Quotes from Martin Luther

In the opinion of those delicate-eared persons, nothing could be more bitter or intemperate than Paul's language.

The Law scolds us, sin screams at us, death thunders at us, the devil roars at us. In the midst of the clamor the Spirit of Christ cries in our hearts: "Abba, Father." And this little cry of the Spirit transcends the hullabaloo of the Law, sin, death, and the devil, and finds a hearing with God.

These things are clearer than the light to all men; and the Church of Rome, formerly the most holy of all Churches, has become the most lawless den of thieves, the most shameless of all brothels, the very kingdom of sin, death, and hell; so that not even antichrist, if he were to come, could devise any addition to its wickedness.

Let the Law, sin, and the devil cry out against us until their outcry fills heaven and earth. The Spirit of God outcries them all. Our feeble groans, "Abba, Father," will be heard of God sooner than the combined racket of hell, sin, and the Law.

THIS, therefore, is also essentially necessary and wholesome for Christians to know: That God foreknows nothing by contingency, but that He foresees, purposes, and does all things according to His immutable, eternal, and infallible will.

So, you see, what kept me from rushing in with an answer to you was not the difficulty of so doing, nor pressure of other work, nor the grandeur of your eloquence, nor fear of you, but simply disgust, disinclination, and distaste--which, if I may say so, express my judgment of your Diatribe.

For it to be called a Sacrament, there first needs to be an outward, tangible sign or created thing by which God deals visibly with us, that we may be sure of it. It is not His will to work with us apart from outward means, solely by secret suggestions or special revelation from heaven. But the outward work and sign does not by itself avail or do anything unless it is joined by His Word, by which the sign is made effective and we are made aware of what God is doing in us by this sign.

Each must watch over his own conscience, and therefore each must have the right to judge spirits and prophets; but no one has the right to take the sword for himself.

He who sleeps does not sin.

In all other things I will yield to any one, but I neither can nor will forsake and deny the word.

And the Son is ordered to demand this authority so that He might actually show reverence toward the Father and His inexpressible humility.

We must read the Fathers cautiously, and lay them in the gold balance, for they often stumbled and went astray, and mingled in their books many monkish things. Augustine had more work and labor, to wind himself out of the Father's writings, then he had with the heretics.

In brief, trust not in any who exalt you, but in those who humiliate you. For this is the judgment of God:

We teach that all men are naturally depraved. We condemn man's free will, his strength, wisdom, and righteousness. We say that we obtain grace by the free mercy of God alone for Christ's sake.

Trying to merit grace by preceding works, therefore, is trying to placate God with sins, which is nothing but heaping sins upon sins, making fun of God, and provoking His wrath.

For the Lord does not speak in vain, nor does He offer His Word to the lazy and smug, but to those who are in need, who toil, who are afflicted and are undergoing a very difficult conflict against the flesh and all external appearances, that is, against those things which according to human sense and reason fight against faith, as Heb. 11 says, so that the afflicted can rely on the sole protection of the Word of God and be sustained by it.

A Christian man is the most free lord of all, and subject to none; a Christian man is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to every one.

For more than twenty years I was a pious monk, read Mass daily, and so weakened myself with fasting and praying that I would not have been long for this life had I continued. Yet all this taken together cannot help me in even one little crisis to be able to say before God: 'All this I have done, now please consider it, and be gracious to me.' What else did I achieve with this than to plague myself uselessly, impair my health, and waste my time?

Neither men who try to keep the Law, nor those who do not try to keep it, are justified before God, for they are all spiritually dead.

Thus the Turks also regard us as damned because of the disasters and troubles we endure. But they promise themselves eternal happiness because they flourish in this life with wealth and power. This is the Egyptian philosophy and the Turkish religion. The Christian doctrine refutes it, as is taught elsewhere.

Therefore we must be steadfast; we must be Constantines, stouthearted,13 and rocks, lest we "be carried about with every wind of doctrine" (Eph. 4:14).

In addition, when these men were confronted, they did not stubbornly persist in their sins but repented. Paul commands that we should accept, instruct, and restore such people (Galatians 6:1). So those who sin and fall because of weakness will not be refused forgiveness if they stand up again and do not persist in their sin. Persisting in sin is disastrous.

Accordingly, let us, too, learn to put aside all questions and simply to go in the name of the Lord and do whatever God has commanded, whether it is foolish, offensive, or dangerous. If God's command is connected with it, even a work that is disgraceful and shameful in the sight of reason is most beautiful and holy; for there is no greater and better adornment than the Word of God.

Moreover, I cannot bear with laws for the interpretation of the word of God, since the word of God, which teaches liberty in all other things, ought not to be bound.