Quotes from Martin Luther

The world is a head of thistles; whichever way you turn it, it stretches the thorns about itself.

En god teolog lär som följer. Folket måste tyglas med svärdets yttre makt, då det handlar illa, såsom Paulus lär i Rom. 13. Människors samveten får emellertid inte snärjas med falska lagar, så att de plågas med synder, där Gud inte velat, att tal skall vara om synd. Ty samvetena bindes endast av Guds bud.

For my part, if I cannot fathom how the bread is the body of Christ, yet I will take my reason captive to the obedience of Christ [II Cor. 10:5], and clinging simply to his words, firmly believe not only that the body of Christ is in the bread, but that the bread is the body of Christ.

The world bears the Gospel a grudge because the Gospel condemns the religious wisdom of the world. Jealous for its own religious views, the world in turn charges the Gospel with being a subversive and licentious doctrine, offensive to God and man, a doctrine to be persecuted as the worst plague on earth.

Therefore no one who sees the iconoclasts raging thus against wood and stone should doubt that there is a spirit hidden in them which is death-dealing, not life-giving, and which at the first opportunity will also kill men, just as some of them have begun to teach.

So we are not sinners because we commit this or that sin, but we commit them because we are sinners first.

God will and can be known in no other way than in and through Christ according to the statement of John 1:18, "The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." Christ is the only means whereby we can know God and His will. In Christ we perceive that God is not a cruel judge, but a most loving and merciful Father who to bless and to save us "spared not his own Son, but gave him up for us all." This is truly to know God.

The insanity of our rulers also calls down punishments upon us which we have merited for a long time so that our princes become insane and mad and let the Turk come into the land.

Nothing is prettier, better, or holier in the sight of men than idolatry and godlessness adorned with hypocrisy and a show of piety. An evil deed in the sight of God, however, is one that is undertaken without faith and the Word, by our own efforts, however good and beautiful it may appear.

Faith is a living, bold trust in God's grace, so certain of God's favor that it would risk death a thousand times trusting in it.

We say, faith apprehends Jesus Christ. Christian faith is not an inactive quality in the heart. If it is true faith it will surely take Christ for its object. Christ, apprehended by faith and dwelling in the heart, constitutes Christian righteousness, for which God gives eternal life.

And the human mind endures misfortunes of any kind more easily than prosperity and abundance, as the German proverb puts it: "Strong legs are needed to be able to endure good days.

Terence, Andria, I, 1, 41: Obsequium amicos, veritas odium parit.

If we surrender faith in Christ, as the only thing that can justify us, the death and resurrection of Jesus are without meaning; that Christ is the Savior of the world would be a myth.

The true God has never yet smiled upon a person for his charity or virtues, but only for the sake of Christ's merits.

Wherefore it ought to be the first concern of every Christian to lay aside all confidence in works and increasingly to strengthen faith alone and through faith to grow in the knowledge, not of works, but of Christ Jesus, who suffered and rose for him, as Peter teaches in the last chapter of his first Epistle (I Pet. 5:10).

First, self-love is already present in all people. Second, if God had wanted to command you to love yourself, he would have said, "You should love yourself and your neighbor as yourself." But he said instead, "Love your neighbor as yourself." In other words, "as yourself " means the way you already love yourself, without a commandment to do so.

For all our life should be baptism, and the fulfilling of the sign, or sacrament, of baptism; we have been set free from all else and wholly given over to baptism alone, that is, to death and resurrection. This glorious liberty of ours, and this understanding of baptism have been carried captive in our day

it is completely contrary to the nature of sin to confess that one has sinned.

He who prays must be like a good, industrious barber who has to keep his mind and eyes precisely upon his razor and hair and know whether to cut or trim, lest by too much gabbing or looking about aimlessly, he slashes someone's mouth or nose, or worse, someone's throat.

As I have always both offered and desired peace so that I might devote myself to quieter and more useful studies, and have stormed with such great fury merely for the purpose of overwhelming my unequal opponents by the volume and violence of words no less than of intellect, I not only gladly ceased but also joyfully and thankfully considered this suggestion a very welcome kindness to me, provided our hope could be realized.

When the Law drives you to the point of despair, let it drive you a little farther, let it drive you straight into the arms of Jesus who says: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

The ultimate blessing that God can confer on a man is the possession of a good and pious wife.

In his ministry to the sick Luther recommended physicians, barbers, and apothecaries. Resort to medicine is desirable, he said, and it is well that physicians and nurses do what they can. However, Luther went beyond most of these physicians in pointing to the mental and emotional origin of some physical ailments. "Our physical health depends in large measure on the thoughts of our minds. This is in accord with the saying, 'Good cheer is half the battle.'"{18}