Quotes from Martin Luther

Not only are all men without exception declared to be guilty in God's sight, they are slaves to the sin that makes them guilty.

I say the Gospel is frail because we are frail.

even if Christians are completely surrounded by sin, they should still fight against it. Some people think they're Christians because they've been baptized. These people give their desires free rein and don't care about conquering their sins. They merely follow their own cravings.

To know Christ is to know goodness and discipline.

But the world and the godless are not moved by God's wrath and curse.

18. I will put My words in His mouth. This also clearly proves that the Prophet will teach something different.

Whose heart would not rejoice in its inmost core at hearing these things?

Simeon was the ancestor of Judas Iscariot;

libre albedrío" no es más que un esclavo del pecado, de la muerte y de Satanás. Tal "libertad" no es ninguna libertad.

For when we have learned to know God in the Son after apprehending the forgiveness of sins and the Holy Spirit, who clothes our hearts with joy and with the freedom from care because of which we despise sin and death, what is left? "Go, and do not keep silence, in order that the rest of the multitude may be saved too, not you alone.

The Gospel teaches from what source you receive the power to fulfill the Law.

The Law has a promise but it is a conditional promise, depending upon whether people fulfill the Law.

Thus the Scripture calls us holy, while we yet live on earth, if we believe. But the Papists have taken the name from us, and say, we are not to be holy; the saints in Heaven alone are holy. Thus we are compelled to reclaim the noble name. You must be holy, but you must also beware against imagining that you are holy through yourself or by your own merit, but only that you have God's word, that Heaven

And finally indeed this blessing, or rather this curse, was fulfilled in Caiaphas, Annas, and the other high priests who persecuted Christ and His apostles with the greatest severity. For these two tribes, Simeon and Levi, stirred up the multitude before Pilate to ask that Barabbas be set free and that Jesus be crucified.

Brother, you would like to feel God's favor as you feel your sin. But you are asking too much. Your righteousness rests on something much better than feelings. Wait and hope until it will be revealed to you in the Lord's own time. Don't go by your feelings, but go by the doctrine of faith, which pledges Christ to you.

For the statement of Isaiah (28:19) is true: "Trouble gives understanding"; likewise, hunger is the best condiment. For those who are afflicted have a better understanding of the Holy Scriptures; the smug and prosperous read them as if they were some poem written by Ovid.

Grace remits sin, and peace quiets the conscience. Sin and conscience torment us, but Christ has overcome these fiends now and forever.

The most damnable and pernicious heresy that has ever plagued the mind of man was the idea that somehow he could make himself good enough to deserve to live with and all-holy God.

We must not be dependent on the judgment of the world or the flesh; in fact, we must not be dependent on the judgment even of our own hearts regarding ourselves.

To Erasmus] I give you hearty praise and commendation on this further account-that you alone, in contrast with all others, have attacked the real thing, that is, the essential issue. You have not wearied me with those extraneous issues about the Papacy, purgatory, indulgences and such like -trifles, rather than issues... you, and you alone have seen the hinge on which all turns, and aimed for the vital spot.

But those are truly gifts of the Holy Spirit which make drunk with the richest knowledge of the Son of God, just as when John Hus was led to martyrdom, he prayed with great and unbroken courage: "Jesus, Son of God, Thou who hast suffered for us, have mercy on me."63 This is not said without the Holy Spirit. No one else would have spoken this way unless he had been made drunk by that wine. He was one of the colts bound to the excellent vine.

O God, our merciful Father, by Your Holy Law do You work in us the true knowledge of our sin, that our heart may be penitent, and our soul humble before You. Blot out our iniquities with the blood of Your Son, cleanse our souls from the dark spots with which we have soiled them, and comfort us with the assurance of Your grace. Build Your Church with us and our children, that Your name may be glorified by many generations. Amen.

He is a God to us and dispenses everything bountifully also when everything is most hopeless.

Thus although Nebuchadnezzar no longer remembered his dream, yet he could not forget the impression it made.