people preach against God and do wrong.
Saying such things, the teaching of Christ pleases them not at all, and finally it makes them furious.
Now this is surely a sign that one is preaching the gospel and that it is beginning to be heard. Where the preaching or the preacher is not persecuted or spoken against it is not the gospel at all and the preacher is not preaching it. The gospel is always persecuted, and the hypocrites murmur against it, but their works are nothing. Direct yourself by that!
Thus you must prove your name as a Christian by faith and nothing else, that is, so as to believe that Christ's righteousness is yours, that his life, death, and everything that Christ is, is yours, given to you, as Paul says in Gal. 1 [2:20], "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." It is as if Paul were saying: Christ gives me life, he lives in me; what I do I am not doing; what I say and preach is not my word; Christ is in me. Therefore, he who does not conduct and exercise himself in the Spirit and in the work of Christ is condemned. Thus Paul says in Rom. 8 [:9], "Any one who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him." Even though a person did everything, if the Spirit of God is not at work and in the person, it is all nothing. Therefore, let a man cast away all his works, for without faith they are all condemned.
This the world and human nature cannot tolerate, for they are constantly grumbling about our taking their good works away from them and saying: If our works are nothing, how can we get there? It is no good. In fact, you do not know what you are talking about. Do you think that you can perform the work? It is not your works. If that were the case, you would have to despair of your works altogether; but it pains you. And yet we must not keep silent about the gospel on account of them. God will send a Spirit of truth
(John 16 [:7–9]); he punishes us for our unbelief. Therefore we shall preach Christ and his faith even though it be a pain to everybody, as Paul says: We preach the crucified Christ, a stumbling block to the Jews, to the Gentiles folly or stupidity, and to believers salvation and consolation [I Cor. 1:23–24].
Therefore works are nothing. For our monks who think they will be saved by their works, Christ is foolishness. So it must needs be that in the world the gospel should be called folly. If we can so preach that the gospel is rejected, then things will be going as they should. So if you see that today some are saying that the gospel is right; others blaspheming and saying that it is wrong; some calling it a malediction, and so on, then you see that things are going well. So whomever the gospel hits, it hits, and whomever it saves, it saves; and we must act according to it and nothing else. It follows from this that a Christian name is an utterly unfathomable thing; and he is a Christian who believes in God and acknowledges and loves him above all things. The Christian knows all things, even what the devil has in mind.
So, does the Augustinian order make me a Christian, or is any other monk made a Christian by his order? No, we are all Christians through faith and baptism. Now Christ is called the Anointed, and through his name I, too, can be called an anointed one. It follows that that person is a Christian who has received
Christ and believes in God with his whole heart. Take, for example, a faster, who fasts every day on water and bread. He should rather be called a faster than a Christian; his fasting does not make him a Christian, not at all. One who constantly prays much should rather be called a pray-er than a Christian. Likewise with a pilgrim, a flagellant,5 a virgin, a founder of churches and altars—this does not make them
Christians. What makes him a Christian is that he has God and everything that is God's, that is, that he has the unsurpassable treasure, Christ, who is called rich in grace. As we call a rich man rich because he has many guldens and goods, so Christ is called the richest of the rich.
How, then, do we have Christ? After all, he is sitting at the right hand of the Father; he will not come down to us in our house. No, this he will not do. But how do I gain and have him? Ah, you cannot have him except in the gospel in which he is promised to you, that gospel which is folly to the Pharisees and - 49 salvation and consolation to believers, as Paul declared [I Cor. 1:18]. And since Christ comes into our heart through the gospel, he must also be accepted by the heart. As I now believe that he is in the gospel, so I receive him and have him already. So Paul says: I carry Christ in my heart, for he is mine, etc. [cf.
Eph. 3:17]. Thus Christ is given to us through the gospel in the same way as a person is given a letter in which he is promised a city or a kingdom, and now the letter is sealed as a sign that this promise should and will be kept. So we, too, become rich in all his goods and riches through faith in Christ.
There are some who say that faith is such a trifling thing always to be preaching about it. Yes, it is such a trifling thing that it can never be sufficiently spread abroad and understood! Would God that it had been well preached! But now we are going to make a beginning and preach it. Christ, too, must be abbot for once, and not man-made laws. Christ gives to a man a letter, which is the gospel, and this God seals with his baptism and faith. He says to this man: Look, I tell you and assure you that Christ Jesus, my Son, is yours, and I have given you baptism and the sacrament as a true sign and seal, in order that you may believe me when I say that Christ is yours. His grace and mercy is given to you without any merit of yours; only believe me, you will find eternal life in him. If you believe this, even though you have not seen the city which he has deeded to you, then you have in addition the letter and the seal as a true sign.
Then you will say: If I have Christ, the great treasure and Lord over death, sin, devil, and hell, I shall not despair, and I know that I, too, shall be lord over these things, and I, too, have eternal life. Then blind nature opens up and recognizes Christ, and it is also glad that it is lord over death.
What could bring a person greater joy than to be told that he need not die? That's why this assurance of Christ is unfathomable. Man, after all, is too fainthearted, our hearts are too small and we hear a lot of preaching, but still there is no faith there. This is the reason why we get other ideas and beliefs. When we hear the gospel we walk away and say: Yes, I believe in God and his gospel. No, that is no sufficient
Christian faith. Listen to God; this is what he said through David, "O Israel, open your mouth wide, and I will flu it" with good [Ps. 81:8, 10]. It is as if Christ were saying: Oh yes, it is true that your heart is small and faint, but open it up and believe in me, I will give you all things. And Christ did say this: You fainthearted, you little flock, you need not fear, for it has pleased God to give you the kingdom of heaven
[Luke 12:32]. Therefore, for us men it is an altogether great thing for Christ to have given us a kingdom, but for him it is a small thing.
So you can see that human nature is always hostile to the gospel, for it is ambitious and wants to become good through good works. Wearing a black or a white or a blue cap, a long cloak, or a big tonsure doesn't make a Christian name. No, my monastic order is nothing; before Christ it must fall to the ground.
But rejection of their works is something that will not go into the hearts of the Jews and monks. In short, through faith all things are subject to man, as Paul shows [Rom. 8:2].
Therefore, faith, eternal life, grace, mercy, and all good is to be sought in the everliving God. And this he wants to give to man. Man should freely count upon this and make bold to assume that all the things of Christ are his through pure grace without his works. For if we had to be saved through our works, then
Christ would be nothing at all. So you see that works contribute nothing to salvation or to establishing the name of Christian. No Carthusian, no Franciscan, no preaching monk [Dominican] gives me salvation, as we have so long wanted it to be. No, they cannot do it; for they are subject to death, as Paul says: Death became my master [Rom. 7:10]. Therefore, I say very bluntly that all monks and nuns are the devil's
(there is no other conclusion you can draw), because they all set their salvation on cowls, tonsures, or good works and expect to be saved through them, which is something that will never happen and will never save, for their works are nothing in the sight of God. Do you think the kingdom of heaven will be given to you because you sit home by the stove and say a couple of psalms? No; nor will it be given to you if you go running around.6
Therefore, if we are going to have Christ, let us see to it that we receive him, that we may say: O thou heavenly Father, thou hast given thy Son to me in order that I might be saved and in him possess all good.
Now I make bold to believe that he is mine and has been given to me. And for a seal upon it I also have thy true body, flesh and blood, thy sacrament and baptism; to this I firmly cling. Then all the desires of the flesh must be taken away in order that it may be kept under. That is why Christ bids men to take young women and the young women to take men. That is why the monks and nuns enter the monastery to preserve their chastity; they can hardly bear it there, however. They should take husbands.